At the beginning of 2026, on the coal chemical super engineering site in Yulin, Shaanxi, machinery roared and construction was in full swing. As the largest single investment coal chemical project in China, the Shaanxi Coal Yulin Chemical 15 million ton coal quality clean and efficient conversion demonstration project is advancing at full speed. Recently, breakthroughs have been made in multiple key nodes of the project, and a modern chemical plant leading industry technological innovation and high-end utilization of coal is accelerating its rise on the Loess Plateau.

Key nodes achieve consecutive victories

Entering January 2026, there have been frequent reports of successful projects. On January 8th, the main structure of the suction tank for the second circulating water plant of the water supply and drainage fire protection system, which was constructed by a consortium of Beijing Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd., was successfully capped with concrete. Not long ago, all engineering general contracting projects including EVA, SAP, and ammonia distillation units in the first phase of the second phase of the project had held kick-off preparation meetings, marking the full entry of all units into the on-site construction stage. On January 4th, the first methanol synthesis low-pressure tower with a diameter of 5 meters and a length of 65 meters, known as the "giant" equipment, was successfully transported and placed in place, accumulating valuable experience for the installation of large-scale equipment in the future. The completion of these milestone nodes has laid a solid foundation for the overall progress of the project as planned.

Technology integration drives industrial upgrading

This project is not only a giant in investment scale, but also a model of technological integration and innovation. On the basis of the first phase of the project, the project takes advanced coal pyrolysis, coal tar hydrogenation, and fine coke gasification technologies as the leading technology, systematically integrating key technologies of the entire industry chain such as coal pyrolysis, coal and semi coke gasification, and downstream deep processing. Its core lies in exploring and practicing a new industrial path of coupling the development of coal based olefins and coal based aromatics, aiming to transform large-scale raw coal into high value-added chemical new materials and achieve a fundamental transformation of coal resources from fuel to high-end chemical raw materials. Keywords: engineering construction, engineering strategy

Build a billion dollar chemical new material cluster

The total investment in the chemical equipment of this project is as high as 176 billion yuan, of which the first phase of the second phase covers an area of about 9200 acres and has an investment of about 62 billion yuan. The project has a grand planned production capacity, and the first phase of Phase II will form an annual production capacity of 5.6 million tons of methanol, 1.5 million tons of methanol to olefins, 300000 tons of polyethylene, 300000 tons of polypropylene, and other products. In the long run, the entire demonstration project will produce dozens of high-end chemical products including polyolefins, polyesters, polycarbonates, EVA, POE, SAP, etc. It is expected that after full completion, a huge chemical new materials industry cluster with an average annual sales revenue of over 90 billion yuan will be formed. After the first phase of the second phase is put into operation, it is expected to achieve an average annual sales revenue of 20.7 billion yuan and a post tax profit of 3.3 billion yuan, with significant economic benefits. This has strategic significance for promoting regional economic transformation and high-quality development of the energy and chemical industry. (This article is from the official website of Jian Dao www.seetao.com. Reproduction without permission is prohibited, otherwise it will be prosecuted. Please indicate Jian Dao website+original link when reprinting.) Jian Dao website infrastructure engineering column editor/Gao Xue