Sun Lili, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that the development of new chemical materials in mainland China will promote the high-quality development of trillion-level industries, and at the same time, it is necessary to aim at four major directions.
Under the goal of "double carbon", the utilization of traditional fossil resources has gradually changed from "fuel" to "material", and new chemical materials have also ushered in unprecedented development opportunities.
"The '14th Five-Year Plan' period is an important critical period for Continental Petrochemical to turn to independent innovation and achieve independent development, as well as an important critical period for the high-end development of new materials. Although the scale of the three major synthetic materials in the mainland - plastics, synthetic rubber and synthetic fibers has ranked first in the world, it is still blank in many high-end new material fields, and the dependence on foreign countries is high, so it is necessary to accelerate the pace of transformation and accelerate technology research and development. It is a major opportunity to promote the high-quality development of the petrochemical industry in mainland China. At the recently held 2024 Hainan Free Trade Port Danyang Economic Circle Petrochemical New Material Industry Investment Promotion Conference, Sun Lili, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out.
Sun Lili believes that the development of new chemical materials in mainland China will promote the high-quality development of trillion-level industries, and at the same time, it is necessary to aim at four major directions.
The market capacity is huge
According to the data, from January to May this year, the petrochemical industry in mainland China achieved operating income of 6.62 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%, a total profit of 351.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 3.4%, and a total import of 383.14 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 3.7%, reversing the decline in revenue, profit, and total import and export volume in the same period last year, showing an overall positive trend.
Sun Lili pointed out that in recent years, the mainland's oil refining and chemical industries have achieved leapfrog development. Up to now, the mainland's oil refining capacity has reached 937 million tons/year, becoming the world's largest oil refining country; The ethylene production capacity has reached more than 50 million tons, ranking first in the world; In addition, the scale of the three major synthetic materials is also the largest in the world. "With such a huge production capacity, a series of new deployments are needed under the 'dual carbon' goal."
Sun Lili believes that new chemical materials will be a new growth engine for the development of the petrochemical industry, and the market capacity is huge.
"The development of new chemical materials in mainland China will promote the high-quality development of several trillion-level industries." Sun Lili pointed out that in the field of new energy power generation, in 2023, the output of major manufacturing links such as polysilicon, silicon wafers, and modules will increase by 64% year-on-year, and the industry output value will exceed 1.7 trillion yuan, and in the field of new energy vehicles, the industry output value will exceed 1.5 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 120%; In the field of medical devices, the total output value of the industry will exceed 1.3 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of more than 12%; In the field of biomanufacturing, the total output value of the industry will reach 420 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan in 2033. "The rapid advancement of such a huge emerging industry has driven the rapid development of the economy and society, and new chemical materials are closely related to these rapidly advancing emerging industries, and the future can be expected."
Focus on four major directions
Petrochemical materials involve all aspects, the types are as many as hundreds of thousands, at present, the three major synthetic materials in the mainland have gone to the world's first, and then extend downwards, in which directions should be forced?
Sun Lili gave the answer: "First, high-performance synthetic resin. It is necessary to focus more on high-performance polyolefin materials, which are used in a wide range of applications, including both conventional packaging and high-end electronic chemical packaging materials; At the same time, it is also necessary to focus on engineering plastics and catalytic materials, many of which are derived from high-performance polymeric resin materials. The second is special rubber and thermoplastic elastomer. High-performance elastomer POE is very widely used, and the performance of POE varies greatly at present, and there is a lot of room for improvement, and these elastomer materials will be better used in a wider range of fields in the future. ”
"The third is high-performance synthetic fibers, including functional fibers that can be applied in different scenarios, such as antistatic fibers, meltblown cloth, as well as special fibers and high-performance fibers, which perform well in explosion resistance and flame retardancy. Fourth, special chemical materials. Many materials fall into this category, such as membranes, which are closely related to the production of electronic chemicals and the production of hydrogen by electrolysis in addition to traditional wastewater treatment and water purification. Sun Lili pointed out.
"In the future, new chemical materials will most likely develop along these categories. The development of new materials is endless, and its essence is the reconstitution and recombination of different molecules, and in this process, there will be continuous new discoveries and iterative progress. Sun Lili said.
Green and low-carbon is the premise
Although the market capacity is huge and the prospects are broad, the development of new chemical materials is still facing challenges under the "double carbon" goal.
"We must not only have market capacity, but most importantly, we must be able to achieve high-quality development and form new quality productivity. The green development of new chemical materials is the trend of the times, which is also full of new challenges. Sun Lili said that the current new chemical materials are mainly fossil energy, with high energy consumption and long production process, so it is necessary to support industrial development with green and low-carbon new technologies.
Sun Lili pointed out that the green and low-carbon transformation of the whole life cycle of new chemical materials conforms to the needs of ecological environment development and the urgent need of industrial upgrading. "Recently, some Western countries have proposed to carry out a series of verification, testing, evaluation and evaluation of the carbon footprint and total carbon of the production of chemical materials in mainland China, so as to set up trade barriers. But from the perspective of our own development, we must also do a good job in this regard. On the one hand, we should improve our voice in the international community, and on the other hand, we should do our own work well, so that every product has more green and low-carbon performance. ”
"In the future, we will make efforts in the greening of raw materials and energy. For example, green hydrogen and green alcohol can be produced with green electricity, which is a good way to green raw materials. At the same time, the technology itself should also be green, including the greening of the manufacturing process and the progress of catalysts. In addition, the intensification of the production process will also play a role in improving efficiency, and the efficient innovation of the manufacturing industry can make the production process such as compression and separation more efficient. Finally, the recycling of resources and recyclable waste will also better promote the greening of technology and make the whole life cycle of new chemical materials more green and low-carbon. Sun Lili said.
Text丨Reporter Li Ling