Environmental impact assessment for Beikong’s 4 billion cubic meters of coal-to-natural gas project underway

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Environmental impact assessment for Beikong’s 4 billion cubic meters/year coal-to-natural gas project underway / Author/Source: Date: 2016-03-30 Clicks: 2 On March 28, 2016, the **Ministry of Environmental Protection announced the results of the environmental impact assessment for Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from coal. The public notice period is from March 28, 2016, to April 1, 2016 (5 working days). In May 2015, the **Ministry of Environmental Protection officially began to handle the environmental impact assessment for the 4 billion Nm3/a coal-to-natural gas project developed by Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd. Project Name: 4 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project by Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd.
Location of Construction: Dalu Industrial Park, Zhungeer Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Constructor: Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd.
Environmental Assessment Agencies: China Tianchen Engineering Co., Ltd., Beijing Feiyan Petrochemical Environmental Protection Technology Development Co., Ltd.
Project Overview: The project utilizes local coal resources and employs coal gasification under pressure as well as pulverized coal gasification technologies to produce 4 billion standard cubic meters per year of synthetic natural gas. The construction contents mainly include: (1) Main project: 1 fixed-bed coal gasification under pressure production line, including units for coal gasification, phenol-ammonia recovery, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, and methanation ； 3 fluidized bed coal gasification production lines, including units for coal gasification, shift reaction, low-temperature methanol washing, and methanation ； Air separation, coal preparation, sulfur recovery units, etc. (2) Auxiliary facilities: boiler rooms, storage and transportation systems, coal yards and coal warehouses, desalination stations, etc. (3) Environmental protection projects: sewage treatment, recycled water treatment, brine treatment, evaporation crystallization units, flare systems, hazardous waste temporary storage areas, etc. The total investment in the project is 28.366 billion yuan, of which 3.381 billion yuan is allocated to environmental protection measures, accounting for 11.92% of the total investment. Main environmental impacts and mitigation measures: (1) Atmosphere: The exhaust gas from the low-temperature methanol scrubber for coal dust is washed with deionized water to recover methanol before being discharged. The exhaust gas from the low-temperature methanol washing tower for coal crushing is treated using an RTO regenerative thermal oxidizer before being discharged. The sulfur recovery unit employs a two-stage Claus + Consoff flue gas treatment process, with the flue gas being discharged after combustion and washing. The flue gas from the boiler is treated through ammonia-based desulfurization, low-nitrogen combustion combined with SCR denitrification, and electro-bag composite dust removal. The exhaust gas from the biological treatment unit of the wastewater treatment plant is collected in a sealed manner and then sent to a biological deodorization device for treatment. Under abnormal operating conditions such as startup and shutdown of the unit, the waste gas is sent to a flare for combustion; in case of accidents, the acidic gases emitted are directed to an acidic gas flare. (2) Surface water: The wastewater treatment plant uses phenol-amine recovery for pre-treatment of the wastewater, followed by biochemical treatment and advanced treatment, before all the treated water is reused without being discharged. High-concentration brine is concentrated through four-effect evaporation crystallization to purify it, resulting in crystalline salts such as sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. Under abnormal operating conditions, the wastewater is temporarily stored in a 600,000 cubic meter production wastewater buffer tank or a 60,000 cubic meter brine buffer tank. When the water level in the wastewater buffer tank reaches 95%, comprehensive measures are taken to handle the collection and treatment of abnormal wastewater through adjustments to the overall plant load or even by shutting down the plant. One 60,000-cubic-meter brine buffer tank and one 600,000-cubic-meter wastewater holding tank are installed to store wastewater during abnormal operating conditions. Take on the environmental protection demonstration task of multi-effect evaporation crystallization for salt separation from high-concentration brine. (3) Groundwater: In accordance with the requirements of the \"Technical Specifications for Anti-seepage Engineering in Petrochemical Industries\", zone-based anti-seepage measures shall be implemented ； 19 groundwater monitoring wells were installed for long-term observation of groundwater levels. (4) Solid waste: General solid wastes such as gasification ash and boiler ash are sent to landfills for disposal or utilized in various ways ； Biochemical sludge is sent to the hazardous waste disposal center for treatment, while waste catalysts and similar materials are recycled by the manufacturers. If salt separation technology is not successful, the resulting crystalline impure salts are sent to the park’s hazardous waste disposal center for disposal. (5) Environmental risks: Establish three-level prevention and control measures for environmental risk incidents, and formulate emergency response plans for sudden environmental events. Public participation was facilitated through methods such as online announcements, newspaper publications, posted notices, holding symposiums, and distributing questionnaires, with the full report made publicly available. 15 group questionnaires and 550 individual questionnaires were distributed, with all members of the public and organizations supporting the construction of the project. Opinions from relevant departments: (1) The General Office of the Development and Reform Commission approved, via Document No. Fagai Ban Nengyuan [2013] 664, the initiation of preliminary work on this project. (2) The Ministry of Water Resources approved the soil and water conservation plan for this project via the document No. Shui Bao Han [2014] 357. (3) The Management Committee of Dalu Industrial Park proposed plans for reducing certain pollutants in the park area through documents No. E-Daguanfa [2014] 37 and No. E-Daguanfa [2015] 18. (4) The Management Committee of Dalu Industrial Park in Ordos City issued a statement regarding the priority promotion of coal chemical pilot and demonstration projects such as Beikong’s coal-to-gas project. (5) The Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in Document No. Nei Fa Gai Neng Yuan Han [2016] No. 132, elaborated on the relevant arrangements regarding the allocation of coal resources for this project. Project Overview: The 4 billion Nm3/year coal-to-natural gas project developed by Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd. began its preliminary work in 2012. On March 15, 2013, the General Office of the National Development and Reform Commission issued the \"Reply on Approving the Preliminary Work for the Demonstration Project on the Clean and Efficient Comprehensive Utilization of Coal in Zhungeer Banner, Inner Mongolia\" (Document No. NRGY-664). The environmental impact assessment report for this project indicates that the 4 billion Nm3/year coal-to-natural gas project operated by Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd. is located in the western section of the South Industrial Zone in Dali Industrial Park, Zhungeer Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, covering an area of 262.17 hectares. This project is a large-scale coal chemical complex funded by Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd. at an investment of 282,559.443 million yuan. It uses local coal from Ordos as raw material and employs a gasification technology that combines pulverized coal pressurized gasification with crushed coal pressurized gasification. The syngas undergoes transformation and purification processes to achieve the desired hydrogen-to-carbon ratio for synthetic methane; after that, it goes through methanation, initial compression, and dehydration before being sent via natural gas transmission pipelines to end-users. The project has an annual production capacity of 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which is primarily supplied to cities in Beijing and its surrounding areas, while also contributing to the replacement of traditional energy sources with clean energy in Zhenggeer Banner. Process plan: Schematic diagram of the main process flow: http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20160330/92220337401.jpg Process technology plan: Gasification. This project is a typical large-scale coal chemical project. Based on the analysis of local raw coal samples provided by the owner, since the ash fusion temperature FT is greater than 1470°C, gasification technologies that involve solid slag discharge, such as crushed coal pressurized fixed-bed gasification, are suitable for this application. However, pressurized gasification of pulverized coal cannot handle the large amounts of pulverized coal generated during coal mining and transportation. Through coal blending experiments on such pulverized coal, experiments to reduce the ash melting point by adding fluxes, as well as measurements of their viscosity-temperature curves, it was shown that using pressurized gasification of dry pulverized coal is economically viable when coal is blended or an appropriate amount of flux is added. Therefore, pressurized gasification of dry pulverized coal has become the best technical option for dealing with this type of pulverized coal. This project adopts a combined approach of pressurized coal gasification and pressurized dry coal gasification. The fluidized bed dry coal pressurized gasification technology with a daily coal input of 4.1 MPa and over 2000 tons, as well as the crushed coal pressurized gasification technology with a daily coal input of 1750 tons. The pulverized coal gasification plant includes: coal powder preparation, gasification framework, slag water treatment, vacuum filter building, etc. There are a total of 10 units, with each gasification furnace receiving around 2000 tons of coal per day; each furnace generates 283,630.13 Nm3/h of raw gas (on a wet basis). The coal pulverization gasification island includes: coal pulverization gasification, coal pulverization shift reaction, gas-water separation, phenol and ammonia recovery, etc. 7 in operation and 1 in standby; the coal feeding rate per gasifier is ~1750 t/d, and the raw gas production rate of each gasifier is 166475.69 Nm3/h (on a wet basis). Methane-water separation and phenol-amine recovery employ mature and reliable process technologies. Phenol-amine recovery: Series 1, water treatment capacity 450 t/h. Product plan: http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20160330/92443384435.jpg http://www.nmtech.com.cn/sys/sec_zxwz.jpg