China’s fuel and chemicals strategy has focused on maximising the use of its indigenous coal to protect its economy from wide variations in the price of imported oil and gas. Coal-to-chemicals is a relatively new industry that has grown fast and is the largest consumer of coal after power, steel and cement. The study reports on the status of the industry, its technologies and syngas processes. It explains how syngas can be used to make the key products generally obtained from petrochemicals, including hydrogen and ammonia, benefitting from flexibility in syngas composition. The future of the coal gasification industry in China is under pressure due to its poor utilisation of coal carbon and consequent high emissions that are incompatible with national targets.
The use of coal as a feedstock for products has been treated separately from coal power in net zero calculations, but this is no longer tenable as the sector expands. It takes about three tonnes of coal to make one tonne of chemicals. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from China’s coal chemical sector now exceed 1 gigatonne (Gt)/y. Strategies are needed to lower emissions. Increased use of renewable power and carbon capture can improve the sustainability of coal chemicals.
Concern about waste plastic issues is growing, which could be a problem for the entire chemicals industry. If the difficulties of recycling plastics are resolved, demand from China may be reduced.
The closure of blast furnaces for steel production reduces the availability of by-products from coking coal to make coal tar chemicals, which remains a valuable sector. As China, has a young fleet of blast furnaces, it will remain a dominant producer of these aromatic products. In the construction sector, decarbonisation of the cement industry is a critical part of greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies. Fly ash, a coal combustion by product, has a role in construction that may be enhanced in the future, lowering its CO2 emissions.
Steel, cement and coal gasification to chemicals are the largest non-energy uses for coal, but significant developments are taking place in coal carbon-based products such as pitch carbon fibre, nanocarbons and graphite. There is a notable project developing an abandoned coal mine as a new source of mineral ore, as concern grows over China’s domination of rare earth element supply. Viewing coal as a carbon resource rather than a fuel has led to one major new industry, and the availability of new carbon allotropes is expanding coal’s use beyond fuel.
