Progress in coal chemical technologies of China

Abstract

Abstract China’s unique energy reserve structure abundant in coal and scarce in crude oil and natural gas has promoted heavy investment on the research and development of clean coal chemical technologies during last two decades, which has turned China into a heartland for demonstrating, developing, and commercializing virtually every aspect of new coal chemical process technologies. Consequently, breakthroughs in coal gasification, indirect and direct coal-to-liquid (CTL) processes, and methanol-to-olefins (MTO) technologies are catching attention worldwide. Gasification technology for syngas production is the key to high plant availability and economic success for most coal chemical projects. During the past 20 years, both international and Chinese gasifier vendors have reaped great successes in licensing their technologies in the domestic market. Notably, the local vendors have been investing heavily on inventing and improving their technologies to suit the specific requirement of gasifying a variety of coals. The opposed multinozzle gasification technology from East China University of Science and Technology was taken as an example to demonstrate the recent development in this field. The coal chemical industry in China has witnessed several notable achievements in chemical engineering progress, namely CTL (indirect and direct) and MTO. Comprehensive reviews on topics such as catalysis, kinetics, and reactor design and process integration will be provided by leading scientists in related fields with firsthand information to showcase the contributions of Chinese researchers to chemical engineering science and technology.