The Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemicals demonstration project, with an annual production capacity of 1.6 billion cubic meters of coal-derived natural gas and liquefied products, has passed the assessment

Thread Content

The demonstration project for producing 1.6 billion cubic meters of coal-based natural gas and liquefied gas per year at Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemical Industry passed the assessment. Author/Source: Gasification World. Date: April 3, 2023. Clicks: 167. From March 26 to 29, the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation organized an on-site assessment team to conduct a 72-hour continuous operation test of the “Demonstration Project for Producing 1.6 Billion Cubic Meters of Coal-Based Natural Gas and Liquefied Gas per Year” at Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. Wang Xiujiang, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, presided over the meeting. Zhao Ming, head of the Science and Technology Projects Section of the same department, as well as members of the expert group, attended the meeting. The expert group is headed by Zhang Laiyong from China Global Engineering Corporation, who holds the title of design master/professor-level engineer; Xu Zhengang, a researcher at China National Coal Group Corporation, serves as the deputy head. The members include Li Chen, a professor-level engineer from the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Planning Institute, Li Anxue, deputy director of China Datang Group and also a professor-level engineer, and Han Baolian, deputy chief engineer at Saiding Engineering Co., Ltd., among other experts. The expert group listened to a report presented by Chen Yujin, deputy general manager of HuiNeng Coal Chemical Company, on the construction, operation of the HuiNeng coal-to-natural gas and liquefaction demonstration project facilities, as well as the preparations for the evaluation. They finalized the evaluation plan and confirmed the calculation methods for various evaluation indicators. The annual production capacity of 1.6 billion cubic meters of coal-to-natural gas and liquefied products at Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. is part of a coal-to-natural gas demonstration project approved for construction by the **National Development and Reform Commission; this project fills the technical gap in China and abroad regarding the use of water-coal slurry gasification technology for producing coal-to-natural gas. The project was constructed in two phases; the first phase was completed and put into operation in October 2014, while the second phase was completed and put into operation in September 2021. From its commissioning in 2014 to the end of December 2022, phases 1 and 2 produced a total of 4.548 billion Nm3 of natural gas (SNG) and 3.0941 million tons of LNG (liquefied natural gas). During the inspection period, the expert team inspected on-site the main production units such as gasification, synthesis, and liquefaction, as well as auxiliary facilities like the power plant and sewage treatment plants. They listened to detailed explanations provided by the technical staff regarding the operation of these units, visited the central control room and the central laboratory, and learned about the key operational control parameters for each major production unit as well as the analysis and testing of raw materials and products. Additionally, they supervised and verified the measuring instruments, analytical equipment, control methods and processes, as well as the calculation of various performance indicators. On March 29, Wang Xiujiang, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, presided over a meeting to review the progress achieved. Liu Jianqiang, chairman of Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemical Co., Ltd., attended the meeting and shared his views; Chen Yujin, vice president and chief engineer, as well as the heads of various relevant departments and workshops, also participated in the meeting. The assessment expert group stated that during the assessment period, all units operated smoothly, and the measurement and analytical testing were accurate, meeting the assessment requirements. The project has achieved significant demonstrative results in terms of process technology, equipment, safety, environmental protection, and energy consumption, contributing to the large-scale production of coal-to-natural gas, the clean and efficient utilization of coal resources, as well as the complementary use of different energy sources. The expert group also emphasized that Inner Mongolia HuiNeng Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. is the only domestic company producing natural gas from coal that does not use the fixed-bed coal gasification process. The coal slurry gasification technology it employs shows good compatibility with local coal types, offers high gasification efficiency, and ensures stable operation; compared to the commonly used fixed-bed coal gasification method for natural gas production, it reduces the difficulties associated with treating gasification wastewater as well as the complexity of by-products. The data from the 72-hour evaluation show that all its performance indicators have reached or exceeded the design values; in particular, indicators such as the comprehensive energy consumption per unit of SNG, water consumption, and energy conversion efficiency are at the leading level among coal-to-natural gas plants in operation in China. The successful operation of this project has opened up a viable technical route for coal-to-natural gas production, and it holds positive reference value for addressing issues such as tight supply of lump coal and difficulties in utilizing fine coal faced by other existing coal-to-natural gas enterprises.