According to Wang Xianzheng, President of the China National Coal Association, China's modern coal chemical industry has transitioned from demonstration projects to industrial-scale development. Significant breakthroughs have been made in a series of key modern coal chemical technologies and equipment development with independent intellectual property rights, including direct coal liquefaction, indirect coal liquefaction, coal-to-olefins, coal gasification, and coal-to-glycol.
Speaking at the national on-site meeting on clean and efficient coal utilization and industrial restructuring held that day, Wang Xianzheng stated that a number of enterprises have transformed from "coal sellers" to "oil sellers." The Shenhua 1-million-ton direct coal liquefaction demonstration project has been operating stably for an extended period; Yanzhou Coal Mining's 1-million-ton-level indirect coal liquefaction project has reached its designed production capacity. Furthermore, modern coal chemical projects such as Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry's 4-million-ton-per-year coal-to-oil demonstration project, Shenhua Baotou (600,000 tons), China Coal Yulin (600,000 tons), and Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Weinan (660,000 tons) coal-to-olefins projects, Inner Mongolia Keqi coal-to-gas, and Shanxi Yangmei (400,000 tons) coal-to-glycol have successively commenced industrial production.
It is understood that by the end of 2016, China's output of coal-to-oil, coal-to-olefins, coal-to-glycol, and coal-to-gas reached 2 million tons, 6.5 million tons, 1.6 million tons, and 1.5 billion cubic meters, respectively. The development of the modern coal chemical industry has facilitated coal's ascent from the low end to the high end of the value chain, expanded the scope of coal consumption, and will also play a vital role in ensuring national energy security.
Wang Xianzheng emphasized, "China's energy resource endowment, characterized by being rich in coal but poor in oil and natural gas, coupled with the reliability and low cost of coal resource acquisition, dictates that for a considerably long period in the future, coal will remain the cornerstone for ensuring China's energy security and stable supply. The energy strategic guideline of 'coal as the foundation, diversified development' and the primary energy structure dominated by coal will not change. The key is to accelerate the promotion of safe, efficient, and intelligent coal mining, and clean, efficient, and intensive coal utilization." （Source: Xinhua News Agency）
