The Dilemma of Resuming Production at Jiangsu Chemical Industrial Park: Eight Months After the Xiangshui Accident, the Area Remains in a State of Desolation, with Uncertainty Surrounding the Safety of Waste Materials.

Release Date:

2019-11-29

More than eight months have passed since the “3·21” extraordinarily serious explosion in Xiangshui, yet the Subei Chemical Industrial Park remains in a state of desolation—partly because the local government has refrained from taking action pending the release of the accident investigation report, and partly due to the park’s own deep‑seated structural weaknesses.

According to available data, in Jiangsu Province, the rate of chemical enterprises located within industrial parks stands at only around 30 percent, with some regions reporting rates as low as 10 percent. Meanwhile, certain chemical firms persistently engage in illegal discharge, exhibit inadequate waste‑management capabilities, and contribute significantly to environmental pollution in their surrounding areas.

Tian Jinping, an associate researcher at the School of Environment of Tsinghua University, stated that chemical enterprises generally have a solid understanding of the safety of raw materials, intermediates, products, and chemical reactions; however, their knowledge of waste—particularly solid waste—is less comprehensive due to its complex composition.

According to an environmental survey report on Jiangsu’s chemical parks released by the Lushi Environmental Protection Center, as reported by a journalist from the Daily Economic News, from June 2018 to October 2019, the level of regulatory oversight across water, air, and solid‑waste management varied significantly among the province’s 44 chemical parks. Only 70% of enterprises showed no visible black, odorous water bodies or malodorous emissions; 48% had not yet implemented separate stormwater and sewage systems, with stormwater discharge outlets monitored and managed manually; and 36% lacked atmospheric monitoring stations, with only key enterprises equipped with monitoring probes.

The adjustment report is of great significance in guiding chemical enterprises.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on November 15, the State Council has approved the investigation report into the particularly serious “March 21” explosion at Jiangsu Xiangshui Tianjiayi Chemical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianjiayi Company). The State Council’s investigation team determined that the accident was a particularly serious production safety liability incident caused by the long-term illegal storage of hazardous waste, which led to spontaneous combustion and subsequently triggered an explosion.

On November 20, the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government convened a cautionary education conference on the particularly serious March 21 explosion in Xiangshui. Lou Qinjian, Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, emphasized that this accident should be taken as a turning point to lead the way in modernizing the governance system and capabilities for workplace safety.

A reporter from the Daily Economic News noted that, according to the investigation report, the direct cause of the accident was nitration waste that had been illegally stored for an extended period in Tianjiayi Company’s old solid-waste storage facility. The accumulated heat and rising temperature led to spontaneous combustion, which in turn triggered an explosion. It is understood that nitration waste exhibits self-decomposition, releasing heat in the process, with the decomposition rate accelerating as temperature increases.

Experimental data indicate that, under adiabatic conditions, the longer nitration waste is stored, the more likely it is to undergo spontaneous combustion. Meanwhile, the nitration waste stored in Tianjiayi Company’s old solid-waste storage facility had been kept for over seven years at its longest.

The report notes: “Based on thermal safety analysis experiments and theoretical calculations, under adiabatic conditions, when the initial temperature of nitration waste is 39.2°C, self‑heating will cause its temperature to rise to the autoignition point after one year of storage, resulting in spontaneous combustion; at an initial temperature of 26.8°C, spontaneous combustion will occur after three years; at 21.1°C, it will occur after five years; and at 17.3°C, it will occur after seven years.”

In response, Tian Jinping stated that this case demonstrates that even when stored at relatively low temperatures, nitration waste can spontaneously ignite given sufficient time. This serves as a reminder to chemical enterprises to strengthen their understanding of the properties of materials and wastes throughout the processes of solid-waste treatment and disposal, ensuring a more thorough and comprehensive assessment.

“This approach demonstrates how thermal safety analysis—grounded in experimental science and quantitative methods—can be used to characterize material properties during accident investigation. In fact, this methodology offers invaluable guidance for chemical enterprises in identifying and mitigating safety hazards throughout R&D, design, production, and management,” said Tian Jinping.

Many chemical companies remain shut down.

Starting in 2018, some enterprises within certain chemical parks in Jiangsu Province began suspending production for rectification. According to a CCTV report in April 2018, chemical companies in the Lingang Industrial Park of Guanyun County, Lianyungang City, were found to be causing environmental pollution. In response, the Lianyungang municipal government launched an environmental remediation campaign, and it was not until the end of 2018 that some of these enterprises passed inspection and resumed production.

Since the explosion at Tianjiayi Company in March this year, applications from chemical enterprises in northern Jiangsu to resume production have remained unanswered. As of November 15, the website of the Dafeng District People’s Government in Yancheng City announced that the resumption‑of‑production applications of five chemical firms within the district had passed the port‑area preliminary review and the district‑level acceptance inspection, and were slated for municipal‑level re‑examination. Among them, Huifeng Co., Ltd. (002496, SZ) had ten product‑specific resumption‑of‑production applications approved at both the port‑area preliminary review and the district‑level acceptance stage.

On November 27, a staff member from the Dafeng District Chemical Industry Administration told a reporter from the Daily Economic News that applications for resuming production from relevant enterprises had indeed been made public. However, at present, only Fengshan Group (603810, SH) within Dafeng District has officially resumed operations; the other chemical companies have yet to restart production.

According to an announcement by Fengshan Group on October 21, the company temporarily suspended production at its active‑ingredient synthesis workshop starting April 18. On September 18, its application to resume operations passed the port‑area preliminary review and the district‑level acceptance inspection; on October 19, the Yancheng Municipal Government granted preliminary approval for the company to restart production; and on October 21, the Dafeng District Government of Yancheng City likewise gave preliminary consent for Fengshan Group to resume operations. The heating company plans to restore heat supply at 12:00 noon on October 25, and the company’s active‑ingredient synthesis workshop is expected to begin resuming production on the same day. Additionally, on November 14, Fengshan Group had its other risk‑alert designation lifted, successfully shedding its “ST” status.

Financial data show that in the first three quarters of this year, Fengshan Group reported operating revenue of RMB 729 million, down 27.84% year over year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 47.75 million, a 49.73% decline from the same period last year—nearly halved.

On November 27, a reporter from the Daily Economic News called Fengshan Group and Huifeng Shares to inquire about their resumption of production, but received no response. According to reports, both companies are located in Dafeng District and had previously stated that they had decided to temporarily suspend operations because the local industrial park’s centralized heating company was conducting comprehensive safety inspections and maintenance on the steam pipeline network, thereby halting external heat supply.

Today, Fengshan Group has resumed production, while Huifeng Shares’ application to restart operations remains unanswered. According to a report by China Chemical Industry News, on August 26, the Office of the Yancheng Municipal Leading Group for Safety and Environmental Rectification and Upgrading of the Chemical Industry issued the “Yancheng Municipal Work Flow for Resuming Production at Chemically‑Producing Enterprises Under Suspension for Rectification,” sparking widespread dissatisfaction and skepticism among local companies.

The document stipulates that enterprises are not only prohibited from resuming production on their own; they must also obtain multi‑level approvals, inspections, and verifications from the chemical industrial park where the enterprise is located, the county‑level people’s government or relevant departments, the municipal government, and the Municipal Chemical Safety Administration, among others, before they can resume operations. In addition, the document includes certain special provisions: for counties (cities or districts) whose applications fail the municipal‑level review, no new resumption‑of‑production applications may be submitted within three months from the date of the municipal government’s written approval; and for enterprises that do not pass the municipal‑level review, no resumption‑of‑production applications may be filed within six months from the date of the municipal government’s written approval.

Environmental oversight in chemical industrial parks is weak.

At the warning‑education conference on the “3·21” extraordinarily serious explosion accident in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Provincial Party Secretary Lou Qinjian emphasized that the chemical industry is a foundational sector of the national economy and a major pillar of Jiangsu Province. He called for adhering to the principles of “inherently safe, green, and high‑end,” and, through measures such as “replacing cages with greenery,” “freeing up old cages to attract new industries,” and “opening cages to draw in phoenixes,” to drive deep‑seated structural adjustments and systematically reconstruct a modern chemical‑industry system.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report, on April 4, the Standing Committee of the Yancheng Municipal Party Committee held a meeting and stated that the Xiangshui Chemical Industrial Park would be completely shut down. Meanwhile, the investigation report into the accident revealed shortcomings such as the environmental protection authorities’ failure to fulfill their duties conscientiously and lax enforcement of laws and regulations.

According to an environmental survey report on Jiangsu’s chemical industrial parks released by the Green Stone Environmental Protection Center, from June 2018 to October 2019, among 44 chemical parks in Jiangsu Province, only 70% of enterprises reported no visible black, malodorous water bodies or offensive odors; 48% had not implemented stormwater–sewage separation, with stormwater discharge outlets monitored and managed manually; and 36% lacked atmospheric monitoring stations, with only key enterprises equipped with monitoring probes.

Zhang Haoxiang, from the Secretariat of the Green Development Alliance of National-Level Economic and Technological Development Zones at the Tianjin TEDA Low-Carbon Economy Promotion Center, stated that green development in chemical industrial parks remains a pressing issue. In particular, accurately assessing a park’s safety carrying capacity is challenging. As specialized clusters of chemical enterprises, these parks must manage the total quantity of hazardous substances within their boundaries; however, no consensus has yet been reached on the methods or scope for calculating such capacity, nor have guiding technical standards been established.

In addition, some chemical industrial parks have lax entry standards and indiscriminately attract enterprises. In pursuit of economic growth, certain parks exhibit an impatience to achieve quick results in attracting investment; some even overlook the technological sophistication of proposed projects, sacrificing environmental protection to bring in facilities that are highly polluting, suffer from overcapacity, or employ outdated technologies—thereby creating hidden risks for the parks’ long-term sustainability.

Zhang Haoxiang stated that environmental protection in industrial parks is underpinned by a basic framework, which comprises the following six elements: first, stringent environmental access based on the “Three Lines and One List” policy; second, no serious environmental pollution incidents involving enterprises and institutions within the park, and no particularly major or major sudden environmental emergencies; third, stable compliance with emission standards by key pollution sources in the park; fourth, total pollutant‑emission control for enterprises and institutions operating within the park; fifth, a comprehensive environmental risk management system and robust environmental emergency response measures; and sixth, the construction and effective operation of public environmental infrastructure.

Zhang Haoxiang recommends that, from the perspective of industrial parks, it is essential to align with green development goals while supporting the parks’ own growth. This requires breaking away from conventional thinking—avoiding a piecemeal, symptom‑focused approach—and transcending the narrow confines of one’s own business functions to build comprehensive problem‑solving capabilities. Moreover, it calls for moving beyond a purely hardware‑centric mindset and establishing an integrated management and planning framework that seamlessly combines soft and hard infrastructure, in tandem with strategic planning and advisory services.

Source: Daily Economic News Reporter: Huang Xinlei, Editor: Wei Guanhong

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