Cold and heat in coal chemical industry: Which sector is seeing growth?

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Author/Source: Date: 2015-10-19 Clicks: 5 Currently, the coal chemical industry is experiencing alternating periods of prosperity and decline. The previously highly popular coal-to-olefins, coal-to-oil, and coal-to-gas projects have quietly lost their momentum. According to data released by the China Petroleum and Chemical Federation in August 2011, the planned capacity under construction was as high as 28 million tons, 40 million tons, and 150 billion cubic meters respectively. However, according to reports by journalists, based on the current preliminary work and projects under construction, by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China’s actual production capacity for coal-based olefins, coal-based oil, and coal-based gas is unlikely to exceed 15 million tons, 20 million tons, and 68 billion cubic meters respectively, representing a halving of the projected capacities. In sharp contrast to this, the utilization of coal in a differentiated manner, led by coal pyrolysis and previously not given much attention, has seen a gradual increase. According to reporters, the coal pyrolysis capacity that is already in operation, under construction, or planned for construction in China currently exceeds 180 million tons. Among them, the production capacity of the medium- and low-temperature coal tar hydrogenation project that came online this year alone is 2 million tons, with a corresponding pyrolysis capacity of over 20 million tons. In 2016, another 1.6 million tons of medium- and low-temperature coal tar hydrogenation capacity and over 16 million tons of coal pyrolysis capacity will be put into operation. One must also ask: why has the quality-based utilization of coal shown such promising prospects? One by one, the constraints have been overcome. On July 12, the integrated gasification-lower rank coal pyrolysis technology (CGPS), jointly developed by Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. and Beijing Collinsda Technology Development Co., Ltd., passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation in Beijing. The appraisal panel, composed of 9 experts including Xie Kechang, Ni Weidou, and Jin Yong, who are members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, concluded that this technology utilizes the coupling of pyrolysis and semi-coke gasification techniques; by using the high-temperature gas generated from the gasification of semi-coke powder as a heat carrier for reverse cascade direct-contact pyrolysis, it enables efficient and rational utilization of the sensible heat contained in that high-temperature gas, as well as staged pyrolysis of low-rank coal. The process flow of its 10,000-ton industrial test facility features advanced and rational main units as well as automated control systems, ensuring easy operation and stable performance. This entire set of technologies has advanced the research and development of techniques for producing high-quality tar and gas through the directed pyrolysis of low-grade coal; it represents an international first and is at the leading level. Less than 20 days have passed since another advanced coal pyrolysis technology was developed in our country. On June 25, the process technology for producing anthracite through the rotary pyrolysis of low-rank coal powder, jointly developed by Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. of Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group and Hualu Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., successfully passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology. The appraisal panel, headed by Academician Jin Yong, concluded that this technology has overcome the key technologies and equipment needed for the clean and selective utilization of pulverized coal in the field of low-temperature coal pyrolysis, with the overall technology reaching an internationally advanced level. The above two technological achievements are merely a microcosm of the rapid progress in coal classification and utilization technology in our country. In fact, in recent years, new technologies in China’s field of coal utilization based on coal pyrolysis have emerged one after another. In 2010, Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Company integrated the lightly processed medium- and low-temperature coal tar technology it had developed independently with medium- and low-temperature pyrolysis technology for lump coal, as well as delayed coking technology for coal tar, to build an industrial demonstration facility capable of producing 1.35 million tons of lump coal pyrolysis products and 500,000 tons of naphtha and diesel fractions through coal tar hydrogenation, successfully overcoming the challenges associated with the large-scale application of lump coal pyrolysis, hydrogen production from waste gas, and fixed-bed hydrogenation technology for medium- and low-temperature coal tar ； In 2011, Henan Longcheng Group successfully developed the fluidized bed pyrolysis technology for low-rank coal, and commissioned an industrial-scale plant with a capacity of 300,000 tons per year ； On April 27, 2013, the industrialized technology for the full-range hydrogenation of medium/low-temperature coal tar to produce large quantities of intermediate distillate oil (FTH), developed by Shenmu Fuyou Energy Technology Co., Ltd. under Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, was recognized by an evaluation panel headed by Xie Kechang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as \"a world-first innovation at the leading level.\" The industrial plant with an annual capacity of 120,000 tons built using this technology has been operating stably for over two years now, and it represents the world’s first industrial demonstration plant for the full-range hydrogenation of coal tar using a fixed-bed process ； In July 2015, the 150,000-ton-per-year full-distillate hydroprocessing unit for medium- and low-temperature coal tar developed by Hebei Xinqiyuan Energy Technology Development Co., Ltd., using the low-quality oil full-mixing fluidized-bed hydrogenation technology jointly developed by Shanghai Xinyou Energy Technology Co., Ltd. and Hebei Xinqiyuan Energy Technology Development Co., Ltd., was successfully commissioned for operation with stable performance from the very beginning ； On August 20, 2015, the world’s first industrial facility for the hydrocracking of coal tar using the slurry bed hydrogenation catalytic cracking technology (VCC), which was developed through a collaboration between Yanchang Petroleum Group and the U.S.-based company KBR, was put into operation at Yanchang Anyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. – an facility with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year for the hydrocracking of medium- and low-temperature coal tar. At present, solely the Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group has carried out research on coal pyrolysis technologies in six different areas. Among them, pilot tests have been completed for 3 studies, while key technological breakthroughs have been achieved in another 3 studies. ”Hua Wei, a deputy to the Ren National People’s Congress and Secretary of the Party Committee of Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, said proudly to reporters. He told reporters that the concept of differentiated utilization of coal was first proposed by Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Group. The overall concept is as follows: low-rank coal with a relatively high oil content (over 5%) undergoes pyrolysis at medium to low temperatures (550–850°C) to extract light components such as tar and coal gas, while yielding clean semi-coke with a high calorific value. Gas is used to produce hydrogen or methane ； Coal tar, after treatments such as phenol extraction, undergoes catalytic cracking with hydrogen to produce naphtha and diesel fractions ； Semicoke from which the volatile components have been removed has a higher calorific value and is cleaner than raw coal. It can be used for gasification to produce syngas, which in turn can be used to manufacture chemical products. It also serves as a high-quality fuel for domestic use and in power plants, and can replace bituminous coal as a feedstock for blast furnaces in steelmaking processes, thereby enabling efficient and clean utilization of coal on a differentiated basis. The differentiated utilization of coal, with pyrolysis as the key technique, has attracted attention from various countries since the 1930s. To date, nearly 20 coal pyrolysis technologies have been developed worldwide. China successfully developed the vertical furnace lump coal pyrolysis technology in the late 1980s, which has been in use to this day. Currently, the national coal pyrolysis capacity has exceeded 80 million tons per year. However, vertical furnaces have drawbacks such as the need to use lump coal as raw material, low effective content and calorific value of gas, and small production capacity per furnace, which limit their further adoption and make it difficult to truly achieve the efficiency and cleanliness associated with the differentiated use of coal. To this end, in recent years, the technology of pyrolysis of pulverized coal or whole coal has become a direction that many enterprises and research institutions are striving to develop. Among these, the separation of oil and dust from high-temperature syngas, the treatment and resource utilization of high-concentration pyrolysis wastewater (containing tar, phenol, benzene, ammonia nitrogen, and COD), and the scaling up of equipment are the three major challenges hindering the pyrolysis of pulverized coal or coal in its entirety. They also represent three hurdles that must be overcome for the quality-based utilization of coal. Now, thanks to the relentless efforts of scientists and technicians, reasonable solutions have been found for all three of the aforementioned major challenges. Among them, the process technology developed by Shenmu Tianyuan Company and Hualu Company for producing anthracite through the rotary pyrolysis of low-grade coal dust enables the use of hot flue gas to dry the coal dust, simultaneously expelling coal dust with a particle size of less than 0.2 millimeters. This significantly reduces the amount of coal dust in the coal tar produced during the subsequent pyrolysis process. By making use of high-speed centrifugal separation technology, the tar containing a small amount of coal dust can be effectively separated, thus solving the problem of difficult separation of oil and dust during the coal dust pyrolysis process. CGPS technology feeds bituminous coal with a particle size of less than 25 millimeters into the belt furnace through staged distribution, thereby creating multi-layer moving particle beds. By utilizing a moving filter layer composed of different layers of particle coal, and based on filtration principles such as inertial collision, diffusion deposition, gravitational deposition, direct interception, and electrostatic attraction, it achieves efficient self-dust removal from the pyrolysis gas (with a dust removal efficiency of over 96%, and the dust content in the tar reduced to below 0.32 grams per cubic meter). In terms of pyrolysis wastewater treatment, Shenmu Tianyuan Company has explored a viable solution by integrating multiple advanced water treatment technologies. After demulsification, membrane treatment, and biochemical treatment, the reclaimed water obtained from this process is all returned to the system for reuse, thereby achieving zero discharge of coal pyrolysis wastewater; it has already been verified using a pilot-scale installation. The 120 tons per hour industrial plant under construction has completed its unit tests, and joint trial operation is set to begin in September. By then, the long-standing problem of treating pyrolysis wastewater, which has posed challenges to the selective use of coal, will also be resolved. As for the issue of scaling up pyrolysis facilities, the low-rank coal rotary bed pyrolysis technology developed by Henan Longcheng Group has seen two industrial plants with a capacity of 800,000 tons per year built and put into operation ； The belt-type furnace thermal pyrolysis technology for coal (or lignite) developed by Beijing Collinsda Company can handle a capacity of up to 1 million tons per year per furnace ； The modular process developed by Shaanxi Coal Chemical Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. enables each module to process 3 million to 4 million tons of coal per year... Moreover, several processes including CGPS use oil washing in place of the traditional water washing method, which significantly reduces the generation of pyrolysis wastewater and makes the resulting semi-coke (or coke powder) cleaner. Furthermore, the pyrolysis gas produced by these processes contains over 80% of effective gas components such as carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and olefins; it features a high calorific value, a high content of useful gases, and excellent quality. It can be used to produce hydrogen, liquefied natural gas, as well as high-value chemical products, thereby enabling the full utilization of all resources contained in coal gas. The FTH technology developed by Shenmu Fuyou Company, the fluidized-bed hydrogenation technology developed by Shanghai Xinyou Energy Technology Company, and the VCC technology developed by Yanchang Petroleum Group can all achieve full-fraction hydrogenation treatment of low-quality coal tar, significantly improving both the yield of liquid products in the coal tar hydrogenation process and the economic efficiency of enterprises. “The previous concern regarding the disposal of semi-coke (or coke powder) obtained from coal pyrolysis now has an ideal solution. ”Hua Wei revealed to the reporters. He said that as early as 3 years ago, Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Group, which was committed to the differentiated and graded utilization of coal, began to focus on finding uses for semi-coke (coke powder) and commissioned Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. to conduct research in this area. Several years of effort, along with numerous industrial application tests, have shown that using semi-coke (coke dust) for the gasification of water-coal slurry or for direct gasification yields results that are not significantly different from those achieved using raw coal ； Using it for blast furnace injection as a substitute for anthracite is also entirely feasible ； Used as fuel for residential heating in winter, it has had sulfur, nitrogen, and volatiles removed during the pyrolysis process; as a result, it not only has a high calorific value but is also clean and durable. To address issues such as environmental pollution caused by ammonia-containing wastewater generated during the traditional lump coal pyrolysis process, Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, in collaboration with relevant research institutions, developed and industrially applied an oil-washing process and a dry quenching technology. These technologies have now been fully validated through industrial application, ensuring that the resulting semi-coke is environmentally friendly and clean. All of its quality indicators meet or even exceed the requirements for high-quality anthracite lump coal. In addition, to enable the general public to use clean coke powder easily, Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Group has also built a coke production line with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons. Production of this coke has already begun and it is sold on the market, where it has received high praise from customers. “The pure oxygen continuous gasification technology we have developed can use not only bituminous coal as a raw material, but also crushed coals such as coke, subbituminous coal, and briquetted coal. ”The words of Zhao Lequn, the chief engineer at Jiangxi Changyu Industrial Co., Ltd., prove Hua Wei’s claim. Ren Tao, general manager of Shaanxi Fugu Aowei Qianyuan Chemical Co., Ltd., also confirmed to reporters that more than half of the raw material used in the water-coal slurry gasification furnaces associated with the company’s 300,000 tons per year ammonia synthesis plant and 520,000 tons per year urea production plant is coke powder produced by the company itself. The operation results over the past two years have shown that it is feasible to use coke powder instead of raw coal to produce slurry for gas generation. “Currently, the amount of coal burned for domestic use in Hebei Province amounts to 60 million tons per year, while in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region this figure is even higher at 72 million tons per year. The burning of coal for such purposes releases large amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, and dust, which contributes to an increasing incidence of fog in these areas and makes it difficult to control this problem. However, switching everything to natural gas is difficult to achieve in the short term due to various constraints. In the future, once the cleaning of semi-coke or shaped coke can be promoted and applied in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, it will not only significantly reduce the environmental pressure in this area but also completely resolve the issue of what to do with semi-coke (coke dust), which has hindered the development of selective coal utilization. ”Xie Kechang said. “It can be said that the several key issues that once constrained the differentiated use of coal have now all been resolved, and differentiated coal utilization now has solid technical support. ”Hua Wei said happily. The significant benefits have earned recognition; alongside breaking through technical barriers, the excellent economic returns, energy-saving and environmental protection benefits, energy conversion efficiency, as well as the wide applicability of these coal utilization demonstration projects have also excited the industry. Currently, there are 3 domestic demonstration enterprises for the differentiated utilization of coal, namely: Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. of Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, Inner Mongolia Qinghua Group Coal Chemical Company, and Heilongjiang Baotailong Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. All three enterprises take coal pyrolysis as their core business, and then conduct further processing and utilization of the syngas, coal tar, and coke generated from pyrolysis. Its process flow is as follows: coal → pyrolysis → gas + coal tar + coke ； Gas → Hydrogen production (or production of chemical products such as methanol) ； Coal tar + hydrogen → diesel fractions + naphtha + liquefied petroleum gas ； Coke → ironmaking, calcium carbide, chemicals, or consumer use. The difference is that Shenmu Tianyuan uses a medium- and low-temperature coal pyrolysis process ； Baotailong chose the high-temperature coal pyrolysis route ； Qinghua Group employs both moderate-temperature and high-temperature coal pyrolysis processes. Shenmu Tianyuan Company is currently the largest demonstration enterprise for the selective utilization of coal in China, with an annual production capacity of 1.35 million tons of coal subjected to medium- and low-temperature pyrolysis, 22,000 tons of refined phenol, and 500,000 tons of hydrogenated medium- and low-temperature coal tar. Since its operation began in April 2010, the company has generated total sales revenue of 15.4 billion yuan, with profits exceeding 1.4 billion yuan. According to Mao Shiqiang, the company’s chairman, despite the extremely unfavorable conditions this year – including continuous and sharp drops in prices of refined oil products, coke, and other chemical products in China, heavy losses for traditional coal-based chemical enterprises, and only meager profits or even losses for modern coal-based chemical enterprises – Shenmu Tianyuan has managed to thrive against the odds. From January to July, the company achieved sales revenue of 1.187 billion yuan, paid over 80 million yuan in taxes, and recorded a net profit of over 37 million yuan. The reporter learned that two demonstration enterprises for the differentiated utilization of coal, Inner Mongolia Qinghua Group and Heilongjiang Baotailong Company, have also achieved remarkable results. According to Baotailong Company’s semi-annual report, the company achieved a net profit of 84.7 million yuan in the first half of the year, a figure that increased by 1.46 times compared to the previous year. The significant energy-saving and emission-reduction effects of the coal differentiated utilization project have also been highly praised by the industry. Chen Weiguo, the former chief engineer of Beijing Coking Plant, said that the useful components of coal mainly include volatile matter and fixed carbon. Although there are many ways to utilize coal both domestically and internationally, whether for combustion in heating or power generation, or as a raw material in chemical production, the volatile matter and fixed carbon are never separated. Instead, they are directly burned or gasified. This prevents the respective advantages of these two components from being utilized, resulting in low coal utilization efficiency and energy conversion rates, excessive emissions, and severe environmental pollution. But the differentiated use of coal is different. First, it separates fixed carbon and volatiles through pyrolysis, and then processes them separately for utilization. This ensures the maximum utilization of energy and resources. The energy conversion efficiency throughout the entire process exceeds 70%, thereby truly achieving the clean and efficient utilization of coal. Experts such as Hu Haifeng, vice president of the Shaanxi Petrochemical Federation, and Zhang Jiyao, senior advisor at Yanchang Petroleum Group, told reporters that in both traditional and modern coal chemical processes, syngas contains an excess of carbon and a deficiency of hydrogen. To achieve a carbon/hydrogen balance, coal chemical enterprises are forced to use more than 1/4 of the coal to produce hydrogen. For every ton of hydrogen produced, 22 tons of carbon dioxide are generated, resulting in persistently high CO2 emissions from the coal chemical industry. Coal utilization projects such as those carried out by Shenmu Tianyuan Company, which involve extracting hydrogen from gas or waste gas, do not require the use of coal specifically for hydrogen production; as a result, carbon dioxide emissions are significantly reduced, and overall energy consumption is greatly lowered. He Yongde, honorary president of the Shaanxi Chemical Industry Society, cited the actual operational data from Shenmu Tianyuan Company’s project that involves 1.35 million tons per year of coal pyrolysis at moderate temperatures, with a concurrent production of 500,000 tons per year of medium-temperature coal tar via hydrogenation. He noted that compared to direct or indirect coal-to-oil projects, the comprehensive energy consumption associated with oil production through the differentiated use of coal is only 2/3 of that in the former cases; carbon dioxide emissions are half of those in the former cases. Additionally, the investment required for such projects is only 1/3 to 1/2 of that needed for direct coal-to-oil projects. A plant with a capacity of 500,000 tons per year in producing oil from coal can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 430,000 tons per year. According to the reporter’s research, Qinghua Group, which currently has the capacity to produce 8 million tons of clean coal per year, 5 million tons of coal pyrolysis products, 660,000 tons of coal tar hydrogenated products, 200,000 tons of methanol from coke oven gas, 200,000 tons of aromatics from methanol, 100,000 tons of crude benzene hydrogenated products, 200,000 tons of caprolactam, 200 tons of carbon fiber, and 100 million bricks made from fly ash, has not only achieved good economic results but also, thanks to its complete circular economy industrial chain, recovers 1.08 billion cubic meters of coke oven gas each year, saving 500,000 tons of standard coal and reducing sulfur dioxide emissions by 15,000 tons. “Under the current circumstances, the differentiated and graded utilization of coal is undoubtedly the most rational approach to its use, as well as the direction for its clean and efficient utilization. ”Jin Yong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said this in an interview with reporters. He said that the differentiated and graded utilization of coal, with coal pyrolysis as the key approach, involves first using mild physical methods to separate out the lightweight, volatile components of coal that also have high added value. The remaining portion can then be used as usual; in this way, high-value products are obtained with minimal energy consumption. This approach not only conforms to the objective principle of using higher-quality coal for higher-value applications and lower-quality coal for lower-value ones, but it also significantly reduces energy consumption per unit of output. What is even more valuable is that the coal tar, gas, and coke (semi-coke or coke powder) obtained through pyrolysis can be easily integrated with traditional coal chemical industries, modern coal chemical processes, ultra-supercritical power generation, IGCC, combined heat and power systems, building materials, and even the petroleum chemical industry. This enables multiple product outputs and the complementary advantages of different processes, thus creating a large-scale coal chemical industry framework that spans various sectors and offering more diverse ways as well as broader prospects for the efficient utilization of coal. The prospects for policy support are promising. The excellent performance of the enterprises involved in the demonstration of differentiated coal utilization in recent years has won praise from industry experts and companies, as well as recognition from **. This is evident from the support provided by relevant policies in recent years for the differentiated utilization of coal. On August 20, 2014, the **Development and Reform Commission’s Catalogue of Industries Encouraged in the Western Region did not include the five modern coal chemical industries that had been highly favored in previous years; whereas \"deep processing of anhydrous coal tar on a scale of 150,000 tons per year or more\" was included in this catalogue. Previously issued documents, namely the “Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2011 Edition)” and the “Catalogue of Industries Favored for Foreign Investment in Central and Western Regions (Revised in 2013)”, have also listed the deep processing of coal tar and the comprehensive utilization of coke by-products under the category of “encouraged industries”. Since the deep processing or comprehensive utilization of coal tar are important components of the differentiated utilization of coal, this Catalog is interpreted as **encouraging the development of differentiated coal utilization in western regions**. Later on, more policies explicitly encouraged the development of differentiated coal utilization. On November 9, 2014, the \"Energy Development Strategy Action Plan (2014–2020)\") issued by the State Council stated that it is necessary to formulate and implement plans for the clean and efficient use of coal, to actively promote the graded and quality-based utilization of coal, to increase the proportion of coal washing, and to encourage the clean conversion and utilization on-site of low-calorific-value coals such as coal gangue and inferior coals. On January 12, 2015, the \"Opinions on Promoting the Safe, Green Development and Clean, Efficient Utilization of Coal,\" jointly issued by the Energy Bureau, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that in areas where conditions permit, efforts should be made to promote the differentiated and quality-based utilization of coal; the development of lignite resources should be optimized; research and development as well as demonstration projects related to improving the quality of lower-grade coal should be encouraged; and measures should be taken to enhance the added value of coal utilization at the source. An expert involved in the drafting of the 13th Five-Year Plan for Coal Development told reporters that using pyrolysis and coal tar hydrogenation technologies to produce naphtha and diesel fractions not only increases China’s oil supply but also provides a path for sustainable economic and environmental development in western regions rich in coal but short of water. Therefore, the Draft 13th Five-Year Plan for Coal Development will encourage pilot projects for the differentiated utilization of coal, using low-rank coal or rich-bit bituminous coal with high oil content from areas such as Hami and Zhundong in Xinjiang, and Yulin in Shaanxi. However, due to the unsatisfactory results of several lignite upgrading projects, lignite upgrading will no longer be encouraged. Another expert who was involved in the preparation of the **Energy 13th Five-Year Plan (Draft)** also said that, given the good economic benefits of using coal in a differentiated and graded manner, as well as its significant environmental benefits and role in reducing energy consumption and emissions, the **Energy 13th Five-Year Plan (Draft)** will call for increased efforts in researching and applying advanced technologies for the efficient and clean conversion of high-oil-content coal. It will also promote the further processing of such coal resources in regions such as northern Shaanxi and eastern Gansu. On July 7, 2015, the **Energy Bureau issued the “Guiding Opinions on Standardizing Demonstration Projects for Coal-Based Fuels” (Second Draft for Comment). Large-scale coal upgrading (pyrolysis) technologies, including complete sets of technologies such as drying, pyrolysis, and tar processing, are among the six key demonstration areas specified in these guidelines. On July 12, Xie Kechang, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and participant in the evaluation meeting for CGPS technology achievements, revealed that the differentiated utilization of coal has been identified as a strategy for its efficient use. The Ministry of Science and Technology has designated the process of producing high-quality tar and gas through the targeted pyrolysis of millions of tons of coal as a key scientific and technological project under the 13th Five-Year Plan, aiming to achieve breakthroughs by 2020 and establish demonstration projects on a scale of millions of tons. According to Li Jinzhu, deputy director of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress, in the fourth quarter of 2014, Shaanxi Province and Yulin City submitted a report to the National Energy Administration titled \"A Report on Using Yulin lignite (semi-coke) to replace anthracite coal in order to reduce haze in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.\" This report received significant attention from **higher authorities** and relevant departments, which commissioned organizations such as Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Group to conduct scientific, objective, and thorough research and analysis. In early 2015, a detailed report was submitted once again to the **Energy Bureau. The report states that as long as the pyrolysis process employs oil washing and dry or water quenching, and follows the principle of differentiated utilization of coal, it is possible to ensure both an efficient and clean production process as well as the cleanliness of the resulting semi-coke (coke dust), which can fully replace anthracite as a fuel for domestic use. Since both oil washing and dry quenching, as well as water quenching, have been tested and applied in various facilities of Shaanxi Coal Chemical Industry, there are no unresolved technical or engineering issues. In the future, once all new projects for the differentiated utilization of coal adopt these clean processing methods on a scale large enough, it is expected that they will receive relevant policy support from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. This will accelerate the integration of semi-coke into the regional market for coal used for direct combustion, thereby completely eliminating the concerns of companies engaged in the differentiated utilization of coal. With an increase in projects and accelerated industry development, more and more companies have been entering the field of selective coal utilization in recent years. Since the beginning of this year, amid a decline in investment in the energy and chemical sector and a shift from enthusiasm to cooling interest in modern coal chemical processing, investors’ interest in the differentiated utilization of coal has continued to grow. On May 24, at the 19th China East-West Cooperation and Investment Trade Fair and Silk Road International Expo held in Xi’an, Henan Longcheng Group, which holds patent technology for the pyrolysis of low-rank coal using rotary beds, signed an agreement with Yulin City for a project aimed at the clean and efficient comprehensive utilization of 10 million tons per year of pulverized coal, with a total investment of 7.2 billion yuan. Under the agreement, Jackie Chan Group will build a circular economy demonstration base for the differentiated utilization of coal on a scale of 10 million tons in Shenmu County. More than a month later, on July 7, at the 21st China Lanzhou Investment and Trade Fair, Xinjiang Guanghui Energy Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement with Guazhou County in Jiuquan City for a coal utilization project with an annual capacity of 10 million tons and a total investment of 7 billion yuan. According to the plan, construction of this project will begin in October 2015. Once operational, it will be able to produce 3 million tons of upgraded coal, 880 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, 1 million tons of coal tar, and 70,000 tons of chemical products each year. The annual sales revenue is expected to reach 4 billion yuan, with taxes amounting to 1 billion yuan. Previously, Guanghui Energy Co., Ltd. issued a statement stating that, after thorough research and analysis, the coal from Naomao Lake in Hami, Xinjiang, is of the type with extremely low sulfur and phosphorus content, as well as high calorific value; it is an oil-rich, high-oil-content coal with a long flame length, making it an ideal coal for use in the chemical industry. In order to achieve efficient and clean utilization of the company’s scarce high-quality coal resources, it is planned to terminate the preliminary work that has been underway for over a year by its holding subsidiary, Xinjiang Guanghui New Energy Co., Ltd., on a project to produce 1 million tons per year of coal-based olefins and 1.52 billion cubic meters per year of coal-based liquefied natural gas. Instead, an investment of 7.808 billion yuan will be made to develop a project for the processing and comprehensive utilization of resources associated with raw coal (a project aimed at the differentiated and graded use of coal). According to the announcement, Guanghui Xinjiang Company will build an integrated coal-to-chemicals-to-oil project centered on coal pyrolysis in the Hami Naomaohu Industrial Park. That is, medium-temperature pyrolysis of coal to produce semi-coke + coal tar + raw gas ； Extracting phenol oil from coal tar and producing pure phenol ； After purification, the raw gas is partially used as fuel for combustion in pyrolysis furnaces, partially as a feedstock for downstream hydrogen production facilities, and the remaining portion is used for power generation ； Hydrogenation of coal tar produces naphtha and diesel fractions, while also yielding liquefied petroleum gas and coal tar pitch as by-products. Ultimately, a production capacity was established of 6.1 million tons per year of semi-coke, 1.6 million tons per year of coal tar hydrogenation products, 20,000 cubic meters per hour of hydrogen production from waste gas, and 350,000 cubic meters per hour of electricity generation from waste gas. On August 26, Mao Shiqiang, chairman of Shenmu Tianyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. under Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group, revealed to the public that: \"We plan to invest 6.3 billion yuan in using a proprietary process technology for the rotary pyrolysis of low-grade coal dust to produce anthracite. In the Shenmu Jinjie Industrial Park, we will build a facility with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons, resulting in a total annual capacity of 6.6 million tons for the selective utilization of coal.\" This project will employ oil washing and dry quenching processes for coking; the wastewater generated will be sent to the 120 tons per hour specialized treatment plant for coal coking wastewater, which is set to come into operation soon. After treatment, the water will be reused, thereby achieving true zero wastewater discharge. ”Mao Shiqiang’s plan is that once the new project is completed, the existing medium-temperature pyrolysis and wet quenching production line for 1.35 million tons per year of lump coal will be completely phased out. The more than 600,000 tons per year of coal tar produced will all be used as raw material for the existing 500,000 tons per year coal tar hydrogenation unit, thereby addressing the issue of insufficient supply of coal tar as a raw material for the enterprise. At the same time, high-quality gas with an effective gas content of over 85%, obtained using new pyrolysis technology, will be used to produce high-value-added products such as liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas. Upon reaching full production capacity, it is expected that annual sales revenue will reach 5.2 billion yuan, with profits amounting to 2 billion yuan. On August 28, Li Dapeng, assistant to the general manager of Yanchang Petroleum Group, told reporters that the first phase of Yanchang Anyuan Chemical Company’s project for the hydrogenation of 500,000 tons per year of medium-temperature coal tar, which involves the use of suspended-bed hydrocracking (VCC) technology and has a total investment of 2.395 billion yuan, has completed its individual unit tests, and joint tests are currently being organized. Upon success, Yanchang Petroleum Group will employ its own independently developed integrated technology for oil production through pressurized pyrolysis of coal and gasification of semi-coke (CCSI), and invest 10 billion yuan to build a demonstration facility for the selective utilization of coal that enables oil production from both coal and coal tar, with a capacity of 10 million tons per year for pyrolysis, 1 million tons per year for coal tar hydrogenation, and 3 million tons per year for oil products. According to reports from journalists, an agreement between Inner Mongolia Boyuan Investment Group Co., Ltd. and China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group to jointly develop a project for the graded utilization of 10 million tons of coal was signed in Beijing on July 31. The cooperation includes a project for the clean and efficient utilization of 10 million tons of coal per year, as well as a project to reduce vehicle exhaust emissions through the use of urea in vehicles. The two parties will cooperate in the field of classified utilization of coal as well as clean co-production of coal, electricity, and chemicals; they plan to build projects for the clean and efficient utilization of 5 million tons of coal each in the Nalinhe Industrial Park in Wushen Banner, Ordos, and in Xilin Gol League. The reporter also learned that encouraged by the successful breakthroughs in coal pyrolysis technology and the resolution of various technical challenges that have hindered the development of selective coal utilization, the first phase of the 10 million tons per year selective coal utilization project at the Shenmu Qingshui Industrial Park of Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Group is being accelerated, with construction set to begin within this year. According to the plan, the first phase of this project will require an investment of over 40 billion yuan, with a production capacity of 10.5 million tons of semi-coke (lance coal) per year, 2.12 million tons of coal tar processed annually, 2 million tons of fuel oil, 570 million cubic meters of natural gas, 160,000 tons of pitch coke, 525 megawatts of power generation from coal gas (low-quality coal), 20,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas, and other chemical products. In the future, phases two and three will be launched as appropriate, ultimately resulting in the creation of the world’s largest demonstration base for the selective utilization of coal, with an annual processing capacity of 30 million tons of coal. Meanwhile, Xinjiang Xinye Energy Development Co., Ltd., located in the Tuokexun Energy and Heavy Chemical Industry Park in Turpan, has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tons of coal pyrolysis products and 200,000 tons of coal tar hydrogenation products ； A number of projects for the selective utilization of coal in Ordos Wei Yi Energy Co., Ltd. are also being carried out in an orderly manner, including 10.5 million tons per year of coal pyrolysis, 100,000 tons per year of industrial phenol production, 1 million tons per year of hydrogenation of dephenolated tar, 250,000 tons per year of naphtha reforming, 200,000 tons per year of aromatics production, 7.5 million tons per year of natural gas production through the gasification of coke dust, and 830 million cubic meters per year of hydrogen extraction from coal gas. Based on rough estimates, if all planned projects are carried out as scheduled, including those that have already been completed, by around 2020, domestic coal upgrading facilities will be capable of processing over 180 million tons of coal per year, producing 18 million tons of petroleum products annually, with a total investment in such projects exceeding 150 billion yuan. “This year, despite the Ministry of Environmental Protection rejecting several environmental impact assessment reports for modern coal chemical projects one after another, the differentiated utilization of coal continues to receive policy support and strong interest from investors, indicating that it has not only gained market acceptance but also approval from **higher authorities. It is believed that in the near future, an emerging industry capable of integrating with modern coal chemical and petrochemical industries, as well as sectors such as electricity generation, metallurgy, and building materials, in order to achieve clean and efficient utilization of coal, will emerge rapidly. ”You Xiti, the executive vice president of Shaanxi Coal Chemical Group, is highly optimistic about the prospects for the differentiated use of coal.