Shengwei Kaiyang Base overcomes development challenges

Guizhou Shengwei Kaiyang Chemical Co's base in Kaiyang county has attracted nearly 2 billion yuan ($284 million) in investment since its establishment at the end of 2020. Its products include agricultural-grade ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, with major domestic clients such as LBM New Energy Technology Co, and its market spans China and some overseas regions.

The facility producing water-soluble ammonium dihydrogen phosphate. [Photo/WeChat account of Kaiyang county]

However, the price of sulfur, a raw material, has skyrocketed. Competition in the new energy materials market has led to two consecutive years of losses in the battery-grade iron phosphate production line. The company's Kaiyang Base has launched three major technological innovation projects to achieve a green transformation and overcome development challenges.

The quality improvement and renovation of the water-soluble ammonium dihydrogen phosphate production line is 95 percent complete. High-end phosphoric acid will be used to produce industrial-grade ammonium dihydrogen phosphate and fully water-soluble ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, while low-value residue will be used to produce agricultural-grade ammonium dihydrogen phosphate.

Equipment for the harmless treatment of phosphogypsum has been installed, and the quality improvement project for the phosphogypsum acid production section is being advanced.

The project has introduced research teams from well-known domestic universities, relying on a strategic industry-academia-research cooperation model. It aims to convert dihydrate phosphogypsum, a by-product of wet-process phosphoric acid, into anhydrous phosphogypsum, while lowering the energy consumption of producing acid from phosphogypsum and improving the quality of cement clinker. A solid industrial-grade ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (Phase I) project is also underway, and the company is planning an aluminium fluoride project to further enhance the recycling of fluorine resources.