On May 11, a "brainstorming" for the rise of the energy and chemical industry in the central region was opened in Taiyuan, Shanxi. Industry managers, scientists and entrepreneurs from the industry gathered at the 2024 Shanxi Energy and Chemical High-Quality Development Science and Technology Innovation Conference to stimulate ideas, enlighten wisdom, and make suggestions for the cultivation of new quality productivity with Shanxi characteristics in Shanxi's coal chemical industry in the new era.
The picture shows the scene of the conference.
Accelerate the embrace of "carbon opportunities" with green as the background color
On March 20, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a symposium on promoting the rise of the central region in the new era, emphasizing that it is necessary to lead industrial innovation with scientific and technological innovation and actively cultivate and develop new quality productivity.
The essence of new quality productivity is green productivity, and green should be the background color of the coal chemical industry to cultivate new quality productivity. This is the consensus reached by a number of participating experts.
"The 'dual carbon' goal is a strategic means to force sustainable economic and social development, and the promotion of green development and the cultivation of new quality productivity come from this, and they are in the same vein, with a substantial increase in total factor productivity as the core symbol!" Wu Dongsheng, an expert of the China Macroeconomic Think Tank Alliance, a senior visiting scholar at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a second-level inspector of the Shanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, said.
According to reports, Shanxi, as a new comprehensive energy and heavy chemical base in the mainland, has an annual coal production capacity of 1.43 billion tons.
"For Shanxi, it is urgent to promote the green transformation of the coal chemical industry, and cultivating new quality productivity is both the direction and the driving force." Wu Dongsheng reminded that in the context of "dual carbon", the coal chemical industry should pay attention to ESG and the management of high-energy-consuming projects in cultivating new quality productivity. First, ESG is a new engine for leading financial investment and an important means to achieve sustainable development. Second, in the future, global capital flows will conform to the basic laws of carbon neutrality and green development. The coal chemical industry should attach great importance to the development and role of transition finance, green finance, and PE/VC, as well as the impact of carbon tariffs. If the international carbon customs union is formed, the impact will be huge, and the cost of mainland export trade will increase by about 30% due to carbon tariffs. Therefore, enterprises should pay close attention to the development and transformation of high-energy-consuming and high-emission projects.
Zhang Tianfu, president of Shanxi Jinnan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., believes that the cultivation of new quality productivity in traditional industries must pay attention to the integration and development of the "double carbon" goal. "In the future, carbon emissions will become the lifeline of enterprises." Zhang Tianfu said.
It is understood that Jinnan Iron and Steel has successfully created a modern model of low-carbon and high-quality development of the integrated industry of "steel, coking, hydrogen and electricity", which not only realizes the coupled development of the above-mentioned industries, but also hands over a dazzling "report card" of collaborative carbon reduction.
Zhao Xueming, deputy general manager of Shanxi Antai Holding Technology Co., Ltd., believes that for the coal chemical industry to better embrace the "carbon opportunity", enterprises should not only internalize relevant policies in their hearts and externalize them in their actions, and actively practice the "double carbon" mission, but also use the carbon asset management platform to find out the "carbon background" as soon as possible and prepare for participating in carbon trading.
"Green and low-carbon can be compared to the wings of the coal chemical industry to take off again. With wings, the transformation and upgrading of the coal chemical industry is just around the corner. Li Jinping, vice president of the Shanxi Research Institute of Huairou Laboratory and professor of Taiyuan University of Technology, said.
Take innovation as the core to jump out of the resource "trap" and increase added value
"The new quality productivity is not simply understood as the productivity created by the new industry, but also includes the productivity created by the traditional industry, strategic emerging industries and future industries after transformation and upgrading. Innovation, especially original and disruptive innovation, deserves to be the core of the above industries to cultivate new quality productivity. Fang Yitian, director of the Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.
Sun Yuhan, director of the Shanxi Research Institute of Huairou Laboratory, agrees. He pointed out that coal has an important attribute of ensuring energy security and supply, but enterprises must not fall into the resource "trap". Coal chemical industry is a technology-intensive industry, through technological innovation to endow the industry with low-carbon, high-end, advanced manufacturing and other attributes, the added value of coal will be increased by at least 2~5 times. "In short, the coal chemical industry cultivates new quality productivity, focusing on increasing added value and reducing carbon content." Sun Yuhan said.
Liu Heng, deputy general manager of Shanxi Lu'an Taihang Lubrication Technology Co., Ltd., which is downstream of the coal chemical industry chain and focuses on high-end applications, has a lot of feelings: "The ability of independent innovation is directly related to the market competitiveness of enterprises. He said frankly that in the process of cultivating new quality productivity driven by scientific and technological innovation, Taihang Lubrication found that it is very important to develop market-oriented "explosive products", continuously expand application scenarios, and establish technical barriers with its own characteristics.
"The cultivation of new quality productivity in the coal chemical industry can focus on three directions." Fang Yitian said in detail that the first is to promote the clean and efficient conversion and utilization of coal, promote the upgrading of existing technologies with scientific and technological innovation, and continuously improve the economy of technology. The development of a new generation of coal, oil, gas and chemical integration technology, coal chemical coupling with green electricity or biomass energy is worth paying attention to. The second is to promote the application of existing coal chemical conversion technologies in the field of renewable energy, such as the application of coal gasification technology to the deep peak regulation of coal power and the consumption of green electricity. The third is to develop transformative and disruptive technologies and build a new technology system for the fossil energy industry.
Shi Junpeng, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Shanghai Electric Group State-controlled Global Engineering Co., Ltd., added that the replacement of coke oven gas by low-rank coal pyrolysis is a new direction for the innovation and development of the coal chemical industry in recent years. This year, the company has signed 4 related projects. In addition, Shanxi has abundant coal and good wind and solar resources, and the development of green electricity hydrogen production coupled with methanol has obvious advantages. "We look forward to the next government departments to further improve the management system of methanol projects into the park, and promote the implementation and implementation of more methanol new technologies." Shi Junpeng said.
Take government, industry, academia and research funds as a link to let the new quality productivity "blossom and bear fruit"
"Empty talk misleads the country, and the key to cultivating new quality productivity is to land. At present, many enterprises in traditional industries are facing difficulties such as low profits, and at the same time, they must accelerate the pace of industrial structure transformation, and urgently need a platform for communication and transformation of technology, as well as multi-party support from the government, universities, scientific research institutes and financial institutions. Zhang Tianfu's voice caused the entrepreneurs present to nod frequently.
Zhang Jiansheng, a foreign academician of the Russian Academy of Engineering and vice president of the Shanxi Research Institute of Huairou Laboratory, agrees with this: "Universities and research institutes are the source of innovation, but technology implementation and iteration need a platform for transformation and landing, and we must cooperate with user enterprises. This also helps to burst out new quality productivity in many ways. ”
What are the shortcomings that need to be made up for the development of new productivity and the rise of Shanxi's coal chemical industry with government, industry, academia and research funds as a link?
From the perspective of universities, Guo Wei, Secretary of the Party Committee of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Shanxi University and Chairman of the Shanxi Chemical Society, believes that there are still three constraints in promoting the development model of government, industry, academia and research. First, most of the research directions of universities are concentrated in cutting-edge and high-end fields, and the adaptability to the development needs of some enterprises is not high. Second, the maturity of the existing technology of some enterprises is relatively high, and it is difficult to upgrade again. Third, there is still room for improvement in the integration of academic pursuits and enterprise technology applications in colleges and universities. "In the final analysis, talents are needed to help the development of the coal chemical industry with government, industry, academia and research funds." Guo Wei said.
"Compared with developed regions, the R&D capabilities of Shanxi enterprises are generally weak. The development model of government, industry, academia and research funds can give full play to the favorable conditions of universities and scientific research institutes and promote the development of enterprises. Guo Wei said that according to the development status of Shanxi's coal chemical industry, Shanxi University has set up a technology transformation and industrial management office, a domestic cooperation and exchange office and more than 10 industrial technology research institutes. It is worth mentioning that in 2023, a technology transformation project participated by Shanxi University will reach 26 million yuan.
From the perspective of financial investment, Wang Yonghong, director of the Policy Research Division of the Financial Office of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, said that the coal chemical industry needs to strengthen the benign interaction with other relevant industries, revise and improve the industry development norms, strengthen communication between industries and enterprises, and continuously help the coal chemical industry to extend and supplement the chain.
There are also many private enterprises in Shanxi's coal chemical enterprises. In order to enhance the economic vitality of private enterprises, Shanxi Province has established the country's first provincial-level private economic bureau. As a representative of the "mother's family" of private enterprises, Feng Zhishan, deputy director of the Shanxi Provincial Private Economic Bureau, said that the participation of private enterprises in promoting government, industry, academia and research funds can not only enhance the vitality of innovation, but also have more opportunities to participate in major construction projects and key core technology research at or above the provincial level, which will help to achieve new quality productivity in the coal chemical industry.
When it is time to keep the integrity and innovation, the wind and clouds will rise higher and higher. "The historical mission of traditional energy is far from over. Under the new situation, traditional energy still has a lot to do in energy transformation and new energy technology innovation, and there is a lot of market development space for coal-to-hydrogen energy and methanol in the future. It should be noted that the energy transition must adhere to the principle of establishing first and then breaking down, which is also the most pragmatic, scientific and wise choice. Li Shousheng, president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, has high hopes for the development of Shanxi's coal chemical industry.
Once the cradle of the energy and chemical industry, it is charging to the next height. The clarion call for the rise of the energy and chemical industry in the central region has sounded!
Author: Liu Bingyi