Production of ethanol from coke oven gas

Hasn’t Yanchang Petroleum already produced qualified ethanol from 100,000 tons of syngas?

The world’s first ethanol production project using coke oven gas, developed by Tangshan Zhongrong Technology Co., Ltd., was officially put into operation in Qian’an on July 2. This marks the full industrialization of new coal-to-ethanol technologies in our country, enabling the saving of 900,000 tons of grain each year; it also represents another step forward in the transformation and development of Qian’an as a resource-based city. Zhongrong Technology is a high-tech enterprise of ** level, dedicated to the research, development, production, and sales of non-grain ethanol and its downstream products. This project represents an expansion of Zhongrong Technology’s operations, building on the establishment of the world’s first 15,000-ton per year coal-based ethanol production facility in August 2013. It makes use of 9 patents developed independently, as well as the coke oven gas supplied by nearby companies such as Lanhai Company and Baoliyuan Company. With an investment of 800 million yuan, it aims to create the world’s first ethanol production facility that utilizes coke oven gas, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons. The production line for 100,000 tons of anhydrous ethanol per year in the first phase of the project successfully carried out its first batch of production recently; the quality of the anhydrous ethanol produced reached 99.98%. This represents a breakthrough in the production technologies used in the ethanol industry, and it helps to steer the coal chemical sector toward cleaner energy sources. As a result, the development of China’s ethanol industry is no longer constrained by conflicts over land used for food production. It is understood that this project has the following advantages: first, it features mature technology, owns independent intellectual property rights, and is at the international leading level ； Second, the product quality is excellent, meeting the quality requirements of all industries that use anhydrous ethanol ； Thirdly, the cost of consumption is low; new catalysts have been developed, achieving a conversion rate of over 99% and a selectivity as high as 99% ； Fourthly, the economic benefits are significant; producing ethanol from coke oven gas saves more than 20% in costs compared to producing it using grain-based methods. Once the project is fully operational, it can generate an annual output value of 2.5 billion yuan, with annual profits and taxes amounting to 450 million yuan ； Fifthly, it brings significant social benefits: it converts waste into valuable products by using gas to produce ethanol, thereby protecting the environment, increasing the added value of coke oven gas, and addressing the issue of competition with food crops for land use. The by-product, natural gas, can also provide clean energy for society.

Oh? I thought it was only in mid-July that SolTech’s project would officially go into operation, right? What type of syngas does Yanchang Petroleum use, and what is its effectiveness?

It’s not some new technology: synthetic methanol is first produced, then it undergoes dimerization and dehydration to form dimethyl ether; thereafter, it reacts with carbon monoxide to yield ethyl formate, and finally ester hydrogenation is carried out – it’s a rather complicated process

I see that it uses acetic acid hydrogenation to produce ethanol, not in the way you mentioned

Is there an oversupply of acetic acid capacity now, so it can’t be sold?

You can look up the patents of the American company Range Fuels, which describe the process of synthesizing acetic acid and acetates from syngas and then using hydrogenation to produce ethanol