Shenhua Ningmei Group’s 4 million tons per year coal-to-oil project comes online

Ningxia coal-to-oil project produces qualified oil products, reshaping the global coal chemical industry landscape 2016-12-29 03:15 Source: Guangming Net – Guangming Daily I have something to say The world’s largest coal-to-oil facility – the Ningxia coal-to-oil project – has produced qualified oil products in Ningdong, thereby reshaping the global coal chemical industry landscape. By Wang Jianhong, reporter from Guangming Daily On December 28th, at the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in Ningxia, China… 　　At around 3 p.m., as Li Jianhua, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Chairman of the People’s Congress, announced that the 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project operated by Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group had successfully produced oil, the world’s largest coal-to-oil facility of its kind officially came online. 　　At this moment, the global coal chemical industry is holding its breath, listening to the \"plant bones\" that have been sealed underground for hundreds of millions of years transform into \"industrial blood\" and flow onward. 　　The operation of Ningxia’s \"coal-to-oil\" project marks China’s breakthrough in breaking foreign technological monopolies and reaching the pinnacle of coal chemical technology – thereby reshaping the global technological landscape of the coal chemical industry. 　　This is a century-long project that has spanned over a decade and two centuries, reflecting China’s commitment to ensuring energy security through the efforts of Ningxia. The basic structure of China’s primary energy sources is characterized by a shortage of oil and gas and an abundance of coal. As early as 1999, at the end of the last century, Ningxia Coal Industry Group Company, the predecessor of Shenhua Ningxia Coal Group, realized that mining coal for sale was not a sustainable approach; only by converting coal into clean energy and achieving sustainable development in the coal industry could the transformation and upgrading of this industry take place, thereby ensuring energy security. 　　However, most of the core technologies at that time were monopolized by foreign giants, and Ningmei Group engaged in protracted negotiations with South African company Sasol over the introduction of coal-to-oil technology. 　　“After 10 years, the terms offered by the other party became increasingly stringent, making the people at Shenhua Ningmei realize that core technologies cannot be acquired with money, and the approach of introducing foreign technologies is not viable. ”Yao Min, deputy general manager of Shenhua Ningmei Group, said. 　　During this period, the technical landscape for domestic coal indirect liquefaction projects is quietly changing. Zhongke Synthetic Oil Technology Co., Ltd. has developed a design process package for million-ton-scale industrial projects, providing the technical foundation to build large-scale industrial projects for indirect coal liquefaction using FTO synthesis technology with domestic independent intellectual property rights. 　　Based on this technology, in September 2013, Shenhua Ningmei Group’s 4 million-ton coal-to-oil project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, and construction on it officially commenced in full on September 28 of the same year. 　　This is the largest chemical project ever invested in by humanity to date in the petrochemical and coal chemical industries. The estimated investment is 55 billion yuan, which is 1.7 times that of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, and 5 billion yuan more than the static investment for the Three Gorges Dam project. 　　Shenhua Ningmei Group has established a robust matrix-based project management system, focusing tightly on the key aspects of planning and coordination, detailing milestone objectives, and implementing strict evaluations of these milestones to ensure the smooth progress of projects. In the view of experts at home and abroad, a super-project that would have taken 5 years to complete was essentially finished in 3 years and 3 months, resulting in a 12% reduction in total investment. 　　The project sought to establish a safety management framework during the infrastructure construction phase, achieving a \"zero fatalities\" rate throughout the construction process and eliminating any accidents resulting in serious injuries; in total, 160 million man-hours were spent on safety-related activities. 　　This is a global-scale project that helps a number of domestic enterprises overcome foreign technological blockades and promotes the localization of key technologies and equipment in our country. In April this year, Yao Min, deputy general manager of Shenhua Ningmei Group, asked Clariant, a world-leading specialty chemicals company, to reduce the price of its catalysts, saying, “We are cultivating competitors for you in our own country.” ”This tough attitude stems from the successful development of domestic catalysts. 　　Similar to domestic catalysts, a number of Chinese companies have taken advantage of the platform provided by the 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project to achieve the localization of key and critical technologies, equipment, and materials. This has broken the technical monopoly held by foreign companies, giving these Chinese firms the opportunity to compete on an equal footing with world-class companies such as Siemens and Shell. 　　“The Shenning coal-to-oil project took on 37 key and major tasks aimed at achieving domestic production of technologies, equipment, and materials, thus functioning as a ‘**model laboratory**’ in practice. ”Cai Lihong, the chief commander of the construction command team for the Shenning coal-to-oil project, said. 　　Market demand is the driving force behind corporate innovation. Leading enterprises from related domestic industries such as Wuyang Iron and Steel Company of Hebei Iron and Steel Group, Hangyang Oxygen Company, Shenyang Gas Turbine Group, and Huanqiu Engineering Company quickly gathered in Ningdong. In this “**laboratory**” covering over 560 hectares, 37 of China’s top design, manufacturing, and construction companies, along with more than 800 supply firms, work together to drive innovation. 　　Measured by process technology and the number of equipment units, the localization rate for coal-to-oil projects reaches 98.5%, while based on investment amounts it is over 92%. This has helped domestic equipment manufacturing companies expand their operations overseas and accelerated the end of the era of exorbitant profits generated by imported technologies and equipment. 　　Through intense efforts, a complete gasification technology capable of processing 2,200 tons of dry coal powder per day was developed in 2013. This technology earned 15 invention patents, breaking the foreign technological monopoly; Shenning Group named it the “Shenning Furnace”. 　　With a diameter of 4 meters, a height of 21.6 meters, and a total weight of 289.25 tons, the \"Shenning Furnace\" overcomes the limitation of the GSP gasification technology, which can only process \"high-quality coal\"; it is capable of processing various types of coal, thereby providing a way for the clean utilization of low-quality coal. This technology is used extensively in the Shenning coal-to-oil project, saving approximately 200 million yuan in costs. 　　On September 23, 2016, Shenhua Ningmei Group signed a licensing agreement for the \"Shenning furnace\" gasification technology in Texas, United States, with the CEO of American Peak Group, marking the first time that this technology was exported abroad. 　　This is a green project that strives for \"near-zero emissions\" at all times. Investments in environmental protection and energy conservation amount to 6.2 billion yuan, accounting for 11.23% of the total investment. The synthetic oils produced by the coal indirect liquefaction project feature ultra-low sulfur levels (near zero), low aromatic content, high cetane number, and low ash content – all of which exceed the requirements of China’s National V and European V standards. These characteristics help to address issues related to vehicle exhaust pollution and smog in cities. 　　“Coal-to-oil projects have always taken the development of a circular economy, the promotion of energy conservation and emission reduction, and the enhanced comprehensive utilization of resources as key directions for their operations, carrying out various environmental protection and energy-saving measures in a strict, high-standard, and practical manner. ”Shao Junjie, chairman of Shenning Group, said. 　　The investment in environmental protection and energy conservation for this project amounts to 6.2 billion yuan, accounting for 11.23% of the total investment, which is quite rare among chemical industry projects both domestically and internationally. The project adopts advanced water-saving technologies, makes maximum use of air coolers, and employs water-saving and mist-reducing cooling towers for circulating cooling water, which allows the evaporation loss rate to be reduced by 19%; the recycling rate of cooling water reaches 99.1%. The sulfur recovery rate from the process exhaust gases in this project reaches 99.96%, enabling the recovery of 202,000 tons of sulfur per year. Different types of wastewater are treated separately to maximize recycling; the reuse rate of wastewater is 97%, while the reuse rate of water reaches 98.3%, achieving near-zero discharge of industrial wastewater. 　　Innovation knows no bounds; currently, Shenning Group is actively applying for funding to develop a 4,000-ton capacity \"Shenning furnace\", aiming to create an upgraded version of coal indirect liquefaction projects. This effort is intended to provide a technical strategic advantage to help the company adapt to the post-oil era. 　　Guangming Daily (December 29, 2016, Page 03)

Thanks for sharing! Has the project started yet? Is an emergency spray system needed:lol:lol