On the map of the chemical industry in Shenze County, a heavyweight chess piece is about to fall. Recently, the Shijiazhuang Administrative Approval Bureau released a public announcement of the acceptance status, and Zhongneng Yida (Hebei) New Energy Co., Ltd.'s new 400000 tons/year sustainable aviation fuel hydrogenation project has officially entered the public announcement process. This means that a green energy factory that uses "urban waste" such as gutter oil and meal waste oil as raw materials is one step closer to breaking ground.

Project scale and construction content

The project is located at No. 22 Xingze Road, Southern District, Shenze Economic Development Zone, Hebei Province, with a total investment of 1853.88 million yuan, including an environmental protection investment of 203.955 million yuan, accounting for 11.0% of the total investment. The project covers an area of approximately 230 acres with a total construction area of 24420 square meters. A 400000 ton/year sustainable aviation fuel hydrogenation unit will be built in the production area, equipped with a 30000 standard cubic meter/hour hydrogen production unit, a 12 ton/hour acidic water stripping unit, as well as emergency response tanks, raw material tank groups, product tank groups and other public auxiliary facilities. The office area is planned to include comprehensive buildings, security guards, and other structures, while implementing outdoor projects such as road hardening, greening, and fence gates simultaneously.

The construction period of the project is about 18 months, and it was registered on October 16, 2025 with the registration number Shen Jing Kai Investment Bei Zi [2025] No. 30.

Raw material sources and product routes

Unlike traditional petroleum refining projects, the "rations" of this factory are pre treated gutter oil, acidified oil, meal waste oil, animal and plant waste oils, and a generation of biodiesel. These raw materials undergo hydrogenation deoxygenation, hydrogenation isomerization, and hydrogenation cracking reactions to ultimately produce three types of products: bio aviation kerosene, bio naphtha, and bio diesel.

The project has designed two production conditions: producing bio aviation kerosene and bio naphtha under SAF conditions, and producing bio diesel and bio naphtha under HVO conditions. Two operating conditions share the same hydrogenation unit, and when switching, only the reaction temperature of the hydrocracking section needs to be adjusted, without generating additional wastewater or solid waste. The desulfurization dry gas generated during the process is used as fuel, while the liquefied gas is sent to the hydrogen production unit to achieve the cascade utilization of materials.

In terms of raw material supply, there are multiple waste oil processing enterprises distributed in the Shenze Economic Development Zone and surrounding counties, which can stably provide industrial oils that meet quality standards, providing strong guarantees for the supply of project raw materials.

Environmental protection supporting facilities and technological highlights

Environmental protection investment exceeding 200 million yuan is a major highlight of this project. The acid water stripping section adopts the chelated iron sulfur process to remove hydrogen sulfide, and the ammonia containing waste gas is sprayed with water to prepare ammonia water. The hydrogen production section purifies hydrogen gas through PSA adsorption to ensure synchronous resource recovery and pollution control.

Against the backdrop of accelerating decarbonization in the global aviation industry, sustainable aviation fuels are seen as one of the key paths to emissions reduction. The International Air Transport Association predicts that by 2050, sustainable fuels such as biofuels will contribute approximately 65% of the aviation industry's carbon emissions reduction. The implementation of the Zhongneng Yida project not only opens up a new channel for the resource utilization of waste oil in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, but also adds an important contribution to the large-scale expansion of sustainable aviation fuel production capacity in China.Editor/Yang Meiling