Summary: The EI report of Zhizhuo Biotech's 6,000 t/a crystalline xylose project was publicised in late June before getting approval.

On 26 June, the environmental impact (EI) report of Aral Zhizhuo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Zhizhuo Biotech)'s 6,000 t/a crystalline xylose project was publicised by the local Ecology and Environment Bureau before getting approval, with the publication ending on 5 July. Previously on 26 April, the EI report of this project was accepted and publicised.

Zhizhuo Biotech was established in May 2022 with a registered capital of RMB50 million. It plans to produce food-grade crystalline xylose from hemicellulose concentrated solution, which not only can bring considerable economic benefits but can also create jobs, increase revenue and make good use of the waste liquid.

Project overview:

• Construction nature: New construction
• Location: The hemicellulose workshop of Alar Zhongtai Textile Technology Co., Ltd. (Zhongtai Textile) built for the multifunctional cellulose project, Aral Economic and Technological Development Zone, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
• Total investment: USD17.76 million (RMB128.14 million), of which USD85,924 (RMB620,000) for environmental protection
• Site area: 3,000 m²
• Production capacity:
• 6,000 t/a of food-grade crystalline xylose
• 2,400 t/a of xylose mother liquor (by-product)
• Consumption of main raw material: 35,360 t/a of hemicellulose concentrated solution sourced from Zhongtai Textile which discharges 2,640 m³/d or 87,900 m³/a of hemicellulose concentrated solution.
• Production process: Xylose is produced from hemicellulose concentrated solution by emulsion mixing, heat exchange, continuous dissolution, cooling, suction filtration, filtration, membrane concentration, continuous neutralisation, desalination and decolourisation, mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) plate evaporation, decolourisation with granular activated carbon, cooling, ion-exchange using cation exchange resin, ion-exchange using anion exchange resin, secondary multi-effect evaporation, four-effect thermal vapour recompression (TVR) plate evaporation, double-effect evaporation, crystallisation, centrifugal separation, crystallisation, drying, etc.
• Labour quota: 59 employees
• Working system: Three 8h shifts per 24h workday, totalling 8,000 working hours or 333 working days a year

Xylose is a pentose sugar. Raw material-grade xylose is mainly used to produce xylitol. In fact, about 90% of xylose in the world is used as raw material for xylitol production. While food-grade xylose is an excellent nutritional sweetener and a therapeutic drug for diabetic patients as it does not require insulin for metabolism and can directly move into the cells and be ingested without affecting blood sugar.

At present, the production of xylose in China mostly uses corncobs as the raw material. Domestic xylose producers have limited capacity as the purchase price of corncobs fluctuates greatly and purchasing corncobs in large amounts isn't easy. In addition, the production process creates an enormous amount of residue and wastewater, posing a threat to the environment. On the contrary, in foreign countries, extracting food-grade xylose from hemicellulose-rich wastewater sourced from the viscose fibre industry has been gradually popularised and applied in mass production. Compared with using corncobs, this production technique costs less and is more environmental-friendly and the product is more competitive.