Kazakhstan plans to develop six coal-to-chemicals projects, the energy ministry said today, as the country looks to exploit its rapidly growing coal sector and use its abundant reserves to generate higher-value downstream products.
Three major projects were implemented today, the ministry said, two of them in major coal producing regions Pavlodar and Karaganda to produce diesel from coal with about 100,000 t/yr of capacity apiece. A metallurgical coke plant is also being built in Karaganda with targeted capacity of 1mn t/yr.
Three more projects are being considered, including a coke-chemical facility in Karaganda that would involve coal tar processing, benzene production and coke oven gas purification. A project to produce ammonia and urea is being developed in the smaller eastern coal producing Abay region, and another project that would involve gas production from coal at a site yet to be decided by the ministry is also under consideration.
Kazakhstan has around 33.6bn t of coal reserves, with the main deposits located in the central areas of Karaganda, Turgai, Shubarkol and Zhalyn, and in the northeast, including deposits at Ekibastuz, Maikube and Karazhyra.
The country has this year placed a strong emphasis on boosting the coal sector through higher investments, production and exports of mostly thermal coal.
