The Xinjiang Department of Ecology and Environment has accepted the application for the deep processing project of heavy aromatics and polyhydrocarbons by Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd

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The Xinjiang Department of Ecology and Environment has accepted the environmental impact assessment report for the project aimed at the deep processing of heavy aromatic hydrocarbons and polyhydrocarbons by Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. Author/Source: Coal Chemical Industry 114; Date: 2019-08-13; Clicks: 55. It was recently reported that the Xinjiang Department of Ecology and Environment has approved this environmental impact assessment. The total investment for this project is 73.86 million yuan; it is a renovation and expansion project located in the vacant area to the southwest of the coal-to-natural gas facility within the Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Circular Economy Industrial Park. The project will involve the construction of a facility capable of processing 200,000 tons per year of heavy aromatic hydrocarbons and polyhydrocarbons. The plant mainly consists of a distillation unit and a crude phenol unit. The distillation unit is made up of a phenol removal tower and a vacuum distillation tower, while the crude phenol unit comprises sequential washing, steam stripping, sodium phenolate decomposition, and sodium carbonate causticization. The supporting utility systems for water supply and drainage, electricity, fire protection, etc., in this project rely largely on the coal-to-natural gas project. For Phase 1 of the project, the raw materials required are 120,000 tons per year of heavy aromatics and 80,000 tons per year of polyhydrocarbons. The planned products include 16,200 tons of light hydrocarbons, 58,700 tons of phenol oil, 37,000 tons of washing oil, 76,800 tons of anthracene oil, and 10,000 tons of coal tar pitch ； Phase 2 uses the phenol oil from Phase 1 as raw material, with the product specifications being: 24,100 tons of crude phenol (including 27,000 tons of water), and 34,600 tons of dephenolized oil. Ili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. is a state-owned joint venture established through joint investment by Zhejiang Energy Group and Shandong Energy Xinwen Mining Group. It is located in Yining City, Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Zhejiang Energy Group holds 55% of the shares, while Xinwen Mining Group holds 45%, with Zhejiang Energy Group exercising control over the company. On December 6, 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment) issued the document titled “Huan Shen 162” to approve the “2 billion standard cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project” developed by Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. The project is located in the Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Circular Economy Industrial Park. The main facility consists of two sets of coal-to-natural gas production units with an annual capacity of 2 billion standard cubic meters each; accompanying facilities include a self-supplied heat power plant as well as various utility and auxiliary systems ； From June 15, 2017, to November 2018, the project commenced feedstock feeding for single-series trial operations; in November 2018, high-load trial operations with two series were started. By December 2018, a total of approximately 1.05 billion cubic meters of qualified natural gas had been produced, and this gas was transported to Zhejiang via the West-East Gas Pipeline Project III. According to the approved environmental impact assessment report for this project, it uses coal as raw material and goes through processes such as gasification, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, and methanation; the final product is synthetic substitute natural gas (SNG). The by-products include sulfur, tar (referred to as \"heavy aromatics\" in this project), middle distillates (referred to as \"polyhydrocarbons\" in this project), naphtha (referred to as \"light hydrocarbons\" in this project), crude phenol, and ammonium sulfate. An intermediate product is ammonia water (15%). Among them, the intermediate product ammonia water (15%) is reused as an ammonia-based desulfurization agent and an SCR denitration reducing agent, while the by-products such as tar (referred to as \"heavy aromatics\" in this project), middle oil (referred to as \"polyhydrocarbons\" in this project), naphtha (referred to as \"light hydrocarbons\" in this project), and crude phenol are intended for sale to Xinjiang Hengxing Weiye Chemical Co., Ltd. The tar (referred to as \"heavy aromatics\" in this project) and intermediate oil (referred to as \"polyhydrocarbons\" in this project) obtained as by-products of coal-to-natural gas projects meet the requirements of the \"Coal Tar Standard YB/T5075-2010\", and serve as important chemical raw materials. Tar (referred to as \"heavy aromatics\" in this project) is also classified as distilled residues with the code HW11 in the **List of Hazardous Wastes**, and thus constitutes a hazardous waste. Its industry origin is the \"gas production and supply sector\", and its hazardous waste code is \"450-003-11: coal tar generated through gas condensation during gas production\". Any transfer of such material must be carried out in accordance with the relevant standards for the management of hazardous wastes. As the trial production of the coal-to-natural gas project proceeds smoothly, and considering the broad market for the advanced processing of coal tar, as well as the company’s future development plans and the requirements of the Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Circular Economy Industrial Park regarding circular economy practices, Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. has decided to stop selling heavy aromatics and polyhydrocarbons and instead process them in-house. The company intends to carry out the \"Yili Xintian Coal Chemical Co., Ltd. Heavy Aromatics and Polyhydrocarbons Advanced Processing Project\" (hereinafter referred to as \"this project\”), which involves fractional distillation of these substances to produce light hydrocarbons, dephenolized oil, crude phenol, washed oil, anthracene oil, and coal tar pitch. This project will be constructed in two phases: the first phase requires an investment of 65.06 million yuan, with a construction period from 2019 to 2020; the scope of work for this phase includes fractional distillation, tank storage units, and auxiliary facilities ； The investment amount for the second phase is 8.8 million yuan, with a construction period from 2023 to 2025. The construction activities will involve the establishment of a cresol (including causticization) production unit. This project is of great significance for resource recycling, creating a closed-loop economy in the coal chemical industry, and preventing risks associated with the long-distance transportation of chemical raw materials.