With the approval of CMTX technology, another pathway for coal-based olefins has been established, which can complement MTO and MTP

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On September 14, the 10,000-ton industrial pilot project for the carbon monoxide-to-butene with co-production of propylene technology (CMTX) passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. The expert group concluded that this industrialization technology possesses independent intellectual property rights, features a reasonable manufacturing process, has advanced technical parameters, and as a whole reaches international advanced levels. With this, a new member has been added to China’s methanol-to-olefins family, offering new pathways to enrich the industrial chain and increase the added value of this industry. 　　The appraisal committee, headed by Yuan Qingtang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, with Chen Junwu and Jin Yong as vice chairpersons, and comprising 8 other academicians and experts including Zhang Yi and Ni Weidou, concluded that the technology for producing butene and propylene from methanol, jointly developed by Shanghai CECC Clean Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Hetu Engineering Co., Ltd., features innovative developments in the fluidized-bed process for this conversion as well as in the specialized catalysts used, along with a low-temperature regeneration process for those catalysts ； The developed fluidized-bed process for producing butene and propylene from methanol features high space velocity, low water-alcohol ratio, strong processing capacity of the unit, low investment costs, and low energy consumption ； The proprietary catalyst developed independently features high selectivity, low coking rate, good hydrothermal stability, a proper particle size distribution, excellent fluidization properties, high wear resistance, and strong adaptability. The entire process and catalyst have good application prospects; it is recommended to further advance engineering research and development in order to accelerate their industrial application. 　　Li Shousheng, executive vice president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Federation, said at the appraisal meeting that the successful development of the CMTX industrial technology has expanded the technical options for producing olefins from methanol, thereby enabling a greater variety of olefin products. Currently, there are many methanol-to-olefins projects under construction or planned in China. The Middle East and North America are also building numerous olefin plants thanks to their advantages in terms of raw materials, which puts the global olefins market at risk of oversupply. Although China currently has an annual deficit of tens of millions of tons in olefins, there may be a surplus in the future, and there is also severe homogenization among coal-based olefin products. If the CMTX technology is widely adopted, it will complement MTO (methanol to olefins) and MTP (methanol to propylene) technologies. This will accelerate the integration of coal chemical products into the rubber and fine chemicals industries. It will also have a positive impact on preventing overcapacity and homogeneous competition in the methanol-to-olefins sector, enhancing the flexibility of production facilities and companies’ ability to respond to market changes, thereby promoting the healthy development of the coal chemical industry. 　　It is understood that existing coal-to-olefins technologies produce a small amount of C4 by-products while generating propylene and ethylene. If not recycled, it will lead to a waste of resources ； However, if recycling is to be pursued, additional investments in the order of hundreds of millions of yuan are required to build C4 reuse facilities; with falling oil prices, such extra investment costs will significantly reduce the project’s profitability. 　　To address the aforementioned issues and obtain butylene and butadiene products with broad application prospects, Shanghai CECC joined forces with Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group and Shanghai Hetu to develop the CMTX technology, which focuses on butylene and propylene as its main products. After years of research, as well as pilot and scale-up tests, industrial trials on a ten-thousand-ton scale began in July this year. From July 24 to 27, the 10,000-ton-class test facility passed a 72-hour on-site evaluation and calibration conducted by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.