Environmental Impact Assessment Public Notice for the Project to Produce 73,000 tons of Fine Chemicals per year at Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd

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Recently, a research team specializing in the global chemical industry learned from relevant websites that the environmental impact assessment process for Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 73,000 tons of fine chemicals per year has begun. The public disclosure period for this assessment is from January 9 to January 22, 2026, which is 10 working days. Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wuhan Organic Industry Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 100 million yuan. Its main business activities include the production of basic chemical raw materials, the manufacture of daily-use chemical products, as well as the research, development, and application of new materials. In the public information, the project owner, Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd., stated that over the past decade or so, China has attached great importance to the development of the fine chemicals industry, regarding it as one of the strategic priorities for the growth of the chemical industry and including it in various development plans, providing support in terms of policies and funding. Currently, the number of sub-categories in the fine chemicals sector is increasing day by day, with its production capacity, output, variety of products, and number of manufacturers continuing to grow. However, compared with developed countries with a longer history in the chemical industry, the overall technical level of China’s fine chemical products remains low. There is still a certain gap between the core technologies in the fine chemicals industry and international advanced levels, and high-performance, functionalized, and high-value-added fine chemicals rely to some extent on imports. Compared to the level of over 60% in developed countries in terms of the proportion of fine chemicals, China’s fine chemicals industry has significant room for improvement. Against this backdrop, Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd. has invested 200 million yuan to build a \"70,000-ton production facility for benzylamine, benzyltoluene, and benzyl acetate\" in the Jianghan Salt Chemical Industry Park in Qianjiang City. This initiative aims to extend the downstream chlor-alkali industry chain of the existing Sinopec Salt Chemical Complex, improve the product portfolio of the park, and optimize the layout of the regional industry chain. The project can produce 30,000 tons per year of benzylamine (18,000 tons per year of benzylamine and 12,000 tons per year of dibenzylamine), 20,000 tons per year of benzyltoluene (13,400 tons per year of monobenzyltoluene and 6,600 tons per year of dibenzyltoluene), and 20,000 tons per year of benzyl acetate. The project was approved by the Qianjiang City Ecology and Environment Bureau in November 2023. At present, this project is being constructed in two phases. Phase 1 focuses on the production of 10,000 tons of benzylamine (6,000 tons per year of benzylamine and 4,000 tons per year of dibenzylamine), 20,000 tons of benzyltoluene (13,400 tons per year of monobenzyltoluene and 6,600 tons per year of dibenzyltoluene), and 10,000 tons of benzyl acetate. The environmental compliance inspection for Phase 1 was completed in October 2025. The second phase of the project mainly involves the construction of a production capacity of 20,000 tons of benzylamine (of which 12,000 tons per year will be benzylamine and 8,000 tons per year will be dibenzylamine), as well as 10,000 tons of benzyl acetate; construction of this phase has not yet begun. In order to enhance the overall strength of its manufacturing facility and increase the company’s profitability, Hubei Xinxuanhong New Materials Co., Ltd. plans to invest 200 million yuan to utilize the existing reserved areas within the factory to build a production facility with an annual capacity of 73,000 tons of fine chemicals. This facility will primarily produce organic chemical intermediates and high-end materials such as methyl benzoate, benzyl benzoate, zinc tannate, cashew phenol, and friction resins. The products of this project meet the overall goal of developing high-end fine chemicals and increasing the added value of these products. They can help foster the development of a cluster industry in the field of fine chemicals within the park, attract other enterprises specializing in such new materials, and thereby promote economic transformation and high-quality development in the park. This contributes to the creation of a green and intelligent specialized chemical park in Qianjiang. This project was registered as a fixed-asset investment project with the Qianjiang City Development and Reform Commission in 2025. The proposed facility will make use of the available space within the existing factory complex to build two industrial buildings for the production of products such as methyl benzoate, benzyl benzoate, zinc tannate, cashew phenol, and friction resins. At the same time, the existing tank areas, heat transfer oil furnace rooms, and other auxiliary facilities within the plant will be adapted for use in this project. Once completed, it will be able to produce 30,000 tons of m-isobenzoic acid per year, 20,000 tons of cashew phenol, 10,000 tons of friction resin, 3,000 tons of zinc tannate, and 10,000 tons of benzyl benzoate per year. In addition, the m-methylbenzoic acid plant will also produce 1,500 tons of m-methylbenzaldehyde as a by-product each year. The main use of m-methylbenzoic acid as background information is as an intermediate in the fine chemical industry, used to produce high-effective mosquito repellents, N,N-diethyl m-toluidamide, m-toluyl chloride, m-tolunitrile, and other fine chemical products. It can also be used as an intermediate for the drug tolyldiethylamine. It can also be used in the production of agrochemical products such as fungicides and insecticides.