Public announcement on the new construction project of Shaanxi Yanchang China Coal Yulin Energy Chemicals

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The Shaanxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment recently announced the information regarding the technology demonstration project for coal-gas co-gasification to produce syngas, carried out by Shaanxi Yanchang China Coal Yulin Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. In the production processes of the methanol unit, DCC, DMTO, and the project for the comprehensive utilization of naphtha and light diesel in Shaanxi Yanchang China Coal Yulin Energy Chemical Co., Ltd.’s two-phase coal, oil, and gas resource utilization projects, large amounts of dry gas or waste gas are generated as by-products. Part of this dry gas is recovered and used as fuel gas, while another part is sent to flares; the hydrocarbon resources contained in it are not fully utilized. Shaanxi Yanchang China Coal Yulin plans to feed this by-product dry gas into a multi-feedstock slurry gasification unit, where it will be gasified together with coal to produce syngas. Coal-gas co-gasification was demonstrated in the second-line gasification system of the methanol complex at the China Coal Yulin filling and improvement project. By modifying the gasification unit, coal and gas are gasified in the same furnace to adjust the components of the effective gas. Upon completion of the technical upgrades, the production capacity for hydrogen will increase by 20,000 m3/h, while CO2 emissions will be reduced; the methanol production volume remains unchanged. A new process burner was added as part of the technical upgrades; the process burner and some pipelines were modified, and a dry gas transmission system was installed. After compression, the dry gas is sent to the upgraded burner, where coal and the dry gas are gasified together to produce syngas. The remaining equipment and pipelines of the gasification unit can make use of existing ones. The project introduces 100,397.1 tons per year of dry gas for co-gasification. The production processes of the oilfield gas conversion unit and the methanol synthesis unit remain unchanged before and after the technical upgrade. This renovation only affects the gas processing section; the process flows of the other sections remain unchanged from those in the existing plant. The total investment for the project is 60.1083 million yuan. According to the published environmental impact assessment documents, pilot and scale-up tests for coal-gas co-gasification were carried out prior to the technical upgrade. For the pilot test, pure natural gas and water-coal slurry were used as raw materials. The pilot plant uses industrial natural gas with a methane content of about 93% and water-coal slurry as raw materials for gasification. In terms of theory, process, equipment suitability, and safety reliability, the system verified the characteristics of synergistic atomization and co-gasification of vapor-phase and slurry-phase raw materials within a four-channel nozzle, demonstrating the feasibility and advancement of the technology for co-gasifying natural gas with multi-component slurries. This provides key technical support for processing dry gas raw materials with more complex compositions. Current status of projects at Shaanxi Yanchang China Coal Yulin: According to the publicly available environmental impact assessment information, YuNengHua’s current projects include the first-phase development project in the Jingbian Energy and Chemical Industry Park, projects for filling in gaps and completing missing facilities, as well as projects for the comprehensive utilization of naphtha and light diesel. 1 Phase I launch projects 1.1 1.8 million tons per year of coal-to-methanol production, 1.5 million tons per year of thermal cracking of heavy residue oil (DCC), and comprehensive utilization projects for downstream products, including the following units. 1.8 million tons per year of methanol (1st methanol complex), 1.5 million tons per year of residue catalytic cracking (DCC), 600,000 tons per year of methanol-to-olefins (DMTO), 600,000 tons per year of polyethylene production capacity (300,000 tons per year for LLDPE and 300,000 tons per year for HDPE), and 600,000 tons per year of polypropylene production capacity (300,000 tons per year for PP Line 1 and 300,000 tons per year for PP Line 2). The project was commissioned in August 2016. The 1.2 Mt/year MTBE/1-butene complex includes a unit capable of producing 90,000 tons/year of MTBE and 40,000 tons/year of 1-butene. Accepted in June 2016. 1.3 Light hydrocarbon comprehensive utilization project: 117,000 tons/year FTO naphtha cracking unit. Accepted in September 2022. 2 Phase I startup projects: completion of the 1.8 million tons/year methanol plant (2nd methanol complex), the 600,000 tons/year methanol-to-olefins (DMTO) plant, the 400,000 tons/year polypropylene (PP3) plant, and the 300,000 tons/year polyethylene (LDPE/EVA) plant; acceptance scheduled for April 2022. 3 The comprehensive utilization project for naphtha and light diesel includes the following units. 250,000 tons per year of light naphtha hydrorefining; 200,000 tons per year of light diesel hydroprocessing; 250,000 tons per year of olefin feedstock refining; 200,000 tons per year of heavy aromatic hydrocarbons adsorption separation unit. All of the above units have been constructed but not yet inspected.