The 170,000-ton/year ethylene oxide HEMA main production facility of Yantai Wanhua Chemical has achieved handover

　I. Name and Overview of the Construction Project Project Name: Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.’s 170,000 tons per year ethylene oxide derivatives (EOD, HEMA) project Nature of the construction: New construction Location of construction: East Area of Yantai Industrial Park, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. Scope of the project: Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Wanhua Chemical”) was established in December 1998. The company is mainly engaged in the research, development, production, and sales of a full range of polyurethane products such as isocyanates and polyols, petrochemical products such as acrylics and their esters, functional materials like water-based coatings, as well as specialty chemicals. It is one of the most competitive MDI manufacturers in the world and the largest TDI supplier in Europe. . Wanhua Chemical currently has a production facility capable of producing 360,000 tons per year of acrylic acid and its esters. The company’s first-phase MMA production facility with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons is set to come online in 2018. With sufficient supplies of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid products, and thanks to the integration of the polyurethane industry chain and ethylene production processes, the company’s facilities for producing hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and ethoxylated products (EOD) can utilize domestically produced raw materials. This enables further expansion of the industrial chain, allowing the company to offer customers more product solutions and thereby increasing the added value and competitiveness of its products. 　　Currently, there is a shortage of high-quality HEMA suppliers in the domestic market. Meanwhile, downstream industries such as automotive coatings and industrial coatings are developing rapidly, with strong demand; as a result, the prices of these products are high, offering substantial profit margins. Wanhua Chemical’s development of high-end HEMA products can break the monopoly of multinational companies in high-end application areas, increase the self-sufficiency rate of such products, and contribute to the development of China’s automotive and coating industries. In August 2017, Wanhua Chemical initiated an internal project to industrialize HEMA; building a new HEMA production facility with an annual capacity of 20,000 tons was considered the best approach and solution. 　　In the downstream market for ethylene oxide, EOD products (including monomers for water reducers, non-ionic surfactants, and polyethylene glycol) account for approximately 70% of the market share. Wanhua Chemical utilizes the ethylene oxide produced through its integrated polyurethane industry chain to develop industries based on ethylene oxide, thereby strengthening its position in the field of high-value, customized fine chemicals. Building new ethoxylation facilities represents the best approach and solution for this purpose. 　　The land for this project is designated as reserved land for facilities in the Yantai Industrial Park. It is located in the open area to the east of the MMA facility area; the site does not overlap with any mineral deposits or cultural relics, and it is not part of any historic sites or nature reserves. There are no airports or other important facilities on this site, so it meets the requirements for construction land use. The plant site is located within the reserved EO area in the southern part of the plant complex. The EO area includes the EO unit, EOD unit, HEMA unit, and the eighth circulating water station. The EO unit covers an area of 27,200 m2, the EOD unit occupies approximately 50,500 m2, the HEMA unit covers about 4,620 m2, and the eighth circulating water station takes up around 34,350 m2. To the west of the EO block is the MMA equipment area, to the east is the ethylene auxiliary facilities area, to the north are the service facilities area and the elevated water tank, and to the south, separated by Yuanqu South Road and the fence, lies Taiyuan Road, a municipal road. The general layout complies with **current relevant standards, specifications, and regulations**, taking full account of requirements related to fire prevention, explosion protection, hygiene, safety, and environmental protection to ensure the safety of production and personnel ； In line with the overall plant plan, the plant area is designed to be compact and aesthetically pleasing, thereby saving land use, reducing energy consumption, and facilitating management. It also creates favorable conditions for transportation, construction, and maintenance, ensures a rational process flow by avoiding complicated routes, and keeps the pipeline networks short and efficient. 　　The scale of this project’s facilities is 170,000 tons per year of ethylene oxide derivatives (150,000 tons per year of EOD and 20,000 tons per year of HEMA). The auxiliary production facilities include Tank Group No. 1, Tank Group No. 2, product storage tanks, product packaging and warehousing areas, the loading/unloading station in the southern part of the East Zone (expanded), and the central control room in the East Zone (expanded). The utility facilities include the EO area cabinet room, the EO area power substation, the EO area initial rainwater tank, and the Eighth circulating water station (expansion), etc.

Physicochemical properties: Colorless, transparent, and fluid liquid. Soluble in common organic solvents. Soluble in water. Uses: 1. Primarily used for modifying resins and coatings. When copolymerized with other acrylic monomers, it can produce acrylic resins with active hydroxyl groups on their side chains, which can undergo esterification and cross-linking reactions to yield insoluble resins and enhance adhesion; such resins can be used as fiber treatment agents, among other applications. It reacts with melamine-formaldehyde (or urea-formaldehyde) resins, epoxy resins, etc., to be used in the production of two-component coatings. When added to luxury car paint, it helps maintain a mirror-like shine over the long term. It can also be used as an adhesive for synthetic textiles and as a monomer for medical polymers, among other applications. 2. Used in the production of coatings; resins for automotive topcoats and primers. It can also be applied in photopolymer resins, printing plates, inks, gels (for contact lenses), and coatings for canned materials. It is used as reagents in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and light microscopy (LM), especially for hydrated samples of \"sensitive antigen sites\". The GMA monomer system is a white, watery substance that is viscous; it is thinner than water and penetrates more easily than any resin or monomer. It is especially used for working on bones, cartilage, and plant tissues that are difficult to penetrate. 3. In the plastics industry, it is used to manufacture acrylic resins containing active hydroxyl groups. The coating industry uses epoxy resins, diisocyanates, melamine-formaldehyde resins, etc. to produce two-component coatings. It is used as an additive in the oil industry for lubricant washing. The electronics industry uses it as a desiccant for electron microscopes. Adhesives used in the textile industry to manufacture fabrics. Used as a chemical reagent in analytical chemistry. In addition, it is also used in water-soluble encapsulants, as well as in the synthesis of medical polymer materials, thermosetting coatings, and adhesives. The production method involves adding ferric thiocyanate, tetramethylammonium chloride, and a small amount of hydroquinone to methacrylic acid; the mixture is then stirred and heated to 90°C. Under a nitrogen atmosphere, ethylene oxide gas is introduced into the mixture for a reaction time of about 2 hours. The reaction product is cooled to 60°C, a small amount of hydroquinone is added, and vacuum distillation is carried out; the fraction collected at 86–89°C (0.67 kPa) yields the final product, with a yield of over 80%. 2. Potassium methacrylate reacts with chloroethanol in the presence of a polymerization inhibitor to produce crude 2-hydroxyethyl methacrate, which is then purified by salting out to yield the final product.