Coal liquefaction for oil production: Shenhua, Shanxi Coal Chemistry Institute, and Yankuang’s technical capabilities and development prospects

The first set of Shenhua direct coal liquefaction plant for oil production, with a capacity of 3 million tons of oil products per year, began to process coal at 14:46 on December 30, 2008. After 16 hours of operation, oil residue was successfully formed by 7:00 on December 31, completing the entire process and yielding qualified oil products and chemical substances. This marked a breakthrough in Shenhua’s direct coal liquefaction demonstration project and was of milestone significance. Shenhua’s indirect liquefaction coal-to-oil plant, with a capacity of 180,000 tons of oil products per year, is scheduled to undergo trial operations in 2010. The project is located in Ordos, near the Shenhua 1 million tons per year coal direct liquefaction plant, which has already been successfully tested. Completion of construction is expected in 2009, with trial operation to take place in 2010. The second set is Yitai’s indirect coal liquefaction to oil plant, with a capacity of 160,000 tons of oil products per year; it will undergo trial operation in March. Among them, the air separation and gasification units were successfully commissioned in February. The air separation unit was supplied by Air Liquide, while the gasification unit utilizes the multi-feed slurry gasification technology developed by the Northwest Research Institute. The Yitai coal-to-oil project is located in the Dalu Coal Chemical Industry Park in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. It was approved in 2005 and construction began in 2006; to date, 2.3 billion yuan has been invested in it. At 15:00 on March 20, 2009, the first batch of oil was produced, and analysis showed that all parameters were within acceptable limits. ! Actually, oil was produced on March 17, but the parameters did not meet the standards. The third unit is Lu’an’s indirect liquefaction coal-to-oil plant, with a capacity of 160,000 tons of oil products per year; it is scheduled to undergo trial operation in April. The Lü installation is located in Tunliu County, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province. Construction began in February 2006, and to date more than 3 billion yuan has been invested in it. The project also includes a production facility for 180,000 tons per year of synthetic ammonia and 300,000 tons per year of urea. Previously, Lu’an’s cobalt-based fixed-bed pilot plant completed its trial operation at the end of 2008, successfully producing oil products. This post was last edited by firefox1981 on 2009-4-7 09:03]

Luan’s cobalt-based fixed-bed pilot plant was commissioned by the end of 2008, and it succeeded in producing oil products. This post was last edited by firefox1981 on 2009-4-7 09:03.]

1. Shenhua focuses on the direct liquefaction of coal, and everyone is watching the progress being made in this area. Shu Geping, who led the development of the book \"Coal Liquefaction Technology,\" used to be a key figure at the Beijing Coal Research Institute; indirect liquefaction involves adopting the technology developed by Sasol in South Africa. 2. The Shanxi Coal Chemistry Research Institute actually has two main research areas: one is the cobalt-based fixed-bed FT synthesis technology led by Sun Yuhan, for which an industrial demonstration plant was built in Lu’an, and it was reported recently that this plant has begun operations. The other is the iron-based slurry bed technology led by Li Yongwang; the 160,000-ton industrial demonstration plant at Yitai uses this technology. Meanwhile, Zhongke Synthetic Oil Company was established in Beijing, which actually relies on the technology originally developed by the Shanxi Coal Chemistry Institute. 3. Yankuang focuses on the indirect liquefaction of coal; the research and development work is led by Dr. Sun Qiwen, who returned from South Africa. There are two approaches: low-temperature iron-based slurry bed technology and high-temperature iron-based fixed fluidized bed technology. Both of these technologies have been tested on a scale of 10,000 tons. A low-temperature iron-based slurry bed industrial demonstration project with a capacity of 1 million tons was planned to be carried out in Yulin, but it has been put on hold due to a change in policy; it’s unclear what the current status is. This post was last edited by firefox1981 on 2009-4-7 09:03]

Those coal-to-oil manufacturers that are able to operate successfully at present should have a promising future, and they will achieve great success in the years to come!

Yankuang is in a tough spot – it does have the technology, but approval has not been granted yet, and it seems they have missed the best opportunity.

It’s unclear which forces Yankuang has offended; the project seems to be on hold for now. I wonder if anyone on the forum knows the truth behind this. Could someone who knows tell me? If you answer me that it’s due to major policies, that’s not the truth; that’s a lie. It’s incomprehensible that a project that requires three rounds of feasibility studies isn’t halted by the Development and Reform Commission, while projects like Yankuang, which rely on their own efforts, are held up. The commercial coal-to-oil plants, as well as the engineering and technical aspects related to coal-to-oil production, cannot be mastered just by having someone else build such plants for you. It is necessary to train one’s own engineers, technicians, and researchers, and to solve practical problems through hands-on experience in order to truly master coal-to-oil technology! Putting the Yankuang project on hold goes against the idea expressed in the slogan of “vigorously supporting the development of advanced science and technology with one’s own intellectual property” (if there is any meaning behind that slogan).

Coal refining involves pressurizing coal for gasification in order to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are then used to synthesize gasoline and diesel. There are currently two methods for converting coal into oil on an international scale: one is direct coal refining, and the other is indirect refining. There are two methods for coal to oil conversion: direct liquefaction and indirect liquefaction. Direct liquefaction is selective regarding the type of coal used, but it has a high conversion efficiency; indirect liquefaction can be used with a wider range of coal types, yet its conversion efficiency is lower. Shenhua uses the direct method, while Yankuang uses the indirect method. 　　 There is also another route: using coal as a raw material to produce methanol, which is then used to manufacture dimethyl ether, which can serve as a liquid fuel. Currently, several such production lines are under construction across the country.

I would like to ask why the coal indirect liquefaction technology introduced in Ordos from South Africa results in an output of only 180,000 tons. Does this 180,000-ton capacity refer to a pilot plant?

Ma Hai has made things very clear. I’m not sure which company you are referring to when you say that the South African technology used for the indirect coal liquefaction in Ordos results in only 180,000 tons of output Is it from the Yitai Group? Strictly speaking, 180,000 tons does not truly constitute an industrial-scale plant, but for promotional purposes, and given that at present the only facility for indirect liquefaction in China is that operated by Yitai, it can be classified as a semi-industrial facility. Additionally, to add on to what Jian Mahai said, Shenhua’s approach to liquefaction involves directly adopting the technology from South Africa’s Sasol. ”It’s just generally true that the Shenhua Ningmei indirect liquefaction project is indeed in discussions with SASOL. However, Shenhua in Ordos also possesses an indirect liquefaction facility, and the technology used is the same one employed for synthetic oil production by China Coal Research Institute – namely the technology developed under the leadership of Li Yongwang from the Shanxi Coal Chemistry Institute.

The 180,000-ton per year indirect liquefaction project in Ordos that I’m referring to uses the technology developed by China Coal Science & Technology for synthetic oil production. As for the project carried out in collaboration with South Africa, it is the 3.6 million tons per year indirect liquefaction coal-to-oil project jointly developed by Shenhua and Sasol in Ningxia; the feasibility study for this project is expected to be completed by 2010. This post was last edited by Ma Hai on 2009-4-6 16:09.]