What are the prospects for Shanghai Wu Zhengzhong’s high-pressure carbonylation process for producing ethylene glycol?
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This year, Wu Zheng signed a process package for the production of ethylene glycol via medium-high pressure carbonylation, with a capacity of 300,000 tons. Since launching the 50,000-ton project at Hualu Hengsheng, Wu Zheng has remained relatively low-key in recent years; is it because the manufacturing process has not been perfected yet, or is he holding back to reserve a bigger move? Is there anyone who knows something about the Wu Zheng process who can share their insights?
Waiting equally. I heard about this company’s new approach to producing ethylene glycol last year, and since then there has been no further news. It is estimated that the pilot-scale process has not yet been established.
The production of ethylene glycol via high-pressure methods cannot be generalized. The high pressure mentioned here actually refers to the high-pressure method used in the CO-based process for producing dimethyl oxalate; hydrogenation of dimethyl oxalate inherently requires relatively high pressures. The necessary conditions for the high-pressure method using dimethyl oxalate are as follows: 1. It is crucial to know what the physical properties of methyl nitrite are under high pressure. Being in charge would be very dangerous. 2. Is it feasible to prepare methyl nitrite under high pressure? After all, the formation of MN is relatively complex, and there are also quite a few by-products. 3. The equipment investment will be very high. 4. Whether the mechanical strength of the catalyst can meet the requirements.
Indeed! Yubari Kogyo has been working on this manufacturing process for over 30 years, from research and development to industrialization. The time available for technological development in China is too short; there are no shortcuts for such a complex process. It takes time to absorb and digest, so it’s understandable if there are issues. I remember reading a document before that stating Ube Industries also encountered problems with methyl nitrite
The so-called characteristics mentioned in the Wu’s medium-high pressure method cannot be justified: 1. With the reactor size reduced under high-pressure conditions, can the heat transfer problem be resolved? 2. Under high-pressure conditions, the catalyst can still maintain such high yields and a long lifespan; unless the reaction temperature is increased, the danger associated with the ester will **increase! 3. The hydrogenation pressure is much higher than that of first-generation technology; will the equipment cost definitely increase? It is worth considering whether it can offset the costs of operating the equipment! 4. Steam consumption is significantly low, unless there are significant improvements in the product separation process after hydrogenation, as the majority of steam consumption occurs in the separation stage ； 5. The most obvious point is that Wu claims that at a coal price of 400 yuan per ton, the total cost of ethylene glycol is 2,378 yuan per ton. Based on the data he provided, I calculated that the cost of raw materials alone exceeds 2,000 yuan; could it be that the remaining costs amount to less than 400 yuan? I’m really worried about those customers who have signed contracts with Wu Zheng!
Very insightful! I’ve always felt that there’s something wrong with Wu Zheng’s process package, but I can’t figure out where the problem lies. Thank you for helping me understand it!
It is essential to have a thorough understanding of the key physical parameters, as well as the chemical and physical properties of methyl nitrite, in order to determine whether the high-pressure method can be used effectively.
Gimmicky high-pressure coal-based ethylene glycol https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-1649772-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum)
Contract signed for project to produce ethylene glycol from million tons of coke oven gas 2018-02-06 16:17 On February 1, the signing ceremony for the project to comprehensively utilize coke oven gas in Shanxi Jinyan Industrial Group to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol annually along with 550 million Nm3 of LNG was held in Taiyuan. The scale of this project is the largest of its kind in China. This will be the first project in China’s field of comprehensive utilization of coke oven gas to achieve industrial application using the technology of Jinhua furnace gasification combined with medium-high pressure carbonylation of syngas for the production of ethylene glycol. Wen Kezhong, chairman of Jinyan Group, said that the total investment in the project is 8.2 billion yuan, with construction taking place in two phases. For the first phase, the investment amount is 3.7 billion yuan, with a production capacity of 400,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year, along with 200 million Nm3 of LNG, along with preheating power generation facilities. The second phase requires an investment of 4.5 billion yuan, enabling a production capacity of 600,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year, along with 350 million Nm3 of LNG, again along with preheating power generation facilities. The project was systematically integrated and overall designed by China Global Engineering Co., Ltd., utilizing the world’s first medium-high pressure carbonylation technology for producing ethylene glycol developed by Shanghai Wuzheng Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., as well as the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 slurry water-cooled wall waste boiler gasification technology developed by Tsinghua University. It is backed by the Guolian Energy Industry Investment Fund. Wei Yabin, deputy general manager of China Global Engineering Co., Ltd., noted that all the technologies used in the project are domestically developed. It is estimated that 1.7 billion Nm3 of coke oven gas will be consumed annually, along with approximately 940,000 tons of coke by-products such as coke tar, coke dust, and coke fines. (Source: **Coal Chemical Industry Network**)