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On 27 June, 2014,
the coal-to-methanol-to-olefins device with a capacity of 1.8 million t/a of
Shaanxi Yanchang & China Coal Yulin Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. (Shaanxi
Yanchang & China Coal) was put into operation. It is predicted that the
coal-to-olefins projects in China will be concentratedly put into operation in
the next two years. However, people are worried about the huge water
consumption of these projects. Is huge water consumption a fixed feature of
coal chemical projects? Experts have different opinions and the government also
pays great attention to it, according to China
Olefins Market E-News 1407 on
July by CCM.
Moreover, the
Special Committee of Coal Chemicals, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry
Federation (SCCC, CPCIF), has been entrusted by the National Energy
Administration (NEA) to formulate the indicators of energy consumption and
water consumption for modern coal chemical industry. Now, the SCCC, CPCIF is
actively promoting the standardization of demonstration projects. Also, it
demarcates main indicators for demonstration projects, covering their energy
consumption, water consumption and discharge of three wastes (waste water,
gases and residues), and standardises the entrance of new projects.
Yang Youlin, the
deputy director of the Process Systems Engineering Committee, Systems
Engineering Society of China, stated his opinion as below: The great water consumption
of large coal chemical projects in China isn’t inevitable, and it is just a
lack of system optimization, which indicates a great potential in water saving
and emission reduction. The whole water network of a coal chemical project can
be optimized based on the Process Systems Engineering (PSE), as it has been
proved by the petrochemical industry. "The current [water-saving]
situation of the coal chemical industry is similar to the petrochemical
industry ten years ago," said Yang Youlin.
Specially, the
production of 1 tonne of ethylene consumes 32 tonnes of water in the coal
chemical process, while only 6 to 7 tonnes of water consumed in petro process.
Not due to different chemical reaction processes, the gap is attributed to
other reasons.
Moreover, Yang
Youlin believes that using PSE method, we can optimize the whole water network
system especially the public process system to fully tap the coal chemical
process's potential to save water and reduce emissions. Consequently, the water
consumption would be double reduced.
Additionally, Han
Hongjun, professor of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) regarded that there
is extremely small water capacity to receive wastewater from coal chemical
plants. Enterprises meeting national requirement of zero emission are not
reported. Conclusively, serious pollution is very common in the coal chemical
industry.
What’s more, Xu
Yanhua, professor of Nanjing Tech University (Nanjing Tech) pointed out that
without mature technology, the effluent treatment of domestic coal chemical
industry is lack of pertinence and effectiveness. The regular process for
municipal wastewater treatment, with simple pre-treatment, dilutes toxic
chemicals along with dilution discharge and even underlying discharges. Xu Yanhua
disclosed that Nanjing Tech has succeeded in developing a process with zero
emission, which integrates intensive pre-treatment with deep treatment. The
process is now being run as a demonstration project in the direct coal
liquefaction project of China Shenhua Group Co., Ltd. in Ordos City, Inner
Mongolia.
Meanwhile, HIT is
energetically developing practical technology to achieve zero emission in coal
chemical projects. For instance, a demonstration project has run for five
months in the fertilizer plant of China National Coal Group Corp. in Tuke Town,
Ordos City, Inner Mongolia. In the project, water is all recycled without
sewage outfall.
Comment: China's
coal chemical industry will see sound development if its water consumption can
reach or get close to that of petrochemical industry. Moreover, Northwest China
can change from an exporter of coal raw materials to an exporter of chemical
products. This even would affect the world trading pattern of olefins and the
downstream products.
Generally, coal
chemical industry is linked to high water consumption, which is also proved by
five running coal-to-olefins devices. It not only prevents the coal-to-olefins
projects from lowering costs, but also consumes valuable water resources in
western China, threatening the agricultural developmnet in this area.
Therefore, the Chinese government becomes cautious about the examinization and
approval of this kind of projects, which somehow restricts the development of
coal-to-olefins industry. However, encouragingly the NEA has entrusted the
SCCC, CPCIF to stipulate the energy consumption indicators for modern coal
chemical industry. It is also an important instruction to standardise the
coal-to-olefins process. Besides, the high water consumption of coal chemical
industry in China isn’t inevitable, not a logical result of coal chemical
projects. Instead, it can be ascribed to the immature engineering design to a
large extent. So, the water saving and emission reduction of coal chemical
projects boast great potential.
It is well-known
that China's coal resources are mainly distributed in Northwest China with a
shortage in water resources. The water resources per capita in the major coal
producing area only accounts for 1/2–1/4 of the national average. Thus,
developing coal chemical industry in this area would cause regional supply
& demand imbalance of water resources. For example, the water consumption
of a coal-to-liquids project with a capacity of 3 million t/a will reach around
60 million tonnes annually, equal to the water resource occupation of over one
hundred thousand people, or the water available reserves in over 10,000 ha (100
km2) land area. Moreover, the water consumption of all the projects approved during
the Twelfth Five-year Plan, will total 930 million m3 annually, far exceeding
the environmental bearing capacity.
Accordingly, like
the strategic reserves of crude oil, it is of great necessity to optimize the
engineering design of coal chemical projects and decrease the water consumption
per unit. It is hopeful that part of petroleum will be replaced by coal.
Table
of contents: China
Olefins Market E-News 1407
1.China Olefins
Cost Analysis
2.Definition of
CCM's olefins cost analysis model
3.Current
situation & forecast
4.Universities’
researchers attempt to optimize coal chemical system to lower water consumption
5.Raw materials of
olefins in China(including naphtha, coal and methanol price and import
analysis)
6.China Olefins
Market Review(including price,suply and Operating situation of China's ethylene
plants)
7.Shaanxi’s first
MTO device put into production
8.China’s largest
PDH project granted loan of USD381.97 million
9.China and US to
dominate global methanol trading in future
10.CNPC Dushanzi
becomes first pioneer for energy efficiency in ethylene industry
11.Sinopec Maoming
hits record in ethylene output in H1 2014
12.Wuhan Luhua to
process Sinopec Wuhan’s ethylene by-products
13.Yanzhou Coal
Ordos’ ethanol project put into operation
14.China’s
consumption of non-petrochemical energy witnesses YoY increase of over 50% in
2013
15.CNOOC transfers
equity in loss-suffering chemical enterprise at super-low price
16.Chinese
government should issue standards for coal chemical industry as soon as
possible
17.China Shenhua’s
online trading platform impacts olefins’ traditional trading pattern
China Olefins Market E-News is an e-book
that focuses on the olefin industry chain in China. It helps customers obtain a
quick understanding of Chinese olefin related products from raw materials to
finished products. Specifically, it reveals cost trends and the underlying
causes, which enables customers to grasp the market dynamics and seize
opportunities to increase investment gain.
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CCM
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