As a major textile country in the world, China's polyester consumption reached 33.04 million tons in 2015. However, in the upstream of this huge market, the external dependence of aromatic paraxylene (PX) is as high as 56%, and the industrial chain is “previously post-suppressedâ€. Profits are lost in the import process.
During the '13th Five-Year Plan' period, China's aromatics industry chain growth rate will drop significantly, but PX's external dependence will rise sharply on the basis of the current 56%. PX is still the most profitable product in the entire industrial chain. Yang Ting, secretary general of the Working Committee of the Chemical Industry Federation Park, pointed out at the 2016 China Aromatics Industry Chain Development Conference held on August 10.
On August 3, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Guiding Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Adjusting the Structure of Petrochemical Industry to Promote Transformation and Increase Benefits", stating that it is necessary to significantly enhance the support capacity of basic raw materials such as olefins and aromatics as one of the development goals. The contradiction of insufficient aromatics production capacity needs to be alleviated.
56% of imports highlight the imbalance between supply and demand
PX is mainly used in the production of purified terephthalic acid (PTA). PTA is further used in the production of polyester (polyester) and non-fibre polyester products such as polyester flakes and polyester film.
As the core of the aromatics industry chain, there is a huge gap in China's PX production. Academician Qian Xuhong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said that in 2015, China’s apparent consumption of PX was 20.81 million tons, of which 11.65 million tons were imported, up 16.8% from 2014, and foreign dependence was as high as 56%. From January to June this year, China imported 6.22 million tons of PX.
Despite this, the stalemate in the domestic “neighborhood avoidance effect†is difficult to break, and China’s PX capacity building is constrained. Luo Hongjing, deputy director of the Optimization Consulting Center of Sinopec Economic and Technological Research Institute, pointed out that China will still import a large number of PXs in the future. It is estimated that by 2020, China will still import more than 6 million tons.
China's footsteps have slowed, and the production capacity of neighboring countries has increased substantially. The data shows that global PX capacity has maintained rapid growth, with 3/4 of its capacity concentrated in Asia. "The goal of these capacities is the entire Chinese market." Academician Qian Xuhong said. At present, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have become the main importers (regions) of China's PX, accounting for 90% of the total imports.
The imbalance between supply and demand has made it impossible for Chinese enterprises to have the right to speak in the import of PX. Due to the continuous growth of PX consumption and external dependence, PX prices in the international market continue to rise. Data show that as of August 10, PX prices have risen 5.89% in nearly 60 days.
“The downstream products produced by PX are related to our food, clothing, housing and transportation. If we rely on imports for a long time, the high cost of raw materials will eventually be passed on to the cost of living for consumers.†Academician Qian Xuhong said.
Complete technology ranks among the best in the world
The cost of living mentioned by Academician Qian Xuhong involves all aspects of daily life of the people. Clothes, sheets, curtains, mineral water bottles and other common things in life, the source is PX.
Academician Cao Xianghong of the Chinese Academy of Engineering once calculated an account: 1 ton of PX is equivalent to the fiber produced by 12 mu of land, and 1 million tons of PX project is equivalent to 12 million mu of land. In the context of the shortage of cultivated land resources in China, it is impossible to solve the people's use of land by land.
In fact, the National Bureau of Statistics data show that in 2015 China's fiber processing capacity of 53 million tons, of which polyester fiber consumption of 37.04 million tons, has accounted for 70% of the total.
Due to the irreplaceability of PX, China's related companies have been researching and developing safety, environmental protection and high-efficiency technologies for many years. “PX is a low-toxic chemical with safety and gasoline equivalent, and the production process is mature and safe and controllable,†said Academician Qian Xuhong.
At present, China's PX production technology has become one of the world's top. In 2015, Sinopec's “Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Aromatics Complete Technology Development and Application†project won the National Science and Technology Progress Special Award, making China the third country in the world to master this technology after the United States and France.
Wu Hao, deputy chief engineer of Sinopec Research Institute of Petrochemical Science, said that this technology can not only significantly improve the utilization efficiency of aromatic resources, but also “near zero emissionsâ€. The technology has been successfully applied and the equipment runs smoothly. Multi-unit technology has been widely used in China and has been extended to many countries and regions such as Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe.
Breaking the deadlock requires the linkage of government and enterprises
The low toxicity of PX has been widely publicized in various media in the past two years. Now it is not the chemical nature of the product itself that is easy to be questioned, but whether the production process is reliable after entering the production process, and whether the management of the enterprise is trustworthy.
"The PX project cannot be landed. The problem lies not in the PX itself, but in the opaque government information. It is because the people do not trust the technical level and management level of the chemical companies." Academician Qian Xuhong believes that in order to eliminate this distrust, the government needs More efforts should be made with the enterprise to improve the planning and management of petrochemical projects, integrate project planning and urban development planning, and be transparent.
In this task, the role of the government is mainly to make overall planning and public opinion guidance. According to the "Pipeline Industry Planning and Layout Plan" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, in recent years, there have been many mass incidents caused by PX and other projects in the country, which not only seriously damaged the government's credibility, but also damaged the reputation of the petrochemical industry, and the industrial development and society. Stability has had a negative impact. The program requires that all levels of departments should strengthen information disclosure, protect the public's right to know, timely release industry developments, and actively respond to public opinion hotspots and public concerns.
According to this plan, the new paraxylene project should be laid out in the industrial base and built in accordance with the requirements of refining and chemical integration and large-scale installation. The annual production capacity of the paraxylene plant reaches 600,000 tons and above, and the by-products such as hydrogen and reformed raffinate oil are comprehensively utilized.
Eliminating the sense of distrust and breaking the deadlock requires long-term joint efforts between the government and enterprises. For enterprises, it is the main way to strengthen popular science propaganda and take the initiative to accept government and public supervision. Many subsidiaries, such as Sinopec, have realized real-time environmental data monitoring of important equipment and locations, and have networked monitoring data with local environmental protection departments and accepted supervision from relevant departments. At the same time, Sinopec encourages subsidiaries to open door-to-door businesses, strengthen communication with surrounding residents through public open days and walk into local communities, popularize petrochemical knowledge, solicit opinions and suggestions, and welcome supervision. (This reporter intern reporter Tan Weichun)
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