Toyo Engineering Awarded Contract for Coal-based 2nd DME Plant in China

Toyo Engineering Corporation, Japan (TOYO, Mr. Yutaka Yamada, President & CEO) has received a contract for the licensing, process design, and supply of catalysts and technological services for a 420 ton/day coal-based dimethyl ether (DME) production facility. This plant is to be installed in coal-rich Jincheng, Shanxi Province, by Shanxi Lanhua Clean Energy Co., Ltd.(*).

The new DME plant, using an abundance of coal existing underground in the district, is to produce DME for local use in the immediate future as an alternative to liquefied propane gas, and as chemicals such as aerosol propellant. In the future, the product is intended to replace a component of automobile fuel. In China, development of alternative energy such as DME is actively promoted by utilizing coal to cope with the soaring price of oil and to meet the increasing demand for energy caused by the sharp increase in economic growth.

In 2003, TOYO constructed a 10,000 ton/year DME plant, which was the first in the world to produce DME commercially for fuel use, in Sichuan Province in China. Thereafter, TOYO was awarded a 110,000 ton/year DME plant (put into operation in March 2006) also located in Sichuan Province as the second unit, and a 210,000 ton/year unit (to be completed in 2007) located in Ningxia in northwestern China as the third DME plant. The fourth new plant is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007.

Producing DME as clean energy is effective for reducing the dependency on oil and preventing pollution. TOYO will actively deploy its businesses in China, where a number of chemical complex projects are planned, as well as in other countries. (*) Shanxi Lanhua Clean Energy Co., Ltd., with the head office in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, was jointly incorporated in 2006 by three companies: Shanxi Lanhua Sci-Tech Venture Co., Ltd., Shanxi Guangcai Industry Co., Ltd., and For you Group (Hongkong) Co., Ltd..