Tianzhu Chemical Fertilizer Completes Industrial Stearic Acid
Unit

The 40 000 t/a industrial stearic acid unit using the
high-pressure continuous hydrolysis process constructed by
Tianzhu Chemical Fertilizer Company of Qingdao Soda Ash
Industrial Co., Ltd. was put on stream in Pingdu, Shandong
province on January 29th, 2007. The project was launched in
January 2006 and has a total investment of RMB60 million.
Processes it uses include high-pressure continuous hydrolysis,
evaporation, vacuum distillation and decoloration.
   Industrial stearic acid has a considerable demand in the
Chinese market and still depends on import today. It is a
chemical raw material with extensive applications. Its raw
material palm oil needing to be imported from abroad is a
regenerative plant-based resource. Besides, hydrogen is also
needed as auxiliary raw material. In the past hydrogen generated
in the chemical fertilizer production as byproduct in the
company was either taken to the municipal town gas system for
the use as domestic fuel or to boilers in its own production units
for combustion. After the completion of the project, hydrogen
generated in the chemical fertilizer production as byproduct can
be used as raw material for the stearic acid production.
   Besides, the 40 000 t/a grease hydrolysis project recently
constructed by the company was put on stream and produced
qualified stearic acid and glycerin on January 5th, 2007. The
company mainly produces chemical and chemical fertilizer
products such as stearic acid, formaldehyde, glycerin, urea,
synthetic ammonia and ammonium bicarbonate.