Progress on the construction of the 2.6 million tons per year coal-to-olefins project in Inner Mongolia Baofeng

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Progress on the Construction of the 2.6 million tons/year coal-to-olefins project in Inner Mongolia Baofeng / Author/Source: Huahua Network Coal Chemicals / Date: April 17, 2023 / Clicks: 7 On April 14, the gasification unit of the 2.6 million tons/year coal-to-olefins project in Inner Mongolia Baofeng, constructed by the Sixth Branch of China National Chemical Engineering Corporation Sixth Construction Co., Ltd., saw the successful pouring of its first super-large volume concrete raft slab. The project is located in the Tuk Industrial Park in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, with a total investment of around 47.8 billion yuan. It employs a production process that combines green hydrogen with modern coal chemical technologies. Once completed, it will become the world’s only facility that uses green hydrogen on a large scale to replace fossil fuels in the production of high-end chemical products. The sixth branch of Sinochem Sixth Construction Company was responsible for the civil engineering and installation work for 11 gasification units in this project. 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 is 34,732 million yuan (these figures are based on normal operating conditions).
Operating hours per year: 8,000 hours
Scale of construction: The project will mainly 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 systems); 3×500,000 tons/year polypropylene production units; 3×550,000 tons/year polyethylene production units; a 200,000 tons/year C4-based 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 basis for production. It is supplemented annually with green hydrogen and green oxygen, which are provided by a separate 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. This approach helps to reduce the 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. While keeping the raw coal consumption constant, 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 domestically produced methanol is sufficient to meet the demand for methanol in olefin production, while simultaneously achieving a year-by-year reduction in CO2 emissions. Construction contents: The project includes a total of 12 sets of production units, such as an air separation unit, a gasification unit, shift and heat recovery units, a low-temperature methanol washing unit, a sulfur recovery unit, a methanol synthesis unit, a DMTO unit, an olefin separation unit, an SCU unit, a C4 unit for producing 1-butene, a polyethylene unit, and a polypropylene unit ； Utility systems include power stations, water supply and drainage systems, sewage treatment plants, reclaimed water facilities, main substations, and power distribution systems ； Auxiliary production facilities include the central control room, central laboratory, heat exchange station, flare system, hazardous chemicals storage area, hazardous waste temporary storage area, plant fire protection system, and comprehensive office building ； The storage and transportation system includes the coal transportation and storage system as well as tank farms, etc. The disposal of general solid waste is carried out through the General Industrial Solid Waste Disposal and Resource Recovery Storage Site project in the Sulihe Economic Development Zone (referred to as the industrial zone waste dump), while hazardous solid waste is sent to qualified entities for disposal.