3,000 t per year vitamins and amino acids project of Heilongjiang NHU

    Summary: On 23 June, the EIA report of Heilongjiang NHU's 3,000 t/a vitamins and amino acids project was approved by the local environmental authority.   

    On 23 June, the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of Heilongjiang NHU Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Heilongjiang NHU)'s 3,000 t/a vitamins and amino acids project was approved by the Suihua Municipal Ecological Environment Bureau. The post-acceptance publication of this EIA report was made on 1 June. This project can enrich the company's product lines of amino acids and vitamins, increase the value in use of its existing products, and improve its industry chains of nutritional supplement products.   

    Project overview   

    
•       Type of project: Reconstruction and expansion     
    
•       Construction site location: Heilongjiang NHU's Production Plant, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province     
    
•       Total investment: USD28.42 million (RMB190 million)     
    
•       Area: 4,424 square metres     
    
•       Consumption of major raw materials: When operating at full capacity, this project will consume 2,465 t/a of glucose. The company's existing production capacity for glucose is 155,100 t/a, of which 61,600 t/a is for sale and 93,500 t/a is consumed by internal production. After this project is completed and put into operation, some of the glucose that is originally for sale will be used as raw material in this project; thus, the amount of glucose for sale will be diminished. Other raw and auxiliary materials used in this project will be purchased from other companies.     
    
•       Production technique: Glucose, the raw material, will become the final amino acid and vitamin products in the end, after it undergoes the process of fermentation, filtration, evaporation concentration, crystallisation, drying, and purification.     
    
•       Number of budgeted posts: 134     
    
•       Working system: The staff will be divided into four crews, who will be on shifts in rotation. Working schedule features three 8-hour shifts per working day and 350 working days per year.     
  

    In March, 2022, Heilongjiang NHU initiated the plan of building "L-Cysteine hydrochloride anhydrous and other products project"; this project is built to enrich the company's product line of amino acids, and its EIA report is currently under the vetting process. The production capacity of "L-Cysteine hydrochloride anhydrous and other products project" includes 500 t/a for L-Serine, 300 t/a for L-Cystine, 200 t/a for L-Cysteine, 3,000 t/a for L-Cysteine hydrochloride anhydrous, 500 t/a for N-Acetyl-L-cysteine, and 300 t/a for carbocisteine. The L-Serine in this project is the same amino acid variety as the L-Serine in "3,000 t/a vitamins and amino acids project". But the L-Serine in these two projects will be produced in different workshops with different production capacity, and there is no correlation between their production processes.   

    In 2018, "Heilongjiang Suihua NHU Bio-fermentation Industrial Park project", a project that was invested by Zhejiang NHU Co., Ltd. and covers a land of over 200 ha, commenced its construction in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province. This project was scheduled to be built in two phases. Phase I has been completed and put into operation, as well as passed the post-completion inspection of environmental protection acceptance. Phase II has been partially completed and passed the post-completion inspection of environmental protection acceptance.