Shenhua completed the world’s first and largest coal-to-olefins project globally

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China Chemical Industry News, June 4, 2010. On May 31, the commissioning ceremony for the petrochemical facilities of Shenhua Baotou Coal-to-Olefins project was held in Baotou City, marking the complete completion of the world’s first and largest coal-to-olefins facility. Zhao Shuanglian, deputy head of the autonomous region; Zhang Yuzhuo, general manager of Shenhua Group Company, and Wang Xiaolin, deputy general manager; as well as municipal leaders Huercha and Lian Suchu, attended the celebration ceremony. Hu Ercha, deputy secretary of the Baotou Municipal Party Committee and mayor, noted that the Shenhua Baotou coal-to-olefins project is the largest industrial investment project in the autonomous region over the past 60 years, aside from Baotou Steel. It will play a significant role in driving economic development in Baotou, particularly in advancing the process of modern industrialization, facilitating structural adjustments and upgrades in the industry, and helping to build a coal chemical industry cluster with strong competitiveness on a national level. The local authorities will, as always, provide strong support for the development of the coal chemical industry cluster led by Shenhua, creating a favorable environment and conditions for the project’s commissioning and subsequent production operations. The Shenhua Baotou coal-to-olefins project is one of the five modern coal chemical demonstration projects identified, including coal-to-oil, coal-to-olefins, coal-to-dimethyl ether, coal-to-methane gas, and coal-to-ethylene glycol. The full completion of this project represents a major milestone in the history of the development of modern new coal chemical industries in our country. This project is the world’s first and largest of its kind; its core equipment utilizes China’s own DMTO process technology. The project comprises a coal-based methanol integrated chemical complex with an annual production capacity of 1.8 million tons (including five units for air separation, gasification, purification, sulfur recovery, and methanol synthesis), as well as a methanol-based polyolefin integrated petrochemical complex with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons (including four units for converting methanol into olefins, olefin separation, and the production of polyethylene and polypropylene). In addition, there are thermal power plants, utility facilities, auxiliary production systems, and off-site infrastructure, bringing the total to six systems and 46 units and components. Approved by the **National Development and Reform Commission in December 2006. Designed and constructed in 2007, the project was completed and put into trial operation in 2010. On May 28, the last two production units for olefin separation and polypropylene, which were signed for installation, were delivered ahead of schedule; thus, all units and facilities of the project were completed. More than 20,000 builders from 70 organizations participated in the construction. The total investment in the project is approximately 17 billion yuan (including the air separation unit). It is understood that once the Shenhua Baotou coal-to-olefins project is completed, it will enter the full-scale commissioning phase; in June of this year, the combined chemical processing units will start producing MTO-grade methanol using coal as feedstock ； Full-scale commissioning with feedstock introduction in September. Among the three coal-to-olefins projects under construction in the country, efforts will be made to be the first to complete the entire production process and to produce qualified polyolefin products. Thorough validation and demonstration will be carried out in various aspects such as the product orientation, process routes, technical reliability, scale-up of the process, technical equipment, water usage, environmental impact, economic feasibility, and operational management of coal-to-olefins technologies.