Progress on the construction of Baofeng Coal-Based New Materials’ 2.6 million tons per year coal-to-olefins plant, along with the accompanying 400,000 tons per year plant for olefin production via green hydrogen integration

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Progress on the construction of the first phase of Baofeng Coal-Based New Materials Project, which involves 2.6 million tons per year of coal-based olefins production, along with a supporting facility for producing olefins using green hydrogen in amounts of 400,000 tons per year. Author/Source: Huahua Network – Coal Chemicals. Date: April 5, 2023. Clicks: 224. On March 27th, with the completion of the installation of the conductors and ground wires in the N37-N41 tower section, the 110 kV power line network for this project was fully completed. This line is located in Wushen Banner, Ordos, and was constructed by the Third Engineering Department of Inner Mongolia Power Transmission and Transformation Company. It starts at the 220 kV Tuhudai substation and ends at the 110 kV Baofeng substation, with a total length of 17.338 kilometers. Of this distance, 3.996 kilometers make use of the existing 110 kV Huxin line, while 10.342 kilometers are newly built. The line is constructed as a single circuit, with 37 new poles to be installed. Construction began on November 20, 2022, and completion is scheduled for April 2023. Innovative Demonstration Project for Carbon Emission Reduction through the Coupling of Green Hydrogen and Coal Chemical Industry by Inner Mongolia Baofeng Coal-based New Materials Co., Ltd.
Nature of construction: New construction
Location: Tuk Industrial Project Area, Sulihe Economic Development Zone, Wushen Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region; located in the reserved area in the northern part of the park, between Wei 7 Road and Wei 9 Road, as well as Jing 3 Road and Jing 8 Road
Constructor: Inner Mongolia Baofeng Coal-based New Materials Co., Ltd.
Land area: 594.43 hectares
Total workforce: 3,500 people
Total project investment: The approved total investment amounts to 478,113.7 million yuan, of which the construction cost (including value-added tax) is 443,110.9 million yuan, interest during the construction period is 31,529.6 million yuan, and working capital required for startup is 34,732 million yuan (the above figures are based on normal operating conditions)
Operating hours per year: 8,000 hours
Scale of construction: The project will primarily include 3 × 2.2 million tons/year methanol production units (including 7 × 110,000 Nm3/h oxygen generation systems, 3 × 562,000 Nm3/h gasification, shift conversion, and heat recovery units, as well as low-temperature methanol washing units); 3 × 1 million tons/year methanol-to-olefins production units (including olefin separation units); 3 × 500,000 tons/year polypropylene production units; 3 × 550,000 tons/year polyethylene production units; a 200,000 tons/year C4-to-1-butene production unit; and a 200,000 tons/year steam cracking unit. In addition to producing polypropylene and polyethylene, it also produces by-products such as sulfur, heavy naphtha, C5+, ethylene tar, and MTBE. The product production process involves using 2.6 million tons per year of coal-based olefins as the foundation. It is supplemented annually with green hydrogen and green oxygen, which are provided by a separately constructed integrated demonstration project for hydrogen production from wind and solar energy. The additional hydrogen is directly fed into the methanol synthesis unit, thereby reducing the load on the conversion and heat recovery units – conversion being the process in which CO reacts with H2O to produce H2 and CO2, so as to achieve the desired H2/CO ratio for the subsequent methanol synthesis reaction – and this in turn helps to reduce CO2 emissions from the process system ； The additional oxygen is used as oxygen for gasification, reducing the load on the air separation unit and thereby decreasing the amount of coal fuel required. With the coal consumption remaining unchanged, the production of domestically produced methanol is increased by adding hydrogen and oxygen year by year; by the fifth year of hydrogen addition, the output of such methanol is sufficient to meet the demands of downstream methanol-to-olefins processes, while simultaneously achieving a year-by-year reduction in CO2 emissions.