Since "11th Five-Year", especially in the period of "12th Five-Year", a series of major breakthroughs have been made in the innovation and development of modern coal chemical industry in China, which have conquered large advanced coal gasification, synthetic gas transformation technology, large coal methanol, coal direct oil, coal oil, coal made olefins, coal glycol and low rank coal. A large number of technical problems have been developed, and a large number of large-scale equipment, coal oil, coal olefins, coal glycol and other modern coal chemical demonstration projects have been successfully implemented. The modern coal chemical technology innovation and industrialization in China are all in the forefront of the world. Modern coal chemical industry has become the "12th Five-Year" development of China's stone oil and chemical industry. One of the biggest highlights. In 2014, China's coal oil production capacity reached 1 million 580 thousand tons, production 1 million 200 thousand tons, coal (methanol) production of olefins production capacity reached 5 million 830 thousand tons, production 2 million 400 thousand tons, coal production of ethylene glycol capacity reached 1 million 250 thousand tons, production 580 thousand tons, coal production capacity of 3 billion 100 million cubic meters, output 800 million cubic meters. As of June 2015, China has built 19 sets of coal (methanol) to make olefins, 4 sets of coal oil, 3 sets of coal made natural gas and 9 sets of ethylene glycol for demonstration and industrialization. By the end of this year, a number of new coal (methanol) olefins projects will be put into operation, with an additional capacity of about 2 million tons.
While seeing the development achievements of modern coal chemical industry, we should fully realize some outstanding contradictions and problems faced by the development of modern coal chemical industry in China. Although some problems are some common problems in the starting period of the development of new industry, some are the individual problems in the development of modern coal and chemical industry, but we must face them correctly, study early, take out the countermeasures and deal with them properly. Some problems that can be solved can be solved as early as possible, and some problems that can not be solved immediately can be controlled to create a healthy environment for the development of modern coal chemical industry. These outstanding contradictions and problems are concentrated on the following four aspects:
First, the problem of blind development is outstanding. In the case of serious overcapacity in traditional industries, enterprises and local investment scope are relatively narrow. Because of the resource endowments of coal and less oil in China and the development prospect of modern coal chemical industry, many local and enterprises have made the development of modern coal chemical work as an important field of investment, especially in areas with rich coal resources in the west, and the tendency of "coal will be necessary" is very prominent, and the modern coal chemical project for planning investment is very important. It's huge. According to the incomplete statistics of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, there are 53 coal based olefin projects that have been carried out or planned in the previous period, with a total capacity of about 33 million tons, 7 coal oil projects, 13 million 900 thousand tons of production capacity, 19 coal glycol projects, a total capacity of about 4 million 700 thousand tons, 18 coal natural gas projects and production capacity combined. It is about 74 billion cubic meters. If all these projects are completed, they will consume about 4.29 billion tons of coal, and the output of coal to olefins will far exceed the domestic market demand. Especially in the current situation of the sharp decline in the international crude oil price, coal oil and coal natural gas will face severe challenges in terms of technical maturity or economic benefits. This blind development, if not effectively controlled, will inevitably bring huge risks of investment, efficiency, environment and overcapacity.
Two is the phenomenon of homogeneity of the product is serious. At present, the modern coal chemical engineering projects which have been completed and are being planned and constructed mostly concentrate on the production of methanol from coal, olefins from coal and ethylene glycol from coal. Taking coal to olefin as an example, the homogeneity of ethylene and propylene processing projects is very serious. Most polyethylene and polypropylene are concentrated in a few brands of general materials, and the number of high-end brands and special brands is very small. If the high end and differential technology is not used as soon as possible to solve the problem of the homogenization of this product, the chaos of "overcapacity" and "malignant competition" will soon emerge.
The three is that the water resources are restricted obviously. At present, the water consumption of modern coal and chemical projects in China is still relatively large, with an average of 5.8 tons of water for direct oil production per ton, 6-9 tons of coal for indirect liquefaction, 8.1 tons of coal made natural gas, 25 tons of water for coal glycol and 22-32 tons of water for coal to olefins. These projects are mainly distributed in the central and western regions, and the central and western regions have the advantages of coal resources, but there are also the disadvantages of lack of water resources. The development of modern coal chemical industry must do well in the two major articles, "coal resources advantage" and "water resources inferiority". Ningxia, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia modern coal chemical project water mainly depends on the Yellow River, the total water volume of the Yellow River is limited, and there is a tendency to reduce every year. The contradiction between the increase of water consumption in the development of modern coal chemical industry will become a prominent contradiction in the future development.
Four, the pressure of environmental emission is great. In the "three wastes" emission, the disposal of waste gas of solid waste and SO2 is relatively easy in modern coal chemical project. High concentration of salt - containing wastewater and CO2 emission are two difficult points of pollution control. Many demonstration projects continue to strengthen the wastewater treatment technology and strengthen the construction of environmental protection facilities, but up to now, the technical problems of high concentration salt wastewater treatment have not been fundamentally solved. The problem of CO2 emission control is also a major problem in the development of modern coal chemical industry. At present, the effective way to deal with CO2 emission is to inject and seal underground, and China Petroleum and Shenhua Group have carried out CO2 capture, oil displacement and storage, but there is still a long way to go. How to effectively and fundamentally solve the problem of CO2 emissions control, is still a modern coal chemical industry urgently need to solve a major practical problem.