Ordos Dalu Industrial Park: An oasis of coal chemical industry in the desert

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Erdos Dalu Industrial Park: An oasis of coal chemical industry in the desert. Author/Source: Date: 2018-04-11. Clicks: 9. Located in the northeast of Zhungeer Banner in Erdos City, at the edge of the Kubuqi Desert, the Dalu Industrial Park is surrounded by the Yellow River within a \"J\"-shaped bay. What was once desert wasteland has gradually been replaced by vegetation and modern factories, showing great vitality. In March, a research team from China Chemical Industry News’ “China Tour on the Sustainable Development of Petroleum and Chemical Parks” visited Dalu Industrial Park. Entering the park, Cui Xuejun, the editor-in-chief of China Chemical Industry News and head of the research team who had visited Dalu Industrial Park a few years earlier, exclaimed, “The desert has turned into an oasis; the changes are truly remarkable.” ” In 2017, Dali Industrial Park was listed as one of the four modern coal chemical industry demonstration zones planned by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; it is also one of the key parks under development in the economic belt along the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. “Aiming to establish a model demonstration base for a modern coal chemical industry of high standards and quality, we strive to develop coal-based products on a larger scale, while also enhancing their quality and refining their production processes. We take a range of measures in terms of safety and environmental protection oversight, with the goal of creating a first-class model for the modern coal chemical industry. “Han Tao, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Daliu Industrial Park, introduced this to the research team. The coal chemical industry has reached a certain scale. The Dalu Industrial Park, established in 2005, has a planned development area of 140 square kilometers, and a substantial scale for the coal chemical industry has already been achieved there. Among them, the coal chemical industry base covers an area of 78 square kilometers, with a focus on developing coal-to-oil, coal-to-gas, coal-to-alcohols and ethers, coal-to-olefins, coal-to-ethylene glycol, as well as other coal chemical and downstream fine chemical industries ； The coal-electricity-aluminum circular industry base covers an area of 62 square kilometers, focusing on the development of the coal-electricity-aluminum industry as well as the deep processing of downstream products. The reporter learned that as of now, Dalu Industrial Park has introduced a total of 56 industrial projects. Of these, 33 projects have been completed, 6 are under construction, and 17 are planned to be built. It has established China’s first coal indirect liquefaction production line (Yitai Phase I, 160,000 tons per year of coal-based synthetic oil project), the largest methanol production facility in China’s coal chemical industry at present (Jiutai Phase I, 1 million tons per year of methanol and 100,000 tons per year of dimethyl ether project), as well as Inner Mongolia’s first large-scale pressure vessel manufacturing project (AVIC Liming Jinhua Machinery, 60,000 tons per year of large-scale pressure vessel manufacturing project). At the same time, the commencement of construction on Yongjiang Jiayuan’s 100,000 tons per year polyaluminum chloride and 50,000 tons per year chlorohydrocarbon production projects, as well as Yuanji Chemical’s 120,000 tons per year refined wax production project, marks a significant step forward in waste recycling and the expansion of the industrial chain within the park. Han Tao said that in 2017, the industrial park achieved an overall industrial output value of 51.54 billion yuan, accounting for 54.4% of the total for the entire region; the industrial added value was 24.59 billion yuan, sales revenue amounted to 51.356 billion yuan, and fiscal revenue reached 688 million yuan. By developing modern coal chemical industry, coal-electricity-aluminum production, and fine chemical industries, the park strives to become a **model base for modern coal chemistry**, a base for the production of clean energy, and an industrial park in Inner Mongolia with a value of 100 billion yuan. By 2020, it aims to achieve three \"1000\" goals: a total investment of 100 billion yuan in the park, a coal chemical production capacity of 10 million tons, and sales revenue of 100 billion yuan. Ensuring safety in all aspects is of utmost importance for the chemical industry. Safety is a top priority. The investigation team learned that the park has already established an information technology platform that enables real-time video monitoring of the key equipment and critical areas in the 8 major hazardous chemical manufacturing enterprises located there, as well as online monitoring of toxic and flammable gases. Instructions are issued promptly, and feedback from the enterprises is received. At the same time, the park has a well-established emergency command structure, which includes an emergency command center along with 7 specialized teams: the disaster relief team, the medical rescue team, the supply team, the security team, the information team, the aftermath handling team, and the technical expertise team. The park is under full closed-management; a special parking area for hazardous materials has been established for unified management and parking. By connecting with the data from various enterprises, hazardous-material vehicles in the park are equipped in a standardized manner, thereby reducing traffic pressure on the roads. Han Tao also pointed out that the park enforces very strict safety controls on enterprises, with comprehensive safety supervision and training provided in almost every aspect. He mentioned that the park hires experts to assist the safety supervision agency in carrying out routine inspections and supervision ； Entrust the China Chemical Safety Association to organize experts to inspect the enterprise’s work safety ； In response to production safety accidents that have occurred across the country, typical accidents with identical production materials, similar process flows, and comparable equipment to those used in the parks were identified, and special inspections were carried out ； Special training was organized by experts from the Chemical Safety Association on two topics: establishing a system for risk classification, control, hazard identification, and mitigation, as well as change management based on risk in process safety ； Organize expert tours within the park to give lectures, inviting well-known security training experts from the park to deliver lectures to various enterprises there ； During the Awareness Week and Safety Month, safety knowledge is widely promoted through various means ； Conduct emergency drills to improve the level of emergency rescue ； Organize competitions on innovation in work safety management and operational skills within the park ； Organize regular activities within the industrial park for hazardous chemicals enterprises to strive for the establishment, compliance, and improvement of standards related to safe production ； Organize safety construction activities for enterprise work teams to enhance the on-site management level of safe production in enterprises ； Continuous efforts are being made to establish a long-term mechanism for identifying and reporting hazards and near-misses in production and operation units; by making these hazards publicly visible, their rectification rate within enterprises has been improved in a solid and effective manner. Strict control over environmental protection: For chemical industrial parks, environmental protection and safety are equally important. In response to the high salt content in wastewater and the large amount of waste generated by modern coal chemical enterprises, Daliu Industrial Park has installed appropriate environmental protection facilities and taken various measures to address environmental issues. Han Tao told the research team that the park now has a centralized sewage treatment plant, which includes sewage treatment facilities as well as facilities for treating high-salinity water. Wastewater treatment facilities handle municipal domestic wastewater on a centralized basis, and the treated water is entirely reused in industrial processes ； The high-salinity water treatment facility treats the high-salinity water discharged by enterprises on a centralized basis; some of this water is reused while the rest is discharged into drying ponds. At the same time, online water quality monitoring devices are installed at all the centralized wastewater treatment outlets in the park. Various enterprises have established facilities consisting of a \"biochemical treatment station + pre-treatment + ultrafiltration + reverse osmosis membrane treatment for reclaimed water + secondary reverse osmosis concentration\". Enterprises install online water quality monitoring systems at their high-salinity wastewater discharge points; the wastewater discharge complies with the first-level standards of the Comprehensive Wastewater Discharge Standards, with total dissolved solids reaching 10,000 milligrams per liter. As for waste residues, the park has a comprehensive ash and residue landfill, with a storage capacity of 12 million cubic meters; the amount of ash stored there is approximately 1,340 tons, and the total investment in this facility was around 100 million yuan. Furthermore, in terms of VOC control, the enterprises within the park have completed the first round of leakage detection and remediation efforts. The park is currently establishing automatic monitoring stations for environmental air quality aimed at detecting pollutants specific to the park, such as volatile organic compounds, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia. Han Tao said that in the next step, the park will pursue the development of a smart park, focusing on prevention and control at the source. A big data platform for environmental information in the smart park will be established, and monitoring devices and technologies such as electronic noses will be planned for and installed as part of this development, thereby creating a monitoring network within the park to ensure its safety and environmental protection.