On June 12, the People's Daily published an article entitled "Lianyungang, Jiangsu Develops Green Carbon-Negative Industries: Carbon Dioxide Transformed into New Energy Raw Materials," reporting on Shenghong Petrochemical's innovative practice of turning carbon into treasure, taking the lead in the industry to connect the "carbon dioxide capture and utilization - green methanol - new energy materials" industrial chain, and helping the development of new energy industries such as photovoltaics and lithium batteries.
New-type productivity is itself green productivity. Shenghong Petrochemical has embarked on a new path of "carbon reduction throughout the entire process”; green substitution at the source, energy conservation and emission reduction in the process, turning carbon into treasure in the end. It has innovated in process decarbonization and a carbon-negative industrial chain operation, promoted the accumulation of "carbon neutrality" technology and its experience in the petrochemical field, and contributed to accelerating the transformation to clean energy and green and low-carbon development.
The following is the full text of the report:
Since its establishment, it has been committed to selecting outstanding enterprises in the field of ESG to promote the sustainable development of Chinese enterprises. This year, the selection criteria of the list are more strict, covering many aspects such as environmental responsibility, social responsibility and corporate governance, aiming to comprehensively evaluate the comprehensive performance of enterprises.
Methanol is required to manufacture lithium battery electrolyte solvent carbonate. The raw materials for the production of methanol through traditional processes mainly come from coal, oil, natural gas, etc., and a large amount of carbon dioxide will be generated during the production process. How to convert carbon dioxide into raw materials to make methanol and achieve zero-carbon and even carbon-negative production? In Xuwei New Area, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, a green carbon-negative industry chain is gradually forming.
According to introductions, after the carbon dioxide emitted during the petrochemical production process is collected, it reacts chemically with hydrogen to form methanol, and then enters the downstream device through the system pipeline corridor, which is used to manufacture lithium battery electrolyte solvents, photovoltaic film materials, etc., forming a carbon-negative industry chain of "carbon dioxide capture and utilization - green methanol - new energy materials".
So, how is the process of turning waste into treasure realized? The reporter recently walked into the production site of Shenghong Petrochemical Industrial Group in Xuwei New District.
The petrochemical base in front of us is like a steel forest, with towers, pipelines, reactors and chimneys everywhere. The staff pointed to a towering chimney not far away and said, "This is the chimney of the oil refining device. After we transform it, we can capture the carbon dioxide in the exhaust gas and then transport it to the methanol production base through the pipeline."
Following along, the reporter came to the methanol production base. After carbon dioxide is transported here, its concentration is increased from 80% to 90% through pretreatment desulfurization and purification, to then chemically reacts with hydrogen to make crude methanol, as the staff introduced.
A tall tower attracted the attention of the reporter. Wu Angshan, head of Shenghong Petrochemical's carbon dioxide green methanol project, introduced that the tower is more than 60 meters high and more than 2 meters in diameter. It is one of the main components for the carbon dioxide green methanol project; the main distillation tower. “We input crude methanol into the tower, convert it into refined methanol, and finally use it to produce lithium battery electrolyte solvent”, Wu Angshan said.
In recent years, to better promote green transformation, Shenghong Petrochemical has introduced green methanol synthesis technology and explored "carbon capture" upgrades. "Overseas projects only have an annual capacity of a thousand tonnes. In order to meet the company's 100,000-tonne capacity needs, the team expanded the capacity, improved safety standards, and upgraded and integrated the process according to local conditions, ultimately complementing downstream industries and forming a complete carbon-negative industrial chain," said Wu Angshan.
It is understood that the project can recover 150,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, produce 100,000 tonnes of methanol, and produce 50 million square meters of photovoltaic film every year. Wu Angshan said that after these photovoltaic films form photovoltaic panels, they can produce 6 billion to 9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, helping green and low-carbon development.
In recent years, Lianyungang has actively developed green and carbon-negative industries and vigorously implemented carbon dioxide capture and utilization projects. Once all relevant projects are completed, they are expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1 million tonnes annually, effectively promoting the green and low-carbon energy transformation of the petrochemical industrial park.
