World’s first VCC coal tar hydrogenation project begins feed trial operation

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This post was last edited by liaifeng on 2018-7-28 at 07:37. The world’s first VCC coal tar hydrogenation project begins operations; Author/Source: Huahua Net Coal Chemicals; Date: 2018-06-21; Clicks: 1. On June 19, 2018, the first phase of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Anyuan Chemical Co., Ltd.’s 1 million-ton coal tar hydrogenation project (500,000 tons) commenced operations successfully. The total investment for Phase 1 (500,000 tons) is 2.395 billion yuan. Using 60,000 tons per year of coal tar produced as a by-product of the existing 600,000 tons per year lignite carbonization plant, along with 700,000 tons per year of medium-temperature coal tar generated as by-products by seven other lignite carbonization enterprises under the Yanchang Petroleum Group, this project employs natural gas to produce hydrogen and the VCC hydrogenation process to manufacture lightweight coal tar. This project adopted KBR’s “VCC suspended-bed hydrogenation technology” from the United States. Since there was no existing commercial project to draw lessons from regarding this process, as the world’s first full-range high-temperature, high-pressure suspended-bed hydrogenation system, it overcame numerous technical, engineering, and equipment-related challenges during the stages of design, construction, individual unit testing, and overall system commissioning. Operations began on June 19, 2018, at 5 a.m., with the entire process successfully operational; the product quality met the required standards, and the conversion rate of the feed oil exceeded 98%. This project yielded key technological insights related to VCC suspended-bed hydrocarbonization of coal tar, as well as valuable operational experience, thereby opening up a new pathway for heavy oil hydrogenation. The project is located in the Jinjie Industrial Park in Shenmu County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province, covering an area of 1,500 mu, with an estimated total investment of 7 billion yuan. The main facilities to be constructed include a coal tar pretreatment unit with a capacity of 1.25 million tons per year, a hydrocracking unit with a capacity of 1 million tons per year, a hydrogen production unit with a capacity of 12,000 cubic meters per hour, a sulfur recovery unit with a capacity of 2,000 tons per year, as well as the accompanying utility systems, auxiliary production facilities, and service-related structures. The investment for the first phase is 1.7 billion yuan, and it includes the construction of a raw material pretreatment unit with a capacity of 625,000 tons per year, a coal tar hydroprocessing unit with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year, a natural gas-based hydrogen production unit with a capacity of 60,000 cubic meters per hour, a sulfur recovery unit with a capacity of 1,000 tons per year, along with the necessary utility systems, auxiliary production facilities, and service-related structures. This project was funded and constructed jointly by the Yanchang (Petroleum) Group, the private enterprise Shenmu Tenglong Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd., and Shaanxi Huaxiang Energy Technology Group Company. Among them, the Yanchang (Petroleum) Group holds 55% of the shares, Shenmu Tenglong Coal and Electricity Co., Ltd. holds 40%, and Shaanxi Huaxiang Energy Technology Group Company holds 5%.