Air Products’ large-scale quench water coal slurry technology contributes to the successful commissioning of Shenhua Yulin’s circular economy coal comprehensive utilization project

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Air Products’ advanced quench water coal slurry technology contributed to the successful commissioning of the Shenhua Yulin Circular Economy Coal Comprehensive Utilization Project. Author/Source: Coal-Based New Materials. Date: 2021-03-16. Clicks: 18. On December 26, 2020, the first phase of the Shenhua Yulin Circular Economy Coal Comprehensive Utilization Project (SYCTC-1 project), located in the Qingshui Coal Chemical Industry Park within the Yushen Industrial Zone in Shenmu, Shaanxi, was successfully commissioned in one go! This project adopts the process technologies of coal gasification for methanol production and syngas conversion for ethylene glycol production. Using coal as raw material, through processes such as gasification, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, sulfur recovery, methanol synthesis, and syngas conversion to ethylene glycol, it enables the transformation of coal into methanol, and further into polyolefins and various chemical products, thus creating a coal deep-processing industry framework with mature technology routes and a wide range of product types. The gasification unit employs Air Products’ large-scale quenched water coal slurry gasification technology, featuring a total of 5 gasification furnaces – 3 in operation and 2 as backups – with a pressure of 6.5 Mpa, a volume of 1,800 cubic feet, and a diameter of 3.8 meters. Each furnace is capable of handling up to 3,400 tons of coal per day on a dry basis, producing 220,000 standard cubic feet of syngas per hour. The Shenhua Yulin Circular Economy Coal Comprehensive Utilization Project was officially approved by the **National Development and Reform Commission on March 16, 2015. It is the largest single coal chemical project approved by the commission during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, with a total investment of 120 billion yuan. The SYCTC-1 project is a preliminary phase of Shenhua Yulin’s circular economy coal comprehensive utilization project; it also serves as a facility for producing methanol raw materials to support the already completed Shenhua Shaanxi Methanol Downstream Processing Project (SSMTO). The total investment for the project is 13.6 billion yuan, and the construction scope includes an annual production capacity of 1.8 million tons of methanol along with 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol. The SYCTC-1 project was officially launched on March 27, 2015, in the Yushen Industrial Zone of Shenmu County, and mechanical completion was achieved on November 29, 2020. The water-coal slurry gasification technology of Air Products dates back to the Texaco era; this process technology, which uses coal as a raw material, has been in use for nearly 50 years now, with successful applications in over 200 gasifiers around the world. After being introduced to China, Air Products’ gasification technology has been successfully applied in various projects, including Shenhua Baotou’s 1.8 million tons per year methanol-to-olefins project, Zhongtian Hechuang’s coal deep processing demonstration project, Pucheng Clean Energy’s 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins project, and China National Coal Group’s 1.8 million tons per year coal-to-methanol project in Yulin, Shaanxi. Among them, the Shenhua Baotou project, as one of the three demonstration projects for deep coal processing under the 11th Five-Year Plan, was the world’s first and largest industrial facility for producing olefins from methanol at that time. Air Products’ large-scale quenched water coal slurry gasification technology has been operating steadily at the Tampa power plant in the United States for over 20 years, demonstrating its maturity as a process. About Air Products Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company with a history of 80 years. The company focuses on serving the energy, environmental, and emerging market sectors, providing customers in various industries such as refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage with the industrial gases, related equipment, and specialized technical expertise necessary for production. Air Products is also a global leader in liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment supply. The company develops, designs, builds, owns, and operates a number of large-scale industrial gas projects around the world, including gasification projects that convert abundant natural resources into syngas in a sustainable manner to produce high-value electricity, fuels, and chemicals ； Carbon capture projects ； As well as world-class hydrocarbon-free projects that contribute to global transportation and energy transformation. In fiscal year 2020, the company’s sales from operations in 50 countries and regions reached $8.9 billion, and its current market value is approximately $60 billion. With over 19,000 passionate, talented, and dedicated employees from various backgrounds around the world, Air Products is committed to creating innovative solutions under the guidance of its higher goals – to help improve the environment, promote sustainable development, and address the challenges faced by customers, communities, and the world as a whole. For more information, please visit the company’s Chinese website at www.airproducts.com.cn or scan to follow Air Products’ official WeChat account in China.