The Hungry Dragon: Coal-to-Chemical as a Game Changer in China

Related Vendors

Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

CAC ENGINEERING GMBH

Pörner Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH

Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions Germany GmbH

Methanol as a Building Block

So how is coal converted into chemicals? Who has the expertise needed to do that? In greatly simplified terms, all coal conversion technologies follow the same pattern. The first step is production of syngas from pulverized coal with the aid of oxygen. The syngas is then converted to ammonia or methanol. Ammonia is used for the production of urea fertilizer.

Methanol on the other hand is the ideal chemical feedstock. “It is resource neutral and plastics made from it have the same properties as the oil-based variety,” explained Thomas Wurzel from Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions. C1 is a versatile building block. In addition to plastics, it can be used to make fuels like dimethyl ether or chemicals such as acetic acid. It is the perfect fit for the Chinese coal revolution.

This is good news for process license owners. Few companies have the necessary expertise. The list includes Honeywell UOP which has a methanol-to-olefin process that produces a mix of propylene and ethylene, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in China which has developed a slightly modified DMTO process and the Frankfurt-based engineering firm Lurgi which was assimilated into the Air Liquide group’s Engineering & Construction business a few years ago.

The Lurgi technology portfolio includes not only coal gasification but also the MegaMethanol process which produces more than 5 000 tonnes of methanol a day. The company is generally regarded as the world leader in these mega-scale plants. Air Liquide claims to have built two-thirds of all existing facilities.

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