Author: Li Chaodong, Director of the Expert Committee of Anhui Chemical Industry Association
First, the world is in an ecological crisis, and "carbon neutrality" has become the consensus of the world
3,000 years ago, human society entered the stage of agricultural civilization from hunting civilization and began to interfere with and affect the earth's ecosystem. By the 18th century, mankind entered the stage of industrial civilization, which was characterized by: scientific progress promoted the rapid growth of social productivity, the rise of large-scale industry, urban expansion, population explosion, the scale of development and utilization of fossil energy and mineral resources rose, and since then, the demand and harm of social production to nature have spread irreversibly. For more than 200 years, human beings have created and enjoyed unprecedented material wealth and developed material civilization, while the increasing energy consumption, greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions have caused serious damage to the living environment.
It is estimated that since the Industrial Revolution, the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide in the atmosphere has increased rapidly at an annual rate of 0.4%, 0.9% and 0.25%, respectively, and the balance of the entire ecosystem has been broken. According to reports from relevant research institutions, since 1750, the world has emitted more than one trillion tons of CO2, of which developed countries account for about 80% of emissions. In the 100 years of the 20th century alone, human consumption totaled 142 billion tons of coal, 265 billion tons of oil, 38 billion tons of steel, 760 million tons of aluminum, and 480 million tons of copper; the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere rose from below 290 ppm in the early 20th century to 380 ppm; the average temperature on the Earth's surface rose by about 0.74 degrees; and the sea level rose by about 10 centimeters. On November 25, 2019, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a Greenhouse Gas Bulletin in Geneva, which noted that the global average concentration of CO2 in 2018 had reached 407.8 ppm, which was 147% of the pre-industrial period in 1750. According to statistics, in the past century, by the early 1990s, the United States had emitted 170 billion tons of carbon dioxide and the European Union had emitted 120 billion tons.
Developed countries consume fossil fuels uncontrolledly during the industrialization phase, dumping greenhouse gases and pollutants into nature, destroying the environment and laying the seeds of disaster for themselves. The Maas Valley Incident in Belgium in 1930, the Los Angeles Photochemical Smog Incident in the United States in 1943, the Donora Smoke Incident in the United States in 1948, the London Fog Incident in 1952, the Minamata Disease Incident in Japan in 1953, the Rice Bran Oil Incident in Japan in 1968, the Bone Pain Disease Incident in Japan from 1955 to 1972, the Bhopal Incident in India in 1984, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Leak in 1986 were all vicious pollution disasters that shocked the world.
Melting glaciers, rising sea levels, desertification of land, extinction of species, epidemic diseases, sharp decline in biodiversity, frequent natural disasters, etc., have long sent a signal to mankind of the crisis of industrial civilization, reminding mankind that industrial civilization is the initiator of ecological disasters. Fossil energy consumption, which underpins industrial civilization, is the most important source of greenhouse gases, and according to the World Resources Institute, carbon dioxide emissions from fossil energy consumption account for about 72% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions, reaching 34.2 billion tons in 2019.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that an 18-59 centimeter sea level rise by 2100 would be enough to wipe out the Maldives.
The harsh reality makes advanced people realize as early as 100 years ago that ecological disasters will come, and human beings will fall into an existential crisis, issuing the cry of "reverence for life" and "environmental ethics", believing that industrial civilization is the maker of disasters and deaths, and must be transformed into an ecological civilization.
In 1972, the United Nations held the first conference on the human environment in Stockholm, Sweden, which officially sounded the clarion call for mankind to face global environmental challenges and issued the Declaration on the Human Environment, followed by the Nairobi Declaration in 1982 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992.
The Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997, requires countries to work together to limit temperature rises below 2 degrees Celsius, and between 2008 and 2012, industrial carbon dioxide emissions from the world's major industrial countries were on average 5.2 percent lower than in 1990."
Target greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Data on the 6 greenhouse gases are shown in Table 1.
The Paris Agreement was adopted at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (PARIS Climate Conference) on 12 December 2015, signed on 22 April 2016 at the United Nations Building in New York, USA, and came into force on 4 November 2016. The Paris Agreement is the third milestone international legal text in human history to address climate change after the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, forming a global climate governance pattern after 2020.
The greatest contribution of the Paris Agreement is to clarify the "hard targets" that are commonly pursued by the world. The agreement states that all parties will strengthen their global response to the threat of climate change, limit the increase in global average temperature to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and work to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. It is required that the world achieve a peak in greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of this century, and reduce the ecological risks caused by climate change to the earth and the existential crisis for mankind. In September 2019, the United Nations held a special climate summit to require countries to develop carbon-neutral plans. After the signing of the Paris Agreement, the world's major countries have taken action to set carbon neutrality targets, such as the European Union's commitment to 2050, Germany and France's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. China is an active participant and promoter of the Paris Agreement and has won the respect and support of all countries in the world.
Second, China's responsibility as a big country
China's post-reform and opening-up development miracle has amazed the world, and the economic scale surpassed Japan in 2010 to become the world's second largest economy. Today's China is the world's largest manufacturing country, the world's largest trade in goods, the world's only country with a whole industrial system, dozens of bulk chemical products production capacity and output ranked first in the world.
China is the world's largest energy consumer and the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide and methane. In 2019, China's primary energy consumption reached 14.17 ajoules (about 3.417 billion tons of standard oil or 4.881 billion tons of standard coal), accounting for 24.3% of the world's total primary energy consumption, of which coal, oil, natural gas and renewable energy accounted for 57.6%, 19.7%, 7.8% and 4.7% respectively. Fossil energy consumption emits 9.83 billion tons of CO2, accounting for 28.8% of the world's total emissions. In 2020, China's annual energy consumption was 4.97 billion tons of standard coal, an increase of 2%, of which coal consumption fell to 56.5%.
China is in a critical period of industrialization, and the demand for energy is still growing; China's resource endowment structure determines that coal will remain the dominant energy source for a long time, and carbon dioxide emissions will continue to grow.
Another reason for China's high carbon dioxide emissions is high energy intensity, that is to say, the energy consumption of 10,000 yuan of GDP is high, which is 0.402 tons of standard coal in 2020, which is 1.8 times the world average, 2.5 times that of the United States, 3.3 times that of the European Union, and 4.3 times that of Japan.
China is a principled, responsible and daring world power. In November 2012, the state leaders pointed out in the report of the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China: "We must establish the concept of ecological civilization that respects nature, conforms to nature and protects nature, put the construction of ecological civilization in a prominent position, integrates it into all aspects and the whole process of economic construction, political construction, cultural construction, and social construction, and strives to build a beautiful China and achieve the sustainable development of the Chinese nation." "The central government has raised the construction of ecological civilization to an unprecedented height.
In September 2015, national leaders delivered an important speech at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, stating: "In today's world, countries are interdependent and share common interests. We should inherit and carry forward the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, build a new type of international relations with win-win cooperation as the core, and build a community with a shared future for mankind. ”
On the issue of carbon emission reduction, China's attitude is firm and clear. On September 22, 2020, at the general debate of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, it was announced that China "strives to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and strives to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060". On December 12 of the same year, national leaders again announced at the World Climate Ambition Conference that by 2030, China's carbon emissions per unit of GDP will be more than 65% lower than in 2005, and the proportion of non-fossil energy in disposable energy consumption will reach about 25%. This is the most positive signal from the international response to climate change in the past 10 years, which has strengthened the global confidence in achieving the 2 °C temperature control target, demonstrated the responsibility of a big country, and also pointed out the direction for building a "beautiful China" and China's energy transformation and development.
It is reported that At present, China is studying and compiling a carbon peak plan for 2030.
Third, the chemical industry is facing challenges
China's total chemical industry (main business income, excluding oil, gas, chemical ore extraction, crude oil refining. In 2010, it surpassed the United States and jumped to the first place in the world. In 2019, the sales revenue of China's chemical industry reached 6.9 trillion yuan, nearly 3 times more than the US chemical industry. The strong growth momentum and huge development potential of China's chemical industry exude a youthful atmosphere that has attracted the world's attention. At present, China's chemical production capacity accounts for 40% of the world, the chemical market accounts for 40% of the world, and the production capacity of more than 20 kinds of chemical products ranks first in the world. Some institutions predict that by 2030, China's chemical market will account for 50% of the global chemical market.
At present, China's chemical industry covers all categories of basic raw materials, chemical intermediates, fine chemicals and high-end chemical materials, including coal chemical industry, salt chemical industry, agricultural chemical industry, rubber chemical industry, pharmaceutical chemical industry, national defense chemical industry, chemical new chemical materials, fine chemical industry, biochemical industry, chemical equipment and other sub-industries, which can produce more than 40,000 products, forming a chemical industry system with upstream and downstream interconnection and complete support.
In 2020, China's chemical industry achieved a main operating income of 6.57 trillion yuan, down 3.6% from the previous year, and a total profit of 427.92 billion yuan, an increase of 25.4% over the previous year. Synthetic resin production was 104 million tons, an increase of 7%, synthetic fiber (polymerization) monomer production was 74.188 million tons, an increase of 8.2%, and tire tire production was 818 million, an increase of 1.7%.
Although China is the world's largest chemical country, it is not a chemical power. A large chemical country refers to a large production scale, low technical content, and weak competitiveness control; a chemical power refers to a small production scale, high technical content, and strong competitiveness control. China is striving to climb towards the goal of becoming a chemical power, and is in a critical period of changing from big to strong. "Carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" will trigger an unprecedented industrial revolution, and its final result will undoubtedly help the chemical industry to become bigger and stronger, but it is difficult to predict how much impact it will have on the chemical industry. In any case, not only to reach the peak on time, but also to maintain the momentum of development, we must go through the painful test of phoenix nirvana.
(1) High energy consumption and high emissions
The petroleum and chemical industry (including chemical, oil, gas, chemical ore mining, crude oil refining) is one of the six high-energy-consuming industries in China (steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, petroleum processing and coking, chemical industry, and electric power), and the energy consumption of the six high-energy-consuming industries accounts for about 80% of the country's total energy consumption; in 2018, the total energy consumption of the petroleum and chemical industry was as high as 587 million tons of standard coal, ranking second in the industrial sector.
Of particular interest is the modern coal chemical industry. In 2018, China's coal-to-oil production capacity reached 10.53 million tons / year, coal-to-natural gas production capacity of 5.105 billion square meters / year; coal (methanol) to olefins 13.71 million tons / year, the output accounted for 20% of the national olefin production; coal-to-ethylene glycol production capacity of 4.33 million tons / year, the output accounted for 37% of the national ethylene glycol production; coal-to-methanol has become the industry protagonist, the production capacity reached 62.36 million tons / year, the output accounted for 85%. In 2018, the conversion capacity of raw material coal in the modern coal chemical industry was about 160 million tons of standard coal.
More than 40 years of hard cultivation, china's modern coal chemical industry, which ranks first in the world in terms of industrial scale, product type and technology level, has grown to become an important force in China's chemical industry, because of high energy consumption and high emissions, there is no doubt that the fate is uncertain, how to reduce energy consumption, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and improve economic benefits, so as to achieve contrarian development, it is really difficult to predict!
Coal combustion is the largest source of pollution and greenhouse gas in China, coal soot emissions account for 70% of the national total, sulfur dioxide emissions account for 85%, nitrogen oxide emissions account for 67%, carbon dioxide emissions accounted for 80%, of which the contribution of chemical industry, especially coal chemical industry, can not be underestimated.
(2) Development of short boards
China's chemical industry has made remarkable achievements, but the development shortcomings are very prominent. Specific performance: First, the proportion of basic chemical products is too large, the proportion of new chemical materials and special chemicals is too low; the development of high-end industries is lagging behind, and the structure is very unbalanced. Second, the fine chemical rate (that is, the proportion of fine chemicals in all chemicals, which is a sign of the overall technical level of a country's chemical industry) is low, and the fine chemical rate in Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries in 2018 is as high as 68%-69%, and China is only about 45%. Third, the situation of surplus of low-end products and shortage of high-end products needs to be improved, high-end polyolefins, high-performance rubber, engineering plastics and other high-end products rely heavily on imports, with a self-sufficiency rate of about 61% in 2019, of which the self-sufficiency rate of high-end polyolefins is only 39%; the import volume of high-end polyethylene such as metallocene polyethylene, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene, octene copolymere is 6.4 million tons, accounting for about 40% of China's polyethylene imports. Fourth, there is a significant gap between technological innovation and developed countries, such as crude oil direct chemical production technology, coal direct chemical production technology, natural gas direct production of ethylene, propylene technology, CO2 comprehensive utilization technology, photosynthesis technology, life science technology, new energy technology, high-end fine chemical technology and other high-end and cutting-edge technologies, there is still a big gap between the research and development level of China's enterprises and the international advanced level. Fifth, the situation of safety and environmental protection is still grim. According to incomplete statistics, the annual hazardous waste generation of the whole industry is about 15 million tons, and there are 28 major categories related to petrochemicals in the National Hazardous Waste Directory, accounting for 56%, and 45% of the 226 waste codes; the industry-wide VOCs emissions are about 5 million tons, accounting for 40% of industrial VOCs emissions. In 2019, the investigation report of the "3.21" special major explosion accident of Xiangshui Tianjiayi Chemical was released, and the accident caused 78 deaths, 76 serious injuries, and direct economic losses of 1.986 billion yuan. Sixth, carbon dioxide emissions are large, and the situation of emission reduction is grim.
Safety, environmental protection, "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" can be described as the "three mountains" pressed on the top of the petroleum and chemical industry, only by not forgetting the original intention, keeping in mind the mission, relying on the spirit of Yugong to move the mountain to dig the mountain, relying on the spirit of the Long March to break through, can we overcome all difficulties and reach the other side of victory.
Fourth, Anhui Chemical Industry strives to achieve "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality"
The signing of the Paris Agreement shows that mankind is making ideological and spiritual preparations for stepping out of industrial civilization and entering the era of ecological civilization. The ecological turn of modern civilization is a great historical turning point and another leap in human civilization, which is not only a civilization revolution, but also an ideological revolution and a technological revolution. Global consensus and practice have shown that green and low-carbon development, energy revolution and technological revolution are the troika carrying the ecological civilization revolution forward.
On April 2, 2021, when participating in the voluntary tree planting in the capital, the national leader said: "The new development stage has put forward higher requirements for the construction of ecological civilization, and we must make great efforts to promote green development and strive to lead the trend of world development." As the actual leader of the global ecological civilization revolution, China has made a solemn commitment to the world on "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality". Each of our chemical companies has the responsibility to make due contributions to the country's commitments.
Supply-side reform is still on the way, the impact of the new crown epidemic and the Sino-US trade war is superimposed, and the difficulties in the development of Anhui chemical industry have increased sharply; there are less than 10 years left before the "carbon peak" goal is achieved, like a white colt crossing the gap. To achieve "carbon peak", we can only take the road of low-carbon, green and high-quality development, and there is no other way. Historical experience proves that as long as we have a clear understanding of the goal, a good direction, and the right path, we will certainly be able to overcome dangers through development and achieve a win-win situation of industrial prosperity and "carbon peaking". On how chemical enterprises in our province respond to new challenges and open up a new situation, I would like to put forward a few reference opinions for reference.
(1) Prudent decision-making to expand or build new high-energy projects
There are still nearly 10 years to go before the "carbon peak" from now. During this period, fossil energy consumption will continue to increase, and carbon emissions must also have some room to grow, peaking by 2030. Regarding the law of industrialization and carbon emissions, the curve of inequality between economic development and income distribution proposed by simon Kuznets, a famous American economist and Nobel Laureate in economics, is used to express the law of per capita income and carbon emissions, and summarizes the Kuznets U-shaped curve of the relationship between economic development and carbon emissions. See Figure 1.
In Figure 1, the horizontal axis X represents the different stages of economic development, which are divided into five sectors: a, b, c, d and e, namely the natural economic sector (a), the industrialization sector (b), the transition transition sector (c), the post-industrial sector (d) and the ecological economic sector (e). The vertical axis Y represents the level of carbon emissions at different stages of economic development.
Figure 1 Kuznets U-shaped curve of the impact of economic development on carbon emissions
It is clear that at present, our country is in a transitional transition sector. High energy consumption inevitably leads to high greenhouse gas emissions. From the perspective of energy conversion systems, high-energy-consuming projects are the pioneers of low-energy-consuming projects. Without the high-energy calcium carbide industry (the production of 1 ton of calcium carbide consumes about 3200 kWh of electricity), there is no calcium carbide polyvinyl chloride that accounts for 85% of China's total PVC production capacity, there is no large-scale low-energy consumption polyvinyl chloride processing industry and chlorine-containing fine chemical industry; there is no high-energy crystal silicon industry (the production of 1 ton of polysilicon consumes about 100,000 kWh of electricity, and the use of polycrystalline silicon to draw a ton of monocrystalline silicon consumes about 42,000 kWh), there is no unprecedentedly developed photovoltaic power generation, integrated circuits and other low-energy electronic information industries. The Third Industrial Revolution could not happen, and it would be impossible for human beings to enter the information society. In other words, low-energy industries can only have the premise of development based on high-energy industries that have paid a heavy price for energy consumption.
The construction of high-energy projects should be treated with a scientific and rational attitude. We should not completely negate and beat high-energy projects to death just because we want to achieve the "carbon peak" goal by 2030. For a small number of high-energy projects that are conducive to downstream structural adjustment, perfect industrial chain, high-quality development, and maximization of energy consumption benefits, the comprehensive consideration results prove that high-energy projects that can promote without delaying the "carbon peak" should still lose no time in accelerating construction, and put into production by 2030 to exert benefits. If it is a high-energy-consuming project that blindly rushes to be built in order to expand the scale of enterprises and increase the production capacity of low-end products, it should be resolutely prohibited.
(2) Actively expand the industrial utilization of carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, but if it can be applied to industrial production, it will become an industrial raw material, turning waste into treasure and benefiting mankind. For a long time, scientists have persevered in exploring carbon dioxide disposal solutions and achieved positive results, which is the well-known CCUS. Today, when the situation of "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" is pressing, it is particularly urgent to make greater efforts to develop new carbon dioxide-based technologies, new products and new materials, and to expand the breadth and depth of carbon dioxide applications. The chemical industry is a large emitter of carbon dioxide and a large user of carbon dioxide, with the strongest technical advantages, and should take the lead and make achievements.
Up to now, the carbon dioxide conversion technology that is being vigorously developed has the following areas, and some research results have been relatively mature.
1 CO2 hydrogenation to chemicals
(1) CO2 hydrogenation to methanol
(2) CO2 hydrogenation to formic acid
(3) CO2 hydrogenation to gasoline
(4) CO2 hydrogenation to produce low-carbon olefins
(5) CO2 hydrogenation to α-olefins
(6) CO2 catalytic hydrogenation for the synthesis of isoparaffins
(7) CO2 low temperature and efficient hydrogenation to methanol
2 CO2 reacts with methane
(1) Catalytic reforming to synthesize syngas
(2) Direct conversion to oxygenated compounds
3 CO2 chemicals
(1) Epoxy compounds and CO2 plus synthesis of cyclic carbonate
(2) CO2 to dimethyl carbonate / ethylene glycol
(3) CO2 to MMA/butyl butyrate
(4) CO2 to aromatic hydrocarbons
(5) CO2 resource synthesis DMF
4 CO2 is converted to CO
5 CO2 converted to renewable energy
(1) CO2 is converted into a new fuel
(2) Conversion of CO2 into renewable energy
6 Other applications of CO2
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="71" >(iii) carbon dioxide-based degradable plastic (PPC).</h1>
PPC is an aliphatic polycarbonate polymer catalyzed by the catalytic synthesis of carbon dioxide with epoxy compounds such as propylene oxide or ethylene oxide. The earliest foreign countries to study PPC are the United States and Japan, and China began to establish research in 1985. China has successfully developed CO2 degradable plastics, copolymerized with industrial CO2 and glycolysis as raw materials, of which the CO2 content is 31% to 50%. PPC is currently mainly used for foam materials, film packaging materials and medical materials.
The key to synthesizing carbon dioxide into a polymer product is catalyst technology. Henan Tianguan cooperated with Sun Yat-sen University to build a 5,000 tons /year PPC production plant. Inner Mongolia Mengxi Group Company adopts changchun yinghua institute technology, using carbon dioxide in the cement production process, has built a 3,000 tons / year PPC production device, the products are mainly used in packaging and medical materials. The Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences cooperated with CNOOC to build a 3,000-ton/year PPC production plant in Hainan Oriental Chemical Industry City. Zhejiang Taizhou Bangfeng Plastics Co., Ltd. began to use the patented technology of Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry in June 2010 to build a 30,000 tons / year carbon dioxide-based plastic production line in Shangma Industrial Zone, Wenling City, Zhejiang Province, and the first phase of the 10,000 tons / year project was completed in 2012. Jiangsu Zhongke Jinlong Chemical Co., Ltd. has built a production line of 220,000 tons of carbon dioxide-based polypropylene carbonate polyols and a production line of 1.6 million tons of high-flame retardant insulation materials.
Some of the above carbon dioxide conversion and application paths have already had the conditions for industrialization, and some are still in the industrial experimental stage, and may not be able to achieve industrialization, but it has been shown that perseverance in research and exploration will certainly provide more possibilities and options for the resource utilization of carbon dioxide. Chemical enterprises in our province should pay close attention to the scientific and technological progress in related fields, broaden the application field of carbon dioxide, and lay the foundation for carbon emission reduction.
(4) Accelerate the completion, extension or restructuring of the industrial chain
Chain development has always been one of the characteristics of the chemical industry. Enterprises, especially large, raw material-based chemical enterprises, if they are limited to horizontal expansion and not vertical extension, will often weaken their ability to resist risks and affect the high value of resource input. The construction of the industrial chain is generally a low-energy project, which is conducive to contributing carbon emission reduction to the peak while enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises, and it is easy to obtain government support. Judging from the current situation of China's chemical industry development, the first thing that should be highly concerned is high-end fine chemicals and high-end synthetic materials.
1. High-end fine chemicals
The variety of high-end fine chemicals is numerous and increasing. At present, it is most in demand in our country
Urgent and most popular in the market are high-end electronic chemicals.
2. Biodegradable plastic
Biodegradable plastics refer to polymer materials that can be quickly degraded into carbon dioxide and water through the life activities of microorganisms in the natural environment, and can be divided into natural polymer materials, microbial synthetic materials and chemical synthetic materials according to their sources. There are dozens of biodegradable plastics developed worldwide, but only a few can be industrially produced.
According to the British "Mirror" newspaper, from the early 1950s to 2015, humans produced a total of 8.3 billion tons of plastic, of which 6.3 billion tons have been turned into waste. Of these discarded plastic products, only 9% are recycled, 12% are incinerated, and the remaining 76% are buried in landfills or discarded into the natural environment, becoming a serious source of pollution.
In this social context, degradable plastics have gradually become the world's hottest and most popular star products, and the research and development, production and popularization of degradable plastics have become the world's research hotspots. On December 1, 2019, the scientific american monthly website published the article "Top Ten Emerging Technologies of 2019 - Technologies That Are Bound to Change the Status Quo of the World", selecting the top ten emerging technologies in 2019, the first of which is biodegradable plastics.
Waste plastics produced by the large-scale use of single-use plastics have become a major environmental hazard and have attracted world attention. Countries have formulated plastic bans to ban disposable plastic products and switch to degradable plastics, which has created unprecedented development opportunities for degradable plastics. In China, the varieties of degradable plastics that currently have industrial production conditions are shown in Table 7.
The development prospects of degradable plastics are unquestionable, in China's limelight, in the ascendant, does not belong to the high energy consumption industry, the province's conditional chemical enterprises should lose no time in accelerating development. If the conditions are not met, and can not blindly follow the trend, rush up, to prevent the gains from not paying off, the desire to reach the speed.
5. Conclusion
(1) Calmly analyze and adapt to the situation
"Carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" are the global consensus to save the future of mankind. Achieving "carbon peaking" and "carbon neutrality" is an unprecedented and huge century project, which needs to be realized through the industrial revolution, energy revolution, technological revolution and consumption revolution. To achieve this goal, China will have to work hard several times more than The West. Developed countries are naturally peaked, with 50 years or more to reach "carbon neutrality", while China's development stage makes it possible to reach "carbon peak" to "carbon neutrality" time is only half of that of developed countries.
Developed countries have taken action. The big european and American oil companies are promoting strategic transformation, from international oil companies to international energy companies, and the development trend is low-carbon, electrification and digitalization. BP announced that after 10 years, oil and gas production will be reduced by 40%, and a natural gas and low carbon segment will be established to integrate gas supply, power supply, hydrogen energy and carbon collection business, and operating emissions will be reduced by 30% to 35% compared with 2019 in 2030, and carbon emissions in the upstream production process will be reduced by 30% to 40%, at least 15% lower than in 2019, and strive to achieve net zero emissions in operations and upstream businesses in 2050 and carbon neutrality in 2060. Dutch Shell aims to become the world's largest integrated power supplier by 2030, accounting for 20% of new energy production. Total announced that natural gas will increase its share of energy production to 60% in 2035, low-carbon business to 20%, and carbon neutrality by 2050. BASF aims to achieve zero global CO2 emissions by 2050. Dow plans to reduce net carbon emissions by 5 million tons by 2030, 15 percent less than its 2020 baseline, and will be carbon neutral by 2050.
As a responsible world power, China, adhering to the globalization concept of building a human community, has made solemn commitments to the world on the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the realization of "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality". China is the world's largest energy consumer, carbon dioxide emitter and first coal consumer, and in order to fulfill its commitments, it must pay extraordinary efforts and heavy costs.
The petrochemical industry is a high-carbon emission industry and a pillar industry of the national economy, shouldering the burden of development and emission reduction. There is only less than a 10-year window from the "carbon peak" in 2030, and in the next 10 years, the national policy level of emission reduction measures may be further tightened, and some people and units who do not know much about the chemical industry and do not have deep research may impulsively put forward more radical and practical suggestions to influence government decision-making.
In the face of the severe situation, the petrochemical industry can only move forward against the trend and take the initiative to have a way out, and the domestic petrochemical giants have taken action. Sinopec decided to build China's first hydrogen energy company through the energy revolution, and during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, 1,000 hydrogen refueling stations will be built to systematically lay out the whole industrial chain of hydrogen energy, so that hydrogenation is as convenient as refueling. PetroChina has incorporated green and low carbon into one of its five major development strategies, and has basically reached zero emission targets by around 2050. CNOOC announced the official launch of the carbon neutrality plan, which will comprehensively promote the company's green and low-carbon transformation, and promote the realization of clean and low-carbon energy in the "14th Five-Year Plan" period to more than 60%.
"Carbon neutrality" is the ultimate goal of green development and ecological civilization, when the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere will no longer increase, the earth's temperature will no longer rise, and the future of mankind will be reliably guaranteed, otherwise there will be no Paris Agreement. But "carbon peak" is almost a matter of the moment, the high-pressure situation gives people the feeling of "mountain rain is going to come to the wind full of buildings", before 2030 to achieve "carbon peak" is a rigid task, although the country has not yet issued a detailed action roadmap, but as a high energy consumption, high emissions of the petrochemical industry, calm and rational, painstaking, think well, do their own thing, to a self-revolutionary contribution to the realization of this goal, has been urgent.
(2) Seek truth from facts and deal with them calmly
In the face of the current carbon reduction situation, enterprises should neither wait and see, nor rush forward. China's vast territory, the situation is complex, different regions, different industries, different enterprises energy consumption, carbon dioxide emission intensity is not the same, "carbon peak" difficulty is different, peak can not achieve the same step. But in any case, every enterprise is a participant in this unprecedented green revolution, and must have the mental preparation and practical action to pay the price to contribute. Early planning, early action, early peaking, we can be in the initiative, have more room for development, and be at ease in the process of achieving "carbon neutrality" in the next stage. The iron law that development is the last word can never be changed, turning pressure into motivation and challenge into opportunity is a wise move and a way to win.
China's carbon peak before 2030 is the will of the country and the macro goal, and it will be impossible for every enterprise to reach the peak, even after achieving the carbon neutrality goal, nor is it necessary to do it, but it will definitely form a scientific, flexible, differentiated, stable and reliable carbon neutral situation. There is no doubt that high-energy-consuming, high-emission and heavily polluting industries such as traditional energy, petrochemicals, coal chemicals, etc., will be hot spots before "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality", and the objects of revolution will all go through the baptism of phoenix nirvana and desire to be reborn!
(3) Meticulous planning, steady and far-reaching
At present, the most urgent task is to formulate an integrated plan for the development of chemical enterprises and "carbon peaking", and the planning period is obviously not limited to the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan", and it must be planned together with the "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan". Through supply-side reform, backward production capacity elimination, raw material diversification, new process and new technology application, structural adjustment, integration of the two modernizations, industrial chain improvement, industrial upgrading and other measures, an unprecedented chemical industry revolution has been set off, making carbon peak (and later carbon neutrality) become active water and wood.
The number of chemical companies is large and the situation is different. Enterprises should proceed from their own conditions realistically and plan the development path in the new era, and enterprises that have formulated the "14th Five-Year Plan" development plan should be adjusted to make it deeply integrated and complementary to the task of "carbon peaking", and must not be ambitious, blindly follow the trend, and set unrealistic goals, resulting in consequences that cannot be regretted.
The construction of an advanced and perfect industrial chain is the highest realm of chemical development, in order to improve the industrial chain, we should not cut off and deny the transformation, expansion or even new construction of high-energy projects. The construction of a high-energy project is negative from a local point of view, but it may be positive from a global point of view. As mentioned earlier, without the high energy consumption of calcium carbide, there is no huge PVC industry; without the high energy consumption of crystalline silicon, there is no information industry of cleaner production. Of course, the construction of any energy-consuming project must be scientifically demonstrated, cautious and cautious, so that it is worth the money; to prevent impatience and risky breakthroughs.