Progress in the environmental impact assessment approval for Inner Mongolia’s 4 billion cubic meter coal-to-gas project

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Progress in the environmental impact assessment approval for Inner Mongolia’s 4 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-gas project Author/Source: Date: 2017-07-17 Clicks: 17 According to reports dated July 14, the environmental impact assessment process for Inner Mongolia Huaxing New Energy Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 4 billion Nm3 of natural gas per year from coal is nearing completion. On May 18, the Ministry of Environmental Protection officially accepted the environmental impact assessment for the project. The draft of the environmental impact assessment report was submitted to the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment of the Ministry on June 28; it has been discussed at a meeting held by the head of this department, and it is planned to be presented at the department’s regular meeting in the near future. The total investment in Inner Mongolia Huaxing New Energy’s coal-to-gas project is approximately 24.9 billion yuan. It is capable of producing 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, as well as 450,000 tons of tar, 100,000 tons of naphtha, 120,000 tons of sulfur, 60,000 tons of crude phenol, and 50,000 tons of liquid ammonia. The project can process 31 million tons of coal, generating sales revenue of around 21 billion yuan and profits and taxes of about 5.6 billion yuan. This project was included in the **first batch of 80 pilot projects aimed at encouraging private capital to participate in the construction and operation of energy and infrastructure projects. It is a **new-type coal chemical industry pilot project, and it received approval from the National Development and Reform Commission in January 2014. At present, for this project, all documents have been approved, except for the Environmental Assessment Report and the Project Approval Report, which are still under submission and have not yet received approval. **The National Development and Reform Commission has agreed to proceed with the approval process as soon as it receives an application from the autonomous region to switch from reserve to new construction. In 2016, the **Ministry of Environmental Protection approved the environmental impact assessment applications for CNOOC’s Datong project in Shanxi, the Suxin Hefeng project in Xinjiang, the Beikong Jingtai project in Inner Mongolia, and the Xintian project in Ili, Xinjiang. The Inner Mongolia Huaxing coal-to-gas project is expected to become the first coal-to-natural gas project to receive approval in 2017. Inner Mongolia Huaxing New Energy Co., Ltd.’s 4 billion Nm3/year coal-to-natural gas project. Owner of the project: Inner Mongolia Huaxing New Energy Co., Ltd. Nature of the construction: New construction. Scale of construction: Production capacity of 4 billion Nm3/year of coal-to-natural gas. Synthetic natural gas is produced using technologies such as fixed-bed pressurized gasification, sulfur-tolerant shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing for purification, and nickel-based catalysts for methane synthesis. The main by-products include tar, middle oil, crude phenol, naphtha, sulfur, sulfuric acid, and liquid ammonia. A heating station is constructed as part of the infrastructure; the steam generated by the waste heat boiler used in methane synthesis is used to drive 2×100MW extraction-type steam turbine units ； Low-pressure steam generated by the low-pressure waste heat boiler is used to drive 2×10MW condensing turbine units ； The boiler room is equipped with 8×480t/h coal-fired pulverized coal steam boilers and 3×25MW back-pressure steam turbine units, giving the plant a total power generation capacity of 227,924 KW. It is also accompanied by storage and transportation engineering, utility engineering, auxiliary engineering, and environmental protection engineering, among others. Construction location: The Shanghai Miao Energy and Chemical Industry Base is located in the central-southern part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on the northwest edge of the Ordos Basin in the Hetao area of the Yellow River. It lies at the border between the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and is administratively under the jurisdiction of Shanghai Miao Town in Ejin Horoq Front Banner. The project covers an area of 3,451,330 square meters, with geographical coordinates ranging from 106°31′20″ to 106°57′20″ east longitude, and from 38°09′40″ to 38°46′20″ north latitude. Total project investment: 2,443,455.68 million yuan. Project composition: The project uses coal as raw material to produce natural gas through processes such as gasification, shift cooling, low-temperature methanol washing, and methanation. The project components include the main structure, auxiliary works, utility systems, storage and transportation facilities, environmental protection measures, and supporting projects. Auxiliary facilities mainly include air separation units, compression and refrigeration units, flare systems, fire stations, and analysis laboratories ； Public utilities mainly include chemical water treatment systems, circulating water systems, and drainage systems, etc ； Storage and transportation engineering mainly includes systems for storing raw coal and fuel coal, storing ash and slag, as well as storage tanks for other liquid raw materials, auxiliary materials, and by-products ； Environmental protection engineering includes the treatment and disposal of wastewater, waste gas, and solid waste ； The supporting facilities include off-site water supply systems and pipelines, off-site power transmission lines, natural gas transmission pipelines, slag dumps, and hazardous waste disposal sites (these supporting facilities are not within the scope of evaluation for this project). Product plan: The output of synthetic natural gas from the main product is 50.66×104 Nm3/h, which equals 1215.8×104 Nm3/day and 40.527×108 Nm3/year. By-products include tar, middle oil, crude phenol, naphtha, sulfur, and sulfuric acid, etc. Process route and production plan: Project demonstration tasks. The specific process demonstration tasks include: first, the industrial application of domestically developed fixed-bed coal gasification technology under pressure, with a gasification pressure of over 4.0 megapascals and a diameter of the gasifier increased to 5 meters ； Second is the localization of key equipment such as large-scale air separation units, refrigeration compressors, and methanation cycle gas compressors. It also undertakes the environmental protection demonstration task of \"membrane filtration for oil and dust removal technology\". It undertakes environmental protection demonstration tasks in areas such as the efficient utilization of coal based on its different quality levels, the combined use of resources and energy, and pollution control technologies (such as wastewater treatment techniques, wastewater disposal methods, and utilization and disposal strategies for crystalline salts).