First public announcement of the environmental impact assessment for Xinjiang Anhui Energy Co., Ltd.’s 660,000 tons/year project for the comprehensive utilization of aromatics produced from coal-based distillates

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Recently, the environmental impact assessment for Xinjiang Anhui Energy Co., Ltd.’s 660,000 tons per year coal-based distillate aromatics comprehensive utilization project was made publicly available for the first time. The project is located in the Erdaohu Industrial Park within the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Xinxing City, under the 13th Division. With a total investment of 920 million yuan, it covers an area of 500 mu. At the technical level, the core of the project is a comprehensive utilization facility for producing aromatics from coal-based distillates with an annual capacity of 660,000 tons, which consists of four key units. The high-pressure hydrogenation and distillation unit is responsible for carrying out deep hydrogenation of coal tar fractions to convert them into lighter components. The low-pressure hydrogenation and aromatization units constitute the technical core of the entire plant; in these units, naphthenes undergo dehydrogenation and aromatization reactions, enabling efficient enrichment of aromatic hydrocarbons. Difficult-to-convert components such as resins and asphaltenes in coal tar are almost completely converted. The extractive distillation unit is responsible for separating mixed aromatics to produce products such as benzene, toluene, and xylene. The PSA hydrogen production unit supplies high-purity hydrogen to the entire plant. The project construction is carried out in three phases. The first phase involves constructing a 200,000 tons per year crude benzene hydrogenation unit, along with associated storage and transportation tanks as well as utility systems. The second phase involves building an aromatization unit with a capacity of 400,000 tons per year to further expand the production capacity of aromatics. Phase 3 involves the construction of an extraction and phenol recovery plant with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons, to produce high-value phenol-based products. The project was signed in June 2024 at the 8th China-Asia Europe Expo, and is currently in the preliminary design phase. The construction period is expected to be from the second quarter of 2026 to the fourth quarter of 2027. This project falls within the field of advanced processing of coal tar and comprehensive utilization of aromatics, with its technical approach focusing on hydrocracking and catalytic reforming, which is in line with the trend toward higher-end and lower-carbon development in the current coal chemical industry. Recently, breakthroughs have also been made in coal-based aromatic hydrocarbon conversion technologies. The development of new catalytic systems provides technical support for the efficient conversion of coal tar resources into fine chemicals and green materials.