Three coal-to-natural gas projects in Xinjiang, with investments exceeding 50 billion yuan, have passed the preliminary review by the National Development and Reform Commission

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Recently, with the active promotion of the Development and Reform Commission of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the three coal-to-natural gas projects under the Zhundong Coal-to-Oil and Gas Strategic Base initiative – Xinjiang Tianchi Energy, **Energy Group, and Xinjiang Xinye Group – have all been assigned identification codes and have received pre-review approval from the **Development and Reform Commission. In accordance with relevant regulations, project approval and registration must be handled through the **online approval and supervision platform for projects. The approval authorities, registration authorities, and other relevant departments use the project codes generated by this online platform to carry out the necessary procedures. Receiving the codes issued by the **Development and Reform Commission** and the **Energy Bureau** is equivalent to giving the project an **official ‘ID card’**, allowing preliminary steps such as project approval to be carried out in a **legal manner**. As a supporting project for the Qudong coal-to-oil and gas production strategy base, coal-to-natural gas is of great significance for comprehensively advancing the development of the **\"three bases and one corridor\" in the new era, for establishing a strategic energy and resource supply base across the country, and for promoting the high-quality development of the energy economy in the autonomous region. Next, the Development and Reform Commission of the autonomous region will guide and urge the project owners to expedite the completion of all preliminary procedures, so as to push forward the start of construction as soon as possible and contribute to the high-quality development of the coal-to-natural gas industry. **The Phase I project of the coal-to-natural gas facility with a capacity of 2 billion cubic meters per year, operated by Energy Group’s Xinjiang branch, **Energy Group’s Xinjiang branch plans to build a coal-to-natural gas plant in the Xiheshan Industrial Park within the Jundong Economic and Technological Development Zone in Xinjiang. The total capacity of this facility will be 4 billion cubic meters per year, with an investment of around 25.03 billion yuan. The project will cover an area of approximately 400 hectares, and it will enable the annual conversion of 16.12 million tons of raw coal into natural gas on-site. The key stages of the project utilize domestic processes and equipment, with the gasification technology employing a combination of pressurized coal gasification and pressurized pulverized coal gasification. The project also includes plans to build 1,000 MW of wind and solar power generation facilities, as well as 1 GW of photovoltaic power plants for hydrogen production, combined with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology, in order to reduce coal consumption and lower carbon dioxide emissions. According to the plan, the total investment for the first phase of the Zhundong coal-to-natural gas project with an output of 2 billion cubic meters per year is approximately 17.061 billion yuan (including value-added tax), and the project covers an area of about 223.85 hectares. The main components of the first-phase project include: an air separation unit, a coal gasification unit (fixed-bed gasification, gas-water separation, ammonia and phenol removal from the gas stream, refrigeration, and compression), a methanization unit (high-temperature methanization, natural gas compression and drying units, liquefied natural gas production units), a sulfur recovery unit, power generation and new energy facilities (150 MW of photovoltaic capacity including energy storage, 10,000 Nm3/h of hydrogen production via water electrolysis, and a CCUS facility with an annual capacity of 500,000 tons), as well as boilers, utility systems, and auxiliary production facilities required to support these process units. The 2 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project in Zhundong is carried out by Xinjiang Xinye State-owned Assets Operation (Group) Co., Ltd. The contractor for this project is Wojiang Clean Energy (Xinjiang Zhundong Economic and Technological Development Zone) Co., Ltd., and the construction site is located in the Jiji Lake Industrial Park within the Zhundong Economic and Technological Development Zone in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. The estimated investment for this project is 15.5 billion yuan. The main process units include: coal preparation, air separation, thermal power plant, water supply and drainage, coal gasification, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, methane synthesis, natural gas compression and drying, gas-water separation, phenol and ammonia recovery, coal lock gas compression, compression refrigeration, hydrogen production by water electrolysis, carbon capture, waste heat utilization and flaring systems, environmental monitoring stations, gas protection stations, foam fire fighting stations, central laboratory, storage facilities for auxiliary materials, fire stations, chemical warehouses/hazardous chemicals warehouses, hazardous waste temporary storage areas, as well as various temporary facilities throughout the plant. Xinjiang Tianchi Energy Co., Ltd.’s 2 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project in Zhundong. Xinjiang Tianchi Energy Co., Ltd. is a large-scale energy enterprise established as part of TBEA’s strategy to utilize the region’s abundant resources; it holds exploration rights for four coal mines – the South Open-Pit Coal Mine and the North Open-Pit Coal Mine in the Zhundong Da Jing mining area, as well as the General Soldier Gobi No. 1 and No. 2 Open-Pit Coal Mines in the Zhundong Xi Hei Shan mining area. The total proven coal reserves in these areas amount to 12.6 billion tons. The 4 billion Nm3/a coal-to-natural gas project in Zhundong is implemented by Xinjiang Zhuneng Chemical Co., Ltd., which is controlled by Xinjiang Tianchi Energy Co., Ltd. The 2 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project of Xinjiang Tianchi Energy Co., Ltd. in Zhundong has adopted the coal ash gasification process to produce raw gas; this raw gas is then purified through sulfur-resistant shift reaction and low-temperature methanol washing to yield syngas, which is subsequently used in methanation to produce synthetic natural gas (SNG) products. The total designed capacity of the project for coal-to-natural gas production is 2 billion Nm3/year (nominal capacity); in addition, hydrogen production via water electrolysis at a rate of 15,000 tons per year, along with carbon capture at a rate of 100,000 tons per year, are also included as part of this facility. Annual operating time is Nm3/h, 8000 hours