Carbon emission reduction requirements continue to upgrade! How to break the situation of modern coal chemical industry?
Recently, the Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region released the "2020 Regional Modern Coal Chemical Product Price Operation and 2021 Trend Forecast", which shows that due to multiple factors, the overall market situation of upstream and downstream products is not good, and the price index of seven major categories of coal chemical products in the region mainly operates at a low level throughout the year. It was not until December last year that the average transaction prices of products such as coal to gas and coal to polypropylene changed from negative to positive year-on-year growth for the first time.
Under the double impact of the sharp drop in international oil prices and the COVID-19, the entire coal chemical industry has a hard time. Due to the increasing tightening of indicators such as water use, energy consumption, and environmental capacity, the modern coal chemical industry will continue to be under pressure, especially with carbon peaking and carbon neutrality requirements, posing even more severe challenges to the industry.
Some enterprises have been included in the carbon emission priority list
According to the "Implementation Plan for Setting and Distributing the Total Amount of National Carbon Emission Trading Quotas (Power Generation Industry) from 2019 to 2020" issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, key emission units need to complete the pre allocation of carbon quotas before January 29th. The reporter noticed that among the first batch of 2225 enterprises, several coal chemical enterprises such as Datang Keqi Coal to Gas, Shenhua Ningxia Coal, Yitai Chemical, and Baofeng Energy have all been included.
The power generation industry emitted 26000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in any year from 2013 to 2019, equivalent to energy consumption of about 10000 tons of standard coal, which was included in the first batch of national carbon trading quota management key lists. Although the main business of these enterprises is coal chemical industry, they are also listed as key due to their own power plants and the consumption of a large amount of electricity. At present, quota management is only implemented for the power generation emissions of coal chemical enterprises. However, in contrast, the carbon emissions from their production process are even greater. Coal chemical projects are already major emitters and key local regulatory targets, but they have not yet fully participated in the national carbon market. The next step will be to tighten control and introduce more detailed guidelines for carbon inventory and accounting for the industry.
Bao Xinhe, an academician of the CAS Member, also said that 1 ton of coal emits more than 2-3 tons of carbon dioxide. High carbon is one of the main problems that have been criticized by the coal chemical industry for a long time. Whether the transformation process does not emit carbon is the key.
Liu Zhongmin, an academician of the CAE Member and director of the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, further said that the carbon emission attribute of coal chemical industry is process emissions, not coal combustion emissions. Relying solely on the technological progress and efficiency improvement of the coal chemical industry system itself, achieving low-carbon and clean development still faces challenges.
Water, energy, and environmental indicators are more difficult to obtain
Due to the increasing difficulty in obtaining water, energy, and environmental capacity indicators, the industry is still facing more pressure.
The modern coal chemical industry layout in China is centered around the "Three Wests" and Ningxia, supplemented by Xinjiang and Qinghai, and extended to the eastern coastal areas. Many projects are located in the water scarce Yellow River Basin. All coal to oil, 85% coal to olefin, and about half of methanol to olefin projects are located in provinces (regions) along the Yellow River. If we do not include Sichuan, which has a well-developed water system, the total water resources of provinces (regions) along the route are less than 10% of the country. Based on existing production capacity and water usage, the total water consumption for modern coal chemical industry in the Yellow River Basin is approximately 530 million cubic meters per year. It is expected to increase to 620 million cubic meters per year in the next 5-10 years. The water resource situation is severe, and the strictest water intake management policies must be implemented
During the 13th Five Year Plan period, the high coal consumption industry in many parts of the northwest developed rapidly. Due to early overdraft of energy consumption and environmental indicators, many places' energy consumption control and environmental capacity have reached the 'ceiling', leading to repeated obstacles in the approval of new and subsequent planned projects.
Considering the overall situation of the energy system as a whole
In the view of many industry insiders, modern coal chemical industry is one of the mainstream ways of clean and efficient utilization of coal, and it is also an effective supplement to the petrochemical industry. It can alleviate the problem of high dependence on foreign oil, and it is necessary for regions with conditions to develop moderately. Challenging the current situation, the industry urgently needs to explore a way out.
Taking the issue of water use as an example, Han Hongmei suggests strengthening the overall allocation of water resources at the provincial (district) level, conducting in-depth water resource argumentation for new projects, and ensuring the water demand for major and demonstration projects. The industry itself should continuously optimize its water use plans, such as comprehensively utilizing the drainage water from supporting coal mines or mine water to minimize the demand for water from the Yellow River; attach importance to water-saving at the source of the process and the entire process system, and improve the water efficiency of the entire plant
Regarding carbon emission reduction, Liu Zhongmin proposed that coal chemical industry should be considered in the overall framework of the energy system, breaking the situation of independent division of various energy varieties, and promoting the "merger" of resource advantages among various energy systems. On the one hand, we need to break through key technological bottlenecks such as high energy consumption, high water consumption, and high emissions, and achieve green and low-carbon transformation and development of high carbon energy. We will focus on researching new routes for coal conversion, coupled fuel production from oil and gas, and bulk chemicals, and promote the integration and transformation and upgrading of coal chemical and petrochemical industries. On the other hand, innovation drives the integration of low-carbon and multi-energy strategies, utilizing low hydrocarbons produced from renewable energy and high-temperature nuclear energy to supplement coal chemical industry At the same time, it is coupled with carbon dioxide through catalysis to produce oil products and bulk chemicals, with hydrogen production and consumption as the link, and overall, low-carbon can be achieved
The above experts believe that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, the development speed should be controlled based on resource carrying capacity and environmental capacity, and the scale of resource development and industrial layout should be arranged according to energy security, transportation, and pricing capabilities. Focusing on supplementing the capacity of petrochemical products and diversifying raw materials, we will adopt industrial parks, large-scale equipment, diversified products, and green processes to promote the development of industrial clusters.
