Thread Content
China’s Five-Ring Project sets a new record with a 400,000-ton/year project for producing ethylene glycol from waste gas in Xinjiang! Author/Source: Coal Chemical Industry Information Network Date: 2021-05-14 Clicks: 37 On May 7, the pipeline welding work for Guanghui Energy’s project to produce 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year from waste gas, carried out by China Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd., reached 1 million man-hours, setting a new record for that company in terms of pipeline welding volume! The Hami Guanghui ethylene glycol project is the first of its kind in China to produce ethylene glycol from waste gas; it includes purification units, DMO units, ethylene glycol production units, external pipelines, and utility systems. The total amount of welding required is approximately 1.5 million welds, making it the project with the highest pipeline welding volume among all the turnkey projects undertaken by this company. On May 7, a historic breakthrough was achieved with 100 million welds for pipeline work, setting the company’s first record of a single project exceeding 100 million welds in terms of pipeline welding volume! Project Overview: On September 9, 2019, the construction of Guanghui Energy’s project for the comprehensive utilization of waste gas to produce 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year began in full swing. This project utilizes waste gas generated as a by-product of the 10 million tons per year coal upgrading and comprehensive utilization project carried out by Guanghui Energy’s subsidiary, Xinjiang Guanghui Coal Clean Refining Co., Ltd. A range of technologies such as conversion, reforming, adsorption, and separation are employed to produce high-quality chemical product ethylene glycol from this waste gas. This project adopts the third-generation \"WHB syngas-to-polyester-grade ethylene glycol\" technology, jointly developed by China Five Rings and Huashuo Technology Co., Ltd. as well as Hebi BMW (Group) Co., Ltd. Through a series of processes including conversion, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, and PSA adsorption separation, the valuable syngas components H2 and CO present in raw gas are extracted, and high-end chemical products—polyester-grade ethylene glycol—are produced using carbonylation, hydrogenation, and purification technologies. The project of Hami Guanghui Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. for the comprehensive utilization of waste gas to produce 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year is located in the Naomaohu Industrial Park in Yiwu County, Hami City, Xinjiang, with a total investment of 3.56 billion yuan. The project adopts the third-generation \"WHB syngas-based polyester-grade ethylene glycol\" technology, jointly developed by China Five Rings and Huashuo Technology Co., Ltd. as well as Hebi BMW (Group) Co., Ltd. Through a series of processes including conversion, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, and PSA adsorption separation, the valuable syngas components H2 and CO present in raw gas are extracted, and high-end chemical products—polyester-grade ethylene glycol—are produced using carbonylation, hydrogenation, and purification technologies. Data shows that this PSA-CO unit is also the largest pressure swing adsorption CO purification unit in the world to date. The Guanghui ethylene glycol project was built in two phases: Phase 1 has a capacity of 200,000 tons, with a total investment of 1.87 billion yuan, while Phase 2 also has a capacity of 200,000 tons, requiring a total investment of 1.686 billion yuan. For a long time, the effective utilization of waste gas resources has been a challenge for the industry. Rough gas has a complex composition and a high nitrogen content; obtaining qualified syngas from it requires a series of purification processes, which is extremely difficult. Therefore, in the past, most of this waste gas was used for combustion to generate electricity or simply burned off, resulting in low energy utilization rates, significant resource waste, and substantial environmental pressures. This project utilizes waste gas to produce 400,000 tons per year of ethylene glycol. By properly arranging the various treatment units in the purification system and taking into account the operational experience of existing enterprises, the process parameters are continuously adjusted. During the conversion process, the organic sulfur present in the waste gas is transformed into H2S, which can be easily recovered, and sulfur is produced through wet sulfur recovery systems. This approach enables maximum utilization of the waste gas resources, allowing complex waste gas to be converted into useful syngas. As a result, approximately 600,000 tons of CO2 can be reduced annually directly, with an additional 1.7 million tons of CO2 reduced indirectly. It is a typical example of an environmentally friendly and energy-saving project that makes use of industrial exhaust gases. Compared with coal-based ethylene glycol production, using waste gas to produce ethylene glycol can save more than 30% in project construction costs. It helps to significantly reduce the production costs of ethylene glycol and improve the overall profitability of the project. This approach not only aligns with the concept of green development but also plays a very positive role in promoting energy conservation and emission reduction as well as protecting the ecological environment.