‍Ethanol is not only an important basic chemical, but is also closely related to our daily lives. For a long time, scientists have sought methods of biologically or chemically producing ethanol from fossil resources.

At present, scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences ,and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum, have jointly developed the world's first industrial production line of ethanol from coal-based syngas (coal synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen), a project in which China owns proprietary intellectual property rights. 

Liu Zhongmin, deputy director of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, explained that ethanol is a globally recognized clean fuel, with a total of 66 percent of ethanol used as a biofuel additive for gasoline.  

The production line went into operation in January and has the capacity to make more than 100,000 metric tons of pure ethanol every year, Liu said. By 2020, China will build a factory capable of producing one million tons of ethanol each year using the same technology, he added.

2015 oil imports in China represented 65.4 percent of crude consumption, far beyond the internationally accepted alarm level of 50 percent. Since ethanol fuel is able to replace oil indirectly, it is of great importance to China's energy security.

China currently still faces a tremendous shortage of ethanol fuel, with only 2.5 million tons of production in 2015, far below the annual target of five million tons set in the twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

Using ethanol can reduce oil dependence and greenhouse gas emissions. But previously, ethanol could only be made from plant materials, such as corn, sugar cane, or grasses. Accomplished industrial production of ethanol from coal-based syngas will greatly ease the pressure of demand for ethanol fuel in China, given its abundant coal resources.

Compared with traditional ethanol synthesis technology, the production method of obtaining ethanol from coal-based syngas has many advantages, including the anhydrous reaction system by which anhydrous ethanol can be directly produced; the use of molecular sieve and copper-based catalyst; and non-precious metals used, said Liu.