Abstract: Methanol-to-olefins is an important technical route for ethylene production, and the technology is becoming increasingly mature. The production of ethylene from the coal-based ethanol dehydration benefits from the success of coal-based ethanol technology, resulting in a significant reduction in production costs. Two routes are set up. Route 1 is coal-ethanol-ethylene, and Route 2 is coal-methanol-olefins. By unifying the comparison benchmarks and principles and selecting mature process technologies, the economics of the two routes are compared. It is of great guiding significance for the development of coal-based ethanol technology.

Key words: ethanol dehydration, methanol-to-olefins, methanol to ethanol, ethylene