2021(4th) China Propylene oxide Industrial Chain Technology Development and Industry Development Forum held in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province

As the largest production and sales place of propylene oxide in Asia, China has ushered in a new round of capacity expansion this year, and the new capacity is expected to be no less than one million tons. With the introduction of "dual carbon", "dual control" and carbon-related policies, the development variables of propylene oxide industry are also increasing.

Lyu Xiaodong, an expert from Sinopec Economic and Technological Research Institute, said at the meeting that the improved safety and environmental protection requirements will further raise the entry threshold for the propylene oxide and polyether polyol industries. The inclusion of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide in the list of specially controlled chemicals will also improve the concentration of the propylene oxide and polyether polyol industry. In particular, the proposal of the "two-carbon" target will have a profound impact on the internal and external development environment of the industry.

The "double control" of energy consumption will affect the construction and efficiency of the industry in the short and medium term, and restrict the expansion of energy-intensive industries in the long term, making relevant industries gradually become "permissive" industries, and the supply gap will be amplified accordingly. Therefore, it will also benefit industries with low raw material cost ratio, and benefit enterprises in stock, advanced production capacity, as well as connecting enterprises in new energy and environmental protection industries. It is expected that the policy will accelerate some projects in the short term, but in the future, the cycle for new projects to be put into production will be longer, and the enthusiasm for investment and construction will be weakened." Lu Xiaodong said.

Sun Jie, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Yida Chemical Co., LTD., believes that the current direct propylene oxidation process of propylene oxide (HPPO), propylene oxide/styrene, propylene oxide/methyl tert-butyl ether and other propylene oxide production processes have their own characteristics, but no one process has absolute advantages. Among them, HPPO enjoys the national industrial policy encouragement, and has the advantages of environmental protection, low energy consumption, less investment and so on. She suggested that when enterprises invest in propylene oxide projects under the "dual carbon" and "dual control" environment, they should not only consider the source of energy index and pollution control index, but also choose their own process and technology route after considering various factors such as its advanced nature, integrity, raw material source, price of supporting products, upstream and downstream industrial chain, sales channels and capital situation.

Ni Ji, chief analyst of Orient Securities Chemical Industry, believes that according to the statistical standard of China carbon accounting database, China's current annual carbon emissions are about 10 billion tons. Industrial manufacturing accounted for 39 percent of the total, while petrochemical and chemical industries contributed 400 million tons. If emissions from coal chemical processes are taken into account, the total emissions from petrochemical and chemical industries are about 1 billion tons, making it urgent to achieve the goal of "double carbon". In the future, the chemical industry will face multiple changes, such as production route change, cost curve reconstruction, new and old demand switching, and so on. Enterprises should find appropriate positioning and outlet in the new demand and new cost curve brought about by carbon neutrality as soon as possible.

In Ni Ji's opinion, the project of propane dehydrogenation (PDH)- propylene - propylene oxide integrated industry chain will usher in development opportunities in the "two-carbon" era. In the carbon neutral scenario, the carbon price is included in the cost, which corresponds to a sharp rise in the cost of hydrogen. In the future, the profit center of light hydrocarbon chemical industry should be shifted from the olefin side to the hydrogen side. Among them, PDH projects are mostly in the eastern coastal areas, where the coal index is limited and suitable for the development of chemical products that only need hydrogen. Synthetic ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, 1, 4-butanediol (BDO) and adipic acid are the better choices. Hydrogen peroxide can be used in the production of lithium iron phosphate, and BDO and adipic acid are the main raw materials of polybutylene terephthalate (PBAT), which have huge potential explosive markets. Ni Ji said.

The forum is co-sponsored by China Chemical Industry News Co., LTD., Jiangsu Yida Chemical Co., LTD., and co-organized by Changzhou Ruihua Chemical Engineering Technology Co., LTD. Nearly 200 industry representatives attended the conference.

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