Issue 7/2013 - Sinopec leads the country in the complete set of coal-to-ethylene glycol technology

Sinopec coal-to-ethylene glycol complete set of technology leads the country

Recently, Yangzi Petrochemical syngas to ethylene glycol test plant successfully completed all test tasks, becoming the first domestic enterprise to use syngas as raw material to successfully produce polymer-grade ethylene glycol, which marks that Sinopec has a complete set of mature coal-to-ethylene glycol technology, leading the country with similar technologies, which is of great significance
to cope with high oil prices, adjust the structure of equipment and products, and enhance market competitiveness.

With the long-term high price of international oil prices in recent years, the world's ethylene glycol industry chain using ethylene as raw material is facing great pressure, especially the development and rapid maturity of Middle East oil associated gas to ethylene, the United States shale gas to ethylene, and domestic coal-to-ethylene technology, which seriously impacts the petrochemical industry with petroleum routes, and thus triggers pattern changes
in petrochemical raw materials 。 The shortage of domestic oil and gas and the reality of relatively abundant coal resources have made Sinopec shift its strategic focus to coal chemical industry, and has opened up a number of scientific research routes, among which the test plant built in Yangtze Petrochemical Plant, using coal as a resource and syngas as raw material is listed as a key project of Sinopec, and integrates the superior resources of scientific research
, construction and production in the system to carry out joint scientific research 。 The project team overcame the problems of almost all non-standard equipment and manufacturing difficulties, and the participants worked closely together, Yangzi Petrochemical Plant with solid and effective training, successfully started on June 28, 2012, produced qualified target products, and completed the 96-hour assessment, verified the feasibility of the production process and the effectiveness of the catalyst, and mastered the control method
.
At present, it has declared 2 national patents and 14 Sinopec proprietary technologies, and has made key technological breakthroughs and innovations
on the basis of 5 tests.

Several years of scientific research have made the domestic coal chemical technology have reached the world's advanced level, and the development and continuous maturity of these technologies have provided strong technical support
for the domestic petrochemical industry to adjust the resource structure.
At present, there are many projects to produce ethylene glycol from syngas as raw material in China, and Yangzi Petrochemical is the first enterprise to produce polymer-grade ethylene glycol, which shows this advanced nature and marks that Sinopec's coal-to-ethylene glycol technology ranks at the leading level
in China.
The construction of industrial scale-up projects based on this technology has started, which means that Sinopec already has a complete set of coal-to-ethylene glycol technology, including engineering design, construction, complete sets of technology
, and domestic equipment.

At present, Yangzi Petrochemical is carrying out scientific research activities around the in-depth use of the experimental equipment to develop small batches and high value-added fine chemical products, and to explore new ways
for the survival and efficiency of micro-devices.
(Wu Jun)