Coal-to-liquid industrialization accelerates amid controversy

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Coal-to-liquids industrialization speeds up amid controversy 2009-03-26 China Chemical Information Network Following the successful trial production of Shenhua Group's coal-to-liquids direct-to-liquids project, Inner Mongolia Yitai Group announced on March 23 that the 160,000-ton-per-year coal-to-liquids industrialization demonstration project was successfully put into trial operation, becoming my country's first large-scale coal-to-liquids industrialization device to produce oil on a trial basis. It can be seen that the pace of industrialization of coal-to-liquids in my country is accelerating. However, since the second half of last year, international oil prices have plummeted, and high coal prices have also increased the cost of oil production. Where should the controversial coal-to-liquids industry go? 　　Energy security will add "new chips" In recent years, the contradiction between my country's oil production and demand has become increasingly acute. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, my country's net oil imports reached 199.85 million tons last year, a year-on-year increase of 12.55%, and the dependence on foreign oil has reached 51.3%. And experts predict that oil imports will still increase in the future. 　　What should be particularly vigilant is that in recent years, international oil prices have continued to rise, reaching a record of US$147.27 per barrel last year. During this period, due to tight supply, oil shortages occurred frequently in various parts of the country. “Promoting the industrialization of coal-to-liquids can open up new liquid energy production channels and contribute to ensuring * * Energy security is of great significance. ”Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region * * deputy chief * Zhao Shuanglian said. 　　Take Shenhua Group’s coal-to-oil project as an example. The project scale is 5 million tons per year. Only the first demonstration production line, which was successfully put into trial production, can convert about 3.5 million tons of coal and produce 1.08 million tons of diesel, naphtha and other products every year after it is officially put into operation. 　　The industry is beginning to take shape. Affected by factors such as rising oil prices and tight supply, there have been calls for the development of the domestic coal-to-liquids industry in the past few years. * * It is also proposed to promote the construction of coal liquefaction demonstration projects in an orderly manner during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period to lay the foundation for industrial development. 　　It is against this background that the Shenhua Group coal-to-liquids project was first launched. According to reports, after the first million-ton demonstration production line produces oil, Shenhua Group will continue to debug and improve it. If progress goes well, it will build two more million-ton production lines in recent years. 　　Zhang Shuangwang, chairman of Yitai Group, also said that after the successful trial operation of the indirect coal-to-liquids demonstration project with an annual output of 160,000 tons, we will strive to achieve formal production and full-load operation within this year. After that, the equipment will be upgraded and a new generation of coal classification liquefaction technology will be applied to gradually expand the production capacity to about 600,000 tons per year, and plan to build a coal-to-liquids base with an annual output of 5 million tons. 　　Other projects are progressing quickly. At the end of December last year, Lu'an Mining Group's small-scale indirect coal-to-liquids test device produced oil products on a trial basis. Currently, the indirect coal-to-liquids device with an annual output of 160,000 tons is also stepping up its debugging. At the same time, Yanzhou Mining Group and Xuzhou Mining Group are also planning coal-to-liquid projects. In addition, other companies in more than 10 provinces and regions including Xinjiang, Shandong, Shaanxi, Guizhou, and Ningxia are competing to plan and build coal-to-liquid projects. The scale of a single production line generally ranges from more than 100,000 to 1 million tons. According to some experts' estimates, my country's coal-to-liquid production capacity will reach 30 million to 50 million tons by 2020. 　　Faced with the controversy and responded to questions about the current view that coal-to-liquids should not be produced but should be regarded as technical reserves, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Coal Transformation * * Deputy Director of the Key Laboratory, Head of the “863” Project on Indirect Coal Liquefaction Technology * Scientist Li Yongwang and others pointed out that if new technologies are not tested in practice and repeatedly improved, it will be difficult to achieve industrialization. In addition, the process of promoting industrialization can also improve the level of scientific research and equipment manufacturing, and train and cultivate talents. 　　Some experts also criticize coal-to-oil production for its alarming water consumption, low energy efficiency, and high pollution during production. In this regard, Li Yongwang said that the oil and water consumption per ton of the coal-to-liquids demonstration project is 10 to 12 tons. After the indirect coal-to-liquid production reaches an economic scale, the oil and water consumption per ton can be reduced to 6 to 8 tons. In comparison, the water consumption per ton of methanol produced from coal is about 15 tons, and the water consumption per ton of ammonia synthesized from coal is about 30 tons. 　　At the same time, after the scale is expanded to 600,000 tons and the hierarchical liquefaction technology is applied, the energy efficiency of indirect coal-to-liquid production will also increase from less than 40% in the demonstration stage to 43% to 45%, which is equivalent to the energy efficiency of thermal power plants. After large-scale production, it will further increase to about 55%. In addition, my country's coal-to-liquids projects attach great importance to environmental protection. By applying technologies such as tail gas recovery, waste heat and carbon dioxide capture, the carbon dioxide emissions of the coal-to-liquids demonstration project are more than 70% lower than those of thermal power plants. Shenhua Group’s direct coal-to-oil project has also built complete environmental protection facilities such as oil residue power generation and sewage treatment, with near-zero emission of pollutants. The coal-to-liquids demonstration project of Yitai Group has also built supporting systems such as dust removal, sewage reuse, sulfur recovery, and waste heat recovery.