Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy Chemical Co., Ltd.’s 500,000 tons per year coal-based ethanol project

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Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy Chemical Co., Ltd.’s 500,000 tons per year coal-based ethanol project. Author/Source: Huahua Network – Coal Chemical Industry. Date: February 3, 2020. Clicks: 51. The DMTE patent technology, developed jointly by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Co., Ltd. and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and featuring complete independent intellectual property rights, represents a technology for producing anhydrous ethanol through the carbonylation of dimethyl ether followed by hydrogenation using methanol/syngas. This technology involves the direct synthesis of methyl acetate via carbonylation reaction under the action of conventional molecular sieve catalysts, with subsequent hydrogenation to produce ethanol; it represents a completely new approach with practical application potential. The 100,000 tons per year industrial demonstration plant for producing ethanol from syngas, built by Shaanxi Yanchang Xinghua Group using this technology, began operations at the end of 2016; it successfully produced anhydrous ethanol with a purity of 99.71%. To date, all technical parameters of this plant meet or exceed the design specifications, marking the success of the world’s first industrial demonstration project for producing ethanol from syngas and representing another significant breakthrough in the application of advanced coal chemical industry technologies in China. The 500,000 tons per year coal-based ethanol project of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. plans to use the Xiwan open-pit coal mine in Yulin as raw material to produce ethanol products with high added value, thereby enabling the on-site conversion of the raw coal and contributing to an improvement in the company’s economic performance ； The project construction is in line with the industrial policies aimed at restricting the use of grain for ethanol production, thereby achieving a balance between economic and social benefits ； Project construction is of strategic significance for addressing China’s oil shortage, replacing petrochemical raw materials, improving the cleanliness of petroleum products, enabling cleaner use of coal, and promoting **food security. It opens up new avenues for the clean utilization of coal resources and will guide the coal chemical industry toward a new direction based on clean energy. Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy Chemical Co., Ltd.’s 500,000 tons per year coal-based ethanol project. Project type: New construction ； Construction unit: Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Yushen Energy Chemical Co., Ltd ； Construction location: South Area of Qingshui Industrial Park, Yushen Industrial Zone, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province ； Staffing and operation system: This project requires 674 employees, and continuous operation is employed; the workers work on a four-shift, three-cycle system, with 8,000 hours of work per year ； Construction contents: Construction of gasification, shift, purification, gas separation, methanol synthesis, and 500,000 t/a ethanol production facilities (dimethyl ether, methyl acetate, and ethanol units), a 7,500 Nm3/h air separation unit, 3×220 t/h high-pressure coal powder boilers, a 6,000 t/a sulfur production facility, along with associated utility systems ； Total project investment: 6,425,571,800 yuan, of which 516,551,500 yuan is allocated to environmental protection measures, accounting for 8.03% of the total investment ； Land area: The total land acquired for the project is 248.3 hectares (including land acquired on behalf of others) ； The actual land area used for this project is 91 hectares, with 11 hectares dedicated to green spaces, resulting in a green coverage rate of 12%. The project uses the Xiwan open-pit coal mine as its raw material, and employs the HT-L gasification technology to produce crude gas. One stream of this crude gas undergoes shift reaction, while another stream is used for waste heat recovery. Both streams are then subjected to low-temperature methanol washing to remove sulfur and carbon dioxide from them. The crude gas that has not undergone the shift reaction is purified and separated into H2 and CO through deep cooling. Part of the gas that has undergone the shift reaction is sent to a PSA unit for hydrogen production, while another part is used in a methanol synthesis unit to produce methanol; CO, H2, and methanol are then sent to an ethanol production facility. Construction content: Air separation – 1 set of domestic air separation unit with a capacity of 7.5×104 m3/h. Oxygen purity is 99.6%. Full-low-pressure molecular sieve purification and adsorption, air compression, pressure-boosting mechanism, medium-pressure turbine expansion for cooling, and internal compression process in liquid oxygen pumps. To meet the requirements for continuous production of the equipment and the safety of the project’s facilities, an additional backup system has been installed. Gasification uses a space furnace for powder coal gasification. 2 pulverized coal gasifiers, with a capacity of 2×1500 t/d. Transformation: Cobalt-molybdenum sulfur-resistant wide-temperature transformation. Part of the raw gas is shifted, changing the volume ratio of CO to H2 from 3:1 to 1:4. Purification: Dalian University of Technology’s low-temperature methanol washing process is used to remove impurities such as CO2, H2S, organic sulfur, and crude light oil from raw gas. Gas separation: cryogenic separation + PSA hydrogen extraction process. It provides an effective flow rate of H2 at 76740 m3/h, and CO at 44153 m3/h. Sulfur recovery: The secondary Claus process is used to treat H2S-containing gases. 4,780 tons of sulfur are produced per year. Methanol synthesis: Adiabatic isothermal tubular reactor at East China University of Science and Technology, with a methanol production capacity of 413,400 tons per year. Ethanol synthesis: the dimethyl ether method at the Daikawa Research Institute. It consists of dimethyl ether synthesis, carbonylation, hydrogenation and separation, compression, heating furnaces, and refrigeration stations. The ethanol production capacity is 548,500 tons per year. Water treatment: wastewater treatment + reclaimed water treatment + membrane concentration, evaporation, and crystallization. All wastewater from the plant is reused and not discharged outside.