Site

Satellite view of Yulin Chemical's Phase 1 Production Site via Bing maps.

Project OVerview

The project is centered on coal utilization technology through two pathways:

• coal-to-olefins
• coal-to-aromatics

The project couples modern coal chemical industry with a variety of platform compounds in petrochemical industry. Through the coupling of pulverized coal pyrolysis and gasification technology, the company takes pulverized coke gasification to produce methanol and methanol to produce olefins as the main line, conducts deep processing of olefins, and develops an aromatics industry chain with coal tar as raw material, creating a high-efficiency and low-cost coal-to-aromatics technology, mainly producing polyolefins, polyesters, polycarbonates, polyether polyols, EVA, POE, SAP, DMC, DEC, EMC, EC and other series of fine chemical products.

The coal gasification route involves building projects with annual production capacity of:

• 1.8 million tons of ethylene glycol
• 500,000 tons of DMC (Dimethyl Carbonate)
• 4 million tons of CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage)
• 5.6 million tons of methanol
• 1.5 million tons of olefins

These are then used to produce:

• Battery electrolyte solvents
• High value-added materials

The coal pyrolysis route involves building a demonstration project with an annual production capacity of:

• 1.2 million tons of pulverized coal pyrolysis
  
  Yulin Chemical has completed a 1.2 million ton annual pulverized coal pyrolysis project
• 13.5 million tons of coal quality-based clean and efficient conversion
• Producing 2.4 million tons of coal tar

Through reforming/aromatics combined units, this project:

• Produces aromatic basic chemical raw materials
• Converts these into biodegradable materials
• Creates downstream chemical products from aromatics

Project phases

The world's largest coal to chemical project, with an annual output of 15 million tons of coal conversion, is divided into two phases of investment and construction.

1. The first phase is to build a 1.8 million ton coal-to-ethylene glycol project and a pyrolysis start-up project;
   
   Yulin Chemical Phase I Project Production Plant Site
    
2. The second phase is to build a 15 million ton coal conversion demonstration project with an annual output of olefins, aromatics and deep processing projects.
   
    Construction site of the second phase of Yulin Chemical project

Timeline

• 3^rd Apr 2020: the EPC contract was signed and the project construction officially began.
• 8^th Sep 2022: the first gasification furnace of the 1.8 million tons per year ethylene glycol project was successfully put into operation.
• 9^th Oct 2022: qualified polyester-grade ethylene glycol products were produced.
• Nov 2022: the entire series of equipment achieved full load operation.
• 3^rd Nov 2023, the ethylene glycol unit passed the performance assessment and fully entered the production stage.
  
  Yulin Chemical's 1.8 million tons per year coal-to-ethylene glycol plant
• 22^nd Dec 2023, the ethylene glycol output reached the annual design capacity target 9 days ahead of schedule, and completed 150% of the annual production target of Shaanxi Coal Group.
• 31^st Sep 2024: the second phase of Yulin Chemical Project - the world's largest single coal chemical project kicked off its comprehensive construction.
• 19^th Oct 2024: the first phase of the 500,000 tons/year DMC project successfully produced high-quality DMC products, the first phase being a 100,000 tons/year DMC project and the second phase being a 400,000 tons/year DMC project.
  
  100,000 tons/year DMC First Phase Plant

 

References

1. Li Jun et al., 12^th Nov 2024, Shaanxi Coal Yulin Chemical: Towards Innovation, Quality and the Future, CCIN.
2. Wei Qinghua Guo Wenjing, 8^th Jul 2024, Shaanxi Coal Group Yulin Chemical: A 100 billion-level industrial cluster is gaining momentum, CCIN.
3. 22^nd Oct 2024, China's largest battery electrolyte solvent project started production in Yulin, Shaanxi Yulin Women's Federation.