Thread Content
The Future of Modern Coal Chemical Industry: Moving Towards Higher Quality and Greater Precision. Author/Source: Date: 2017-10-23. Clicks: 15. Opportunities coexist with risks, and challenges go hand in hand with development. International oil prices remain low, while the raw material costs for modern coal chemical industries have been rising steadily this year ； The impact of low-priced products from overseas is becoming increasingly severe ； The pressure to protect the environment in China is increasing continuously... Moving forward through challenges and difficulties. As is well known, \"abundant coal, scarce oil, and limited gas\" are the prominent characteristics of China’s resource profile. Developing modern coal chemical industry holds great strategic significance for ensuring energy security, promoting the clean and efficient use of coal as well as the transformation and upgrading of the coal industry, and fostering new sources of economic growth. It is understood that China has built a number of modern coal chemical demonstration projects, such as those for coal-to-oil, coal-to-olefins, coal-to-natural gas, and coal-to-ethylene glycol, thus achieving a certain scale in this industry. In the first half of this year, the coal-to-oil production capacity reached 6.93 million tons per year, with output of 1.55 million tons ； The production capacity for coal-based olefins amounts to 12.42 million tons per year, with an output of 5.3 million tons ； The production capacity for ethylene glycol derived from coal is 2.7 million tons per year, with an output of 700,000 tons ； The coal-to-natural gas production capacity reaches 5.1 billion cubic meters per year, with an output of 1.1 billion cubic meters. During this period, a number of new research findings emerged one after another during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. At present, China has seen the emergence of many large-scale, long-cycle international leading gasification technologies. Units such as East China University of Science and Technology have jointly developed an ultra-large-scale multi-nozzle opposed water-coal slurry gasification technology capable of processing 3,000 tons of coal per day; this technology has been adopted by 11 enterprises across China to date. It is understood that this technology is currently the only slurry coal gasification technique in the world capable of processing 3,000 tons of coal per day per furnace. The Shenhua Ningmei Group’s 2,200-ton-per-day dry coal powder pressurized gasification furnace (Shenning furnace) is used in the 4 million tons per year coal-to-oil project, and all its technical parameters meet international advanced standards. It broke the long-term monopoly of foreign technologies and solved the problem of relying solely on high-quality coal. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the coal liquefaction process, Zhongke Synthetic Oil Technology Co., Ltd. has proposed a hierarchical coal liquefaction process that includes three core units: mild hydrogenation liquefaction, Fischer-Tropsch synthetic oil production, and oil processing. It is understood that this process addresses the issues associated with traditional coal liquefaction technologies, such as stringent operating conditions and poor quality of the resulting oil. It has already been tested on a scale of 10,000 tons, and it enables the development of a coal fractionation liquefaction technology that is at the international leading level. In the field of coal-to-olefins, the team led by Bao Xinhe from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has creatively developed catalysts featuring single-iron centers confined within silicide lattices, based on the new concept of \"nanolimited catalysis\". This approach enables the efficient production of high-value chemicals such as ethylene and aromatics from methane under anaerobic conditions. It is said to be a new technology that “is about to change the world.” Modern coal chemical industry still faces significant pressure. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the global oil market was characterized by an oversupply situation; low international crude oil prices significantly reduced the production costs of domestic petrochemical products, thereby lowering the prices of these petrochemical products in the market. This inadvertently increases the competitiveness compared to modern coal chemical industries. In recent years, leveraging its natural gas resources, the Middle East has significantly expanded its ethylene production capacity and promoted rapid development of the petrochemical industry, becoming a major producer and exporter of global bulk conventional petrochemical products. Natural gas and associated gas from oil fields in the Middle East are inexpensive; their cost is more than 15% lower than that of ethylene and propylene produced from naphtha, giving them a cost advantage over chemical products made from coal. Furthermore, the large-scale development of shale gas in the United States has led to a significant drop in the prices of natural gas and ethane. At current prices, U.S. products such as methanol, ethylene, and polyethylene are even more competitive than those from the Gulf region. Therefore, based on full market cost prices, the low-cost chemicals in the United States and the Middle East cannot be underestimated. Environmental pressures remain the ‘tight band’ surrounding modern coal chemical industries; as long as the problems related to ‘three wastes’ are not properly resolved, this ‘tight band’ will continue to tighten. With the implementation of new environmental protection laws as well as special action plans aimed at addressing air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, etc., the requirements for pollution control in the modern coal chemical industry will become stricter, and it will also be more difficult for projects to meet the requirements regarding water use, energy consumption, and environmental standards. According to Li Shousheng, president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, in order to implement the Paris Agreement reached at the Paris Climate Conference, it is an inevitable trend for China to introduce carbon trading or impose environmental protection taxes, and this will affect the overall competitiveness of the modern coal chemical industry. Confidence leads to progress. It is understood that most of the current difficulties are of a technical nature. But with the encouragement of central leaders and the support of scientific research experts, I believe these technical issues will be resolved soon. The Party and the **attach great importance to the clean and efficient utilization of coal.** The leaders issued important directives at the Shenhua Ningmei coal-to-oil demonstration base, stating that modern coal chemical industry represents a valuable approach to achieving energy security through efficient, clean, and low-carbon development methods, and it is an important outcome of the strategy focused on innovation-driven growth. Subsequently, in the first half of this year, documents issued by various departments such as the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology further clarified the role of the modern coal chemical industry at a strategic level, strengthened the overall planning for this industry, and provided guidance for its systematic and healthy development. Li Shousheng stated that while advancing the upgrading and demonstration of modern coal chemical industry development, efforts should be made to tackle key common technologies and equipment that hinder its progress. This will help to change the current situation of similar end products, and accelerate the creation of a new landscape characterized by higher-end and differentiated end products. It is understood that the end-market for modern coal chemical products offers better profits compared to the raw material market, but it also requires higher technical standards. However, modern coal chemical industry in our country mainly relies on chemical raw materials. A renowned foreign chemicals company evaluated China’s modern coal chemical industry in these terms: “We believe that China’s petrochemical industry is essentially an industry focused on basic raw materials, and it is still too far removed from the end markets.” The development of China’s petroleum and chemical industry should boldly embrace the end-market. ” How to move toward a higher-end, more refined direction? This requires making significant efforts to develop high-end and differentiated industrial chains for coal-based olefins and aromatic compounds as new materials. “Looking at the technological innovations of multinational companies, we can see that downstream processing of PE (polyethylene) and PP (polypropylene) can yield hundreds of market-ready end products; yet at present, there are very few specialized grades of polyethylene and polypropylene available. As long as there are breakthroughs in technological innovation, high-end, differentiated PE and PP products can give rise to a diverse range of products. ”Li Shousheng said. Industry experts say that the liquefaction route in modern coal chemical industry offers the advantage of enabling the development of high-end oils, ultra-clean oils, and specialty oils. Taking Shenhua’s coal-to-oil project as an example, direct coal liquefaction focuses on developing production technologies for ultra-clean gasoline and diesel, as well as special types of fuels such as military diesel, high-density aviation kerosene, and rocket fuel. To date, test flights of aircraft using directly liquefied coal-based fuels and tests of rocket engines have been completed. “\"Coal-based oxygen compounds\" have emerged as a new approach in modern coal chemical industry over the past two years. Experts point out that the technological development of coal-based ethylene glycol production via the oxalate route is moving in the direction of lower costs, higher selectivity, a longer catalyst lifespan, and environmental friendliness. Thanks to the continuous improvement in product quality and a deeper understanding by end-users of the applications of coal-based ethylene glycol, it has begun to be widely used in the polyester fiber industry. Developing coal-based ethanol can not only consume large amounts of acetic acid, thereby alleviating the issue of overcapacity in acetic acid production, but it can also replace some petroleum through the use of ethanol gasoline. Modern coal chemical industry is a typical example of C1 chemistry (“C1 chemistry” refers to the chemistry in which synthesis is carried out using substances that contain only one carbon atom in their molecules). In traditional concepts, the range of downstream products for C1 chemicals is not broad enough. But today, we rely on technological innovation to overturn traditional concepts. The innovative development of modern coal chemical industry in China is unlocking the infinite vitality and vast range of product possibilities for C1 chemistry. The bright future of C1 chemistry will undoubtedly emerge from the innovative efforts of our generation; modern coal chemical industry is paving the way for a new era of development through innovation.