What is the future of coal-based ethylene glycol? Is it real technology or just a facade?
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Coal-based ethylene glycol is a necessity of the times, but isn’t it not yet mature enough at the moment?
Although various research institutions have developed catalysts, issues such as short lifespan, high content of precious metal components, and difficulty in controlling hot spots during the reaction process persist. Moreover, the engineering scale-up of carbon monoxide dehydrogenation reactors, catalytic coupled carbonylation reactors, nitrite regeneration reactors, and hydrogenation reactors remains a challenge. The low overall yield of ethylene glycol is also difficult to resolve in the short term.
Furthermore, as a liquid chemical, the consumption of ethylene glycol in China is concentrated in the East and South China regions. If coal-based ethylene glycol projects are located in regions such as Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, they can take advantage of cheap coal, but they have to bear high transportation costs. On the other hand, if the projects are situated near consumption areas, the cost of coal doubles, which also significantly increases the costs for enterprises.
Reply to 1# happyww1985: The technology for producing ethylene glycol from coal certainly exists; it’s not some fake thing. Otherwise, would such large investments be made just for fun? But there is still a long way to go before technology transforms into real productivity. And it takes time to consider how technology can achieve true commercial value. And our biggest problem now is that the illusion of commercial value associated with technology is the most terrifying.
They keep talking about breakthroughs and innovation, they carry out lots of evaluations, invite a bunch of experts, and the test reports are impressively good-looking. As for the products, I’ve only seen the samples from Tongliao along with their fairly honest test reports; as for those from others, stop trying to intimidate people with certification stamps – who knows what you’re actually giving them?
Yes, beautiful quality inspection reports and clear, shiny samples are all just superficial things. It’s really hard to know what the essence is.
At present, the only industrial plant for producing ethylene glycol from coal is Danhua’s plant, which has not operated very stably; its maximum load is around 50%, and the problem mainly lies with the catalyst. The catalyst was replaced in October 2011; the effects of this replacement and any issues that may arise remain to be seen. However, as research progresses, I think things will get better and better.