A complete gasification-methanol-olefins-polyolefins industry chain! A 300,000-ton polyethylene plant was built as part of the Qinghai coal-to-olefins project

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Recently, Qinghai Provincial Environmental Science Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. issued the first environmental impact assessment announcement for the 300,000-ton per year polyethylene production project of Qinghai Mining Group Golmud Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd. Project Name: 300,000 tons/year Polyethylene Project of Qinghai Mining Group Golmud Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd.
Owner: Qinghai Mining Group Golmud Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd.
Location: Golmud Industrial Park, Qaidam Circular Economy Pilot Zone, Qinghai Province
Nature of the Project: New construction
Scope of the Project: Qinghai Mining Group Golmud Energy and Chemical Co., Ltd. will construct a 300,000 tons/year polyethylene plant as an auxiliary facility within the 600,000 tons/year olefins plant located in the Golmud Industrial Park. Using the ethylene produced by the 600,000 tons/year olefins project as raw material, and employing a gas-phase polymerization process, polyethylene products will be manufactured, thus creating a complete industrial chain for coal gasification – methanol – olefins – polyolefins. Polyethylene was synthesized using 259,868 tons of ethylene through gas-phase polymerization, yielding 272,113 tons of polyethylene products. 70% of polyethylene is LLDPE (linear low-density polyethylene), and 30% is HDPE (high-density polyethylene). The total investment for the project is 1,615,286,600 yuan. Qinghai Mining Group Co., Ltd.’s 600,000 tons per year olefin project is located in the Kunlun Major Industrial Base of the Golmud Industrial Park in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The total investment in this project amounts to 2,114,393.55 million yuan, and it covers an area of 251.2 hectares. The coal used as raw material comes from the Yuka, Dameigou, and Muli coal mines; through dry powder coal pressurized gasification and purification processes, purified gas is produced, which is then used in methanol production facilities to generate MTO-grade methanol intermediates ； MTO-grade methanol is first catalytically converted in an MTO unit to produce light olefins, which are then separated to yield products such as polymer-grade ethylene and polymer-grade propylene ； Polypropylene products are produced by polymerizing propylene and then extruding it into granules. The main components of the project include: an 1.8 million t/a coal gasification to methanol plant and a 600,000 t/a methanol to olefins plant. It produces 260,000 tons per year of ethylene and 415,400 tons per year of polypropylene. The by-products include 17,100 tons per year of sulfur, 4,550 tons per year of MTBE, 16,800 tons per year of butene-1, 14,400 tons per year of isobutane, as well as C4+ and C5+ at 9,400 tons per year. The intermediate products consist of 1.89472 million tons per year of MTO-grade methanol (95%) and 640 tons per year of hydrogen. On July 23, 2020, at the 21st Qinghai Investment Promotion Conference, Qinghai State Investment Group signed a Project Framework Agreement for a 600,000-ton/year olefins project with Sichuan Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd. According to the officials in charge at Qinghai Mining, the 300,000-ton polyethylene project is one of the key supporting facilities for Qinghai Mining’s 600,000-ton olefin project. The first public announcement regarding the environmental impact assessment of this 300,000-ton polyethylene project indicates that the last individual facility within Qinghai Mining’s 600,000-ton olefin project has officially entered the phase of environmental impact assessment. This lays a solid foundation for Qinghai Mining to attract strategic investments more quickly and to advance the construction of this olefin project smoothly.