The development prospect of coal-to-oil becomes a new strategy for optimization of energy structure

Since the second half of last year, high oil prices have once again touched China’s economically sensitive nerves.
The relevant departments and entrepreneurs in China who tried to get out of the energy structural dilemma turned their attention to “coal to oil”. The industrialization of "coal-to-oil" technology will further consolidate China's national energy security strategy.
Oil shortages constrain China's economic development Since China became a net oil importer in 1993, imports have increased rapidly each year. The speed of energy consumption is accelerating, and the energy reserve is seriously deficient. It is estimated that China’s oil demand will be around 270 million tons this year, but its production capacity is only 170 million tons. It is estimated that by 2005 China's oil demand will reach 290 million tons, but it will be difficult to increase oil production. Especially this year, with the sharp increase in international crude oil prices, imports will still be as high as 100 million tons. With the acceleration of industrialization, oil shortages have severely constrained China's economic development.
The data shows that China's coal resources are very rich and it is the world's largest coal producer and consumer. According to the statistics report released by the Department of Mineral Resources Reserves of the Ministry of Land and Resources in June 2004, by the end of 2002, China had discovered coal reserves of 188.6 billion tons which could be used directly, and proven coal reserves of 145 tons per capita, according to the national Calculating the production of 1.9 billion tons of coal, China’s coal resources can be guaranteed to be mined for more than 100 years. China's coal reserves are as high as 1 trillion tons, and its export volume ranks among the top in the world. However, China has to spend 25 billion U.S. dollars a year to import petroleum.
In view of the shortage of China's oil resources and the relative surplus of coal, people are pondering whether or not they can change the predicament of China's energy structure through the “coal-to-oil” approach and achieve basic self-sufficiency in oil products.
"Coal to oil" project has broad prospects "Coal to oil" is an industry that uses coal as raw material to produce oil products and petrochemical products through chemical processing. According to the different routes of chemical processing, coal liquefaction can be divided into two categories: direct liquefaction and indirect liquefaction. Direct liquefaction is the first grinding of coal into pulverized coal and solvent (petroleum fractions) into oil coal slurry, and then under a high temperature, high pressure and the role of the catalyst directly with the hydrogen hydrocracking reaction, so that coal directly into liquid oil products. Indirect liquefaction is the reaction of coal at high temperatures with oxygen and water vapor decomposition, so that all coal gasification into synthesis gas (CO + H2 mixture), and then under the action of the catalyst to further synthesize liquid oil products or petrochemical products.
The implementation of the "coal-to-oil" project is an important way for foreign countries with little oil resources to ease the oil tension. This technology has 50 years of production experience in South Africa, and is also a reserve technology of Germany, the United States, Japan and other countries.
China's relevant departments and entrepreneurs trying to get out of the energy structural dilemma turned their attention to "coal to oil," aiming to strategically ease China's future shortage of oil resources. Rich and cheap coal prices have become an important prerequisite for China to take the lead in using this technology. According to technical analysis, the cost per metric ton of oil used in China for coal liquefaction technology is about 1,500 yuan, while at present, for every 1 ton of oil imported by China, the customs offer is as high as 1,900 yuan. China's rich and high-quality coal resources will provide resource guarantees for the implementation of the "coal-to-oil" project.
Moreover, our country (especially in the east) has been extremely fragile ecological environment of coal high emission, high pollution. Experts have compared the amount of pollutants emitted by coal and natural gas under the same energy consumption. The ratio of emissions of ash to the two is 700?1, and the ratio of nitrogen oxides emitted is 29?1. The promotion and application of clean energy is imminent. Coal liquefaction oil can greatly reduce dust emissions and reduce pollution. Therefore, the implementation of coal-to-oil projects has broad prospects and is imperative.
Technological breakthroughs promote the process of "coal-to-oil" As early as the 1980s, Chinese scientists actively carried out research on coal direct liquefaction technology, and introduced three sets of devices from Germany, the United States, and Japan to carry out project tests in Yunnan, Shaanxi, and Heilongjiang. According to the appraisal from the State Planning Commission, all three pilot projects have opened up the flow from coal to oil, confirming the maturity and reliability of the technology.
In 2001, in order to meet the urgent needs of the national energy strategy for indirect liquefaction technology, the National 863 Program and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly launched the “Coal to Oil” major technology project. The Shanxi Coalification Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences undertook the research of this project. After more than a year of research, the 1,000-ton pilot test platform achieved its first test run in September 2002 and the first batch of crude oil products was synthesized. By the end of 2003, it had been run four times and accumulated a total of dozens. Tons of synthetic crude oil products.
Scientists continued to tackle the problem and finally produced colorless, transparent, high-quality diesel from crude oil at the end of 2003. The sulfur content of such diesel products is extremely low, and the cetane number is as high as 75. It is the cleanest diesel oil with the highest purity and highest quality in the world. It has high power and no pollution. The advent of this world's best quality clean diesel indicates that China has the ability to develop and provide advanced complete sets of industrialized autonomous technologies, and has become one of the few countries in the world that can turn coal into a high-quality complete diesel technology. one.
A few days ago, Gansu Coal Conversion Research Center also made significant progress in coal liquefaction technology. The coal liquefaction technology in Gansu Province has adopted the coal blending method for the first time in the world, and it has put Gansu Province's Da You Coal and Tian Zhu Coal together and liquefied directly. According to data provided by the researchers, when the two coals are liquefied together, the oil yield is the highest among the domestic coal liquefaction experiments.
According to estimates by experts, using coal liquefaction technology, the total cost of one ton of gasoline and diesel is about 1,500 yuan, while the average wholesale price of one ton of gasoline and diesel in China in recent years is about 3,000 yuan. A coal direct liquefaction plant is built. Calculated at an annual output of 1 million tons, 800,000 tons of gasoline and diesel oil and 200,000 tons of by-products can be produced each year. Authorities believe that if the price of oil is higher than 22 US dollars per barrel, coal liquefaction technology will be competitive.
The good news continues to come. At the end of August this year, China's first "coal-to-oil" direct liquefaction industrialization unit was started in Ordos, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking a substantial progress in China's "coal-to-oil" project. This "coal-to-oil" industrialized plant that directly liquefies coal is the first construction worldwide.
To optimize the energy structure and actively seek for energy substitution, the implementation of the “coal-to-oil” industrialization project will certainly have an inestimable impact on China's economic development.

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