As the cornerstone of China's secure and stable energy supply, coal plays a vital role in socioeconomic development. Projections indicate that coal will still account for approximately 50% of China's primary energy consumption by 2030 and around 40% by 2050. Addressing the imperative of clean and efficient utilization has become a critical challenge for the coal industry. According to Academician Bao Xinhe, President of the University of Science and Technology of China, the clean utilization of coal extends far beyond simplistic 'burning for energy.' By advancing catalytic processes and enhancing catalytic efficiency, coal can be transformed into diverse chemical products tailored to various demands, achieving truly clean and efficient utilization.
The Fossil Fuel Dominance Persists
China Energy News: Amid accelerating energy transition and the rising prominence of clean energy, skepticism about coal's role has intensified. How do you view coal's position?
Bao Xinhe: Under the mission of the energy revolution, where is China's energy future headed? The answer is unequivocal: green, clean, and efficient development is our ultimate goal, with clean and renewable energy as the definitive direction.
The critical follow-up question is: When will this 'future' arrive? Without a clear temporal dimension, strategic goals risk becoming unattainable. Considering China's resource endowment, energy structure, and consumption realities, I argue that this transition cannot be achieved overnight. It requires meticulous phase-based and step-by-step planning and implementation.
China Energy News: What should be done in the immediate term?
Bao Xinhe: Focusing on the "here and now," according to the latest 2018 Report on the Execution of the National Economic and Social Development Plan, non-fossil energy accounts for merely 14.3% of primary energy consumption. This unequivocally indicates that fossil fuels remain the dominant energy source at this stage. Coal, as the foundational energy underpinning China's socioeconomic development, maintains approximately 60% of primary energy consumption. Achieving the target of reducing this share below 50% by 2035 remains a long way to go. Therefore, we must prioritize renewable energy development while acknowledging coal's indispensable role. If renewables represent our long-term vision, then leveraging coal—especially through its clean and efficient utilization—constitutes the "tangible near-term pathway.
Low-Carbon Utilization of High-Carbon Energy Sources
China Energy News: How should we understand this "tangible near-term pathway"?
Bao Xinhe: Coal's clean and efficient utilization is both an urgent demand for environmental protection and a technologically achievable goal. In short, it means enabling low-carbon utilization of high-carbon energy sources.
China Energy News: How can low-carbon utilization be realized?
Bao Xinhe: Currently, China deploys coal through two primary pathways.
Power Generation: This remains the most accessible and widespread clean utilization method. By completing ultra-low emissions and energy-saving upgrades for coal-fired power plants two years ahead of schedule, China now leads globally in controlling coal power's energy consumption and pollutant emissions.
Chemical Production: Through efficient catalytic conversion, coal becomes high-value chemicals. On one hand, given China's oil-scarce, gas-limited, and relatively coal-abundant resource profile, complete reliance on petrochemicals (as in other nations) is unrealistic—coal-to-chemicals offers a practical alternative.
On the other hand, carbon is an essential element in chemical synthesis, and coal serves as a critical carbon source. Moreover, despite renewable energy advancements, using it for chemical production remains economically and technically challenging due to conversion efficiency limitations. Thus, as a precious resource bestowed by nature, coal should not be discarded; catalytic conversion represents its most viable future pathway.
Technology Remains the Bottleneck for Coal Chemical Industry
China Energy News: Utilizing coal to produce chemicals is already practiced, yet it faces controversies. What are your views?
Bao Xinhe: Criticisms of coal chemical industry often focus on its high water consumption, high energy intensity, and high pollution emissions. But I believe the core obstacle lies in technological limitations—the essence of achieving clean, efficient utilization. Recall the early days of petroleum refining: crude oil was perceived as dirty and impure, arguably no cleaner than coal. Yet through technological upgrades, we learned to extract naphtha, gasoline, diesel, and other products by leveraging its molecular diversity, enabling efficient and cleaner utilization.
China Energy News: So, should this logic apply to coal as well?
Bao Xinhe: Absolutely. Coal contains diverse molecular structures, but current utilization is excessively crude. Without understanding these structures, we simply burn it outright to produce syngas, then painstakingly "rebuild" chemicals from these small molecules. This is akin to demolishing a building entirely instead of renovating it based on its existing framework. A rational renovation would save time, effort, and costs while preserving value. Why demolish when we can repurpose? Ultimately, the industry's bottlenecks stem from inadequate technology. If coal can one day achieve cleanliness comparable to petroleum, why shouldn't we pursue it?
Establishing a New Catalytic System
China Energy News: Given these bottlenecks, how can technological breakthroughs be achieved?
Bao Xinhe: To achieve further breakthroughs, two major challenges must be addressed: reducing water consumption and CO? emissions. Current technology follows a "coal → syngas → chemicals/liquid fuels" pathway. The initial step requires massive water input to convert solid coal into gas (syngas, a mixture of CO and H?), known as coal gasification. This process adjusts the carbon-to-hydrogen ratio to 2:1 or 1:1. However, synthesizing chemicals demands a higher H? proportion (C:H ratios of 1:3 to 1:5), necessitating additional water to react with CO via the water-gas shift reaction. Subsequently, syngas is catalytically converted into target chemicals—e.g., producing 1 ton of olefins consumes 3–4 tons of water. Crucially, water merely participates in the cycle without contributing valuable products, while generating significant CO? emissions. Thus, developing technologies that minimize or eliminate water usage could resolve both high water consumption and emissions—a key research frontier.
China Energy News: What progress has been made toward this goal?
Bao Xinhe: Our core innovation focuses on directly converting coal-derived syngas to light olefins via a novel catalytic system. By designing a groundbreaking catalyst, we established an entirely new catalytic process that bypasses water addition and avoids extra carbon emissions—termed "direct conversion". Published in Science in 2016, this work garnered global acclaim as a "milestone breakthrough in coal chemistry" . Currently, the technology is in pilot-scale demonstration, with plans to invest over 200 million RMB for further development. Its potential underscores that coal utilization is far beyond crude combustion—through the catalyst's "black box", transformative possibilities await.
