China Shenhua invests 36.5 billion yuan in the upgrade demonstration project for direct coal liquefaction in Ordos – project now fully underway

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It was recently reported that the tendering process for services related to energy efficiency assessment, soil and water conservation design, as well as the preparation and submission of necessary documents for forest and grassland approvals for the upgrade demonstration project for direct coal liquefaction at the Ordos Coal-to-Oil Branch of China Shenhua Coal-to-Oil Chemical Co., Ltd. has been completed. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of 2024. The total land area for this project (excluding off-site slag dumps, roads outside the plant, pipelines outside the plant, coal unloading areas, coal washing areas, etc.) is 328.5 ha, of which 297.5 ha is occupied by the main plant area, 22.0 ha by the loading and unloading area, and 9.0 ha by the purified water treatment facility. Preliminary estimates indicate that the total volume of earthwork to be excavated for the project is 12.566 million m3, while the total volume of earthwork to be filled is 11.325 million m3. The excess amount of 1.241 million m3 will be disposed of as waste soil. China Shenhua Coal-to-Oil Chemical Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Energy Group, with a registered capital of 30.7 billion yuan. The company’s predecessor was China Shenhua Coal-to-Oil Co., Ltd., which was established in June 2003. It is mainly engaged in businesses related to the clean conversion and utilization of coal, such as coal-to-oil and coal chemical processing; its main products include diesel, naphtha, liquefied gas, polyethylene, polypropylene, methanol, etc. The demonstration projects that have been completed and are currently in operation include: a demonstration project for direct coal liquefaction with an annual capacity of millions of tons; Shenhua Baotou Coal-to-Olefins Project, which is the first facility in China capable of producing 600,000 tons of polyolefins per year; and Asia’s largest CCS demonstration project, with an annual processing capacity of 100,000 tons. The Shenhua direct coal liquefaction project is one of the key projects under the 10th Five-Year Plan. It is a major project that relates to energy strategies, industrial strategies, as well as Shenhua Group’s own development strategies, and it was officially approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in September 2002. The initial investment in the project was 15 billion yuan, with an annual production capacity of 1.03 million tons of petroleum products, mainly including diesel fuel for vehicles and liquefied petroleum gas; by-products included industrial crude phenol and industrial sulfur. The plant was successfully commissioned on December 31, 2008, after a single trial run. The core units of Shenhua’s coal direct liquefaction technology include various key process units such as coal preparation, catalyst preparation, coal liquefaction, hydrogenation stabilization, hydrogenation reforming, light hydrocarbon recovery, coal-to-hydrogen production, air separation boilers, desulfurization, sulfur recovery, oil sludge shaping, phenol recovery, and stripping of sulfur-containing wastewater. The Coal-to-Oil Upgrading Demonstration Project of the Ordos Coal-to-Oil Branch of China Shenhua Coal-to-Oil Chemical Co., Ltd. focuses on upgrading and demonstrating the next-generation technology for coal direct liquefaction, and it is a project that has been approved. The construction site is located in Wulamulun Town, Yijinholuo Banner, Ordos City. Construction is planned to begin in 2024, with production starting by the end of 2027. The upgraded demonstration project for direct coal liquefaction relies on a new generation of direct coal liquefaction technology with complete independent intellectual property rights. With a total investment of 36.481 billion yuan, the project aims to build a new direct coal liquefaction production line with an annual capacity of 2.16 million tons. The coal to be used as the feedstock for liquefaction, while the Shendong Shangwan coal or Bulianta coal owned by the **Energy Group will be used as the feedstock for gasification. The processing route involves \"coal liquefaction – hydrogenation stabilization – hydrogenation reforming\". A coal-to-gas system is also in place to supply gas for an indirect liquefaction unit with an annual capacity of 180,000 tons. The construction includes 16 process units such as coal liquefaction, hydrodesulfurization, hydroprocessing, and coal gasification. The main products of the project include: vehicle diesel, military diesel, aviation kerosene, naphtha, liquefied gas, pitch coke, etc. After the project was implemented, the total energy consumption was 3.1 million tons of standard coal. The total carbon emissions, in the form of carbon dioxide, amount to 12.71 million tons per year.