Summary: On 30 Jan., EIA report of NHU Fine Chemical's project of 2,000 t/a β-alanine, 12,000 t/a D-calcium pantothenate and 4,800 t/a dexpanthenol was publicised before being approved.

On 30 Jan., Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report of Shandong NHU Fine Chemical Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (NHU Fine Chemical)'s project of 14,000 t/a nutrients and 4,800 t/a specialty chemicals was publicised before being approved. On 11 Jan., Binhai Branch of Weifang Ecological Environment Bureau accepted and issued the EIA report of the project.

Relying on intellectual property rights owned by Zhejiang NHU Co., Ltd. (Zhejiang NHU), NHU Fine Chemical plans to invest in the project to produce high value-added nutrients & fine chemicals such as D-calcium pantothenate, dexpanthenol, β-alanine etc., which contributes to the industrial chain extension.

Project overview

• Nature: Expansion
• Location: At NHU Fine Chemical's existing factory, Binhai Economic & Technological Development Zone, Weifang City, Shandong Province
• Floor area: 47,589 m²; 47,913 m²for total building area
• Total investment: USD125.83 million (RMB800 million); USD6.45 million (RMB41 million) for environmental protection, 5.13% of the total
• Production scale: 
• Newly purchase 1,537 sets of equipment such as preheaters, distillation towers, evaporators, centrifuges, etc.
• Upon completion of the project, production capacities of 14,000 t/a nutrients (including 2,000 t/a β-alanine and 12,000 t/a D-calcium pantothenate), 4,800 t/a dexpanthenol, 25,000 t/a ammonium sulphate and 1,200 t/a calcium sulphate will be built.
• Working system: 320 employees (including 284 workshop operators) working in three shifts for 300 days in a year
• Project specification: The project is being built in two phases.
• Phase I: Establish production euipment of 8,000 t/a D-calcium pantothenate, 4,800 t/a dexpanthenol, 5,500 t/a β-alanine (3,500 t/a for self-use and 2,000 t/a for sale) & 5,500 t/a hydrogen cyanide, and auxiliary facilities & environmental protection facilities
• Phase II: Set up production euipment for 4,000 t/a D-calcium pantothenate, 1,750 t/a β-alanine & 1,500 t/a 3-Aminopropanol (intermediate of dexpanthenol), and auxiliary facilities & environmental protection facilities
• Product standard:
• NHU Fine Chemical's product standard for β-alanine 
• Feed Additive Standard (GB/T 7299-2006) for D-calcium pantothenate 
• Cosmetic Raw Material Standard (GB/T 33306-2016) for dexpanthenol

Established in April 2017 and as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zhejiang NHU, NHU Fine Chemical mainly engages in production and sales of chemical raw materials, food & feed additives and chemical products.

NHU Fine Chemical has an existing project of 11,000 t/a nutrients and 9,000 t/a fine chemicals, which is built in two phases:

• Phase I is built with a capacity of 5,000 t/a vitamin B6 and in the process of commissioning for trial production. 
• Phase II has not yet been built, which includes production capacities for 6,000 t/a sucralose, 1,000 t/a cyclopropyl acetylene, 2,000 t/a cyclopropyl methyl ketone, 3,000 t/a 2-Acetylbutyrolactone and 3,000 t/a triphenyl phosphine, as well as by-production capacities for 18,970 t/a of 40% dimethylamine solution and 2,242 t/a diethyl oxalate.