【Haichuan Project Updates】Lanzhou Petrochemical’s 23.2-billion-yuan ethylene upgrade project: preliminary environmental impact assessment
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On December 29, 2022, the first public announcement regarding the environmental impact assessment was made for PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical Company’s 23.2-billion-yuan project to transform and upgrade its ethylene production facilities. Basic project information: The construction site for the Lanzhou Petrochemical transformation and upgrading ethylene renovation project is located within the refinery area, fertilizer ethylene plant area, and petrochemical rubber plant area of Lanzhou Petrochemical Company. The total investment amounts to approximately 23.17 billion yuan, with an annual operating hours of 8,000 hours. The main components of the project can be divided into the main construction works and those that are to be put into use in advance. The main projects include: the construction of a new 200,000-ton/year carbon dioxide recovery unit and a 50,000-ton/year PSA unit in the refining area ； A new ethylene plant with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons will be built in the chemical industrial zone (including a new 1.2 million tons/year cracking and quenching unit, along with the reuse of an existing ethylene post-separation system with a capacity of 460,000 tons/year); in addition, there will be a 100,000 tons/year UHMWPE plant, a 20,000 tons/year octene-1 plant, a 100,000 tons/year POE plant, a 140,000 tons/year EVA plant, a 400,000 tons/year PP plant, a 300,000 tons/year HDPE plant, as well as facilities for the hydrogenation of cracked gasoline with a capacity of 800,000 tons/year and for aromatic extraction with a capacity of 800,000 tons/year ； Restart the 160,000 tons/year ethylene ethane concentration unit in the refining area ； Renovate a catalytic cracking unit with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year, a diesel hydrotreating unit with a capacity of 3 million tons per year, and another diesel hydrotreating unit with a capacity of 1.2 million tons per year in the refining area. Auxiliary facilities include: a new 2,000 t/h waste heat recovery station (hot water station), 2*270 t/h startup boilers, 1 flare system, hazardous chemicals storage areas, product storage rooms, Class A and B storage rooms, Class C and D storage rooms, storage and transportation facilities in the chemical area (tank farms), vehicle loading and unloading facilities, liquid ammonia storage tanks and unloading facilities, as well as a dedicated railway line within the plant and temporary storage areas for hazardous waste. Projects to be put into use in advance include: the 110kv temporary substation, Fire Pump Station No. 1 in the chemical industry area, vehicle loading and unloading facilities, the East Tank Area, Class C and D warehouses, the waste alkali treatment facility, the boiler deaeration water station, part of the utility tunnels in the chemical industry area, part of the interconnection tunnels, some pipelines (branch pipes), some underground pipeline networks, the relocation of flare condensate tanks (relocation of three high-level tanks), the hazardous waste storage facility, the Environmental Catalysis Pilot Plant of the **Key Laboratory for Control and Treatment of Petroleum and Petrochemical Pollutants, and chemical storage facilities.
Weren’t we always talking about moving to a different location? Why is it a transformation and upgrade at the original site (demolishing old installations and building new ones)? The welfare area is located upwind of Lanzhou city center, and is close to both the city center and the Yellow River. It seems that Lanzhou City **cannot compete with CNPC.
This post was last edited by qugd on 2023-1-24 09:24. The relocation of Lanzhou Petrochemical was a paradox from the very beginning. Firstly, the new location is in the development zone (new area) near Lanzhou Airport. As is well known, apart from the areas along the Yellow River, other parts of Lanzhou, especially those in the northern direction, suffer from a severe water shortage. The Lanzhou New Area is really not suitable for carrying out chemical manufacturing projects that require large amounts of water, as the water supplied from the Qilian Mountains is much less compared to that from the Yellow River. So far, apart from Lanshi Heavy Industry, there are very few large enterprises that have settled in that area. Secondly, the relocation of large-scale integrated petrochemical projects may seem to be associated with positive factors such as environmental protection, urban development, and water and energy conservation, but there are also many significant negative aspects. What is meant by relocation is reconstruction in a different location. For large-scale petrochemical projects, it’s possible to level the land and lay the foundations as well as install equipment and pipelines in a relatively short time. However, when it comes to relocation, the equipment has to be disassembled, transported, reinstalled, and its piping system has to be reconfigured and tested, which is much more difficult than building from scratch. Furthermore, the logistics infrastructure in Lanzhou New Area is far inferior to that in Lanzhou Xigui. One should not underestimate those few dozen kilometers of distance – the area is covered with loess mountains, and the construction of many petrochemical-related facilities requires significant funding and land, as well as a large amount of water. Third is the factor related to the administrative level. When I was in university in Lanzhou, I already knew that the head of Lanlian (now Lanhua) held a position no lower than that of the leader of Lanzhou city; he was at least equivalent to an executive vice mayor, or even a key figure in the provincial party committee. It’s not certain that there was mutual restraint between them, but their ranks were roughly the same, with supporters and opponents likely being in equal numbers. Fourthly, there are also many other chemical enterprises in the vicinity of Lanhua at present; most of them rely on Lanhua’s primary products or supply auxiliary products to it. It is a large industrial chain. The welfare issues related to Lanhua are not a major problem, but the secondary effects resulting from the relocation could be much greater than the relocation itself. The above are merely my personal opinions, or even prejudices.
In terms of land available for the construction of civilian facilities, there are many areas in Anning District that can be used; it is even possible to develop in the Donggang area. Xigu District could be developed towards Hekou. The undergraduate programs of Lanzhou University are now held in Yuzhong County. In the 1980s, the old airport in Lanzhou was supposed to be allocated to Lanzhou University, but that never happened. At that time, Liu Bing was both the governor of Gansu Province and the president of Lanzhou University (as I recall), yet nothing was accomplished.
Big vision – this is truly a matter of perspective
Lanzhou is long in length and narrow in width, with the Yellow River running through it; despite being surrounded by this river, it still suffers from a severe water shortage. To be honest, the terrain in Lanzhou is not suitable for developing the petrochemical industry; there is no room for such development.
There was no way back then; I never imagined what things would be like more than 50 years later. Lanzhou was home to one of the first large-scale oil refineries built, located near the two oil fields of that time (Yumen and Yanchang), essentially in an intermediate position. At that time, Xigu (Qujiaying) had few residents; after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, refineries, chemical plants, and facilities for producing various fine chemicals were established there. In fact, Lanhua is currently very successful in cooperating with petrochemical enterprises in some areas, such as Yulin. Moving to Lanzhou New Area is a task with a long journey ahead and many obstacles along the way.
Therefore, Lanzhou Petrochemical should no longer continue to develop at its current location; relocation or closure is the best solution. A few years ago, I stood on the top of Guanshan Mountain behind Lanzhou Refinery; the sky was clear, yet over the refinery there seemed to be a gray circular hat hanging overhead, giving it a depressing appearance.