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Source: China Chemical Industry News. Li Shousheng, president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, stated that breakthroughs in coal-to-oil and coal-to-natural gas technologies have opened up new possibilities for energy conversion and cleaner use of energy； Breakthroughs in coal-based olefins can open up new fields in combination with petrochemicals ； Advances in coal-based aromatics can further open up new markets for downstream products of coal chemical industry ； Advances in coal-based ethylene glycol production can open up new paths for coal-derived liquid oxygen-containing fuels ； Advances in coal-to-ethanol technology have opened up new avenues for new energy and fine chemicals. By 2018, China had built 8 coal-to-oil projects, including 1 direct coal liquefaction project and 7 indirect coal liquefaction projects, with a total capacity of 8.78 million tons ； There are 12 coal-to-olefins projects and 16 methanol-to-olefins projects, resulting in a total production capacity of 13.29 million tons ； Four coal-to-natural gas projects have been built, with a total capacity of 5.11 billion cubic meters. The production capacities of coal-based methanol, dimethyl ether, ethylene glycol, ethyl acetate, and 1,4-butanediol reached 76.2 million tons (including methanol produced from coke oven gas), 7.5 million tons, 4.66 million tons, 2.92 million tons, and 1.8 million tons respectively, placing China at the top of the world in terms of scale. The production capacity of many coal-based oxidized chemicals and their derivatives accounts for over 30% of the total domestic capacity, with the production capacity of coal-derived methanol, acetic acid, dimethyl ether, and 1,4-butanediol accounting for more than 70% of that total. “This is the result of scientific research institutions, universities, and enterprises in our country continuously pursuing technological innovation and laying a solid foundation. ”He Yongde, a member of the Coal Chemicals Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, told reporters that technologies for converting coal into oil, gasifying coal, producing olefins from coal (methanol), manufacturing aromatics from coal, producing ethanol from coal, and producing ethylene glycol from coal – all of which possess independent intellectual property rights in China – are being continuously developed and improved, with a steady stream of new innovations emerging. The reporter learned that at present, China’s industrial technologies for producing olefins from methanol include four processes: DMTO and its second-generation version DMTO-Ⅱ developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences; S-MTO developed by Sinopec; and FMTP developed by Tsinghua University. Together, these processes enable an olefin production capacity of 16.47 million tons per year. Liu Zhongmin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that the third-generation methanol-to-low-carbon olefins technology (DMTO-Ⅲ) being developed by the institute has now seen the completion of catalyst development as well as laboratory-scale testing of the reaction process. A single reactor is capable of processing 3 million tons of methanol per year, producing 1 million tons of olefins; the selectivity for olefins reaches 90%, and the amount of methanol required per ton of olefins has been reduced from 3 tons to 2.6–2.7 tons. In the field of coal-to-ethanol production, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences possesses 3 process technologies; among them, the ethanol production technique via methanol-acetate esterification and hydrogenation has been applied in the 100,000-ton/year syngas-to-ethanol technology demonstration project carried out by Shaanxi Xinghua Group Company. In addition, Zhongrong Technology Co., Ltd. and Henan Shunda Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. have also developed technologies for producing ethanol from syngas, and industrial demonstration plants have been built for each of them. By the end of 2018, China had 7 ethanol production projects powered by coal (syngas), with a total capacity of 855,000 tons per year. There were 10 projects under construction or planned, with a combined capacity of 4.345 million tons. China also has a wide range of technologies for producing ethylene glycol from coal, and as a whole these technologies are at the international leading level. Multiple domestic research institutions and enterprises have mastered the complete set of technologies for producing ethylene glycol from coal via syngas. Recently, the kiloton-scale pilot plant for the new generation of coal-based ethylene glycol technology, jointly developed by the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sinopec Guangzhou Engineering Co., Ltd., and Guizhou Xinchun Technology Development Co., Ltd., has been operating stably for over 1,000 hours; its various technical and economic indicators are significantly better than those of existing technologies. “‘During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the development environment for coal chemical industry in China improved significantly. Policies at various levels have repeatedly emphasized that coal will remain the primary energy source for a long time to come, and it is necessary to pursue its clean and efficient utilization. ”He Yongde said that documents such as the \"13th Five-Year Plan for Demonstrating Advanced Coal Processing Industries\" issued by the **Energy Bureau in February 2017, the \"Plan for the Innovative Development of the Modern Coal Chemical Industry\" issued by the **Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in March 2017, and the \"Environmental Access Requirements for Modern Coal Chemical Construction Projects\" (provisional version) issued by the former Ministry of Environmental Protection in December 2015, all contain clear regulations regarding the development of the coal chemical industry. He Yongde said that under the guidance of top-level planning, China’s modern coal chemical industry has undergone significant changes; its upstream and downstream industrial chains have continued to expand, with a greater diversity emerging in both raw materials and products. In terms of raw materials, the \"two-in-one\" and \"three-in-one\" approaches that combine coal gas oil with coal and natural gas, as well as coal gasification with coke oven gas, result in greater advantages in terms of hydrocarbon complementarity and energy conservation and emission reduction. For example, the production facilities at Shaanxi Yanchang China National Coal Group Yulin Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., which were put into operation in July 2014 and have a capacity of 1.8 million tons per year for methanol production, 1.5 million tons per year for residue catalytic thermal cracking (DCC), 600,000 tons per year for methanol-to-olefins (DMTO) production, 600,000 tons per year for polyethylene production, and 600,000 tons per year for polypropylene production, represent China’s first demonstration project for the integrated conversion of coal, oil, and gas to achieve multiple products across different stages of the production process. This project was designated by the United Nations as a “Demonstration Project for Clean Coal Technologies”. Yanchang Petroleum has also innovatively utilized co-processing of oil and coal to produce gasoline, diesel, and other products. The world’s first pilot project for co-processing oil and coal with an annual capacity of 450,000 tons has been brought online and is operating continuously and stably, with various technical challenges having been overcome. Shanxi, a major coal-producing province, is also making efforts in the area of dual gas utilization. The Lu’an Group’s coal-based synthetic oil integrated production demonstration project combines a 300,000-ton/year tar processing facility with a 1.5 million tons/year coal-based synthetic oil production plant. It makes full use of coke oven gas, exhaust gases, and coal-derived gas, and employs carbon dioxide and coke oven gas reforming technologies to produce 1.5 million tons/year of F-T synthetic oil, 300,000 tons/year of coal tar, as well as generate 108 MW of power from waste heat; the energy conversion efficiency reaches 44.87% ； Taiyuan University of Technology converts gasification gas and coke oven gas through reforming to produce syngas, as well as alcohol ether liquid fuels and other products. It makes full use of CH4 in coke oven gas and CO2 in gasification gas, improving the efficiency of utilizing coke oven gas resources and enabling hierarchical energy utilization. Editor’s note: The 13th Five-Year Plan for the petroleum and chemical industry calls for vigorous development of five strategic emerging industries, including modern coal chemical industry. In recent years, numerous advancements have been made in modern coal chemical technologies, resulting in an increasing variety of products manufactured from coal as a raw material. Modern coal chemical industry has become China’s industry with the most distinct advantages; it is driving the rapid development of the global coal chemical sector and serving as a hub for technological innovation in the petroleum and chemical industries, as well as a prominent symbol of excellence in this field. At the same time, there are continuous doubts from within and outside the industry regarding the environmental impact and economic viability of the rapidly growing modern coal chemical industry. What is the current status of the development of modern coal chemical industry in our country? What is the actual outlook for \"money\"? What challenges does industrial development face? Which direction should we move in next? Reporters from China Chemical Industry News conducted research interviews in an effort to analyze this emerging industry.