Ethylene glycol from coal
Thread Content
I heard that Danhua Company and Shanghai Jinmei are building a 200,000-ton/year coal-to-ethylene glycol project in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia. Which expert is aware of the progress of this project? What are its prospects? With the use of ethane dehydration in the Middle East to produce cheap ethylene, which **reduces the costs of producing ethylene glycol via this method, what are the prospects for developing ethylene glycol production through coal-based chemical processes? Thank you!
The cost of producing ethylene glycol via the coal chemical route is relatively low.
The production cost of ethylene glycol made from coal should have an advantage; after all, the cost of ethylene in the Middle East is low, but it’s not produced domestically, and the costs associated with storing and transporting ethylene are also significant.
Currently, research on coal-based ethylene glycol is being carried out in many places; it’s possible to carry this out by modifying existing methanol production facilities and adding some additional equipment, so the prospects seem promising
However, the domestic technology is not up to standard at present, mainly due to the issue of catalyst lifespan. Moreover, oil prices of around $50 at present have significantly reduced the cost of ethylene glycol produced through the petrochemical route, eliminating any cost advantage for coal-based ethylene glycol; its prospects are concerning.
At present, the construction of the 200,000-ton ethylene glycol plant in the first phase of Tongliao Jinmei, which utilizes the complete set of process technologies for the gas-phase catalytic synthesis of oxalates from CO and the catalytic hydrogenation of oxalates to produce ethylene glycol, has entered a critical stage. It is expected to be completed and put into operation in August or September 2009. This is the world’s first set of industrial facilities for \"coal-to-ethylene glycol\" production, featuring independent intellectual property rights of our country.