Will the production of hydrogen and LNG from coke oven gas become a breakthrough for Shanxi’s coal chemical industry?

2022-04-08 13:32 Recently, the civil engineering works for various facilities at the Shanxi Pengwan Hydrogen Port’s 20,000 tons per year hydrogen production project from coke oven gas, such as the central control room, 35kV substation, and circulating water cooling towers, have entered the final stages of completion. The installation work for other facilities such as those for precision desulfurization, reforming, conversion, and compressors is now in its final phase.

A bioenergy company in Shijiazhuang mainly has a hydrogen production facility using coke oven gas. The main process involves pressurizing coke oven gas, followed by treatment to remove tar, naphthalene, sulfur, and benzene; the purified gas then passes through PSA and deoxygenation/drying processes, resulting in hydrogen with a purity of over 99.9%. The total hydrogen production capacity is 20,000 cubic meters per hour. The system features advanced technology, is operated using a DCS system, and is equipped with various interlock and alarm systems, ensuring safe and reliable operation.

Shanxi Province is one of the main coke production bases in China. It has the highest output and export volume of coke in the country, and it is also the world’s largest coke export base, holding this title for many years. The coking industry has been one of Shanxi’s most important industrial pillars for decades. Due to factors such as resource endowments and economic structure, the coking industry has long faced issues of an unreasonable industrial structure as well as poor comprehensive utilization of coke oven gas. According to statistics, in 2009 the province’s coke production amounted to 72.3 million tons. After deducting the amount of gas used for heating the coke ovens, there was a surplus of about 14 billion cubic meters of coke oven gas. Of this amount, 4 billion cubic meters were not utilized in any comprehensive way and were instead burned directly, resulting in emissions. It not only wastes resources but also causes severe pollution to the environment. If this portion of coke oven gas can be utilized effectively and integrated organically with our province’s hydrogen energy strategy, it will generate significant economic and social benefits. It will generate significant economic and social benefits.

The new coking project is going to consume everything

I’m from Shanxi. Recently, several large coking plants in our city have started building methanol plants. However, it seems that hydrogen energy is the next breakthrough for the coal chemical industry.

Hydrogen production is currently only at the demonstration stage, while methanol production is already a mature process

Pengfei is a local enterprise; its methanol plant was put into operation in 2016, so it has been operating for five or six years now. Its hydrogen production facility is also nearing completion and will soon be ready for use, while other local plants have only just started building methanol plants, which makes them seem a bit behind. Moreover, methanol is already quite mature, while hydrogen energy is still in its infancy and represents the future.

The Pengwan Hydrogen Port Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park project has a total investment of 20 billion yuan. It is an industrial park for the comprehensive utilization of hydrogen energy, developed through a partnership between Pengfei Group and the American Gulf Environmental Systems Company. The designed production capacity is 200,000 tons of hydrogen per year, with construction carried out in three phases. The hydrogen production method relies primarily on coal furnace gas, with coal-based hydrogen production serving as a supplementary method. The park is planned to integrate functions such as hydrogen production, storage, refueling, transportation, as well as downstream industries and research and development, aiming to become a influential demonstration base for the hydrogen energy industry in the province and even across the country. Among these is the first phase of the project to produce 200,000 tons of hydrogen per year – the Pengwan Hydrogen Port Hydrogen Energy Industrial Park project, which involves a hydrogen production facility using coke oven gas at a capacity of 20,000 tons per year. The total investment in this project exceeds 1.23 billion yuan. In April 2021, Pengfei Group signed a general contract for the construction of this 20,000-ton-per-year coke oven gas hydrogen production facility with China National Machinery Engineering Corporation and China National Ninth Construction Engineering Company, marking the entry of this project into its actual construction phase.