Environmental impact assessment application accepted for Luxi Chemical’s green, low-carbon high-end chemicals project (100,000 tons/year powder coating additives project)

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Recently, the Liaocheng Ecology and Environment Bureau in Shandong Province issued a public notice regarding the acceptance of the environmental impact assessment report for the green, low-carbon high-end chemicals project of Luxi Chemical Group Co., Ltd. (a 100,000-ton/year powder coating additive production project), marking an acceleration in the progress of this project. The total investment for the green and low-carbon high-end chemicals project is 1,500 million yuan. Of this amount, 409.9983 million yuan is allocated to the project for producing 100,000 tons per year of powder coating additives; this is an expansion project. The construction site is located within the Liaocheng Chemical Industry Park in the Liaocheng High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Shandong Province, covering an area of 17,200 square meters. The Powder Coating Additives (Phase I) project includes one set of peroxide glycol production facility with an annual capacity of 40,000 tons, along with a supporting formaldehyde production facility with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons. The production of powder coating additives (neopentyl glycol) employs a dehydration-reduction process. The raw materials are isobutyraldehyde and formaldehyde; under the action of a catalyst (trimethylamine), a dehydration reaction takes place to produce hydroxyvaleraldehyde, which is then converted into neopentyl glycol through a hydrogenation-reduction reaction. The production of formaldehyde employs an iron-molybdenum catalytic oxidation process. Methanol is used as the raw material, with iron-molybdenum (Fe2O3-MoO) serving as the catalyst. Methanol gas is mixed directly with air to undergo an oxidation reaction that produces formaldehyde; meanwhile, steam is generated as a by-product of the reaction heat. It is understood that the raw materials for producing neopentyl glycol are isobutyraldehyde (dimethylacetaldehyde), 37% formaldehyde, and hydrogen; the condensation catalyst is trimethylamine. Isobutyraldehyde can be produced by Liaocheng Luxi Polyol New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. itself. The polyol plant of this company has an isobutyraldehyde production capacity of 99,400 tons per year, of which 30,000 tons are used by the first-phase powder coating additive plant. The powder coating additive to be produced under this project consists of neopentyl glycol, also known as dimethylpropaneglycol, which is an important organic intermediate. Neopentyl glycol is available in both solid and liquid forms. The aforementioned project only produces liquid products at a 90% concentration. The liquid product is a colorless and transparent liquid; it is obtained by extracting it from a distillation tower, mixing it with deionized water, and then transporting it directly to storage tanks for aqueous solutions before being sold.