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Last week, reporters learned from Yulin Energy Chemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shandong Energy Group’s Yanzhou Coal Industry (hereinafter referred to as Yulin Energy Chemical) that in 2025, the production volumes of its two key products – methanol and dimethyl methyl ether (DMMn) – both reached new historical highs. As a result, the efficiency of its production and operations improved significantly, enabling the company to overcome challenges and achieve better performance. Among these, technological upgrades helped reduce costs and increase efficiency by 51.64 million yuan, yielding fruitful results. By 2025, Yulin Energy Chemicals will adhere to the approach of \"market orientation and efficiency focus,\" taking advantage of the downward trend in raw material prices and stable methanol prices to resolutely pursue efforts to improve quality, implement lean management, and reduce costs while increasing efficiency. The company has established a precise and efficient production command system, strengthening leadership and coordination among various functions in order to maintain stable production levels and achieve higher yields, thus ensuring the orderly progress of production. Continuously advance lean management, optimize production operation organization, and reduce unit consumption. Strengthening the operation control of the two furnaces, optimizing the coal mix used in these furnaces, increasing the concentration of the coal slurry, and strictly controlling the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio have led to a continuous increase in methanol production, with an increase of 87,300 tons on a year-on-year basis. Zhang Jianli, a member of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of Yulin Energy Chemicals, told reporters that the company firmly adheres to a mindset of careful cost management, upholds the principle that \"cost control is key to success,\" encourages all employees to innovate and tap into internal potential. It carries out activities such as \"daily performance dashboards,\" \"weekly economic performance analyses,\" and \"waste identification,\" formulates production plans based on optimal efficiency, and strives to manage operations at the lowest possible costs. The gasification unit is the cornerstone of coal chemical industry. Of Yulin Energy Chemical Company’s 6 gasification units, one employs the world’s first multi-nozzle opposed semi-waste-boiler gasification technology, capable of producing over 80 tons per hour of superheated steam at 9.8 MPa and 540°C. Given that the steam generated as a by-product in the original design was used for power generation and had limited utility, the company connected the steam produced by the semi-waste boiler gasifier to the boiler’s steam main last year, allowing the steam to be used directly in the production system. Not only was one 260-ton/hour coal-fired boiler shut down, but annual savings of over 20 million yuan were also achieved, resulting in improvements both in economic benefits and environmental protection. Yulin Energy Chemicals is fully embracing artificial intelligence to accelerate its digital transformation, and to promote the optimization and upgrading of DCS systems as well as the development of smart factories. In October 2025, the \"Intelligent Optimization System for Methanol Distillation Process\" equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) technology was successfully implemented in the distillation section of the synthesis workshop. This system enabled autonomous optimization and stable control of the process, reduced the need for manual operations, and significantly lowered the workload on employees. While increasing methanol production, it reduced steam consumption to 0.82 tons per ton of methanol produced and coal consumption to 1.71 tons per ton. This led to annual savings of 2 million yuan, with both product quality and production efficiency seeing improvements. Meanwhile, Yulin Energy Chemicals focused on the challenges related to the long operation periods of the equipment and energy consumption control, and carried out targeted technical improvements. It implemented a series of key renovation projects, including upgrades to the water temperature control system of the semi-waste gasifier, improvements to the quench water nozzle design, and anti-slagging coatings. As a result, the gasifier was able to operate continuously for 244 days per year, an increase of 76 days compared to the previous year; the maximum operating period for a single gasifier increased to 88 days. Implement cost-reduction upgrades through low-quality heat coupling for key equipment in the DMMn unit, optimize the efficiency of the formaldehyde-silver catalyst used in this unit, and increase its production capacity by 20%. (Li Jun, Song Zuo-hao)