Wanhua Chemical further expands its polyether project by 277,000 tons

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On May 8, Wanhua Chemical’s official website published the draft environmental impact assessment reports for Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.’s polyether polyol capacity expansion (Phase I) project and Wanhua Chemical (Penglai) Co., Ltd.’s differentiated polyether project, seeking public comments. Among them, the polyether polyol capacity expansion (Phase I) project is located in Yantai Chemical Industry Park. The project aims to expand the capacity of the existing Polyether Unit No. 2. The total capacity increase is 262,000 tons per year. Following the expansion, the production capacities will be 400,000 tons per year of vinyl polyether polyol (POP), 300,000 tons per year of dimetal catalyst polypropylene oxide polyether polyol (DMC), and 100,000 tons per year of polypropylene glycol (PPG230). In addition, certain differentiated polyether production lines are being modified, including the introduction of a new POC catalyst to replace part of the KOH catalyst. The main processing route for the expanded-production POP polyether involves using styrene and acrylonitrile as polymerization monomers. Through free-radical polymerization, crude POP polyether is produced; this is then refined and devolatilized to obtain the final product ； DMC polyethers belong to the category of soft foam polyethers. The production process starts with low-molecular-weight polyethers or low-molecular-weight alcohols as starting materials, with propylene oxide (PO) and ethylene oxide (EO) serving as polymerization monomers. Polymerization takes place under the action of the catalyst DMC, and subsequent treatment via degassing is carried out to obtain the final product. The Differentiated Polyether Project is located in the Penglai Chemical Industry Park in Yantai, Shandong Province. It involves the expansion and renovation of the existing ethoxylation product (EOD) facility at the Wanhua Penglai Industrial Park, with the addition of a new production line capable of producing 15,000 tons per year of epoxidized soybean oil polyether ； And the production mode of the EOD unit in the newly built 280,000 tons/year polyether-based water reducer production line (including 180,000 tons/year of polyether-based water reducers and 100,000 tons/year of PEG products) was changed from batch to continuous ； At the same time, corresponding modifications are made to other supporting public and auxiliary facilities.