Yulin coal chemical industry is moving towards high-end levels – methanol holds great development potential

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This post was last edited by qy576100527 on 2017-6-14 09:46. As a **model area for the modern coal chemical industry**, Yulin in Shaanxi will pursue measures such as guiding the upgrading of modern coal chemical value chains, integrating enterprises to share innovative resources in order to advance technological advancements in this sector, as well as extending industrial chains to improve product quality. Through these efforts, it aims to push the coal chemical industry toward higher levels of development and to create an integrated industry framework that combines energy, chemicals, and materials. This is what a reporter from China Chemical Industry News learned at the Yulin Special Industries Promotion and Investment Project Negotiation Conference, as well as the Yulin Coal Chemical Industry High-End Development Forum, which were held in Xi’an last week. **It strongly promotes the upgrading of related industrial chains. Yulin is a region rich in resources such as coal, oil, gas, and salt – a phenomenon rare in the world. It serves as an important hub for China’s energy and chemical industries, and is also the largest production base for coal-based olefins in the country, as well as a demonstration site with the most comprehensive range of coal-to-oil processing technologies. In 2016, Yulin’s production of raw coal, natural gas, polyvinyl chloride, metallic magnesium, and semi-coke accounted for 10.7%, 11.7%, 8.8%, 58%, and 70% of the national total respectively. **It is necessary to optimize the environment for the advanced development of the coal chemical industry, formulate industry development plans, and guide and attract more capital into this sector in order to achieve an upgrade of its industrial chains. Li Chunlin, deputy secretary of the Party group in Yulin City, said that the key to the advanced development of Yulin’s coal chemical industry lies in following the strategy of \"optimizing coal production, stabilizing oil production, expanding gas production, and increasing electricity generation\", by focusing on the development of existing productive capacities and continuously enhancing the scale effects of these industrial bases ； Promote the extension of the industrial chain, focusing on two main areas: the differentiated utilization of coal and coal-based fine chemicals. Efforts will be made to establish three circular industrial chains: raw coal – semi-coke – coal tar – high-end petroleum products; raw coal – methanol – olefins (aromatics) – synthetic materials; and raw coal – coal liquefaction – fine chemicals. This will help expand the coal chemical industry into sectors such as synthetic fibers, synthetic resins, synthetic rubber, and their related high-value downstream industries ； Develop successor industries; by building on the coal mining–power generation–new materials industry chain, create global competitive bases for new materials such as aluminum-magnesium alloys, chemical new materials, and semiconductor materials ； Around the coal power–polysilicon–solar cells–photovoltaic power generation industry chain, a new energy industry base with a capacity of tens of millions of kilowatts will be established. According to Ji Shiping, director of the Yulin Investment Promotion Bureau, Yulin has structured its investment attraction efforts around industrial chains, innovation chains, and value chains, focusing on eight key industries including high-end energy chemicals, strategically important emerging industries, and equipment manufacturing. In the field of high-end energy chemicals, first-class coal chemical technologies from home and abroad will be introduced to develop six major modern coal chemical demonstration industries, including coal-to-olefins, coal-to-aromatics, coal-to-ethylene glycol, coal-to-ethanol, coal-to-oil, and coal-to-gas. Make use of the carbon tetra compounds derived as by-products of polyolefins as soon as possible to achieve a breakthrough in new chemical materials ； Highlight the fine chemical industry based on “triene and triphenyl” compounds, and develop products such as synthetic fibers, synthetic resins, and synthetic rubbers. Enterprises: Integrating resources and technologies, enterprises are important drivers for the development of the coal chemical industry and constitute the core force behind its innovative progress. “The coal chemical enterprises in Yulin need to pool their scientific and technological resources, accelerate the transformation and application of core technologies in coal chemistry, and promote the high-end and refined development of Yulin’s coal chemical industry. ”Representatives of coal chemical enterprises attending the meeting said. The Yulin Coal Chemical Industry Upgrade Technology R&D Center is an important platform for Yulin City to fully integrate various innovative resources, upgrade traditional coal chemical processing technologies, and extend the modern coal chemical industry chain. Zhang Xiangping, director of the center, explained that the center will integrate key technologies for the pyrolysis of low-grade coal, expand technologies for the deep processing of tar, make breakthroughs in technologies for producing high-value coal-based products, and jointly develop new energy-saving and environmental-friendly technologies for the coal chemical industry. It will focus on the commercialization of cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements in this field, such as second-generation technologies for the deep processing of methanol, efficient utilization of coal pyrolysis products, advanced processing of coal tar, and functional ceramic membrane materials. In Yulin, a number of coal chemical enterprises are also actively exploring ways to upgrade their technologies. The reporter learned that the world’s first demonstration project for co-processing kerosene was successfully tested in Jingbian, Yulin ； The facilities for million-ton-scale FTO synthesis-based coal-to-oil production at Shaanxi Future Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., as well as the coal-to-olefins production plant in Yanchang, are operating well; subsequent improvements and the second phase of development will be planned with a focus on high-value downstream products ； The Huadian Yulin demonstration project for 1.5 million tons of coal-to-methanol production and 500,000 tons of aromatic compounds production has largely completed the preliminary approval procedures and is ready to start operation. In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises such as Shaanxi Longcheng Coal Clean and Efficient Utilization Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Jingyi Chemical Co., Ltd., Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Co., Ltd., and Shenmu Fuyou Energy Technology Co., Ltd. have also made breakthroughs by developing new technologies for the clean and efficient utilization of coal powder and the advanced processing of coal tar. At the 2017 Silk Road Expo and the 21st Western China Investment and Trade Fair held in Xi’an at the beginning of June, a large number of coal chemical projects were successfully signed in Yulin. Projects such as China Coal Chemical Technology Company’s 20,000 tons per year production of ethyl methyl carbonate, Beijing Shenwu Technology Group’s 2 million tons per year facility for the clean utilization of coal on a differentiated basis along with 300,000 tons per year of coal tar hydrogenation, Yanzhou Coal Industry Yuenenghua’s 500,000 tons per year production of polydimethyl methoxymethane (DMMn), Lingyi Chemical’s 1.2 million tons per year facility for coal pyrolysis and integrated processing of coal tar, Shenmu Tianyuan’s 6.6 million tons per year facility for the comprehensive utilization of pulverized coal, and Shenmu Fuyou’s 500,000 tons per year facility for the hydrogenation of all fractions of coal tar to produce naphthenic oils will be established in Yulin. At this forum, the Management Committee of Yulin High-Tech Zone also signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Hangzhou Jinjiang Group; the two parties will carry out cooperation in areas such as coal chemistry, salt chemistry, new materials, and new energy. Expert: Expanding downstream products for upgrading \"An important development direction for Yulin’s coal chemical industry is to extend the industrial chain in order to achieve product upgrades.\" ”The experts present offered specific suggestions for the development of downstream products in Yulin’s coal chemical industry. “Yulin has large production capacities for coal-based methanol and coal-based olefins. Downstream products derived from olefins should focus on high-end features and differentiation; for ethylene, it is advisable to develop products such as ethylene oxide, diene or terpolymerized ethylene propylene rubber, ethylene-vinyl acetate derivatives, long-chain α-olefins, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, and MMA ； Methanol can be used to produce downstream products such as 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol and high-end polyesters (PCT, PETG, PCTG), methanol proteins, ethanol, polymethoxymethane (DMMn), and dimethyl carbonate. ”Xu Jingsheng, the chief technical advisor at the China Chemical Industry Economic and Technical Development Center, said. He believes that modern coal chemical industry should also integrate with related industries, such as modern coal chemical industry + coal + electricity, modern coal chemical industry + electricity (IGCC), modern coal chemical industry + petrochemicals, modern coal chemical industry + chemical fibers, modern coal chemical industry + salt chemicals, modern coal chemical industry + coking, modern coal chemical industry + building materials, etc., to promote cross-sectoral integrated development of these industries. At the same time, by emphasizing the comprehensive utilization of CO2 resources, cutting-edge technologies from home and abroad can be introduced to utilize the abundant CO2 generated by Yulin’s coal chemical industry for the synthesis of methanol, polycarbonates, polyurethane foams, polyols, cyanuric acid, PBS resins, PPC (a copolymer of carbon dioxide with ethylene oxide and propylene oxide), and other products. “Yulin already possesses the foundation and conditions for the advanced development of its coal chemical industry, enabling it to move toward a higher-level form of development characterized by high technology content, high added value, and high efficiency. ”Zhang Xiangping suggested achieving higher quality levels through process upgrades, by optimizing and improving the existing production processes for lignite coke, methanol, vinyl chloride, metallic magnesium, and mixed alcohols ； High-end products can be achieved through product upgrades; using the existing products, intermediates, by-products, and waste materials from the coal chemical industry as raw materials, specialty waxes, anthracite-based adsorbent materials, functional materials, aromatic chemicals, catalysts, as well as food-grade carbon dioxide, methane, formic acid, and polymer materials – all of which are high-end coal chemical products ； Achieve high-end development through technological upgrades, and vigorously develop next-generation technologies such as the one-step production of olefins from syngas, the production of polyoxymethylenes from methanol, the hydrogenation of acetic acid to produce ethanol, and the production of ethylene glycol from carbide furnace exhaust gases. Zhang Xinliang, deputy secretary-general of the Beijing Guohua New Materials Research Center, believes that Yulin should leverage its advantages in the coal chemical industry to develop downstream products such as metallocene polyolefins, high-performance polyolefin elastomers, bimodal polyolefins, as well as dimethyl carbonate, ethyl methyl carbonate, polycarbonates, and coal-based carbon materials.