Inside the central control room of the Datang Fuxin Coal-to-Natural Gas project on November 2, workers kept a close watch on production parameters on their screens, monitoring process indicators in real time.
This marked a historic moment as the first production line of the Datang Fuxin Coal-to-Natural Gas project commenced operations to ensure supply. The product gas flows through a dedicated pipeline and a 16-kilometer connector line into the national pipeline network's Da-Shen line, with the gas source capable of covering the Liaoning urban cluster and extending to core load centers in North China and East China. This creates a complementary and mutually backup arrangement between domestically produced gas sources and cross-border pipeline gas from the China-Russia East Route.
As the only national-level coal-to-natural gas demonstration project in Northeast China, the project's gas production and grid connection represent a key strategic layout for China, leveraging its resource endowment of "abundant coal, scarce oil, and limited gas" to build a diversified and complementary energy framework. "It serves not only as a livelihood support for urban residents' daily lives, industrial and commercial production, and the stable operation of urban public facilities, but also as a strategic peak-shaving gas source to support stable pipeline network dispatching and respond to gas source fluctuations," said Tian Xuefeng, deputy director of the Fuxin Municipal Development and Reform Commission. The project converts approximately 7.5 million tons of low-rank coal annually, transforming the region's coal resource advantage into stable clean energy production capacity, adding an autonomous and controllable strategic gas source to the national natural gas supply and enhancing the risk resistance of the national natural gas pipeline network.
The successful commissioning of this major project was by no means achieved overnight. It represents a two-way effort of deepened cooperation between central and local governments and the result of the province's continuous efforts to optimize its business environment. Due to the long construction cycle, the project was constrained by multiple factors in its early stages, and existing assets sat idle for an extended period. To resolve these challenges, the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, party committees and governments at all levels in Fuxin, and China Datang firmly established and practiced a correct outlook on governance, adhered to the principle that "new officials must address old accounts," and took revitalizing existing assets as a common goal, working in the same direction and tackling difficulties collaboratively. At the provincial level, a joint central-local task force was established to coordinate relevant provincial departments in clearing cross-regional and cross-departmental bottlenecks one by one, opening green channels for approvals, and helping resolve legacy issues related to procedures and documentation. Fuxin City treated the project as a key supporting initiative for urban transformation and development, establishing a regular coordination and scheduling mechanism, working with the enterprise on a checklist and milestone basis to advance various tasks, and providing full-chain support services for production factors. Meanwhile, State Grid Corporation effectively guaranteed grid-connected power supply for the self-supplied power plant, China State Railway Group helped open railway transportation channels for raw materials and products, and the national pipeline network provided pipeline support for the transmission and consumption of finished gas. Multiple central enterprises contributed in the same direction, connecting key links in the industrial chain. China Datang coordinated system-wide resources across the entire group, sorted out and resolved legacy issues one by one, and systematically advanced various resumption tasks including equipment maintenance, process verification, and personnel preparation. Through multi-party collaborative efforts, the project successfully achieved resumption and commissioning, exploring a viable path for central and local governments to jointly revitalize major existing assets and resolve legacy issues.
"From strategic value, economic momentum, industrial resilience, green transformation to livelihood security, the project's multiple benefits are gradually being unleashed," said Ma Jun, deputy general manager of Datang Fuxin Company.
First, the project powerfully implements the new national energy security strategy. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China's natural gas demand has remained robust with annual consumption continuously increasing, and external dependence has reached as high as 43%. As an autonomous and controllable incremental gas source, coal-to-natural gas has become increasingly prominent in its strategic position for safeguarding national energy security. The project aligns with China's resource endowment characteristics of "abundant coal, scarce oil, and limited gas" and is the only coal-to-natural gas project deployed by the state in the Northeast region. Upon completion and commissioning, it can significantly increase autonomous natural gas supply, becoming an incremental gas source point for "Gasifying Liaoning" and alleviating regional and seasonal natural gas supply-demand tensions. At the same time, the project's proximity to the China-Russia East Route gives it the strategic function of collaboratively safeguarding the supply security of the China-Russia East Route under extreme circumstances. From the provincial perspective, it can actively serve and help advance the comprehensive revitalization of Liaoning. Modern coal chemical industry is a capital-, technology-, and talent-intensive industry with positive effects on promoting regional economic development, significantly increasing employment opportunities, and advancing green and low-carbon energy transformation. The Datang Fuxin Coal-to-Natural Gas project is the largest single investment project in Fuxin City. Upon completion and commissioning, it can increase local economic output value by more than 4 billion yuan, directly create over 2,000 jobs, and with subsequent coupling of new energy integrated joint operations, industrial output value will exceed 5.5 billion yuan. It can powerfully promote significant optimization of Liaoning Province's energy consumption structure and accelerate the pace of clean and low-carbon transformation, and can leverage the project's abundant by-products and auxiliary facilities to inject new distinctive momentum into Fuxin City's urban development. From the project's own perspective, it can powerfully enhance supply chain and industrial chain resilience. The project has high relevance and strong integration with Dong'er Mine, Jilin Guole No. 2 Mine, and the Ba-Xin Railway, possessing the advantage of "naturally forming a chain and strengthening the chain like beads on a string." Upon completion and commissioning, it can powerfully strengthen the autonomous and controllable capabilities of key links in the coal mine, railway, and coal-to-natural gas industrial chain and supply chain, creating a "mine, rail, chemical" ecological consortium and improving the risk resistance and value creation capabilities of the entire chain. Meanwhile, as feedstock production begins and supply chain resilience continues to strengthen, the project can further guide small and medium-sized enterprises to integrate into the "mine, rail, chemical" industrial chain division system, building a "from 1 to N" cluster self-production and self-organization business format, achieving the transition from breaking through with a strong chain to clustering into groups, and creating a "new calling card" for Fuxin City's industrial transformation and upgrading on the basis of better enhancing core competitiveness and strengthening core functions.
Modern coal chemical industry has high-carbon attributes and is one of the main battlefields for serving the implementation of the "dual carbon" strategic goals. Promoting the coupled development of coal chemical industry and new energy to achieve carbon reduction and consumption reduction, and adding green and gold, is an ideal solution. While converting inferior coal into clean energy, the project can fully leverage local high-quality wind power resources, promote the synergistic coexistence of traditional energy and new energy, build a multi-energy complementary system deeply coupling comprehensive coal resource utilization with renewable energy, achieve "coal chemical-new energy" integrated joint operations, and set a demonstration benchmark for the industry's green, low-carbon, and sustainable development.
The project is also of great significance for safeguarding and improving people's livelihoods. The first production line of the project has an annual output of 1.33 billion standard cubic meters of natural gas, which can be directly supplied to five cities: Fuxin, Shenyang, Fushun, Benxi, and Tieling. It has now been connected to the national pipeline network and has the capability to link with the China-Russia East Route, covering residential living, winter heating, and industrial and commercial gas use for tens of millions of people. During peak gas usage periods in the heating season, it can fully play a peak-shaving and bottom-line supply guarantee role, significantly enhancing the stability of regional clean energy supply and alleviating seasonal gas supply tensions. "Turning coal into gas changes not just molecules, but also creates a new way of life for a resource city," said Feng Zhiqiang, deputy manager of the project's gasification center, during an interview, expressing the project's deeper value. "Next, we will burn the gasifier more steadily, more cleanly, and for longer, so that every cubic meter of gas used by the people is reliable."
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