Techno-economic analysis of oil and coal to ethylene glycol processes

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20191195

Abstract

Abstract:

The traditional oil to ethylene glycol (OtEG) route is heavily dependent on petroleum resources and has high production costs, and China has abundant coal resources, which makes coal to ethylene glycol (CtEG) technology increasingly valued. Based on the simulation results, a detailed technical and economic analysis of the OtEG and CtEG routes was performed. The results show that the unit energy consumption of CtEG process is 2.62 t-ce standard coal higher than OtEG process. CtEG process has a better cost advantage, saving production cost by 802 CNY?t^-1, but its total capital investment is about 2.58 times that of the OtEG process. Appropriate expansion of plant scale significantly increases the economic benefits of the OtEG and CtEG processes, especially the total investment of CtEG process. After investigating the effect of raw material price fluctuations on the economic performance on these two routes, it is found that when the oil price is lower than 40 USD?bbl^-1 and the coal price is higher than 500 CNY?t^-1, the production cost ratio of CtEG and OtEG will be higher than 1.0. When the oil price is higher than 60 USD?bbl^-1 even if the coal price is as high 850 CNY?t^-1, the production cost ratio will also be less than 1.0. In addition, the CO₂ emissions and water consumption of the CtEG process are about 5 t?t^-1and 20 t?t^-1 higher than those of the OtEG process. Therefore, while vigorously developing the CtEG industry, it is urgent to solve problems such as high energy consumption and high emissions.

Key words: coal to ethylene glycol, oil to ethylene glycol, simulation, thermodynamics, process systems, techno-economic analysis

摘要：

传统石油制乙二醇（OtEG）路线严重依赖于石油资源且生产成本高，而我国拥有丰富的煤炭资源，使得煤制乙二醇（CtEG）技术日益受到重视。基于全流程模拟结果，对OtEG和CtEG路线进行了详细的技术经济分析。结果表明，CtEG路线单位产品的能耗比OtEG高2.62 t-ce标准煤；但CtEG具有较好的成本优势，约可节省成本802 CNY?t^-1，但其总投资约为OtEG的2.58倍。适当扩大生产规模可明显提高OtEG和CtEG工艺的经济效益，尤其是降低CtEG的总投资。通过分析原料价格波动对两条路线竞争力的影响发现，当油价低于40 USD?bbl^-1(美元/桶)，且煤价高于500 CNY?t^-1时，CtEG与OtEG的生产成本比将高于1.0；当油价高于60 USD?bbl^-1，即使煤价高达850 CNY?t^-1，生产成本比也将低于1.0。此外，CtEG的CO₂排放量和水耗分别比OtEG高约5 t?t^-1和20 t?t^-1。因此，在大力发展CtEG产业的同时，亟需解决其高能耗、高排放等问题。

关键词: 煤制乙二醇, 石油制乙二醇, 模拟, 热力学, 过程系统, 技术经济分析

CLC Number:

TQ 536.1

Qing YANG, Simin XU, Dawei ZHANG, Qingchun YANG. Techno-economic analysis of oil and coal to ethylene glycol processes[J]. CIESC Journal, 2020, 71(5): 2164-2172.

杨庆, 许思敏, 张大伟, 杨庆春. 石油与煤路线制乙二醇过程的技术经济分析[J]. 化工学报, 2020, 71(5): 2164-2172.

Figures/Tables 11

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.2 Simplified simulation flowsheet of OtEG process

Fig.3 Simplified simulation flowsheet of CtEG process

Table 1 Main simulation results of OtEG and CtEG processes

Item	Ethylene/t	Coal/t	O₂ /t	HP steam /t	MP steam /t	LP steam/t	Recycle water/t	Fresh water/t	Electricity /(kW·h)
OtEG process	0.68	N/A	0.788	0	0.5	0.15	180	3.8	285
CtEG process	N/A	2.54	1.36	2.08	3.28	4.77	500	24.2	878

Fig.4 Energy consumption of OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.5 Exergy flowchart of the OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.6 Distribution of total capital investment of OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.7 Total production cost of OtEG and CtEG processes (oil price: 50 USD·bbl-1, coal price: 400 CNY?t-1)

Fig.8 Effects of plant scale on economic performance of OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.9 Effects of the price fluctuations of oil and coal on competitiveness of OtEG and CtEG processes

Fig.10 CO2 emissions and water consumption of OtEG and CtEG processes

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