http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2016.1145571
B research article
Coal chemicals: China’s high-carbon clean coal
programme?
CHI-JEN YANG*
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Center on Global Change, Box 90658, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
The Chinese government is promoting several coal conversion technologies as a part of its clean coal action plan. All of these
coal conversion technologies have very high carbon footprints. The promoters of high-carbon technologies frequently invoke the
possibility of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) to justify high-carbon development. However, apart from two small pilot
projects that capture less than 5% of their carbon emissions, none of the other coal-to-chemicals projects incorporate CCS
operation. The Chinese government should disqualify the high-carbon coal chemical industry as ‘clean coal’ unless they
sequester their carbon emissions.
Policy relevance
This article discusses a major contradiction in China’s clean energy policy, namely high-carbon development in the name of the
low-carbon clean coal policy.
Keywords: coal chemical; clean coal; carbon capture and storage (CCS); China
Introduction
In April 2015, China’s National Energy Administration announced its ‘Action Plan for Clean and Efficient Use of Coal (2015 – 2020)’ as the guiding principles for China’s clean coal policy. The major components of the Action Plan include: (1) increasing the efficiencies of coal-fired power plants;
(2) increasing raw coal washing rates; (3) increasing the efficiencies of coal-fired industrial boilers;
and (4) demonstrating modern coal chemical industries. The stated purpose of this Action Plan is to
construct clean, efficient, low-carbon, safe and sustainable coal-utilization systems.
Increasing the efficiencies of coal-fired power plants and boilers will lower their carbon intensities,
and washing coal will lower ash content, increase burning efficiencies and therefore reduce carbon
emissions. Developing modern coal chemical industries, on the contrary, will greatly increase the
carbon footprints in a wide range of industrial activities.
High-carbon ‘clean coal’
In China, the term ‘modern coal chemicals’ refers to a group of coal conversion technologies
that include coal-to-olefins (i.e. coal – methanol, methanol – olefins), synthetic natural gas and
B *Email: cj.y@duke.edu
# 2016 Taylor & Francis
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2 Yang
coal-to-liquids. These modern coal chemicals are typically described as low-carbon, highly efficient
clean coal technologies in the Chinese media and government documents (Du & An, 2013; Luo, 2013).
Coal-to-olefins processes first produce methanol from coal and then use methanol to synthesize
olefins (mainly ethylene and propylene), which are the most versatile feedstock in the chemical industry. Olefins can be made into a wide range of products, including various kinds of plastics, synthetic
rubbers, detergents, lubricants and additives. Globally, the most dominant feedstock for manufacturing olefins is naphtha, accounting for roughly half of the global output of olefins, followed by ethane
(Yang, 2015b). The development of the coal-to-olefins technology is new and largely limited to China.
It is also very carbon intensive. The coal-to-olefins process emits about 5.8 tCO2 for each metric ton of
olefins (not including the downstream use of olefins), whereas ethane-to-olefins and naphtha-toolefins emit about 0.78 and 0.93 tCO2 respectively. For the same amount of olefin output, coal-toolefins will emit 7 times more CO2 than naphtha-to-olefins, and 9 times that of ethane-to-olefins
(Figure 1) (Ren, Patel, & Blok, 2008; Xiang, Qian, Man, & Yang, 2014).
Chinese companies are planning over 45 coal-to-olefins plants by 2019, with total output capacity of
over 28 Mt of olefins per year (CCIN, 2015a). However, the Chinese government has become wary of
such rush developments and indicated that it may attempt to limit the coal-to-olefins capacity to 15 Mt
yr – 1 by 2020 (People’s Daily, 2014). The Chinese coal-to-olefins capacity has been expanding quickly,
from almost zero before 2010 to about 12 Mt yr – 1 expected by the end of 2015 (Figure 2) (Anychem,
2015; CCIN, 2015b). The rapid buildup in production capacities suggests that the coal-to-olefins technology has moved beyond the demonstration stage and into widespread deployment.
Coal-to-gas, or synthetic natural gas (SNG), emits about 3 times the amount of CO2 than regular
natural gas (Figure 3) (Ding, Han, Chai, Yang, & Shen, 2013). Each cubic metre of SNG emits about
7.9 kgCO2 in its full lifecycle, whereas pipeline natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) emit
about 2.2 and 2.5 kg respectively. The Chinese government has approved 9 demonstration projects
Figure 1 CO2 emissions of olefin production.
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Coal chemicals without CCS is not clean coal 3
Figure 2 Growth of coal-to-olefin capacity in China.
with a total capacity of 37.1 billion m3 of natural gas per year (Yang & Jackson, 2013). Owing to the
unsuccessful outcomes of the earliest projects and environmental controversies (Yang, 2015a), the
enthusiasm for SNG development has waned since 2014. Nevertheless, once built, the SNG plants
will probably continue to operate even if they are not profitable (Yang, 2014).
Coal-to-liquids (CTL) (synthetic gasoline and diesel) emit roughly 1.5 times to twice as much lifecycle CO2 than petroleum-based gasoline and diesel (Figure 4) (Jaramillo, Griffin, & Matthews, 2008;
Figure 3 CO2 emissions from SNG and regular natural gas.
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Figure 4 Lifecycle CO2 emissions from coal-based and petroleum-based
automotive fuels.
Ou, Yan, & Zhang, 2010). For each kilometre travelled, the lifecycle CO2 emissions of CTL are about 280
to 460 g; those of coal-based methanol fuels are about 383 to 520 g, whereas those of petroleum-based
gasoline and diesel are about 189 and 216 g respectively.
Owing to the low oil prices since 2014, the coal-to-liquid industries are faced with financial difficulties. Nevertheless, Chinese policy makers still aim to increase CTL output to 6.6 Mt yr – 1 by 2020
(People’s Daily, 2014). In addition to coal-based synthetic gasoline and diesel, coal-based methanol
is also used as an automotive fuel in China.
Since the early 2000s China has been rapidly building a unique coal-based methanol industry (Yang
& Jackson, 2012). China has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of methanol, accounting for more than half of the global methanol output. Outside China methanol is predominantly manufactured from natural gas. Coal-based methanol emits about 3.2 times as much CO2 as methanol
made from natural gas (Figure 5) (Zhu, Zhang, Zhou, Li, & Hu, 2010). For each metric ton of methanol,
the coal-based process emits about 5.3 tCO2, whereas the natural gas-based process emits about 1.7
tCO2 over the full lifecycle. In 2014, China produced 37.4 Mt of methanol, with roughly 80% made
from coal (Sxcoal, 2015). Methanol is used as feedstock for making a wide range of chemicals, including
formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, acetic acid and olefins, and is also used as automotive fuel in China.
Contradictions between potential and reality
The advocates for coal chemicals in China often refer to the potential for CCS as a justification for highcarbon projects. However, the only operational CCS projects in China’s coal-to-chemical industries
are two small demonstration projects that capture less than 5% of their CO2 emissions. None of the
other modern coal chemical projects are built with CCS operations. Invoking the possibility of CCS
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Coal chemicals without CCS is not clean coal 5
Figure 5 Lifecycle CO2 emissions of methanol production from coal and
natural gas.
without actual implementation has led to a contradiction between China’s proclaimed low-carbon
policy and ongoing high-carbon development.
In order to stop clean coal from being a misleading ‘greenwash’ label for high-carbon development,
the Chinese government should clarify its definition of clean coal. High-carbon coal chemicals should
not be qualified as clean coal unless carbon sequestration is incorporated in their production to lower
their carbon footprints.
ORCID
Chi-Jen Yang
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4810-3901
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