On October 17th, the "Pilot - scale Technology for the Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Ethylene Glycol at a Thousand - ton Scale" jointly developed by the teams led by Academician Tao Zhang, Researcher Mingyuan Zheng, and Researcher Aiqin Wang from our laboratory, in cooperation with Zhongke Boyijin (Zhengzhou) New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhongke Boyijin Company") and others, passed the scientific and technological achievement evaluation organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. Academician Mingyuan He from East China Normal University served as the director of the scientific and technological achievement evaluation committee. Xiujing Wang, the deputy director of the Science, Technology and Equipment Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, presided over the meeting. Xianfeng Li, the deputy director of our institute, and relevant personnel from scientific research and functional departments attended the meeting.
At the meeting, Aiqin Wang and Mingyuan Zheng respectively delivered research reports and pilot - scale work reports. Professor Yao Fu from the University of Science and Technology of China, the team leader of the 72 - hour assessment group, reported on the on - site assessment situation. The evaluation committee carefully reviewed the novelty search reports and relevant evaluation materials, and had in - depth exchanges and discussions with the scientific research teams and cooperative enterprises. Finally, the experts of the evaluation committee unanimously agreed that this technology pioneered a new route for the one - step catalytic conversion of biomass sugars to ethylene glycol, developed a complete set of technologies for the production of ethylene glycol from biomass sugars at a thousand - ton scale, achieved a leap from the new discovery in basic research to the application at a thousand - ton scale for the highly selective production of ethylene glycol through biomass catalytic conversion, and the overall technical level reached the international leading level. They unanimously agreed to pass the scientific and technological achievement evaluation.
After the scientific and technological achievement evaluation meeting, our institute held a press conference on the achievements of the "Pilot - scale Technology for the Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Ethylene Glycol at a Thousand - ton Scale", which was presided over by Xianfeng Li. Journalists from media organizations including Xinhua News Agency, China Media Group, Economic Daily, China Daily, Science and Technology Daily, China News Service, China Youth Daily, China Science Daily, China Education Television, People's Daily Online, Guangming Online, China.org.cn, Outlook Weekly, China Chemical Industry News, Beijing Media Network, and The Beijing News attended the press conference. At the meeting, the journalists had exchanges with the experts of the evaluation meeting, members of the scientific research team, and enterprise representatives on issues of interest.
Ethylene glycol is an important bulk energy chemical product. Its annual global consumption exceeds 30 million tons, and it is mainly applied in the fields of synthetic polyester fibers, polyester bottle chips, antifreeze, coatings, and pharmaceuticals. China is a major producer and consumer of ethylene glycol, with an annual consumption of over 20 million tons. However, ethylene glycol is mainly produced from petroleum - based ethylene or coal, which has disadvantages such as non - renewable raw materials, high carbon dioxide emissions, and high energy consumption. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop green ethylene glycol production technologies.
In 2008, the team led by Zhang Tao pioneered a new reaction for the direct catalytic conversion of cellulose to ethylene glycol internationally, providing a new route for the production of bio - based ethylene glycol. Since then, the team has carried out continuous and systematic research work from two dimensions: basic catalytic science and industrial application of technology, and has made a series of progress in aspects such as thedevelopment of low - cost catalysts, research on reaction mechanisms and kinetics, expansion of raw materials, and process scale - up.
In 2019, the team collaborated with Zhongke Boyijin Company and others to launch the "Pilot - scale Project for the Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Ethylene Glycol at a Thousand - ton Scale". In early 2022, the world's first thousand - ton - scale biomass - catalytic - conversion - to - ethylene - glycol plant was built in Puyang, Henan Province. The first feed - in was carried out in June of the same year, and the process flow was successfully completed in one go, obtaining industrial - grade biomass - based ethylene glycol products. Subsequently, the project team carried out technical transformation and upgrading of the plant's process. The 72 - hour on - site assessment was completed on October 16, 2023. The results showed that the selectivity of the ethylene - glycol product was close to 80%, the product separation purity reached 99.9%, and the ultraviolet transmittance met the national standard for polyester - grade ethylene glycol. The operation data of the plant indicated that the technical economy of this technical route was superior to the existing bio - ethanol - bio - ethylene - bio - based ethylene - glycol technical route. At the same time, the biomass - based ethylene - glycol products produced were tested by users for polyester synthesis, and the quality was better than that of coal - based ethylene glycol. The results of this pilot - scale operation laid the foundation for the ten - thousand - ton - scale industrial application of the biomass - catalytic - conversion - to - ethylene - glycol technology.
The pilot - scale technology for the catalytic conversion of biomass to ethylene glycol at a thousand - ton scale uses biomass such as straw sugars as raw materials, and through a highly selective catalyst system and reaction system, combined with an efficient product separation process, ethylene - glycol products are produced. The entire process has a short route, mild conditions, and high atomic economy, belonging to a green, low - carbon circular economy route. This technology has obtained 48 authorized invention patents and 12 PCT international invention patents, with complete independent intellectual property rights, and won the first prize of the Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Award in 2022. As an irreplaceable synthetic raw material for bio - based polyester materials, biomass - based ethylene glycol has broad development prospects. The ethylene - glycol products produced by this technology have been launched on the market and are used in the production of bio - based polyester (PET), fully bio - based furan plastics (PEF), flavors and fragrances, etc. The pilot - scale technology for the catalytic conversion of biomass to ethylene glycol at a thousand - ton scale is expected to provide important technical solutions for the upgrading of the ethylene - glycol industry chain, the production of bio - based polyesters, and China's green chemical industry, and is of great significance for achieving China's "dual - carbon" goals and sustainable economic development. (Text by Pengfei Wu; Photos by Yang Yu)
