Beginner’s question: Is coal-to-ethanol production industrialized yet?

It’s already industrialized – coal-based ethanol; it is said that ethylene glycol is also available

There are numerous reports on pilot-scale studies for the one-step synthesis of ethanol from syngas. But there should be no industrial facilities. The term \"coal-to-ethanol\" is a bit too general, as it is essentially impossible to convert coal directly into ethanol through a single reaction step. However, through a combination of multiple reaction separation steps, or even combinations of steps that are already in industrial use, it should be possible to ultimately synthesize ethanol from coal; but whether this is economically viable is another matter. Possible routes include at least: coal ==》syngas ==》methanol ==》ethylene ==》ethanol (there are already industrial plants under construction for the production of ethylene from methanol). The hydration of ethylene to produce ethanol is a mature process, and several factories in China have used this technology to manufacture ethanol. ) Coal ==》 Syngas ==》 Methanol ==》 Acetic acid ==》 Ethanol (The production of acetic acid from syngas is a mature process. There is a large amount of laboratory data on the hydrogenation of acetic acid to ethanol, but the selectivity is not high (I recall it being around 70%). Therefore, some R&D institutions consider esterifying acetic acid with ethanol to produce ethyl acetate and then hydrogenating it to obtain ethanol in order to improve selectivity; this is a mature process. ) ). . . . . .

What was said upstairs is right – does it matter whether it’s significant or not?

It is in the process of industrialization; it seems to have great prospects

The profile picture upstairs is quite interesting. The synthesis of ethanol from syngas can be achieved in one step; I know that Taiyuan University of Technology is working on this. They mainly focus on mixed alcohols consisting of methanol and ethanol, as well as pure ethanol. The yield isn’t high, and it’s only at the pilot scale

It is said that Selenis has already been industrialized

Abroad, Searis exists in the United States; in China, there are no industrial projects for coal-based ethanol production yet. As for ethylene glycol, companies such as Yu Bu and Donghua Technology possess relevant technologies.

To date, there are no industrial facilities; Selenis is building one, with commissioning expected in the year after next. A small-scale installation by Jiangsu Sopu is under construction

They are all devices for producing ethanol through the hydrogenation of acetic acid; the yield of ethanol production from true syngas remains very low.

Reply to 3# Fred_bj: There seems to be some issue with this. I’m not familiar with the production of ethanol from ethylene water, but the production of ethylene glycol from it is likely the main manufacturing process in the petrochemical industry at present. There are likely no industrial plants for producing ethanol from syngas yet; only Celanese’s process for producing ethanol via acetic acid hydrogenation has been publicized. It’s still just under construction right now, isn’t it?