The technological progress of synthesizing glycol using coal to replace petro-ethylene

The technique of synthesizing glycol using coal or natural gas to replace petro-ethylene is a major C1 chemical technology that is the most scientific route of raw materials, the most reasonable usage of resources, and thus an obviously more advanced technique than that using petroleum-based raw materials. The research and development were carried out, first in the world, with only industrial raw materials, and for more than 20 years we finally succeeded in obtaining three catalysts with excellent performance and six matching techniques. On the other hand, we have applied for four national patents for inventions and formed a full set of intellectual property rights of independent innovation with new techniques and new technologies by Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After a successful cooperative research and development with Jiangsu Danyang Chemical Technology Co.Ltd, a middle-scale pilot plant with an annual production capacity of 300 tons for synthetic glycol replacing petro-ethylene by coal has been set up successfully and a 10 000-ton model factory for synthetic glycol has been completed and put into production. A plant of ethylene glycol by using lignite to replace petro-ethylene is under construction in Tongliao, with a production capacity of 200 000 tons per year. These results demonstrate that the complete sets of engineering and technology have entered the industrialization stage of implementation and application. This technology conforms to Chinas coal-based resource characteristics and the reality that the lignite resources in China are in urgent need of development. This is a real resource-saving and energy-saving technology and recycling economy. At the same time, in the production process, very little waste pollution occurred so it can meet the requirement of environmental protection. This technology can also be used for the production of oxalete ester, oxalic acid, ethylene glycol, oxamide and other important chemical raw materials. A huge new industry group can be established by this technology and will create enormous economic and social benefits. Large-scale implementation of this technology will realize the strategic objectives of synthetic glycol replacing petro-ethylene by coal or natural gas and have a significant impact on Chinese energy and chemical industry.