Hengyi's mega ethylene glycol project in Xinjiang selects Nanjing Dunxian for core equipment

Recently, Nanjing Dunxian Chemical Technology successfully won the bid for the annual output of 2.4 million tons of high-quality fiber-grade coal-to-ethylene glycol project of Xinjiang Hengyi Energy Technology (Turpan), securing an order for the supply of a complete set of 8 isothermal shift furnaces. This marks another implementation of domestic core coal chemical equipment in a super-large polyester raw material integrated project.

This project is part of the coal-chemical-textile whole industry chain plan laid out by the Fortune Global 500 Zhejiang Hengyi Group in Xinjiang. The group plans to land a total investment of 150 billion RMB in Turpan over the next 5-8 years, building a full-chain industrial cluster extending from coal mining and ethylene glycol production to polyester chemical fibers. The Phase I ethylene glycol project implemented this time has a total investment of 25.7 billion RMB. It is currently the coal-to-ethylene glycol project for fiber use with the highest single-unit capacity under construction globally. The project has a construction period of 3 years and is planned to officially commence feeding and production in the first half of 2028.

The project utilizes local materials, relying on lignite from the Turpan Aiding Lake mining area as raw material. It integrates advanced coal gasification, mainstream syngas catalytic ethylene glycol production processes, and supporting complete flow units for gasification, gas purification, and ethylene glycol synthesis and refining. Upon full production, the unit can annually produce 2.4 million tons of premium fiber-grade ethylene glycol, while co-producing 76,000 tons of industrial DMC, 15,600 tons of ethanol, and 37,000 tons of industrial sulfur. The project simultaneously features low-carbon supporting processes such as CCS carbon capture and storage and green power coupling. It aims to transform fuel into high-end chemical fiber raw materials based on local coal resources, realizing a "raw coal—ethylene glycol—polyester fabric" green closed-loop industrial chain.

The equipment awarded in this bid adopts Nanjing Dunxian's self-developed DX-V type controllable heat-transfer isothermal shift furnace, a key core equipment for the coal chemical shift section. It is primarily responsible for the carbon monoxide shift of crude syngas and adjusting the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the syngas, directly determining the conversion rate and operating cost of the ethylene glycol unit. Relying on the isothermal temperature control principle of water phase change heat absorption, the equipment rapidly conducts away the heat released by the catalytic reaction. This achieves uniform airflow distribution inside the furnace, controllable bed temperature difference, and high carbon monoxide conversion efficiency. Compared to traditional adiabatic shift equipment, it can significantly extend the catalyst service life and offers multiple advantages such as energy saving, consumption reduction, and strong operational stability. It has been verified in large-scale applications in multiple ten-million-ton-level coal chemical projects in China.

Winning the bid for the core furnace type of Hengyi's super-large ethylene glycol project marks the successful entry of Nanjing Dunxian's proprietary isothermal shift technology into a key project of a global leading polyester giant. The industrial cooperation between the two parties has entered a new stage, also helping to accelerate the localization of key equipment for large-scale domestic coal-to-ethylene glycol projects.