Sembcorp to splurge $189.9m in water management plant in China

To be completed by 2015.

In a release, Sembcorp Industries announced that it will be developing a total water management plant to support a coal-to-diesel project in Wangqiao Industrial Park, located in Changzhi city in China’s Shanxi province.

This total water management plant will offer the most comprehensive range of water products and solutions, amongst the water facilities that Sembcorp has developed in China.

Sembcorp will invest approximately RMB932 million (S$189.9 million) to develop this new project, which will be funded by internal resources and external borrowings. Sembcorp will establish a wholly-owned subsidiary, Sembcorp Changzhi Water Co, to manage the plant.

This total water management plant will provide up to 57,600 cubic metres per day of industrial and potable water, 81,600 cubic metres per day of demineralised water and 984,000 cubic metres per day of cooling water, and treat up to 24,000 cubic metres per day of high concentration industrial wastewater and 9,600 cubic metres per day of high salinity industrial wastewater. 

The plant will also be capable of reclaiming up to 38,400 cubic metres per day of water from treated industrial effluent, aiming to achieve “zero liquid discharge”. The plant is expected to be completed in phases between late 2014 and 2015.

The total water management plant will serve Shanxi Lu’an Group (Lu’an), for its one million tonnes per annum coal-to-diesel project in Wangqiao Industrial Park, under a 15-year service agreement that Sembcorp’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Sembcorp (China) Holding Co, has secured.

With this service agreement, Sembcorp will be the first to build, own and operate a total water management plant to provide such solutions to large-scale coal-to-diesel projects in China.

Lu’an’s project is the first large-scale coal-to-diesel project approved by China’s relevant authorities and has strong support from the Chinese government as it is part of the national energy strategy.

The main products from Lu’an’s coal-to-diesel facility will be liquefied petroleum gas, naphtha and high quality diesel. Wholly owned by the Shanxi Provincial Government, Lu’an is one of the largest state-owned coal enterprises in Shanxi province and one of the top 100 enterprises in China.