Summary: The second time publication of the EIA report of Dezhou Heyang's 50,000 t/a erythritol production project was made on 6 April 2022 for public comment and review. Currently, Dezhou Heyang has two projects that are being constructed, namely, the premium starch and deep-processing project and the production project of 200,000 t/a sodium gluconate.

The environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of Dezhou Heyang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Dezhou Heyang)'s 50,000 t/a erythritol production project was publicised for the second time on 6 April, 2022 for public comment and review.

Overview of the erythritol project:

• Construction nature: New construction
• Location: The East Zone of the Pingyuan Economic Development Zone, Dezhou City, Shandong Province
• Total investment: USD51.76 million (RMB328.70 million)
• Site area & floor area: 9,367.05m² & 11,978.37m², of which the production workshop taking up 8,131.65m² and the warehouse taking up 3,846.72m²
• Production capacity: 50,000 t/a of erythritol
• Construction content:
• To build a production line
• To purchase 559 sets of production equipment such as fermentation tank, membrane filtration system, centrifugal machine, evaporator, etc.
• Labour quota: Additional 97 employees
• Working system: Three eight-hour shifts per day (24-hour workday), 330 working days annually
• Commissioning (estimated): Jan. 2024

Currently, Dezhou Heyang has two projects that are under construction—the premium starch and deep-processing project and the production project of 200,000 t/a sodium gluconate.

Overview of the sodium gluconate project:

• Construction nature: New construction
• Total investment: USD53.88 million (RMB342.20 million)
• Production capacity: 200,000 t/a of sodium gluconate
• Construction content:
• To build a production line
• To purchase 434 sets of production equipment such as saccharification tank, fermentation tank, evaporator, centrifugal machine etc.
• Labour quota: 117 employees
• Working system: Three eight-hour shifts per day (24-hour workday), 330 working days annually
• Commissioning (estimated): Jan. 2024

The EIA report of Dezhou Heyang's premium starch and deep-processing project obtained approval in Sept. 2020. This project is now being constructed and has not entered the production stage.

Overview of the premium starch and deep-processing project:

• Area: Production workshop of 104,650m², warehouse of 54,000m², related equipment taking up 87,624m²
• Construction content:
• A production line that processes 1 million t/a to produce 700,000 t/a corn starch via corn wet milling process
• A production line for pharmaceutical grade corn starch
• A production line for dextrin
• A production line for maltose syrup
• A production line for erythritol
• A production line for corn oil
• Labour quota: 730 employees
• Working system: Three eight-hour shifts per day (24-hour workday), 330 working days annually

Dezhou Heyang, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shandong Fuyang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Shandong Fuyang), was established in Feb. 2020 with a registered capital of USD7.87 million (RMB50 million). The company mainly engages in the processing of starch and starch downstream products such as corn starch, pharmaceutical grade corn starch, erythritol, maltose syrup, dextrin, etc. Another wholly-owned subsidiary of Shandong Fuyang is Dezhou Huiyang Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Dezhou Huiyang) which has production capacities of 12,000 t/a trehalose and 3,000 t/a gluconolactone.