● In 2017, over 10 CTMEG projects at the stage of construction, commissioning and developing
● 2018 Coal to MEG Conference will be held on April 26-27 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
● Focus on the prospect of syngas to MEG real capacity and the application of PET fiber
In 2017, China’s MEG production was more than 6Mt, net import was about 8.6Mt. Coal to MEG (CTMEG) has become an important part of China’s MEG capacity, and started the large-scale application in PET industry. According to ASIACHEM’s data, by 2018Q1, China has commissioned 17 coal (syngas) to MEG projects, with the total capacity of 3Mt, accounting for about 1/3 of China’s total MEG capacity.
In 2017, China's coal to MEG industry grew up, and the operation level of the production equipment was further improved, and the application of the products in the PET market was further widened. New projects have speeded up, 5 sets started construction, 2 sets restarted construction, 14 sets pushed on developing work, involving a total capacity of 7.39Mt/a.
Three coal to MEG projects were successfully started up in 2017. In 2017, there are 3 sets of coal to MEG plants put into operation, includes Yangquan coal Pingding 200kt/a unit, Haohua Xinji chemical 60kt/a unit, and Henan Energy Luoyang 200kt/a unit, with a total capacity of 460kt/a. In addition, Lihuayi 200kt/a syngas to MEG construction completed in September and entered the commissioning phase; Tianying Petrochemical 150kt/a natural gas to MEG project reached mechanical completion at the end of December, the two projects included in the 2018’s capacity.
The operation results of the coal to MEG projects improved. In August 2017,Henan Energy Yongcheng 200kt/a MEG unit was stabilized at above 95%, with highest daily output of 586t. All the output reached the quality specification of premium grade, made new record in business operation. On Aug 11th, SINOPEC Hubei Fertilizer Branch 200kt/a syngas to MEG unit, realized full load rate production by outputting 25-26t glycol per hour, after optimizing the equipment. On Sep 1st, Yangquan Coal Group Shouyang Chemical 200kt/a MEG project smoothly passed 72h full load performance test, realizing 675.89t EG output on a single day, exceeding design capacity by nearly 20t, and 619.76t out of the total were inspected of premium grade quality.
The development and application of a new generation of coal to MEG has been actively promoted. On Feb 19th 2017, a ceremony was held in Xingren County, Guizhou Province, for a new generation coal to ethylene glycol process pilot project developed by CAS Fujian Institute of Research on Structure of Matter. Public data show that the new generation process has realized, on the basis of 1st generation CTEG process, lower use of noble metal in catalyst and toxic metal substitution and efficient application, greatly improving the catalyst performance with prolonged life cycle. In addition, the process flow has been optimized to cut down cost by large and enhance environment performance etc. In September 2017, Xinhang Energy organized an expert panel to carry out 72h field performance test on a 2nd generation hydrogenation catalyst used in the company’s 300kt/a syngas to MEG plant. During the field test, operating load rate for carbonylation unit was exceeding 104%, for hydrogenation unit exceeding 110%, showing 100% oxalate conversion. The 2nd generation hydrogenation catalyst was developed by Shanghai Pujing chemical, and it is now being put into industrial use.
ASIACHEM’s China Coal-to-MEG Annual Report 2018 show that, in 2017, there are 5 new CTMEG project started the construction, a number of projects actively promoting, and a number of new investors into the CTMEG industry, involving a total capacity of 7.39Mt/a.
Key Coal (syngas) to MEG Projects progress in 2017
