Modern coal chemical industry moves from “pilot projects” to “industrialization””

Thread Content

This post was last edited by liaifeng on 2018-8-15 at 18:43. Modern coal chemical industry: From demonstration to industrialization. Author/Source: Date: 2017-09-18. Views: 21. At the national conference on clean and efficient utilization of coal and adjustment of industrial structure held on September 14, Wang Xianzheng, president of the China Coal Industry Association, stated that China’s modern coal chemical industry has progressed from a demonstration phase to an industrialized stage. Breakthroughs have been achieved in the research and development of key modern coal chemical technologies with independent intellectual property rights, such as direct coal liquefaction, indirect coal liquefaction, coal-to-olefins, coal gasification, and coal-to-ethylene glycol. Relevant agencies expect that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, investment in the coal chemical industry will reach 600 billion yuan, doubling compared to the previous year. It is reported that breakthroughs have been achieved in the development of key technologies and the production of equipment for modern coal chemical processes that involve China’s own intellectual property rights, such as direct coal liquefaction, indirect coal liquefaction, coal-to-olefins production, coal gasification, and coal-to-ethylene glycol production. The Shenhua million-ton direct coal liquefaction demonstration project has been operating stably over a long period of time; the Yankuang million-ton indirect coal liquefaction project has reached full capacity. The Shenhua Ningxia 4-million-ton/year coal-to-oil demonstration project, as well as the Shenhua Baotou 600,000-ton, China National Coal Group Yulin 600,000-ton, and Shaanxi Coal Chemical Group Weinan 660,000-ton coal-to-olefins projects, have all been put into industrial operation. Additionally, coal-to-gas projects in Yili, Xinjiang, and Keqi, Inner Mongolia, as well as the Shanxi Yangquan 400,000-ton coal-to-ethylene glycol project, have also commenced industrial production. By the end of 2016, the national production volumes of coal-to-oil, coal-to-olefins, coal-to-ethylene glycol, and coal-to-gas reached 2 million tons, 6.5 million tons, 1.6 million tons, and 1.5 billion cubic meters respectively. The development of the modern coal chemical industry has propelled coal to move up the value chain from its lower end to its higher end, thereby expanding the scope for coal consumption. Wang Xianzheng suggested that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the coal industry should focus on the development direction of modern coal chemical engineering, and make further efforts to shift coal from being used primarily as a fuel to serving both as a fuel and as a raw material. On August 24, 2009, ** said during an inspection of the Shenhua coal direct liquefaction project that \"coal-to-oil, as part of **’s energy strategy, represents an important strategic measure for **’s economic development and long-term stability.\" It is necessary to proceed from the perspective of ensuring **energy security strategy, to advance the construction of modern coal chemical industry demonstration projects, to organize research on key technologies, to strengthen studies on the suitability of raw coal for use in gasifiers, and to promote the optimized integration of system processes. Building on the successes achieved in demonstrations of direct coal liquefaction, indirect coal liquefaction, coal-to-olefins production, coal-to-ethylene glycol production, and coal-to-natural gas production on a million-ton scale, efforts are being made to promote the localization of coal gasification equipment. A number of large-scale coal chemical projects are being developed in an orderly manner, with efforts to explore industrial development directions and models. A modern coal chemical industry framework based on coal coking, coal gasification, and advanced coal processing is being established, aiming to effectively replace oil and gas resources, expand the uses and applications of coal as an industrial raw material, and enhance the capacity to ensure secure energy supply. In February 2017, the **Energy Bureau’s ‘13th Five-Year Plan for Demonstrating the Upgrading of Deep Coal Processing’** specified that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, deep coal processing should focus on five types of approaches: coal-to-oil, coal-to-natural gas, differentiated utilization of low-grade coal (co-production), coal-based chemicals, and comprehensive utilization of coal and oil. Additionally, upgrades to general technical equipment were also to be demonstrated in this context. The Plan estimates that by 2020, the production capacity for coal-to-oil will be 13 million tons per year, while the capacity for coal-to-natural gas will be 17 billion cubic meters per year. The capacity for the differentiated utilization of low-grade coal will be 15 million tons per year (in terms of coal processing volume). The production capacity for coal-to-olefins will be 16 million tons, for coal-to-ethylene glycol it will be 6–8 million tons, and for coal-to-aromatics it will be 1 million tons.