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Major changes in the world’s largest ethylene glycol production project from natural gas. As one of the largest benchmark projects in China for producing ethylene glycol from natural gas, the first phase of the Zhongkun New Materials 2×600,000 tons/year ethylene glycol production project from natural gas came online on November 29, 2023. However, according to the latest updates, there have been new developments regarding the second phase of this project, which also has a capacity of 600,000 tons per year. In accordance with the work requirements for 2025 previously issued by Zhongkun New Materials, the company will ensure the stability of its existing ethylene glycol production facilities in 2025. Furthermore, to accelerate and advance the technical upgrades of parallel reactors with high quality, it is also necessary to address issues such as coking of hydrogenation catalysts. There are also changes to the second-phase facility: the 600,000-ton ethylene glycol production in phase two is planned to use coal as raw material. It is expected that the approval procedures for the coal-based ethylene glycol project will be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2025, with the project ready to start operations by the end of the year. Zhongkun New Materials believes that there is still much potential and opportunity in the coal chemical industry; it is currently working to expand its access to coal resources at the upstream level in order to establish clustered coal chemical production bases. It is necessary to establish two fundamentals at the present: first, the safe, stable, long-term, efficient, and optimal operation of the initial-phase project ； Second, it involves the design of an overall planning scheme for future projects, as well as thorough analysis of the economic viability and feasibility of those projects. It is evident that, even after having the largest natural gas-based ethylene glycol production facility in the country, Xinjiang Zhongkun New Materials is still considering launching projects based on the coal-based ethylene glycol production process. Why choose the natural gas-based ethylene glycol project? Xinjiang Zhongkun New Materials Co., Ltd., a company established on March 26, 2021, by Tongkun Group Co., Ltd. with an investment of 100 million yuan, was founded in connection with a major project – the project for producing ethylene glycol from natural gas. At the beginning of the project, Tongkun Shares made it clear that the aim was to broaden the company’s industrial chain, enhance its competitiveness, and reduce the risk associated with fluctuations in the price of ethylene glycol, which is a raw material used in polyester production. At the same time, this project has also had a significant positive impact on the local economy. At present, Tongkun Shares possesses strong annual production capacity in crude oil processing, PTA, polymerization, and polyester filament manufacturing. It is expected that its polyester production capacity will reach 10 million tons per year in the future, at which point the annual demand for ethylene glycol will exceed 3 million tons. It is worth noting that all the ethylene glycol, the polyester raw material required by Tongkun Shares at present, is sourced from the market. Traditionally, the production of ethylene glycol relies mainly on the petrochemical route. However, Tongkun Shares has chosen to use natural gas as a raw material for production, which not only holds great significance for the rational use of energy in our country, reducing dependence on oil, and alleviating the shortage of ethylene supply, but it also aligns with the guidelines encouraged by industrial policies. The project is located in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, a region rich in mineral resources, especially oil and gas. However, the utilization of these oil and gas resources remains primarily at the traditional stage of \"selling resources\" for now. Tongkun Shares’ this project aims to make full use of the local resource advantages by converting oil, coal, and gas into high-end chemical products, thereby maximizing the value of these resources. This not only helps to drive the adjustment of the economic and industrial structure in Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, but also promotes the transformation and upgrading of its petroleum and petrochemical industries. Coal and natural gas: Advantages and disadvantages of using them for ethylene glycol production. Traditional coal-based ethylene glycol production uses coal as a raw material. First, coal is converted into syngas through a gasification process, whose main components are carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Then, the syngas undergoes a catalytic reaction to produce oxalate esters, which are finally converted into ethylene glycol through catalytic hydrogenation of the oxalate esters. Advantages: Coal-based ethylene glycol helps reduce dependence on petroleum resources, and is particularly suitable for regions with abundant coal resources. Disadvantages: However, its production cost is high, its light transmittance is low, which may affect certain downstream applications (such as the fiber industry), and it may also have a greater impact on the environment. The production of ethylene glycol from natural gas uses natural gas as the main raw material; it is typically achieved by first producing ethylene from ethane in associated gas from oil, and then using that ethylene to produce ethylene glycol. The advantage is that the production process is relatively simple, and energy consumption and waste generation are relatively low (compared to ethylene glycol produced from coal). Disadvantage: As a raw material, natural gas has a relatively low carbon footprint and is cleaner, which is one of its advantages. However, from an economic perspective, the price of natural gas is usually high, which increases production costs. In comparison, although coal as a raw material has a slightly lower environmental profile (it should be noted that its extraction and combustion can have an impact on the environment), its price is more affordable; therefore, in some cases, coal-based ethylene glycol may be more competitive. However, this also depends on factors such as the local distribution of resources, cost-effectiveness, and environmental regulations. Furthermore, what cannot be overlooked is the maturity and stability of the process technology. As mentioned earlier, current projects for producing ethylene glycol from natural gas are plagued by issues such as coking of hydrogenation catalysts and poor plant stability; therefore, adopting a coal-based process for ethylene glycol production might offer greater stability.