The world's largest coal -based ethanol industrialization project is officially completed in Shaanxi

The world's largest annual output of 500,000 tons of coal -based ethanol industrialization project was officially completed in Yulin, Shaanxi

Promote the clean and efficient utilization of coal (technology viewpoint)

As an important chemical raw material, ethanol can be used in a hydrolysis reaction through food fermentation or ethylene derived from oil. However, these two methods are not perfect: the former "compete with others", the latter is high and relied on oil resources. In addition to these two methods, are there any other ways to make large -scale manufacturing ethanol? Since 2010, Liu Zhongmin, the director of the Dalian Institute of Chemistry and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Director of the Institute of Chemistry and Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the "Dalian Chemical Institute"), has opened up new routes in the field of coal -to -ethanol. Industrialization has laid a solid foundation.

A few days ago, at the Yulin Yu Shen Industrial Park in Shaanxi, the world's largest 500,000 tons/annual coal -based ethanol industrialization project based on Liu Zhongmin's team was officially completed. What are the significance of this project? The reporter interviewed.

Use fossil energy to produce ethanol to meet the objective requirements of achieving the "double carbon" goal

Ethanol is not only an important basic chemical, but also closely related to people's daily lives. It can be used to make beverages, flavors, disinfectants, etc. Water -free ethanol can be used as gasoline additives, that is, fuel ethanol, which can effectively improve the quality of gasoline and greatly reduce vehicle pollutant emissions.

"Traditional ethanol production technology is mainly fermented with grain." Liu Zhongmin introduced. "At present, the world's ethanol output is about 100 million tons, which mainly uses biological raw materials such as grain and sugar cane. Among them, the fuel ethanol is about 2.74 million tons, which mainly uses Chen grain for production. "

It is reported that my country's fuel ethanol production cannot meet the demand. Liu Zhongmin calculated the account: "In 2021, my country's gasoline consumption was 140 million tons, and the fuel ethanol was needed for 14 million tons. Therefore, increasing the output of fuel ethanol is of great significance to ensure my country's energy safety."

At the same time, there are fewer people in my country, and food safety is the top priority. To prepare fuel ethanol with food as raw materials, it is not suitable for large -scale promotion. Liu Zhongmin believes that from the perspective of biomass development, the use of straw cellulose ethanol is a research direction. Although the technology has made some progress, it is still in the R & D stage due to economic problems.

The use of fossil energy to produce ethanol is the goal of scientists' efforts. The characteristics of my country's energy resources are "rich coal, poor oil, and less gas". Promoting the clean and efficient use of coal cleaning is an important way to achieve carbon peaks, carbon neutrality and goals. "my country's coal resources account for 95%of fossil energy energy. Therefore, the development of coal -based ethanol with independent intellectual property rights is in line with my country's actual national conditions." Liu Zhongmin led the team to start a new attempt.

A brand new technical route, with coal -based synthetic gas as raw materials, is based on alcohol, di methar ether apex, and hydrogenation of ethanol

Curitic ethanol has clear directions, but it is very difficult to do. There are generally two routes of traditional coal -to -ethanol: one is the coal passage gas direct ethanol, and the other is the coal passing the ethanol.

For a long time, the coal -to -synthetic air -to -direct ethanol is a worldwide problem, mainly because it needs to use precious metals as a catalyst. It has low efficiency, severe corrosion, and high equipment costs. It has been staying in the research and development stage. "The catalysts of this route need to be used as precious metals. It is several times more expensive than platinum, which is not conducive to promotion and it is difficult to achieve industrialization." Liu Zhongmin said.

The coal is based on the background of overcapacity in the ethyl. Due to the corrosiveness of the acetic acid, it is necessary to use corrosion -resistant equipment. The device is large, the cost is high, and there is no large -scale application.

After years of hard work, the Dalian chemicals have proposed a new technical route: the coal -based synthetic gas is the raw material, and the alcoholicization of methanol, di methalin, and hydrogenation of ethanol. This route adopts non -valuable metal catalysts and can directly produce water -free ethanol. It is an environmentally friendly technology route.

This technical route is not easy to go. "The reaction of the transformation of the dimethyl ether is very complicated, and the use of different catalysts has completely different reactions to generate completely different products." Liu Zhongmin said that in order to find the appropriate technical path with industrial application value, only the basal catalyst of the di methar etherylin catalyst catalyst Research and screening have been exploring for many years.

"A large number of catalysts should be screened in the early small test stage. Each type is performed at least 10 tests. Different temperatures, proportion, and pressure are required." Zhu Wenliang, the leader of the Qi Converting Research Group of Dalian Chemicals, said.

From 2010 to 2012 in the initial research phase, the life expectancy of the catalyst has been staying for dozens of hours, far from the target of industrialization application. After nearly three years of repeated experiments and research, the dawn finally appeared at the end of 2012.

"The development of catalysts with good stability has reached 900 hours." Zhu Wenliang said that at the time everyone was very excited and had reached the critical point of technological breakthroughs.

Next, the lifespan of the catalyst is continuously extended: 1150 hours, 6400 hours, 16,000 hours ... Tests and improvements, high -activity and high stability, di metarium ether molecular sieve catalysts are finally developed solid foundation.

Completed the laboratory research in the factory in 6 years, and the production of coal -based ethanol has entered the era of industrialization

The fundamental purpose of research and development is to apply, which has become a consensus at the beginning of the project research and development. In 2012, the Dalian Chemical Institute and Shaanxi Extended Petroleum Group jointly carried out the research and development of the "Synthetic Gas Ethanol Course" project; in 2013, the project research work was completed; on January 11, 2017, there was an independent intellectual property technology technology in my country. The world's first set of 100,000 tons/annual coal -based ethanol industrial demonstration project opened the entire process to produce qualified water -free ethanol. Liu Zhongmin said: "From laboratory research to factory production, we only took 6 years before and after, and the speed was very fast."

Compared with the traditional ethanol synthesis technology, there is no water or a small amount of water in the process of coal -based ethanol process. The separation of the product is directly water -free ethanol, which reduces the separation energy consumption of the product and saves production costs. The catalyst used during the process is conventional molecular sieve catalysts and copper -based catalysts, and the cost is also low. At the same time, there is no need to add halide additives such as iodine methane in the process to avoid the use of special materials or Has' alloys, and reduce equipment investment.

"Mesocerium is also a large chemicals, which can adjust the product structure in a timely manner according to the needs of the market." Liu Zhongmin said. On the basis of the 100,000 -ton demonstration project, the technological upgrade is continuously iterated. The 500,000 tons/annual coal -based ethanol project has been launched in June 2020. After more than 2 years of construction, it is expected that the project will be tested in September this year. This will be the world's largest coal -based ethanol project, marking the era of ethanol production into the era of large -scale industrialization, and established the international leading position of my country's coal -to -ethanol technology.

Guo Zunli, the general manager of Shaanxi Extension of Petroleum Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd., said: "Low -order coal instead of ethylene is replaced by low -order coal, and 1 tons of ethanol is calculated according to 3 tons of grain. It can save 1.5 million tons of biological ethanol raw foods each year, which is equivalent to 65%of the annual food output of Yulin City. "

Liu Zhongmin told reporters that coal -based ethanol technology can not only use coal as raw materials, but also produce ethanol for natural gas, biomass, and steel plant gas as raw materials. Realize strong technical support.

(Reporter Wu Yuehui)

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