Significant progress made in coal-based ethylene glycol production

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Key Advances in Coal-Based Ethylene Glycol Production Author/Source: Date: 12-05-2016 Clicks: 10 In November, several coal-based ethylene glycol projects in China made significant progress: Yangmei Group Shenzhou Chemical Co., Ltd. achieved operation at 110% of its capacity； Yangmei Group Shouyang Chemical Co., Ltd. successfully produced high-quality ethylene glycol ； The single-unit trial operation of Inner Mongolia Cornell Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. has been completed ； The Binzhou chemical project of Shaanxi Weihe Coal Chemical Industry Group Co., Ltd. has received approval for its environmental impact assessment. Yangmei Shenzhou: Operating at Overload In late November, the 200,000 tons per year coal-to-ethylene glycol production facility of Yangmei Group Shenzhou Chemical Co., Ltd. was operating at 110% of its capacity in a stable manner. 　　This project has a daily production capacity of 330 tons per line, and the product quality is stable. The polymeric-grade ethylene glycol is sold to regions such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong, where it is already being used consistently in the polyester filament industry. 　　Construction of this facility began in 2013, and it was successfully commissioned on April 15, 2016, achieving stable operation at high loads of 90%~100%. The product quality has been tested by the **Petrochemical Product Quality Supervision and Inspection Center, and meets the standards for first-class quality as specified in GB/T 4649-2008 \"Ethylene Glycol for Industrial Use\". Among them, the product’s ultraviolet transmittance is 88.6% at 220nm, 95.2% at 275nm, and 99.3% at 350nm ； The aldehyde content is only 0.2 ppm ； The product purity is 99.97%. 　　Through centralized optimization and improvement following trial operations, as well as long-term stable operation, key technologies of this facility such as the catalyst used, the esterification regeneration process, nitrogen oxide supplementation, and comprehensive energy savings have been fully utilized and tested. The results show that this facility not only requires less investment but also has low operating costs and excellent performance. 　　The project is located in the Yangmei Chemical Industry Park in Shenzhou City, Hebei Province. It produces ethylene glycol by converting coal into syngas using the oxalate method, and employs the WHB coal-based polymeric-grade ethylene glycol technology – a technology with complete independent intellectual property rights – developed jointly by China Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd., Huashuo Technology Co., Ltd. (Hubei Institute of Chemistry), and Hebi BMW (Group) Industrial Co., Ltd. 　 Yangmei Shouyang: Production of high-quality products On November 16, the 400,000 tons per year coal-to-ethylene glycol production facility of Yangmei Group’s Shouyang Chemical Plant – with an initial capacity of 200,000 tons per year – located in the industrial park south of Shouyang County in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, began to produce high-quality ethylene glycol (of polyester grade) on a stable basis. Additionally, by-products such as sulfur and ammonium sulfate were also generated. 　　It is reported that the 400,000 tons per year coal-to-ethylene glycol project of Shouyang Chemical in Yangmei Group (with a capacity of 200,000 tons per year in the first phase) uses coal as raw material. Through processes such as coal storage and transportation, coal slurry gasification, purification, deep cryogenic separation of CO/H2, DMO synthesis and distillation, as well as ethylene glycol synthesis and distillation, high-quality ethylene glycol is produced, with a purity of 99.96%. 　　This project is a major transformation and reform initiative at the Shanxi provincial level, as well as a demonstration project for new coal chemical technologies. With a total investment of 6.43 billion yuan, it also forms an important part of the coal-electricity-chemical integrated circular economy industrial park in Shouyang County. The project is planned to be constructed in two phases; the first phase requires an investment of 3.415 billion yuan to build a facility with an annual production capacity of 200,000 tons of ethylene glycol. The main product, ethylene glycol, is primarily used in the production of polyester fibers, polyester resins, antifreezes, lubricants, plasticizers, and **. Fude Cornell: Single-unit testing completed. The coal-to-ethylene glycol project of Inner Mongolia Tongliao Fude Cornell, located in the Zhalute High-Tech Coal Chemical Industry Park in Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is progressing smoothly. By early November, the Fude Cornell ethylene glycol project, for which a total investment of nearly 4 billion yuan has been made, had completed its individual unit tests; it is now ready to start integrated tests in order to operationalize the entire production process. 　　Liu Changshan, deputy general manager of Inner Mongolia Cornell Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., said that currently, 95% of the work on the project’s steel structure and civil engineering has been completed, 90% of the installation work is finished, and 95% of the overall construction is complete. At present, the individual testing of the project’s equipment has been largely completed, and the conditions for joint testing are now in place; efforts are being made to produce qualified products through testing as soon as possible. 　　It is reported that once the project is put into operation and reaches full capacity, its annual sales revenue is expected to reach 2 billion yuan, with profits and taxes exceeding 200 million yuan, and it will be able to provide employment for 2,000 people. 　　It is understood that the first phase of Fude Cornell’s 300,000 tons per year ethylene glycol production project is planned to require an investment of 6.2 billion yuan, with a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year of ethylene glycol. Phase II of the project is planned to incur an investment of 9 billion yuan, with an annual production capacity of 600,000 tons of ethylene glycol. The project is EPC-general contracted by Donghua Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. The ethylene glycol production process utilizes the Ubiqua process, with lignite sourced locally from Inner Mongolia as raw material; gasification is carried out using the Corning dry powder gasification process to produce syngas. Weihua: Project environmental impact assessment approved. In early November, the environmental impact assessment report for Shaanxi Weihe Coal Chemical Group Co., Ltd.’s 300,000 tons per year coal-based ethylene glycol production project in Binzhou was approved by the Xianyang Environmental Protection Bureau, which set out detailed requirements regarding pollution prevention measures during the project’s construction and operation phases. Meanwhile, the ordering of long-cycle equipment for the project was officially launched. 　　The Weihua coal-to-ethylene glycol project is located in the Xinminyuan Modern Coal Chemical Industry Park in Bin County, Shaanxi Province. The total investment amount is 5.495 billion yuan, of which 444 million yuan is allocated to environmental protection measures, accounting for approximately 8.08% of the total investment. The project construction includes the main facilities such as gasification units, purification units, and ethylene glycol synthesis units, as well as auxiliary facilities like water supply and drainage systems and desalination stations. It also encompasses storage and transportation systems, as well as environmental protection measures such as waste gas treatment, wastewater treatment, and solid waste disposal. Upon completion of the project, in addition to an annual production of 300,000 tons of ethylene glycol, it will also produce by-products such as 17,576 tons of crude DMC, 5,336 tons of DMO fractions, 5,920 tons of fusel oils, 13,440 tons of light fractions of ethylene glycol, 6,048 tons of heavy fractions, and 4,321 tons of sulfur. At present, all the supporting documents for this project, such as safety assessments, occupational health evaluations, energy efficiency assessments, and soil and water conservation evaluations, have been obtained. The preliminary design is largely completed, orders for long-term-use equipment are being placed one after another, and all the preliminary tasks related to the project construction are progressing in an orderly manner.