[Haichuan Chemical News] Construction has begun on the main plant for producing 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year in the Tuoketuo Industrial Park in Inner Mongolia

The total investment for this project is 13.3 billion yuan, with a total land area of 2,565 mu; the planned production capacity of the project is 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year. The project utilizes mature domestic aerospace coal/SHELL coal gasification technology, low-temperature methanol washing technology, as well as the world’s first state-of-the-art Davy company hydroxymethylation process technology to produce ethylene glycol. With a production capacity of 500,000 tons per year per unit, it is the largest ethylene glycol production facility in the world, enabling the conversion of coal resources into ethylene glycol with high added value right at the source. The project construction period is 3 years, with trials scheduled to begin by the end of 2020 and full operation set to commence in 2021. After going into production, it is expected to generate annual sales revenue of 10.6 billion yuan and profits and taxes of 3.66 billion yuan.

The preliminary procedures for the project are now complete, and it has entered the full implementation phase. There are 14 large-scale construction areas, with an investment of around 2.57 billion yuan to be completed in 2018; it is estimated that a total investment of 8 billion yuan will be achieved by 2019. In addition, to extend its industrial chain, deepen its industrial structure, and further increase the added value of its products, the company is actively developing downstream products; the demonstration project for the technological upgrading of polyester new materials in the second phase of this project has already been registered.

The demonstration project for the technological upgrading of new polyester materials using ethylene glycol as a raw material has a total investment of 59.749 billion yuan, covers an area of 8,626 mu, and features a production capacity of 2.4 million tons per year of PTA, 600,000 tons per year of polystyrene, 170,000 tons per year of surfactants, 110,000 tons per year of water reducers, and 300,000 tons per year of liquefied natural gas. Once operational, the project is expected to generate annual sales revenue of 29.42 billion yuan and profits and taxes amounting to 10.61 billion yuan. The completion of the project with an annual production capacity of 1 million tons of ethylene glycol is of great significance for the rational utilization of local coal resources, the transformation and upgrading of industries, and the promotion of local social and economic development; it is in line with the development direction of the coal chemical industry. It will also bring new stars to the contract manufacturing industry in the autonomous region and across the country, contributing to the upgrading of the industrial structure and the high-quality development of the regional economy.

The Tuoketuo Industrial Park is located in Tuoketuo County, Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It is a new type of industrial park that was established in 2003, built around the Datang Tuoketuo large-scale thermal power plant. The park is a development zone at the autonomous region level, and one of the 20 key industrial parks in the region. It is designated as an autonomous region-level high-tech industrial park, a circular economy demonstration area, and an industrial park with harmonious labor relations within the autonomous region. It also serves as a base for agricultural product processing and entrepreneurship in the region. It was named by the **Ministry of Science and Technology as “Fire

The park enjoys a favorable geographical location: it is 65 kilometers north of Hohhot, the capital of the autonomous region, 50 kilometers south of the **large energy hub – the Jungar coal field, and 130 kilometers west of Baotou, known as the Steel City of the Grasslands. It lies in the heart of the Hohhot-Baotou-Ordos triangular area and constitutes an important development zone within the region’s Yellow River economic belt. The park has abundant electrical resources; the planned installed capacity of its own power plants is 6×300MW units. The first phase, consisting of 2×300MW units, is already in operation and can fully meet the electricity needs of the enterprises located there. It is also one of the pilot parks for direct electricity purchases approved by the **Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the electricity supply price is a preferential rate specially granted by the people’s government of the autonomous region for the Tokto Industrial Park. The park has abundant coal resources; within a 200-kilometer radius, there are 5 coal mines with an annual production of over 10 million tons each. It is located 50 kilometers away from the **Zhungeer large-scale energy base, where the annual coal extraction volume is 100 million tons. Approximately 70 million tons of coal pass through Tuo County each year on their way to various destinations, resulting in low costs associated with coal usage. The park has an abundant water supply; the Yellow River flows through Tokto for 37.5 kilometers. The \"Yellow River Water Diversion to Hohhot\" project has been approved by the Yellow River Water Resources Commission for a daily water withdrawal volume of 400,000 tons, of which 200,000 tons per day are allocated for use by the enterprises in the park.

The planned area of the park is 65.8 square kilometers, which is divided into five functional zones: the power and energy zone, the biopharmaceutical zone, the metal smelting zone, the chemical industry zone, and the comprehensive service zone. The industrial focus of the park is based on the power and energy industry, with biopharmaceuticals, metal smelting, and the chemical industry as its key sectors, while also promoting the simultaneous development of related industries. Since its development and construction began in 2003, over 2 billion yuan has been invested in the infrastructure of this park; public facilities such as main and secondary roads, water supply systems, power supply systems, rainwater drainage systems, sewage treatment facilities, freight logistics services, and comprehensive service facilities have been built there. By 2011, the park had attracted more than 40 projects in total, with 26 industrial enterprises above a certain scale being built and put into operation; the total amount of fixed asset investment reached over 40 billion yuan. The Tokto Industrial Park currently has a capacity of 5.4 million kilowatts in terms of power generation facilities, with an annual electricity output of 30 billion kWh, making it the largest thermal power generation complex in Asia. There are 11 biopharmaceutical companies in the park, with a fermentation volume of nearly 30,000 cubic meters, which classifies it as one of the larger biofermentation centers in the country. The park also features projects for producing 1.2 million tons of special steel and 600,000 tons of oil casing per year, as well as 250,000 tons of alumina and 125,000 tons of electrolytic aluminum along with various aluminum products. In addition, there is a project under planning to enable the deep processing of 30 million tons of coal per year. In 2011, the enterprises operating in the park were expected to achieve a total industrial output value of 32.7 billion yuan, an industrial added value of 12.7 billion yuan, and generate tax revenues of 1.5 billion yuan.

According to a report from the official Guangming Net account Ya Hua Coal Chemicals on March 26, as of March 2019, China had 22 coal (syngas)-based ethylene glycol production projects that were in operation or had completed trial operations, resulting in an overall production capacity of 4.48 million tons per year of ethylene glycol. According to Yahuazhengxin’s \"Quarterly Report on China’s Coal (Syngas)-Based Ethylene Glycol Production,\" in 2019 China will commission ten new projects for the production of ethylene glycol from coal, adding 2.64 million tons of CTMEG production capacity. By the end of 2019, the total CTMEG production capacity will reach 7.12 million tons.