Plan Released for Innovation in the Coal Chemical Industry

Layout Plan for Innovation-driven Development of a Modern Coal Chemical Industry was released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China on March 22.
A modern coal chemical industry is an industry that uses coal and advanced technology and processing to produce clean fuels and substitutes for petrochemical products. Particular objectives of the plan include promoting innovation as a driver in the development of China's coal chemical industry, diversifying the supply of petrochemical materials (and substitutes), and organizing the industry to complement traditional petrochemical industries and develop in a coordinated way.
China has already made wide-ranging breakthroughs in modern coal chemical technology, and some associated key technologies are now world-class.Industrialization of coal-to-liquids, coal-to-natural gas, coal-to-olefins and coal-to-ethylene glycol has generally been realized, and progress has been made in the industrial-scale demonstration of coal-to-benzene, successfully building a bridge from coal to petrochemical products. However, the industry as a whole is involved in upgrades and demonstrations,lacking some prerequisites for full-scale competitive industrialization. Specifically, system integration and pollution controls need improvements; economics and stability of production are yet unverified; and industry standards and market systems must be improved. Moreover,there is a tendency to plan and construct modern coal chemical projects without attending to the ecological impact and the local availability of water resources.
To solve these problems, the Plan laysout eight major tasks – thoroughly upgrading and demonstrating the technology; acceleratingthe integration of related industries; implementing a plan for exploring feasibility and fostering technical innovation in the more capable enterprises; planning demonstrations; organizing transformation of resource-dependent cities; steadily promoting international industry cooperation; vigorously promoting technology and equipment capabilities; and actively exploring carbon dioxide emission reduction methods.
With regard to thorough-going technology upgrades and demonstrations, the Plan proposes focusing on coal-to-olefins and coal-to-liquids and improving resource utilization and environmental protection; orderly demonstration of coal-to-natural gas and coal-to-ethylene glycol industrialization, gradually improving processes, technology, equipment and system configuration; steady engineering demonstration of coal-to-benzene, accelerating the application of scientific findings.
Four demonstration areas are proposed in the Plan in Inner Mongolia’s Erdos, Shaanxi’s Yulin, Ningxia’s Ningdong and Xinjiang’s Zhundong. All are based on existing industry bases and will feature industrial parks, large installations and diversified products. They will supplement petrochemical product capacity. The overall aim is to promote industry cluster development and gradually develop sites that demonstrate world-class coal chemical industry. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the increased volume of coal converted in each demonstration area shall be controlled within 20 million tons (excluding coal-based fuels, such as oil and natural gas that are made fromcoal).
The Plan designates six major industries to vigorously promote integrated development of a modern coal chemical industry: coal mining, electrical chemicals, petrochemicals, chemical fibers, salt chemicals, and last but not least, metallurgical and building material industry. The aims here are to extend the industrial chain, expand industrial clusters, and improve resource conversion efficiency and industry competitiveness.
Focuses of the integrated development in the six major industries are:
Coal mining-use high-sulfur coal gasification technology to upgrade and demonstrate modern coal chemical industry, and to prolong the service lives of existing high-sulfur coal mines. Mainly use inferior coal resources for conversion,such as high-sulfur coal from Shanxi and Guizhou .
Electrical power - based on power supply points in Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, etc., develop integrated coal gasification and power generation, promote use of Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), realize co-production and two-way regulation of load between modern coal chemical plants and the established power industry grid and improve efficient utilization of both resources and energy.
Petrochemicals -integrate technology of coal gasification and power generation to combine crude oil processing, power generation, heat supply and hydrogen production. Exploit the advantage that the intermediate products in crude oil processing can be used in modern coal chemical engineering, and demonstrate integrated processing of coal and crude oil.
Chemical fibers - develop coal-to-benzene and coal-to-ethylene glycol, diversify chemical fiber materials, and demonstrate production of coal-based fiber materials.
Salt chemical engineering - focus on comprehensive development and utilization of resources in salt lakes such as Qinghai, and establish the Qinghai Mining Haixi Prefecture Coal-to-Olefin Project. Based on the requirements in the International Convention on Mercury Pollution Control, transform PVC material routes and hydrogenate acetylene to produce ethylene in suitable places.
Metallurgy and building materials - develop building materials made of fly ash, technology for making aluminum oxide from high-alumina fly ash and technology of direct reduction of iron by using carbon monoxide or hydrocarbon-rich gases. Demonstrate integration of modern coal chemical industry with the metallurgy and building material industries in Mengxi, etc., and improve comprehensive utilization of metallurgy by-product gases.