【Haichuan Chemical Salary News】Hualu Engineering wins the general contract for Jiutai Energy’s 500,000-ton ethylene glycol project

Previous reports indicated a capacity of 1 million tons. On September 9, the signing ceremony for the technology transfer contract for Inner Mongolia Joutai New Materials Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year, as well as the EPCM management contract for the facility, was held at the company’s headquarters in Inner Mongolia. The holding of this signing ceremony officially marks the acceleration of Jutai New Materials Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year. Cui Lianguo, Chairman of Jutai Group, and Jane Toogood, Chief Executive Officer of CLP’s Efficient Natural Resources segment, signed the contracts for the transfer of ethylene glycol technology and formaldehyde technology on behalf of their respective parties. Mr. Wang Zhen, Chairman of Inner Mongolia Jiutai New Materials Co., Ltd., and Mr. Han Bing, Chairman of Hualu Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., signed the EPCM management general contract for the project installation on behalf of both parties. Cui Lianguo, chairman of Jutai Group, emphasized that the project to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year is a key element in Jutai’s strategic development. The partnerships with Zhuangxin Wanfeng David Technology Co., Ltd., Eastman Chemical Company, and Hualu Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. serve as powerful drivers for the rapid progress of Jutai’s ethylene glycol production project, representing a milestone in this regard. In the development of future projects, Jiu Tai will engage in closer and broader cooperation with all parties to accelerate the project progress and achieve mutual benefit. The innovative coal-based ethylene glycol route uses coal as a raw material; syngas is produced through gasification, and then ethylene glycol is synthesized from it. The main process routes include the one-step synthesis method, methanol synthesis method, formaldehyde synthesis method, and oxalate hydrogenation synthesis method. In 2013, Eastman in the United States and Davy of HSBC in the United Kingdom jointly developed and mastered the industrial technology for the hydrogenation synthesis of oxalates; the 1-million-ton-per-year ethylene glycol production project of Inner Mongolia Jutai Group was the first to adopt this technology. The project of Inner Mongolia JiuTai New Materials Co., Ltd. to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year is located in the Tuoketuo Industrial Park in Hohhot’s Helinger New Area. In June 2017, the product plan for this project was changed; instead of producing 1.7 million tons of coal-based olefins and related fine products per year, it now aims to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year. The project uses coal as raw material, and produces syngas through the mature domestic aerospace powder gasification technology, while ethylene glycol is synthesized using Zhejiang Xuanshin Wanfeng Davy Company’s formaldehyde hydrocarboxylation technology. At present, Jutai Group has established four coal chemical projects in Inner Mongolia, namely those operated by Jutai Energy Inner Mongolia Co., Ltd., which produce 1 million tons of methanol and 100,000 tons of dimethyl ether; these facilities began operations in 2010 ； Jiutai Energy (Ordos) Co., Ltd.’s 500,000-ton ethylene glycol project (200,000 tons in the first phase) ； The 600,000-ton peroxide project of Jutai Energy (Jungar) Co., Ltd., as well as the 1 million-ton ethylene glycol and 1.8 million-ton PTA projects of Inner Mongolia Jutai New Materials Co., Ltd.

Currently, the main technical routes for ethylene glycol synthesis include the methods mentioned above. 1. The traditional method for producing ethylene glycol uses ethylene as a raw material, which is synthesized through two steps: oxidation and hydration. The raw materials for producing ethylene include naphtha, ethane, methanol, and others. The naphtha route is a traditional method for producing ethylene glycol, and it accounts for around 60% of the global capacity for ethylene glycol production at present. The advantage of this route is its mature manufacturing process and excellent product performance, but it has disadvantages such as reliance on petroleum resources, numerous by-products, high water consumption, high energy consumption, and high costs. The ethane route involves using associated gas from Middle Eastern oil fields or shale gas from North America as raw material to obtain cheap ethane, which is then converted into ethylene through cracking units, and ethylene is further used to produce ethylene glycol. This process route has a short flow and lower production costs for ethylene glycol, but it is also highly resource-intensive. The methanol method uses methanol as a raw material; through the Methanol to Olefins (MTO) process, ethylene is produced, and then via ethylene epoxidation, ethylene oxide hydration, and product purification, ethylene glycol is obtained. This process combines methanol-to-olefins with the traditional petroleum-based ethylene glycol route; it is a mature technology, but requires substantial investment and results in relatively high costs. 2. The syngas method uses syngas as a raw material to produce ethylene glycol in a direct or indirect manner. The direct method involves using syngas (CO+H2), and then directly synthesizing ethylene glycol from the syngas in a single step. This method has a high atom efficiency and is the simplest method for synthesizing ethylene glycol. This method is still in the research stage and is some way away from industrialization. The indirect method currently mainly relies on the oxalate process using coal. Dimethyl oxalate is obtained by the esterification and carbonylation of syngas, and ethylene glycol is produced via hydrogenation. Using coal as raw material, this route is suitable for China’s national conditions. It has developed rapidly in China in recent years, and now it is operating stably on an industrial scale, with its process technology becoming increasingly mature. The recently much-discussed formic acid-glycolic acid route also starts from coal-derived syngas; formic acid is produced from methanol, glycolic acid is obtained through hydroxycarbonylation of formic acid, methyl glycolate is formed by esterification of glycolic acid, and finally ethylene glycol is produced via hydrogenation. This process route is reported to be a David technology, and it offers certain advantages over the oxalate route in terms of reactor size, water consumption, and energy consumption; however, since industrial-scale demonstration has not yet been carried out, further investigation is needed to understand the specifics. A comprehensive comparison shows that, under the current oil price range of $60–70 per barrel, among the technologies that are already mature and in industrial use, the ethane route has the lowest cost (below 4,000 yuan); the cost of the process using coal and oxalate esters is around 4,500 yuan, which is lower than the cost of the petroleum-based method (around 5,000 yuan). Considering the trends in international oil prices as well as China’s national conditions, the technology for producing ethylene glycol from coal via the oxalate method possesses strong competitiveness.

Schematic diagram of the ethylene glycol synthesis route,,,

There are currently three technical routes for producing ethylene glycol (MEG) from coal as a raw material: 1. the syngas oxalate hydrogenation route; 2. the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process, followed by the oxidation of ethylene to produce ethylene oxide (EO), and then the hydration of EO to yield MEG; 3. the route in which syngas is not converted to oxalates. The syngas oxalate hydrogenation route is the most widely used at present, with 6 large-scale demonstration plants in operation, having a total production capacity of around 1.2 million tons. In addition, there are projects in the testing, construction, or planning stage with a total capacity of nearly 10 million tons.

The MTO route for the production of ethylene glycol is now in operation at Ningbo Fude’s plant, which has an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons of methanol and can produce 400,000 tons of polypropylene as well as 500,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year. The project passed the environmental protection inspection in December 2014 and the performance assessment in January 2015. Furthermore, the Shenhua Yulin Circular Economy Coal Comprehensive Utilization Project, which was approved by the **National Development and Reform Commission in March 2015, indicated in its environmental impact assessment report approved by the **Ministry of Environmental Protection in June 2014 that one of the product outputs of this project would be ethylene oxide/ethylene glycol.

The process for producing ethylene glycol via the hydrogenation of syngas oxalate involves three main catalysts: 1. CO dehydrogenation purification catalyst； 2. CO oxidation coupling catalyst ； 3. Oxalate hydrogenation catalyst. Yahua Consulting believes that both the CO dehydrogenation purification catalyst and the CO oxidation coupling catalyst require the use of the precious metal palladium; therefore, finding ways to reduce the amount of palladium used in order to lower the cost of these catalysts is an important area for development. Moreover, the ethylene glycol selectivity of the oxalate hydrogenation catalyst needs further improvement. Furthermore, the lifespan of the catalysts still needs to be further improved at present. Public information shows that the Fujian Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a new generation of low-cost, environmentally friendly coal-to-ethylene glycol technology. The CO dehydrogenation purification catalyst and the CO oxidation coupling catalyst employ novel preparation techniques that reduce the content of the precious metal palladium, improve selectivity, and lower the reaction temperature. The new generation of dimethyl oxalate hydrogenation catalysts features a chromium-free formulation, and their performance metrics are also superior to those of the first-generation technology. In January 2015, Jingyu Energy Investment Group signed a project with Xingren County in Guizhou to produce 600,000 tons of coal-based ethylene glycol per year. Developed in collaboration between Jingyu Energy and the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this project plans to utilize the second-generation coal-to-ethylene glycol technology developed by the Fujian Institute. In 2015, construction of a pilot plant with a capacity of thousands of tons was initiated. On October 22, 2013, Eastman Chemical Company announced that it had developed, in collaboration with JM David Co., Ltd., an advanced patented technology for producing ethylene glycol using syngas as a raw material. Unlike other syngas-based ethylene glycol production technologies, this method does not involve oxalic acid intermediates.

Jiutai Phase I was an EPC turnkey project carried out by Tianchen.

Why switch to Hualu? ? Does Hualu have more experience in gasification and coal chemical processing? Or was there some dissatisfaction with the cooperation on the previous project?

I’m not very familiar with it, but several of Sinochem’s engineering companies are quite skilled in coal chemical processing.

Hualu, Saiding, and Tianchen of China Chemical all do this; they no longer have an advantage in handling petrochemical projects