On 14 August, the environmental impact assessment information for 150,000 t/a of high-quality sodium gluconate (SG) project by Zhucheng Yuanfa Bio-technology Co., Ltd. (Zhucheng Yuanfa) was made public before approval.

Project overview

• Nature: Expansion & renovation
• Location: Xinxing Town, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province
• Total investment: RMB30 million
• Construction content: The project will upgrade the existing “100 000 t/a of SG project” by using existing land, buildings and equipment. A new on-site glucose-from-corn-starch section will replace purchased glucose. Sixty new units of equipment, including saccharification equipment, centrifuges, dissolution tanks, fluid-bed dryers, double-effect and quadruple-effect evaporators, will be installed. Shortened fermentation cycles will boost fermenter utilization.
• Product plan: SG capacity will be expanded from 100,000 t/a to 150,000 t/a.
• Key raw material: 429,500 t/a of starch slurry (self-produced).
• Labor quota: 140 employees (no new hires; existing workforce).
• Working system: Three 8hr shifts per day, 365 working days totaling 8,760 hours per year.
• Construction period: Scheduled for completion by the end of Dec. 2025.

Zhucheng Yuanfa, established in 2014 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dongxiao Bio-tech Co., Ltd., operates two plants:

• South Plant has a 300,000 t/a of corn starch production line, and a 500,000 t/a of corn starch expansion project is under construction, and the capacity of corn starch (moisture content 13.5 %) in South Plant will be expanded from 300,000 t/a to 500,000 t/a.
• North Plant has a 600,000 t/a corn starch production line, a 100 000 t/a of SG production line, a 100,000 t/a of high-maltose syrup or 10,000 t/a of maltodextrin production line.

You can get more information on China’s corn deep-processing industry by checking out NK Corn Deep-Processing China News. Follow our LinkedIn to get more industry news.