The Ministry of Environmental Protection has officially approved the environmental impact assessment document for the joint venture between China Power Investment and Total to produce 800,000 tons of coal-based polyolefins per year

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On July 12, 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced that it had officially approved the environmental impact assessment documents for the joint venture project between China Power Investment and Total, which aims to produce 800,000 tons of coal-based polyolefins per year. The project is located in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The constructor is China Power Investment Mengxi Energy Co., Ltd., while the environmental impact assessment agency is China Wuhuan Engineering Co., Ltd. Project Background: China Power Investment Corporation (hereinafter referred to as CPIC) and Total Group (hereinafter referred to as Total) have been engaging in cooperation and exchanges on coal-based polyolefin projects since early 2009. Total is very optimistic about the prospects for the development of coal chemical industry in China, and recognizes the resources, capabilities, and future growth potential of China Power Investment ； China Power Investment recognizes Total’s extensive expertise in polyolefin production as well as its experience in international markets. On the basis of reaching a consensus, the two parties have joined forces to complement each other’s strengths; they are willing to invest jointly in the development of coal chemical projects. Adhering to the principle of sustainable development, they will employ advanced manufacturing technologies, efficient water-saving measures, and reliable environmental protection techniques to jointly build large-scale coal-based polyolefin projects that meet world-class standards. SPIC is a super-large central enterprise under the administration of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. It is a comprehensive energy group that operates in various sectors such as electricity, coal, aluminum, railways, and ports. Its total assets are spread across 28 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country, and it owns 7 listed companies at home and abroad, including Shanghai Electric. In recent years, China Power Investment has adopted a three-step development strategy, focusing on electricity as the core and coal as the foundation, promoting integrated industrial development, and striving to transform into a comprehensive energy enterprise group. By the end of 2014, SPIC’s installed power capacity was 96.6747 million kilowatts, with clean energy accounting for 38.47% of that total. Its coal production capacity was 74.4 million tons, while its aluminum production capacity was 2.718 million tons. The length of railways in its operation network was 504 kilometers. The total value of its assets was 681.6 billion yuan, with the net assets attributable to the parent company amounting to 46.4 billion yuan. The total number of employees was 127,000. China Power Investment Corporation has made it onto the Fortune Global 500 list for four consecutive years, ranking 393rd in 2014. Since entering the coal industry in 2004, SPIC has seen rapid development in this sector, taking the restructuring of the Horin River Coal Industry Group in Inner Mongolia as an opportunity. The amount of coal resources acquired, as well as coal production capacity and output, have all increased sharply; the coal industry has thus become one of the three key business areas and a major source of profit growth for SPIC. Total Group is one of the world’s leading companies in the oil, gas, and chemicals sectors. It is also the fifth-largest integrated oil and gas company listed on the stock market, and in 2014 it ranked 11th among the world’s top 500 companies. Dowdar’s refining and chemical industry operations include the group’s refining, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals, oil trading, and shipping businesses. The petrochemicals in this category include basic petrochemicals (olefins and aromatics) as well as the related polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) ； Specialty chemicals include rubber products (Hargison Company) and electroplating (Ametek Company). To ensure the availability of resources and meet future needs, Total invests heavily in research and development, seeking innovative solutions for society, and striving to control and reduce its impact on the environment – for example, by reducing water consumption in order to protect local natural resources ； Strictly prevent soil and groundwater pollution ； Continuously improve the energy efficiency of product manufacturing processes ； As well as managing the product throughout its entire life cycle, etc. Jointly developing coal-based polyolefin production through a strategic partnership with the U.S.-based company UOP is also one of the key solutions, centered on an integrated process of \"Methanol-to-Olefins + Olefin Cracking\" (MTO+OCP). Through the adoption of world-leading MTO+OCP and polyolefin production technologies, as well as innovative measures for water and energy conservation and CO2 reduction, Total aims to leverage its expertise in the polyolefin sector, the strong financial resources of the entire group, and synergies across the supply chain. In partnership with China Power Investment, which possesses resource advantages, strong development capabilities, and a sense of social responsibility, Total seeks to establish a modern coal chemical upgrading demonstration project that fully meets China’s industrial development plans as well as requirements related to energy conservation and emission reduction. The main products of this project are polyethylene (343,000 tons per year) and polypropylene (534,000 tons per year). The by-products include liquefied petroleum gas (15,000 tons per year), C5 components (18,300 tons per year), gasoline (29,300 tons per year), and sulfur (26,100 tons per year). The construction of this project complies with relevant industrial policies such as the \"Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2011 edition)\\" (amended in 2013) and the \"Guidelines for Foreign Investment in Industries (revised in 2015)\\" (Order No. 22 issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce). It also meets the requirements set out in the \"Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission on Regulating the Orderly Development of the Coal Chemical Industry\" (Document No. Fagai Chan Ye 635). The National Development and Reform Commission approved the initiation of preliminary work for this project through its document No. Fagai Ban Chan Ye [2013] 2774, which is a reply confirming approval for the preliminary stages of the coal-to-olefins upgrading demonstration project carried out by China Power Investment Corporation. Project Features: Excellent supporting facilities. The project is located in the Dalu Industrial Park, Zhungeer Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Ordos is rich in coal resources; the Zhungeer Coal Field, Dongsheng Coal Field, and Zhuozishan Coal Field together have proven reserves of 124.4 billion tons. The reserves in coal fields above the survey level as well as in the shallow areas that have been affected by mining amount to approximately 17.5 billion tons, while the planned but unused reserves (above the survey level) total 49.8 billion tons. Most of them have the conditions suitable for adit mining, as well as the characteristics of low ash, low sulfur, low phosphorus, and high calorific value. The Daliu Industrial Park is equipped with a landfill for the disposal of general solid waste and a hazardous waste treatment center for the disposal of hazardous waste ； The railway runs through the park, providing a favorable foundation for the transportation of raw materials and products. The water required for the project comes from the Liulin Tan water supply project in the industrial park; this project is designed to meet the water needs of the Dali Industrial Park, with a water supply capacity of approximately 119 million tons per year, ensuring a stable supply of water for the project. Advanced and mature technology: The key process technologies for this project, such as coal gasification, methanol synthesis, polyethylene, and polypropylene, all benefit from advanced and mature technologies available worldwide, along with extensive experience in operation and management. For the key equipment of this project, such as gasifiers, methanol synthesis towers, syngas compressors, propylene compressors, etc., there are advanced and reliable manufacturing technologies available worldwide. This project adopts the IGCC process scheme. In its process design, it takes the entire plant into consideration and integrates energy-saving and water-saving technical measures, such as heat integration between units, hierarchical utilization of the steam power system, and recovery of low-grade heat. The main water-saving measures adopted in the project include reusing the water treated through biological and chemical processes as makeup water for the circulating water system, improving the quality of this reused water, increasing the concentration ratio of the circulating water, and reducing the amount of wastewater discharged from it ； Air coolers are used for turbine cooling to reduce the consumption of circulating water. Strict environmental protection standards are implemented. By adopting advanced production processes and stringent environmental protection measures, the project minimizes the emission of various pollutants in order to meet strict environmental protection standards. If the IGCC process is adopted for this project, low-temperature methanol washing can be used to purify the raw gas, removing over 99% of the sulfur contained in it, thereby resulting in low levels of sulfur dioxide in the exhaust gases emitted by the gas turbine ； The sulfur recovery unit employs advanced exhaust gas treatment technologies (two-stage oxygen-enriched Claus process + SCOT hydrogenation reduction + alkaline absorption), ensuring that the emitted exhaust gases meet the special emission limits specified in the \"Emission Standards for Pollutants in the Petroleum Refining Industry\" (GB31570-2015) ； The gas turbine is equipped with a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) device for nitrogen oxide removal, ensuring that the exhaust gases meet the special emission limits specified in the \"Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Thermal Power Plants\" (GB13223-2011) ； The flue gas from coal-fired boilers in operation is treated using bag filtration for dust removal, limestone-gypsum process for desulfurization, low-nitrogen combustion and SCR technology for denitrification, as well as wet electrostatic dust collection; the emissions meet the limits specified in Document No. 2093 issued by the National Development and Reform Commission’s Energy Department, namely the \"Action Plan for Energy Conservation, Emission Reduction, Upgrade and Transformation of Coal-fired Power Plants (2014–2020)\“. Due to the various air pollution control measures implemented in this project, its emissions of major air pollutants have been significantly reduced compared to similar domestic enterprises, as shown in the table below. High energy conversion efficiency: By adopting various advanced processes and energy-saving measures, such as the IGCC process, waste heat recovery, fuel gas recovery, and efficient olefin separation technologies, this project has achieved a high level of energy conversion efficiency. As a result, its energy efficiency and coal consumption are both lower than the advanced target values specified in the \"Plan for Demonstration Projects of Deep Coal Processing\" for the 12th Five-Year Plan period, as well as the requirements set out in Document No. 2774 issued by the Development and Reform Commission regarding energy efficiency standards for this project. The details are shown in the table below. Low water consumption: By adopting various water-saving technologies and measures, such as extensive use of air cooling technology, implementation of closed-loop water systems, replacement of steam drive with electric drive, and recycling of treated wastewater without discharge, this project has significantly reduced its water consumption. As a result, its fresh water usage is lower than both the advanced target values set for fresh water consumption in coal deep-processing demonstration projects during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, as specified in the \"Coal Deep-Processing Demonstration Project Plan\", and the requirements outlined in Document No. 2774 issued by the Development and Reform Commission. The details are shown in the table below. The project’s products are of high quality. The main products of this project are polyethylene and polypropylene. The product development strategy takes into account the trends in the domestic polyolefin market, aiming to make full use of Total’s long-standing expertise in the development and production of high-quality polyolefin products in order to enhance their competitiveness in the market. Polyethylene products are designed for the production of bimodal pipe materials, bimodal film materials, metallocene film materials, large-diameter blown plastics, injection-molded materials for bottle caps, and materials specifically used for automobile fuel tanks; most of these are high-end products for various application areas. Polypropylene products are designed for the production of biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film materials, specialized polypropylene fibers for medical and health applications, as well as injection-grade copolymerized polypropylene with high or low melt indices. These varieties are currently used mainly by high-end end-users in China, and domestic production is severely insufficient; thus, imports are relied on. PE-100RC pipes produced at Total’s twin-peak level offer superior quality compared to PC-100, which is currently widely used; they can be backfilled without sand, thereby saving on installation costs. Total Group uses the Metallocene-produced Limylene® brand polyethylene and polypropylene materials for manufacturing sheets, packaging bags, bottle caps, non-woven fabrics, and products via injection molding. These materials enable a reduction in consumption by 5 to 27%, which is of great significance for energy savings and environmental protection across the entire supply chain. Overview of the process flow: The raw coal sourced from outside the plant is processed by a coal powder preparation unit to produce qualified coal powder. In the gasification unit, pulverized coal and oxygen from the air separation unit are used to produce raw gas through a dry pulverized coal pressurized gasification process. Most of this raw gas is sent to a carbon monoxide conversion unit, where part of the CO in the raw gas is converted into H2 using a sulfur-resistant, wide-temperature partial conversion process. The resulting converted gas is then sent to an acid gas removal unit, where acidic gases such as CO2 and H2S are removed using a low-temperature methanol washing process; the purified gas is subsequently sent to a methanol synthesis unit ； Some of the raw gas is sent directly to an acid gas removal unit to remove H2S, and then delivered to a thermal power plant for power generation. The H2S-containing gas removed is sent to a sulfur recovery unit for sulfur recovery, while part of the CO2 gas is returned to the coal gasification unit. The purified gas is sent to the methanol synthesis unit to produce crude methanol; the synthesis off-gas is fed to the hydrogen recovery unit for hydrogen extraction. The recovered pure hydrogen is used in the polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) production units, while the remaining gas is recycled within the system or sent to the plant’s fuel gas network. Crude methanol is converted into MTO-grade methanol through a methanol distillation unit. MTO-grade methanol enters the methanol-to-olefins unit to produce olefins, yielding ethylene and propylene, as well as by-products such as liquefied petroleum gas, C5, and gasoline. Propylene and ethylene go to the polypropylene and polyethylene plants respectively, where they are polymerized into the target products polypropylene and polyethylene.