Coal-to-methanol industry development opportunities and challenges coexist, and there is huge room for future development

Methanol is an important chemical raw material and fuel in my country. It can be used to produce olefins, formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, acetic acid, methyl tert-butyl ether, methyl methacrylate and other organic chemical products. It is used in chemical industry, energy, building materials, medicine, fuel , fuel cells, industrial solvents and other fields are widely used. Methanol can be produced in various ways, and can be obtained directly from primary energy sources such as natural gas and coal; it can also be produced from coal gasification, synthetic ammonia, and coke oven gas using coal as raw material. Among them, the technology of producing methanol from coal as raw material is called coal-to-methanol.

In recent years, against the background of the continuous improvement of methanol production technology and the continuous development of application fields, domestic methanol production has shown a continuous growth trend. In 2021, my country’s methanol production capacity will be 97.562 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 6.7%. Among them, coal-to-methanol technology plays a positive role in the continued growth of domestic methanol production capacity. Therefore, the proportion of coal-to-methanol production capacity in the total domestic methanol production capacity continues to increase. According to released by the Industrial Research Center The “2022-2026 Coal-to-Methanol Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestion Report” shows that the domestic coal-to-methanol production capacity in 2021 will be approximately 77.585 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%, accounting for The ratio reached 79.5%.

The continuous increase in the proportion of coal-to-methanol production capacity in my country depends on the domestic energy structure of being rich in coal, poor in oil, and low in gas. To ensure energy security, the country has introduced a series of policies to support industry development. For example, in February 2022, the country issued the “Implementation Guidelines for Energy Saving and Carbon Reduction Renovation and Upgrades in Key Areas of High Energy-Consumption Industries (2022 Edition)”. The transformation and upgrading of the chemical industry provides important standards and basis. In addition, in May 2022, with the approval of the State Council, the People’s Bank of China increased 100 billion yuan specifically to support the development and use of coal and enhance coal reserve capacity.

Against the background of policy support and technological innovation, my country’s coal-to-methanol production capacity continues to increase, and the capacity utilization rate is also increasing. However, by 2021, the domestic coal-to-methanol production capacity utilization rate will be less than 85%, and industry development is facing the dilemma of overcapacity. While facing difficulties, there are also many favorable factors for the development of the domestic coal-to-formaldehyde industry. On the one hand, the rise in coal raw material prices has driven up the profits of the methanol industry. Domestic coal prices have risen rapidly in 2021, reaching a record high of 2,600 yuan/ton in October. Against this background, methanol costs and profits continue to rise, and the industry remains operating at a high level.

Industry analysts personnel said that on the other hand, the application fields of methanol have continued to expand and continue to improve its overcapacity situation. In recent years, in emerging industries Under the background of continuous emergence, the domestic methanol application market has gradually expanded from traditional chemical fields such as formaldehyde, olefins, and acetic acid to emerging fields such as power batteries, photovoltaics, and polyester. In the future, under the favorable conditions of multiple factors, domestic methanol production capacity will continue to be released and the industry will continue to break through difficulties. There is still huge room for development in the industry in the future.