The environmental impact assessment approval for Ningxia Coal’s 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins project has been granted by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

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The environmental impact assessment approval for Ningxia Coal’s 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins project has been granted by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Author/Source: Yaha Coal Chemicals; Date: 2020-03-05; Clicks: 3. On March 4, at the 10th press conference held by the Ningxia Autonomous Region’s Command Center for Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Zhang Baisen, head of the region’s Department of Ecology and Environment, stated that the environmental protection agencies in the region have introduced measures for managing environmental impact assessments for construction projects during the pandemic period. For those projects deemed essential for epidemic prevention, such as those related to healthcare, material production, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and research and experimentation, “green channels” have been established to simplify procedures, reduce processing times, and allow for exemption from approval processes as well as a system based on commitment-based registration. To date, the ecological and environmental authorities in the region have approved and recorded 330 environmental impact assessments for construction projects, involving an investment of 9.851 billion yuan. Proactively supporting major projects in the autonomous region, the environmental impact assessment for the Guoneng Ningmei 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins new materials demonstration project, which involves an investment of 22 billion yuan, has been approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Coordinate the management of special funds for environmental protection, give priority to areas severely affected by the pandemic, simplify the approval processes and fund-disbursement procedures for key environmental protection projects related to epidemic control, effectively promote the implementation of pollution control projects, and support economic and social development. The Shenhua Ningxia Coal-SABIC joint venture’s 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins new material demonstration project (Ningxia Coal Company’s 700,000 tons per year coal-to-olefins new material demonstration project) is located in the coal chemical industry park of the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The developer of this project is **Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Co., Ltd.** Project overview: The construction scope includes the main engineering works, utility systems, auxiliary facilities, as well as environmental protection measures. The main production facilities include those for coal gasification under pressure, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, sulfur recovery, methanol synthesis, methanol-to-olefins, ethylene-vinyl acetate production, low-density polyethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, polypropylene, and air separation. Storage and transportation engineering includes storage tanks, coal silos, polymer finished product warehouses, sulfur finished product warehouses, etc. The auxiliary systems mainly include the power station (3 coal-fired boilers with a capacity of 380 tons per hour, 2 in operation and 1 as backup), the domestic water treatment system, the desalinated water and condensate purification stations, and the flare stack. Environmental protection projects mainly include comprehensive biochemical treatment units, salt-containing wastewater treatment systems, measures for treating boiler flue gas, oil and gas recovery systems, regenerative oxidation furnaces, 1 temporary storage site for general solid waste, and 1 temporary storage facility for hazardous waste. This project plans to utilize 4.2633 million tons of local coal resources per year, of which 3.394 million tons will be used as raw material coal and 869,300 tons as fuel coal. Fresh water consumption is 10.3497 million cubic meters per year. The total investment for the project is 22.04 billion yuan, of which 1.76 billion yuan is allocated to environmental protection measures, accounting for 8.0% of the total investment.