The Ministry of Environmental Protection issues a letter to supervise the 1 million-ton coal-to-oil project in Xinjiang

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The Ministry of Environmental Protection issues a letter to oversee the 1 million-ton coal-to-oil project in Xinjiang. Author/Source: Date: 2017-10-27. Clicks: 45. Recently, the General Office of the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a letter titled “On Urging the Implementation of the Requirements for the 1 million tons per year coal-to-oil demonstration project of Yitai Yili Energy Co., Ltd.,” requesting the Environmental Protection Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to urge the local authorities and relevant departments to carry out all necessary tasks and fulfill their environmental protection responsibilities. These include: First, urging the people of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture to take the improvement of environmental quality as the core of environmental protection, to coordinate coal development with its processing and utilization, to plan coal chemical industry projects in a rational manner, to control the scale of development in this sector in accordance with the \"Report on the Environmental Impact Assessment Related to the Development Plan for the Coal Chemical Industry in Ili Prefecture\" (Ili Prefecture Government Document No. [2016] 70), and to enforce strict entry requirements for such projects in line with the \"Environmental Access Conditions for Modern Coal Chemical Industry Projects (Trial)\" ； Complete on schedule the plan for reducing pollutants and assigning responsibilities in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture (document No. Yizhou Zhengban Fa [2017] 56), to ensure that by the time the 1 million tons per year coal-to-oil demonstration project (hereinafter referred to as the coal-to-oil project) applies for a pollution discharge permit, the total emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds are reduced by at least 749 tons per year, 753 tons per year, 163 tons per year, and 505 tons per year, respectively ； Supportive infrastructure for regional environmental protection and measures to prevent water environment risks should be established; water quality monitoring of the Ili River should be strengthened, emergency drills for environmental risk prevention should be carried out, and the role of the local communities in the regional joint prevention and control system should be fully utilized to ensure that coal chemical projects in the Ili River Valley do not cause pollution to the river. II. Urge the people of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture to **establish an environmental quality monitoring and early-warning system for industrial parks that includes monitoring of characteristic pollutants such as non-methane hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and benzene derivatives, as well as conventional pollutants; to carry out regular monitoring of the air, water, and soil conditions in these industrial parks; and to submit reports to the Environmental Protection Department of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on an annual basis starting from the year when the coal-to-oil project begins operations. III. It is necessary to urge the people of Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County to ensure proper planning and control: residential areas should be kept at a sufficient distance from industrial areas, and no environmentally sensitive buildings such as residential, educational, or medical facilities should be planned or constructed within the protection zones around projects. IV. Urge the people’s government of Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County and its water management departments to complete the construction of emergency wastewater interception facilities outside the plant before the coal-to-oil project goes into operation, in order to jointly prevent and control environmental risks ； In accordance with Document Chashui No. [2016] 198, the construction of new water source wells and the shutdown of existing ones must be completed before the coal-to-oil project comes online, in order to ensure the safety of residents’ drinking water. V. Urge the Yinan Industrial Park (Yitai Yili Industrial Park) to complete the construction of the accident tank in the park before the coal-to-oil project goes into operation, strengthen the management and routine maintenance of this accident tank, and strictly prohibit its use as a water storage tank, a temporary wastewater holding tank, or an evaporation pond ； Appropriate protective measures should be taken to effectively prevent accident water from contaminating the environment through underground seepage. On October 16, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued the \"Approval on the Environmental Impact Assessment Report for Yitai Yili Energy Co., Ltd.’s 1 million tons per year coal-to-oil demonstration project\" [Huan Shen [2017] No. 151], granting approval in principle for the environmental assessment of this project. The environmental impact assessment for Yitai Group’s 10-billion-yuan coal-to-oil project in Ili, Xinjiang, was finally approved after penalties and corrective actions were taken. The Approval states that the project generally meets the requirements of the \"Environmental Access Requirements for Modern Coal Chemical Industry Projects (Trial)\“. The approval document states that the implementation of this project will have certain adverse effects on the environment; therefore, it is required to \"ensure the stability of coal quality and production processes, strictly enforce various measures for pollution control and ecological protection, and adopt the strictest environmental risk prevention measures, environmental management systems, environmental monitoring, and emergency response procedures.\" Itai Group’s 10-billion-yuan coal-to-oil project in Ili, Xinjiang is located in the Yinan Industrial Park of Chabuchar Xibe Autonomous County, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang. By utilizing local coal resources and employing technologies such as water-coal slurry gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, the project aims to produce 1 million tons per year of oil products and other chemicals, with a total investment of 16.3 billion yuan. The main plant facilities include production units such as air separation, coal gasification, purification, oil synthesis, exhaust gas hydrogen production, and oil processing. Complementary facilities include thermal power stations, water treatment plants, circulating water systems and other auxiliary projects; storage and transportation facilities such as coal silos and storage tanks; as well as environmental protection systems for wastewater treatment and reuse. The main products of the project are Euro V diesel, naphtha, liquefied petroleum gas, as well as by-products such as light alcohols, heavy alcohols, and sulfur. In February 2017, the **Energy Bureau issued the ‘13th Five-Year Plan for Demonstrating Advanced Coal Processing Industries’, stating that this project is a demonstration project for coal-to-oil conversion. Its main tasks include the industrialization of 3,000-ton-class multi-nozzle opposed water-coal slurry gasification technology, the industrial application of improved Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reactors and new-generation catalysts, as well as the use of mechanical evaporation and crystallization methods for treating concentrated brine. 　　 Yitai Group has made significant investments in the field of coal-to-oil production. As early as March 2009, Yitai Group built China’s first demonstration production line with a capacity of 160,000 tons, successfully producing the first batch of qualified refined oil from the indirect liquefaction of coal in China. It thus became the first coal-to-oil demonstration project in the country to reach its designed production capacity during the 11th Five-Year Plan period. 　　 It is reported that the Yitai Group plans to invest over 100 billion yuan to establish four coal-to-oil or coal chemical production bases in regions such as Ili in Xinjiang, with a total annual production capacity of over 10 million tons. In June 2017, the 2 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project, undertaken by Yitai Group, officially commenced operations in Ordos City. It became the first coal-to-oil project of a million-ton scale in China to be carried out by a private enterprise. http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20171027/1550535705378.jpg