On March 20, 2026, the first phase of the Turpan Coal Chemical Spinning Integration Project - an annual production of 2.4 million tons of high-quality fiber coal to ethylene glycol project, officially started construction in the Turpan Economic Development Zone Coal based New Materials Circular Industrial Park. This project is currently the largest high-quality fiber coal to ethylene glycol project under construction in the world, and also marks an important step for Xinjiang in promoting clean and efficient utilization of coal, upgrading the coal based new materials industry towards high-end, integrated, and green development. It will effectively drive the coordinated development of the entire coal chemical textile industry chain.

Leading global individual scale

The first phase of the project, with a total investment of 25.7 billion yuan, will be constructed by Hengyi Energy Technology Co., Ltd. The construction period is planned to be 30 months, and it is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2028. The core of the project is to construct a high-quality polyester grade ethylene glycol production line with an annual output of 2.4 million tons, and to provide a complete set of production facilities such as gasification, purification, synthesis, and refining. At the same time, auxiliary facilities such as public works, environmental protection facilities, and logistics systems will be built, covering a total area of approximately 2.5375 million square meters. The project mainly uses brown coal from the Aiding Lake mining area in Turpan as the main raw material, and adopts internationally advanced gasification and synthesis gas to ethylene glycol technology routes. The main product is high-quality polyester grade ethylene glycol for fibers, with a purity of over 99.9%, which can be directly used for high-end textile and polyester new material production; Simultaneously producing high value-added products such as DMC, coal based ethanol, sulfur, liquid ammonia, etc., to achieve resource cascade utilization and maximize benefits. After the project reaches its production capacity, it is expected to increase the annual output value by over 12 billion yuan, provide more than 1700 job opportunities, and drive the agglomeration of upstream and downstream industries such as high-end chemical, equipment manufacturing, and modern logistics.

As the core leading project of the 100 billion level coal chemical spinning integration project in Turpan City, the overall plan of the project is to invest a total of 150 billion yuan in 5-8 years. The project will be divided into two phases to build a coal chemical spinning new material integration industrial base, creating a vertical integration industrial cluster of coal ethylene glycol polyester new materials, and constructing a full industry chain ecology from one piece of coal to two threads and then to a piece of cloth.

Low carbon green benchmark formed

The project adopts Shanghai Pujing Chemical's complete process technology and specialized catalysts, and is designed by China Chengda Engineering Co., Ltd. The overall process package has a localization rate of over 95%, achieving self-control of key links such as coal gasification, synthesis gas purification, dimethyl oxalate synthesis, and ethylene glycol refining. Advanced technology significantly improves carbon conversion rate and product selectivity, with energy consumption, water consumption, and pollutant emissions all exceeding industry standards, effectively solving the pain points of high energy consumption and low conversion in traditional coal chemical industry.

The project is synchronized with three low-carbon systems: CCS carbon capture and storage, green power coupling, and circular economy. It fully utilizes Turpan's abundant wind and solar resources to achieve the coupling of green power and coal chemical production; Constructing a circular economy system through waste heat recovery, wastewater reuse, and waste gas resource treatment; Carbon capture technology further reduces carbon emission intensity, promotes the transformation of coal from traditional fuel to clean chemical raw materials, and creates a demonstration sample of modern coal chemical green and low-carbon development.

Relying on the enrichment of brown coal resources in Turpan, the project realizes on-site mining, on-site conversion, and on-site processing of raw materials, significantly saving long-distance transportation costs; At the same time, it avoids the impact of international oil price fluctuations and has a significant cost advantage compared to petroleum based ethylene glycol, providing stable and low-cost core raw material guarantees for downstream textile and polyester industries.

Accelerate the high-end transformation of coal chemical industry

This project is invested and constructed by Hengyi Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhejiang Hengyi Group, a Fortune 500 company. Hengyi Group is a leading domestic enterprise in the fields of petrochemicals and chemical fiber new materials. It has been deeply involved in the fields of polyester, spinning, and chemical new materials for many years and has a complete advantage in the refining polyester spinning industry chain.

In this layout of Turpan, Xinjiang, Hengyi Group is expanding its coal resources upstream and extending the coal chemical industry chain downstream, building a vertically integrated supply chain of coal ethylene glycol polyester, enhancing the independent and controllable level of the industry chain, and helping Xinjiang transform its resource advantages into industrial and economic advantages.

Xinjiang's coal reserves account for about 40% of the country's total, and Turpan, as an important coal base, has large reserves and low mining costs, providing natural conditions for the development of modern coal chemical industry. The project focuses on clean and efficient on-site conversion of coal, converting low value-added brown coal into high value-added chemical raw materials and new materials, achieving on-site resource conversion, value enhancement, and industrial agglomeration.

Relying on its resource advantages, Xinjiang is accelerating the layout of modern coal chemical industry and coal based new materials. Coal to ethylene glycol has shown a cluster development trend: the Hami Guanghui Abandoned Gas to Ethylene Glycol Project, Xinjiang Henglian Coal to Ethylene Glycol Project, and Korla Zhongkun New Materials Coal to Ethylene Glycol Project have successively landed, continuously improving the regional industrial layout. Keywords: Xinjiang Coal Chemical Industry, Coal Chemical Spinning Integration, Coal to Ethylene Glycol

Next, Turpan City will establish a dedicated team to provide full service support, actively seek policy and financial support, and ensure the smooth progress of the project. With the implementation of the project, Turpan's coal resources will achieve a cascading value-added from fuel to raw materials to high-end new materials, injecting strong momentum into the construction of Xinjiang's modern industrial system.Editor/Gong Ziwei