Chinese operator starts up world’s largest single-train methanol plant

Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co. Ltd. (Baofeng Energy) has commissioned the world’s largest single-train methanol plant as part of its new 600,000-tonnes/year coal-to-olefins (CTO) complex at Ningdong Energy Chemical Base in Yinchuan City, Ningxia Province, China.

Designed by and equipped with proprietary DAVY process technology and catalysts from Johnson Matthey, the plant uses a feedstock of coal-derived synthesis gas (syngas) to produce 2.2 million tpy of stabilized methanol, which Baofeng Energy uses for production of olefins in a downstream unit, Johnson Matthey said.

Startup of the plant follows the operator’s 2017 award to Johnson Matthey, the scope of which included delivery of licensing for the methanol synthesis plant flowsheet, associated engineering, technical review, commissioning assistance, and catalyst supply.

Johnson Matthey previously provided licensing and design for a previous unit Baofeng Energy commissioned in 2014, the service provider said.

With the new methanol plant now operating at full rates, Baofeng Energy’s Ningdong chemical complex is now capable of producing 4 million tpy of methanol, 1.2 million tpy of olefins, 4 million tpy of coke, and 780,000 tpy of specialty chemicals from coal-derived feedstock.

With instrumentation installation assistance from Shanghai Chenzhu Instrument Co. Ltd. (Chenzhu) Baofeng Energy first started up its new plant’s methanol synthesis tower—which was designed by China Chengda Engineering Co. Ltd. (Chengda) using Johnson Matthey’s DAVY technology and manufactured by Dongfang Boiler Co. Ltd.—and associated 105,000-cu m/hr air separation unit on May 29, 2020, according to separate releases from Chenzhu and Chengda.

Baofeng Energy—which scaled back methanol production capacity to 2.2 million tpy from an originally planned 2.6 million tpy in 2018—invested 15.28 billion yuan to complete both the new methanol plant and CTO complex, the latter of which first entered production in October 2019, according to a Nov. 15, 2018, release from Baofeng Energy and reports from Chinese local media.

In late 2019, Baofeng Energy announced the release of an environmental impact assessment for a project that would involve construction of a newly proposed 500,000-tpy CTO complex at Ningdong, which would also include a new 1.5-million tpy methanol plant, according to a Dec. 3, 2019, release from the operator.