Coal-to-oil technology developed in China – A look at the 2020 **First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress award-winning project: 4 million tons per year capacity of coal indirect liquefaction technology

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Coal-to-oil technology developed in China – A look at the 2020 **First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress award-winning project: 4 million tons per year of coal indirect liquefaction technology. Author/Source: Sinochem News Network. Date: November 15, 2021. Clicks: 7. The country’s resource profile, characterized by abundant coal but limited oil and gas reserves, means that its energy structure, which is based on coal, is unlikely to change in the short term. Developing the coal-to-oil industry by making use of our country’s relatively abundant coal resources is of great strategic significance for addressing the shortage of oil resources, reducing dependence on imports, and enhancing our **energy security capabilities**. 　　The 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction technology development and industrialization project, completed through collaborative efforts by **Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Company and over 20 other organizations, resulted in the construction of the world’s largest coal indirect liquefaction facility with a capacity of 4 million tons per year. This project promoted the development of large-scale coal indirect liquefaction technologies and their industrial application, and it is of great significance for driving the development of China’s coal-to-oil industry. This project was recently awarded the **First Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress for 2020**. 　　Internationally leading in multiple key core technologies. This project has overcome the critical core technologies that have posed challenges in large-scale indirect coal liquefaction, enabling the transition from pilot-scale operations of a few thousand tons per year to industrial-scale production of 4 million tons per year. A large number of important innovations have been achieved in areas such as the basic theories of indirect coal liquefaction, key technologies, major equipment and materials, industrial-scale expansion and system integration techniques, as well as energy and water conservation. A set of replicable and scalable technologies for indirect coal liquefaction has been developed, and the world’s largest industrial facility for indirect coal liquefaction with a capacity of 4 million tons per year has been built, placing its overall technical level at the forefront of the world. 　　“Building the world’s largest coal indirect liquefaction plant with an annual capacity of 4 million tons, and advancing the development and industrial application of large-scale coal indirect liquefaction technologies, is of great significance for driving the development of China’s coal-to-oil industry. ”**The relevant official from Ningxia Coal Industry Company, part of the energy group, used the term “internationally leading” several times to describe the remarkable achievements of this project. 　　——Developed the first high-temperature slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, reaching international leading standards ； 　　——The localization of major equipment and materials for million-ton-scale coal indirect liquefaction has been achieved, filling multiple gaps in China’s domestic industry and breaking foreign technological monopolies. It has also created a new benchmark at the international level in the field of 3,000-ton-class single-nozzle pressurized gasification technology ； 　　——A set of technologies for the integration of large-scale coal indirect liquefaction systems and their clean operation has been developed, enabling the safe, stable, and clean operation of the world’s largest coal indirect liquefaction plant with a capacity of 4 million tons per year. Compared with similar foreign technologies, it boasts significant advantages in terms of various types of consumption, energy efficiency, and oil production capacity. As evaluated by an expert panel of academicians, the overall technology of this project is at the international leading level. 　　Breaking through the key technical barriers in the coal-to-oil industry: The 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project began construction on September 28, 2013, at the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base. It is the largest chemical project of its kind in terms of initial investment in the world’s petrochemical and coal-to-oil industries. The project features complex processes and high technical challenges; it involves the construction of two production lines with an annual capacity of 2 million tons each, representing a complex integrated system composed of over 1,000 subsystems and 156 separate systems. The project completion units include: **Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Co., Ltd., Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sinocat Synthetic Oil Technology Co., Ltd., China Global Engineering Corporation, Shenyang Turbine Machinery Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Yitai Group Co., Ltd., Wuyang Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., Shanxi Lu’an Mining (Group) Co., Ltd., Gansu Lankē Petrochemical High-tech Equipment Co., Ltd., China Wuhuan Engineering Corporation, and others. 　　The project addresses the **significant demand for large-scale coal-to-oil industrialization technologies; it has enabled industrial applications of coal-to-oil on a million-ton scale, making China one of the few countries in the world that possess such advanced coal-to-oil technologies**. The project team keeps exerting pressure on itself and pursuing independent innovation, targeting the mid-to-high-end segment of the industry. By making full use of the characteristics of coal-to-oil processes and products, it has developed seven categories of new products, including white oil, Fischer-Tropsch wax, and monocarbon n-alkanes. This has enabled a shift from producing a single type of oil product to offering a diversified range of products. A total of 559 key technical upgrades have been carried out in four rounds for the coal-to-oil project, with continuous efforts being made to overcome the bottlenecks that affect safe, stable, and clean operation, thereby breaking through those critical core technologies that pose challenges to the development of the coal-to-oil industry. 　　Coal gasification is the key unit in coal-to-chemicals projects, as well as a vital facility. The project team carried out technical efforts to address these challenges, implementing more than 5,000 improvements to the key processes and stages of gasification. They overcame various issues such as unreasonable process design, complicated interlock controls, and high ash content in the raw gas, thereby achieving stable operation of the 5 gasification units in a configuration of \"four in use and one as backup\". By the end of 2017, both production lines of the 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction technology innovation, development and industrialization project had reached full capacity ； Began commercial operations in 2018 ； In 2019, the overall load of coal-to-oil production reached 90%, with the compliance rate of process parameters exceeding 99% ； After the maintenance in 2020 was completed, full-load operation on both lines was achieved, with daily and monthly production volumes continuously setting new records ； In 2021, the daily production of oil-based products reached a maximum of 11,800 tons. 　　**A responsible official from Ningxia Coal Industry Company, part of the energy group, explained that the project brought together over 800 top domestic design teams such as China Global and China Wuhuan, as well as national-level construction firms and suppliers; at its peak, more than 30,000 people were involved in the construction work. In the view of experts at home and abroad, this mega-project, which was supposed to take 60 months to complete, was finished in just 39 months. 　　On December 11, 2019, the 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction technology innovation, development, and industrialization project passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in Beijing. The appraisal committee is composed of 9 renowned experts in the field of energy and chemical engineering, including Academician Xie Kechang from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Academician Hu Yongkang from the Fushun Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology of Sinopec Corporation, Academician Yang Qiyeh from Sinopec Engineering Construction Company, and Academician Li Hongzhong from the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 　　The evaluation committee believes that this achievement is highly innovative, features a high degree of integration, and holds great strategic significance; it plays a vital role in enhancing China’s capacity for energy self-sufficiency. This project pioneered the high-temperature slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis process, achieving high yields of oil products and high energy utilization efficiency in coal indirect liquefaction, reaching international leading levels ； The developed high-efficiency slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactor enabled the engineering scale-up of high-temperature slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis ； Breakthroughs in the development of key technologies for major equipment such as single-nozzle dry coal powder pressurized gasification furnaces and highly pure hydrogen-resistant ultra-thick steel plates, as well as for critical materials, have enabled the domestic production of major equipment and materials used in coal indirect liquefaction on a million-ton scale. This has filled multiple gaps in China’s capabilities and broken foreign technological monopolies ； The development of integrated technologies for large-scale coal indirect liquefaction systems and their clean operation has enabled the safe, stable, and clean operation of the world’s largest single-unit coal indirect liquefaction plant with a capacity of 4 million tons per year; the overall technology involved in this project is at the international leading level. 　　It is of great significance for ensuring China’s energy security. The 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project is an industrialization demonstration project for coal-to-oil production that was approved for construction during the 12th Five-Year Plan period by the **National Development and Reform Commission. The core technologies used include the iron-based high-temperature slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology developed by Sinocat Synthetic Oil Technology Co., Ltd., as well as the Shenning furnace dry-coal powder pressurized gasification technology developed by Ningxia Coal Industry Company. 　　“Coal-to-liquid technology has long been monopolized by foreign countries. Given China’s resource endowment, Chinese researchers have been striving to make breakthroughs in this field; in 2012, a breakthrough was achieved in the indirect coal liquefaction technology. The pilot test of the 160,000 tons/year FTO indirect liquefaction synthesis technology for Sinochem synthetic oil was successful, creating the conditions for further scale-up. ”**A relevant official from Ningxia Coal Industry Company, part of the energy group, explained. 　　A new type of highly efficient high-temperature slurry-bed iron-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst has enabled industrial production on a ten-thousand-ton scale; large-scale high-temperature slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactors with capacities ranging from 50 tons per year to 800,000 tons per year have overcome the challenges associated with the manufacturing of such major equipment and materials. The integrated technology and clean operation solutions for large-scale coal indirect liquefaction systems have been applied in 3 commercial demonstration plants with a capacity of millions of tons each, as well as 2 industrial demonstration plants with a capacity of 160,000 tons each. These include the world’s largest single-unit coal indirect liquefaction plant with an annual capacity of 4 million tons operated by Ningxia Coal Group, the 1.2 million tons per year coal-based chemicals plant run by Yitai Group in Inner Mongolia, and the 1 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction plant operated by Lu’an Group in Shanxi. Through technical integration and re-innovation, the project team achieved industrial scaling up and industrial demonstration, developing a complete set of coal-based synthetic oil technologies with fully independent intellectual property rights. 　　The 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project has been in operation for a total of 885 days to date; it has undergone two major maintenance and upgrade campaigns, during which a total of 6.847 million tons of oil-based products were produced. The successful implementation of this project has broken the foreign technological monopolies over a number of key technologies, major equipment, and materials. It has laid a solid technical foundation for the industrial development of coal-to-oil production in China. Moreover, it has helped numerous equipment manufacturing enterprises rise to the ranks of world-class players. Thus, it holds great strategic and practical significance for ensuring a diversified energy supply and safeguarding China’s energy security. 　　At present, the outcomes of this project are being applied in Shaanxi Yulin’s large-scale integrated upgrade demonstration project, which involves the production of 5 million tons of coal-based oil along with 1 million tons per day of liquefied natural gas. These efforts aim to meet the core requirements of the energy strategy, reduce the pressure associated with oil and gas imports, and make further contributions to the clean, efficient, and low-carbon conversion and utilization of coal.