Stability is relatively poor; coal-based ethylene glycol struggles to move forward

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Its stability is relatively poor; coal-based ethylene glycol is struggling to make progress. Author/Source: JinYinDao News. Date: July 28, 2016. Clicks: 30. In recent years, with the rapid development of the coal chemical industry, coal-based ethylene glycol in China has gone from being little-known to becoming widely used. According to statistics, by the first half of 2016, the total production capacity of coal-based ethylene glycol in China had exceeded 2 million tons, accounting for 27.22% of the total production capacity. However, the current production situation is unstable, with the production rate failing to see any substantial increase; coal-based ethylene glycol is moving forward with difficulty. Production capacity is increasing, and output is rising gradually. http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20160728/1725176271774.jpg Looking at the production figures for coal-based ethylene glycol, it can be seen that as domestic production capacity expanded, there was a significant increase over the course of almost a year starting from May 2015; during that time, the monthly production of coal-based ethylene glycol was generally between 50,000 and 65,000 tons. However, from the end of the fourth quarter of 2015 to the beginning of the first quarter of 2016, due to issues related to industry profitability, some companies stopped production as a precaution, which led to a significant drop in output; the monthly production volume dropped below 40,000 tons from December 2015 to January 2016. As domestic ethylene glycol prices continued to rise, the profitability of companies that produce ethylene glycol from coal improved significantly; some of these companies operated at full capacity. In May 2016, China’s production of ethylene glycol reached 95,900 tons, the highest level since the first company producing ethylene glycol from coal began operations in 2009. It is difficult to exceed this share in production. Although the output of coal-based ethylene glycol increased significantly in 2016, there is still a significant gap when compared to its 25.25% share of total production capacity. There are still many issues that need to be addressed regarding coal-based ethylene glycol. According to JinYinDao, the planned production capacity is 1.87 million tons per year, but the actual capacity that can operate properly in accordance with design specifications is only 1 million tons per year; another 800,000 tons of capacity is either shut down for long periods or in the testing phase. Frequent failures and poor device stability: http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20160728/1726156277518.jpg. As can be seen from the table, there was a concentration of maintenance activities among domestic manufacturers of coal-based ethylene glycol at the end of June and beginning of July; in addition to catalyst replacement and annual maintenance, there were also many instances of equipment shutdowns due to failures. This indicates that the stability of current coal-based ethylene glycol plants still needs further improvement. In fact, including coal-based ethylene glycol, the coal chemical industry involves high water consumption, significant pollutant emissions, and complex treatment requirements; without a thorough resolution of environmental issues, it will be difficult to overcome the increasingly stringent industrial policies. The technology for producing ethylene glycol from coal is not yet fully mature, and there are many challenges to the implementation of industrial-scale projects. Firstly, there are pressing issues with catalysts, such as their short lifespan, the difficulty in controlling the content of precious metal components, and the challenge of managing hot spots during the reaction process ； Secondly, parameters such as the impurity content in the final product and its ultraviolet transmittance still do not fully meet the requirements for polyester-grade materials; it can only be used in combination with ethylene-based ethylene glycol in low proportions. Overall, despite technological advancements in recent years and the gradual introduction of coal-based ethylene glycol products into the polyester industry, certain specifications of these products still fall short compared to those produced via petroleum-based methods. Due to limitations in process technology, domestic coal-based ethylene glycol manufacturers generally face issues such as plant load levels that do not reach the designed capacity after commercial production, catalyst selectivity and ethylene glycol yield falling short of expectations, resulting in low production volumes. Additionally, frequent start-up and shutdowns of the plants due to maintenance and renovation work lead to high energy and material consumption. However, we also have reason to believe that, if the profitability conditions improve in the future and market acceptance increases as technology continues to advance, coal-based ethylene glycol will remain an indispensable force in the market going forward.