The Ministry of Environmental Protection approved the environmental impact assessment for the completion of the Shenhua coal-to-oil project (Phase I)

Thread Content

This post was last edited by yinkuilin6868 on 2015-12-17 at 15:30. China Shenhua Coal-to-Oil Chemical Co., Ltd.: The letter titled “Request for Environmental Impact Assessment upon Completion of the Preliminary Phase of the First Phase of the Coal Direct Liquefaction Project” (Zhongyouhua Han [2015] No. 8), along with the attached “Environmental Impact Assessment Report on the Completion of the Preliminary Phase of the First Phase of Shenhua Coal Direct Liquefaction Project by Shenhua Group Co., Ltd.” (Zongzhan Huanjian Zi [2014] No. 20) (hereinafter referred to as the “Impact Assessment Report”), and the “Acceptance Investigation Report on Water Supply Pipelines, Drainage Pipelines, and Oil Transport Pipelines” (hereinafter referred to as the “Acceptance Investigation Report”), have been received. Our department stated in Circular No. [2014]5 issued in January 2014 that the project had issues such as the failure to ensure no wastewater was discharged, the unauthorized sale of sludge and residue, the lack of effective measures to prevent a drop in the groundwater level at the Haolebaoji water source, and irregular construction of the catalyst landfill. Subsequently, your company took action to address the aforementioned issues. On September 24-25, 2015, the North China Environmental Protection Inspection Center of our department conducted an on-site re-inspection of this project. After investigation, the following acceptance opinions are put forward: 1. Basic information on the project construction The project is located in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In May 2002, the former **Environmental Protection Administration approved the environmental impact assessment report for this project via document No. Huan Shen [2002] 128. In March 2005, the same authority approved the change report for the project via document No. Huan Shen [2005] 264; the coal liquefaction technology was changed from that provided by American Hydrocarbon Technologies to the Shenhua direct coal liquefaction technology. The project involved the construction of three direct coal liquefaction production lines, with an oil production capacity of 3.24 million tons per year. In February 2010, our department issued Document No. [2010]5 of the Environmental Review and Approval Office, approving the addition of a synthetic oil production facility with an annual capacity of 180,000 tons to the existing first production line for use in this project ； Based on the actual operation of the first production line, the second and third production lines were optimized. The scope of this acceptance includes the first production line and its supporting facilities. The construction involves a coal direct liquefaction plant with an annual capacity of 1.08 million tons, as well as various utility and auxiliary facilities such as a captive power plant, sewage treatment plant, evaporation ponds, and water supply pipelines. The additional 180,000 tons per year synthetic oil product plant has remained shut down since its commissioning and is not included in the scope of this acceptance. The total investment in the project is 14.73 billion yuan, of which 2.26 billion yuan is allocated to environmental protection measures. Construction of the project began in August 2004, and it was approved for trial production in June 2009 with the consent of the Environmental Protection Department of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Document No. Neihuan [2009] 76). During the acceptance monitoring period, the production load reached over 75% of the design load, and the environmental protection facilities installed as part of the facility have been put into use simultaneously. The following changes occurred during the implementation of the project: (1) The reformation-extraction unit and the isomerization unit were not constructed. (II) For sulfur-containing wastewater treatment, one additional acidic water stripping unit with a capacity of 744,000 tons per year will be installed (one in use and one as backup); for catalyst wastewater, another wastewater stripping unit with a capacity of 744,000 tons per year will be added. The high-concentration wastewater treatment system will be equipped with advanced oxidation pretreatment units and ozone oxidation treatment units. Additionally, a wastewater deep treatment system with a capacity of 400 cubic meters per hour will be established. (III) The volume of the evaporation ponds was increased from 700,000 cubic meters to 900,000 cubic meters. The above changes were not preceded by the necessary environmental protection procedures. II. Implementation of environmental protection measures and environmental risk prevention measures (1) Pollution control measures: The waste water treatment measures comply with the requirements of separating clean water from polluted water, treating different types of pollutants separately, and making multiple uses of water. The high-concentration wastewater generated by units such as coal liquefaction, hydrodesulfurization, and hydroprocessing is sent to a high-concentration wastewater treatment system for treatment after desulfurization and phenol-ammonia recovery ； Oil-containing wastewater, domestic wastewater, etc. are mixed with the treated high-concentration wastewater and then sent to the low-concentration wastewater treatment system for processing. The wastewater after treatment undergoes further treatment in a advanced wastewater treatment system before being reused, without being discharged outside ； Saline wastewater such as circulating cooling water drainage is sent to a saline wastewater treatment system for processing; the treated water is reused. Concentrated wastewater, including that from power plants, undergoes evaporation concentration before being discharged into evaporation ponds for natural evaporation ； Catalyst wastewater is treated by evaporation crystallization to produce solid sulfuric acid anhydride. Later, rainwater is discharged through the clean wastewater outlet, which is equipped with automatic monitoring facilities. The dust-containing exhaust gas from processes such as coal preparation and catalyst production is discharged into the atmosphere after being filtered by bag filters ； The gas boilers in the heating furnaces and sewage treatment plants use purified dry gas as fuel, with the flue gases being discharged at high altitudes through exhaust stacks ； Gases containing sulfuric acid are sent to a sulfur recovery unit for treatment; the exhaust gases from sulfur recovery are subjected to hydrogenation-reduction absorption and incineration before being emitted through an 80-meter-high chimney ； The exhaust gas from the putty residue shaping process is purified by an electrostatic precipitator before being discharged through a 30-meter-high exhaust stack ； The flue gas from the thermal power plant boiler is denitrified using SNCR, cleaned by electrostatic bag filters, and desulfurized using the ammonia method, before being emitted through an 180-meter-high chimney. A 15-meter-high wind and dust suppression net has been installed at the coal storage area. Uncontrolled odors from the wastewater treatment station are collected in a sealed system and then treated using biological deodorization devices before being released. Uncontrolled exhaust gases generated during oil loading are treated by oil vapor recovery systems before being released. The flue gas emission system of the thermal power plant’s boiler is equipped with online flue gas monitoring facilities, which are connected to the local environmental protection authorities. General industrial solid wastes such as boiler ash and slag, as well as gasification slag, are deposited at the ash storage site of the Shangwan Power Plant owned by Shenhua Shendong Power Co., Ltd. The sludge from wastewater treatment is sent to Shaanxi Xintiandi Comprehensive Solid Waste Disposal Co., Ltd., which is qualified for such handling; the spent catalysts are recovered by the manufacturer, while spent molecular sieves, salt sludge, and similar materials are stored temporarily at a hazardous waste storage site. Part of the putty residue is sent to a self-owned thermal power plant for co-firing, while the remainder is utilized for comprehensive processing by qualified entities such as Shenhua Zhungeer Energy’s gangue power generation company, Shenhua Yili Energy Co., Ltd.’s power plant, Wuhai Coal Coking Changda Sales Co., Ltd., and Ordos Huijinda Clean Solvents Co., Ltd. The project uses low-noise equipment, and noise reduction measures such as sound insulation, noise suppression, and base vibration damping are applied to the main noisy devices. (II) Ecological protection measures: The water supply, drainage pipelines, and oil transmission pipelines do not pass through environmentally sensitive areas such as nature reserves, scenic spots, or drinking water source protection zones. During construction, the scope of work is strictly restricted; after construction is completed, the construction area and temporarily occupied land are leveled, and measures such as using grass grids to prevent soil erosion and manually seeding grasses are taken to restore vegetation. Remote sensing monitoring of vegetation cover in water source areas and monitoring of groundwater level dynamics were carried out, and water source substitution projects were implemented. Production water is primarily supplied by water drained from coal mines, while groundwater is mainly used for domestic purposes; the extraction volume is approximately 5,000 cubic meters per day. (III) Environmental risk prevention: Mandatory evaporation measures have been taken to reduce the amount of wastewater in the evaporation ponds; currently, the wastewater in the 100,000 cubic meter evaporation ponds has been largely removed. An emergency response plan for potential dam failures in these ponds has been developed, along with the necessary emergency supplies. The impermeabilization of the entire plant’s impermeable areas was carried out by applying a cement-based penetrating crystalline impermeabilizing coating. Flammable gas and toxic/hazardous gas monitoring and alarm devices have been installed in the production unit area and tank farm. Ring ditches are installed in the equipment area, while cofferdams and fire dikes are set up in the tank area ； Switching valves have been installed between the rainwater drainage system and the wastewater treatment system, and 2 emergency ponds with a capacity of 6,500 cubic meters each have been built. An emergency response plan for sudden environmental incidents was formulated and submitted to the Ordos Environmental Protection Bureau for record-keeping, with regular emergency drills conducted. The relocation of Majiata Village within an 800-meter protection zone has been completed. III. Performance of environmental protection facilities and the impact of project construction on the environment. The \"Acceptance Monitoring Report\" prepared by the China National Environmental Monitoring Center and the \"Acceptance Investigation Report\" prepared by Inner Mongolia Huanke Yuan Technology Co., Ltd. indicate that: (i) Wastewater and water environment – The chemical oxygen demand, sulfide, and volatile phenol concentrations in the wastewater after advanced treatment are below the detection limits (5 mg/L, 0.005 mg/L, and 0.0003 mg/L), respectively. The maximum daily averages for ammonia nitrogen, **, petroleum compounds, benzene, and toluene are 1.5 mg/L, 0.004 mg/L, 0.15 mg/L, 0.77 micrograms/L, and 0.87 micrograms/L, respectively. Among these, the chemical oxygen demand and petroleum compound levels meet the standards for recycled water use by enterprises. The monitoring values of parameters such as groundwater pH, total hardness, ammonia nitrogen, permanganate index, **, volatile phenols, arsenic, mercury, and lead in the area surrounding the factory and along the drainage pipelines meet the limit requirements of Class III as specified in the \"Groundwater Quality Standards\" (GB/T14848-93). (II) Waste gases and atmospheric environment: The emission concentrations of sulfur dioxide and dust in the flue gases generated during coal preparation and catalyst drying, as well as those from heating furnaces, meet the requirements of the second-level standards for new pollution sources set out in the \"Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Industrial Furnaces\" (GB9078—1996) ； The emission concentrations and rates of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrogen sulfide in the flue gas from the sulfur recovery unit, as well as those of sulfur dioxide, total non-methane hydrocarbons, and hydrogen sulfide in the exhaust gas from the oil sludge shaping unit, meet the relevant emission limit requirements specified in the \"Integrated Emission Standards for Air Pollutants\" (GB16297-1996) and the \"Emission Standards for Odorous Pollutants\" (GB14554-93) ； The concentrations of dust, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides in the flue gases emitted by gas boilers meet the relevant emission limit requirements specified in the \"Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Boilers\" (GB13271-2001) ； The concentrations of dust, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides in the flue gas emitted from the thermal power plant boilers, as well as the smoke density, meet the relevant emission limit requirements specified in the \"Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Thermal Power Plants\" (GB13223-2011). The concentrations of particulate matter, total hydrocarbons other than methane, benzo[a]pyrene, and ammonia emitted without organization from the factory boundary meet the relevant emission limit requirements specified in the \"Integrated Emission Standards for Air Pollutants\" (GB16297-1996) and the \"Emission Standards for Odorous Pollutants\" (GB14554-93). The daily average concentrations of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and benzo[a]pyrene at the environmentally sensitive sites near the factory meet the requirements of the Secondary Standard specified in the \"Environmental Air Quality Standards\" (GB3095-1996). (III) Ecological environment: A sink funnel has formed in the confined groundwater of the water source areas, and the rate of decline in water levels is slowing down. Groundwater extraction from the water source areas leads to a decrease in vegetation coverage in those regions, which has an impact on plant growth there. The area covered by vegetation with low coverage is showing a slow increase, while the area covered by vegetation with medium and high coverage is showing a slow decrease. The ecological environment along the water supply and drainage pipelines as well as the oil pipeline corridors remains essentially unchanged. (IV) Noise: The monitored levels of noise at the factory boundary during daytime and nighttime meet the limit requirements of Category 3 as specified in the \"Standards for Emission of Environmental Noise at the Boundaries of Industrial Enterprises\" (GB12348-2008). (V) Total pollutant emissions: The annual emissions of the main pollutants generated by this project are 809 tons of soot and 3,288 tons of sulfur dioxide, which meet the requirements set by the local environmental protection authorities regarding total pollutant emission controls. IV. Acceptance Conclusion and Follow-up Requirements: During the implementation of this project, the corresponding environmental protection facilities were constructed in accordance with the requirements outlined in the environmental impact assessment documents and approvals, and appropriate environmental protection measures were put into place. As the acceptance test was successful, it is approved that the main part of the project be put into operation officially. After the project is put into official operation, the following tasks should be carried out: strengthen the operational management of wastewater treatment facilities, strictly prohibit the discharge of production wastewater into evaporation ponds, accelerate the anti-seepage renovation of ash storage areas – these areas must not be put into use until the renovation is completed – and ensure the regular maintenance and management of environmental protection facilities to guarantee that all pollutants are discharged at levels that meet regulatory standards on a sustained basis ； Strengthen environmental risk prevention and control measures, establish joint prevention and response mechanisms with local regulatory authorities, and enhance the ability to handle sudden environmental pollution incidents ； Conduct regular monitoring of environmental quality and ecology, such as the air quality in the factory area and around the evaporation ponds, as well as groundwater and soil conditions; an environmental impact post-evaluation shall be carried out three years after the project goes into formal operation. The Inner Mongolia Department of Environmental Protection and the Ordos Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau are requested to carry out routine environmental supervision during the operation period of this project. Ministry of Environmental Protection, December 10, 2015