The core unit of the Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s project for comprehensive utilization of exhaust gases to produce olefins, namely the methanol-to-olefins unit, has been successfully commissioned

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The core unit of Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s project for the comprehensive utilization of exhaust gases to produce olefins – the methanol-to-olefins unit – was successfully delivered on schedule. Author/Source: Huahua Network, Coal Chemicals. Date: 2019-01-01. Clicks: 35. On December 29th, the methanol-to-olefins unit, which is the key component of Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s project for utilizing exhaust gases to produce olefins, was delivered on time, marking the achievement of the company’s goal set for December 31, 2018, to complete such projects to a high standard. The methanol-to-olefins unit at Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s olefins plant utilizes the DMTO process developed independently by the Dalian Institute of Physical Chemistry; under specific conditions, recycled exhaust gas is converted into ethylene and propylene along with small amounts of other compounds, which serve as raw materials for downstream production processes. Among them, the methanol-to-olefins unit is one of the main production units in the olefins plant, and it is also a key unit for the exhaust gas recovery project. The comprehensive utilization of exhaust gases from Qinghai Damei Coal Industry for the production of olefins is a key construction project under Qinghai Province’s 13th Five-Year Plan. It is the fifth project aimed at upgrading the chemical industry in the province, as designated by the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government. Construction of this project began on March 23, 2017, and it took 21 months to complete. Starting from the end of September 2018, the construction work on various units and utility systems for Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s project aimed at utilizing exhaust gas to produce olefins began in phases. On September 30, 2018, the company’s 110kV Huanyu substation was completed first; thereafter, the nitrogen production and air separation units, the plant’s air compressors, the project’s tank area, the main building of the gas treatment and prevention center, and the plant’s comprehensive warehouse were all completed successfully ； In December, the project entered its critical phase; the regional substations, coal unloading and storage facilities, polypropylene plant, polyethylene plant, and methanol-to-olefins plant of the system project were all completed one after another. The one-time pass rate for all civil engineering projects is 99.8%, while the one-time pass rate for welding and installation is over 99%. The civil engineering work for other auxiliary facilities and system projects is also nearing completion, with installation and commissioning activities currently in progress. The conduit and cable laying from the 110kV main substation to the substation in the area in front of the plant have been completed, and it is now ready for power transmission and reception. The central control room and central laboratory are in the stage of interior and exterior decoration; the building for technology and production management, the cafeteria, and the employee dormitories have reached their topping-out stage. Construction is underway on facilities such as the factory perimeter wall and gates. As of December 29, the construction work on the main units and key utility systems for Qinghai Damei Coal Industry’s project for the comprehensive utilization of exhaust gas to produce olefins has been completed, marking the end of the construction phase of this project and the onset of the trial production stage. Damei Coal Industry plans to commence operations in 2019 at an appropriate time. The comprehensive utilization of exhaust gas from Qinghai Damei Coal Industry for the production of olefins project is located in the western area of Ganhe Industrial Park, Xining Economic and Technological Development Zone, Qinghai Province, with an investment of 12.7 billion yuan. The construction scale includes 1.8 million tons per year of methanol-to-olefins production, 300,000 tons per year of polyethylene production, 400,000 tons per year of polypropylene production, along with the necessary utility systems, auxiliary facilities, and external works. Using MTO-grade methanol as raw material, the project goes through production units such as methanol to olefins, olefin conversion, MTBE/1-butene, polyethylene, and polypropylene to manufacture polyethylene and polypropylene products; it also produces MTBE and C4/C6 as by-products. It is the largest olefin production project in the province. Once operational, the enterprise is expected to generate annual sales revenue of 6.53 billion yuan and an annual profit of around 739 million yuan. The olefin production project based on the comprehensive utilization of exhaust gases from Qinghai Damei Coal Industry utilizes some of the regional methanol resources derived from projects that produce methanol from exhaust gases generated in the area’s smelting operations; the project does not directly use the exhaust gases from these smelting operations to produce methanol. The methanol used as raw material for this project comes from Qinghai Guilu Chemical Co., Ltd. (1 million tons per year), Western Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (600,000 tons per year), and the Golmud Refinery of CNPC’s Qinghai Oilfield (300,000 tons per year); agreements for the supply of methanol have been signed with all of these parties. Qinghai Damei Coal Industry Co., Ltd. is one of the two new companies established in accordance with Qinghai Province’s \"Plan for the Integration and Restructuring of Enterprises in the Muli Mining Area.\" Its shareholders include Western Mining Group, Qinghai Shengxiong Mining Co., Ltd., Qinghai Coking Coal Industry Group Co., Ltd., Qinghai Aokai Coal Industry Development Group Co., Ltd., and Qinghai Zhongdi Mineral Resources Development Co., Ltd.