【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】1721–2011: China’s first industrial plant for producing ethylenediamine through the hydroamination of ethanolamine using hydrogen was put into operation

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Happy May Day 2024! Safety first – let’s give praise and support to the achievements in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. **********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Ongoing updates and summaries available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Forum Website) ***************** China’s first industrial plant for producing ethylenediamine via the hydroamination of monoethanolamine has been put into operation. October 21, 2011 – According to a report from CGTN Dalian, China’s first industrial facility for producing ethylenediamine using the MEA method, which relies on the patented technologies developed by the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (including catalysts and process technology software packages), was successfully commissioned recently at Shandong Lianmeng Chemical Co., Ltd. The quality of the produced ethylenediamine meets international top-grade standards, with a purity of 99.9%. This successful drive marks that our country has fully mastered the advanced and clean international MEA method for producing ethylenediamine, thereby breaking the technical monopoly held by foreign companies in this field. The plant is designed with an annual production capacity of 10,000 tons of ethylenediamine. Shandong Lianmeng Chemical Co., Ltd. will build an industrial production facility with an annual capacity of 50,000 tons on this basis. 　　Ethylene diamine series products, especially their key product ethylenediamine, are primarily used in the production of pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and various chemical additives, with an annual global consumption of around 400,000 tons. China’s consumption of ethylenediamine is growing rapidly at an annual rate of 15-20%. Currently, the annual consumption in China is around 70,000 tons. Apart from a small amount (approximately 1,000 tons per year) produced from dichloroethane as a raw material, the rest is entirely imported from abroad. 　　The existing production processes for ethylenediamine include the dichloroethane (EDC) method and theMEA method. At present, many enterprises in China that produce ethylenediamine-based products use the EDC method. This approach is energy-intensive, causes significant pollution, leads to severe corrosion, and makes large-scale production difficult; as a result, the production scale is generally very small, with an overall production capacity of less than 1,000 tons per year, and the production technology is outdated. The MEA method is a clean green production technology for ethylenediamine; compared to the EDC method, it not only causes less pollution but also has **reduced energy consumption. Chinese enterprises have always had a strong demand for this technology, but the core technology of the MEA method has for a long time been held in monopoly by a few foreign companies, which refuse to transfer it to other firms. 　　In recent years, with the construction of production facilities in China for the ammoxidation of ethylene oxide to produce monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, and triethanolamine, the domestic supply of monoethanolamine has increased significantly, providing a reliable raw material source for the production of ethylenediamine using the MEA method. Seizing the favorable opportunity, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, began developing this technology in 2008. By 2009, catalyst screening was completed, followed by scale-up tests using a single-tube trickle-bed reactor as well as side-stream scale-up experiments. Its catalyst patent technology passed the technical appraisal organized by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology and the Shenyang Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in March 2010. On this basis, the process software package for the production of ethylenediamine via theMEA method was completed in May 2010. China’s first industrial plant for producing ethylenediamine using this technology completed the preliminary design in August 2010, and the construction of the plant was finished in June 2011. This technology uses ethanolamine and ammonia as raw materials to produce ethylenediamine, and it possesses certain technical advantages over existing foreign technologies; it enables high product selectivity under milder process conditions, while also producing diethylenetriamine and piperazine, which are in great demand in China, making it suitable for adoption in the domestic market. Meanwhile, unlike the benzene (a highly toxic chemical) commonly used as a dehydrating agent in international MEA processes, the technology developed by Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics employs a non-benzene dehydrating agent; therefore, this technology is more environmentally friendly and cleaner. In addition, the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics will leverage the technical advantages of a comprehensive research institute to develop new technologies for producing ethylenediamine using the MEA process that are more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient. 　　The successful development of a green synthesis technology for ethylenediamine, which possesses independent intellectual property rights in our country, has significantly alleviated the supply and demand imbalance for important chemical raw materials such as ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine, and piperazine. It has filled a technical gap in the domestic market, and will generate considerable economic benefits for enterprises as well as significant social benefits. It will also make an important contribution to accelerating the transformation of China’s economic growth model, promoting the optimization and upgrading of its industrial structure, fostering strategic emerging industries, and pursuing a path of innovation-driven and endogenous growth.