Remarkable Advances in Energy Saving    

By Li Yongliang, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation

The energy consumption of major energy-consuming products has dropped significantly
   Although the petroleum and chemical industry has many products, its energy consumption is relatively concentrated. Several major energy-consuming sub-industries, such as oil and gas exploration, oil refining, ethylene, ammonia, caustic soda, calcium carbide and soda ash, account for more than 60% of the industry's total energy consumption. During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period (2006-2010), the unit comprehensive energy consumption of the major energy-consuming sub-industries had dropped significantly. For example, from 2005 to the first half of 2010, the unit comprehensive energy consumption of oil refining dropped from 137.09 kgce/t to 103.42 kgce/t, down 24.56% accumulatively.
   During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, China's petroleum and chemical industry made huge efforts in adjusting its industrial structure.
   The average scale of crude oil processing and ethylene enterprises has increased year by year. During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, China has formed two 20-million-ton oil refining bases and twenty 10-million-ton oil refining bases. China's new ethylene units are basically world-class advanced ones, and the average scale of China's ethylene units has increased substantially. While increasing their industrial concentration, oil refining and ethylene sub-industries have also adjusted their raw material and product structures and improved the environmental quality of their refined oil products. The ratio of diesel oil and gasoline tends to be reasonable. The raw materials for the production of ethylene have been diversified. The proportion of olefins made from coal and heavy oil has increased to more than 20%, and the proportion of nitrogen fertilizer made from natural gas has reduced slightly. The utilization rate of low-quality coal resources and low-grade ores has further improved. CNPC refinery and petrochemical business sector has formed six 10-million-ton oil refining bases, four large-scale ethylene production bases and two large-scale aromatic production bases. In 2001-2005, it shut down 6 small refineries. In 2006-2010, it shut down 2 small refineries again. As a result, the economic scale and industrial concentration of its production units have improved significantly. In the petrochemical field, Sinopec has initially formed 3 refining and chemical enterprise clusters in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Bohai Bay Rim. The average scale of its refineries has increased to 7.47 million t/a, and the average scale of its ethylene units has been close to the world level, and its resource utilization rate has improved significantly. Sinopec has shut down a number of high-energy-consumption and high-material-consumption small refineries, chemical plants and oil depots and inefficient oil wells and gas stations. It has shut down a total backward refining capacity of 16.2 million t/a, closed dozens of small chemical plants and oil-fired boilers and optimized more than 500 oil depots. By doing so, it has further refined its main businesses and reduced its comprehensive energy consumption.
   During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, the synthetic ammonia sub-industry increased its industrial concentration. From 2005 to 2010, it cut the number of ammonia enterprises from 600 to 394 but increased the average scale of the enterprises from less than 100 000 t/a to 145 000 t/a. It has also begun to adjust its raw material routes. During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, in the total ammonia output, the proportion of synthetic ammonia produced with the continuous pressurized powder coal gasification technology increased to 10%, thereby increasing the comprehensive utilization rate of coal. Most enterprises have become multi-generation ones based on ammonia and urea units.
   Under the support of national preferential agricultural policies, the phosphorus fertilizer sub-industry has remarkably improved its product structure, capacity distribution and industrial concentration. The proportion of high-concentration phosphorus and compound fertilizers in the total phosphorus fertilizer output has increased to 76.6%. The 10 largest producers account for 47% of the national total phosphorus fertilizer output. In addition, the mining technology of phosphorus ores, especially the phosphorus ore selection and enrichment technology, has reached international advanced levels, and the industrialization level of low-grade phosphorus ore flotation has increased significantly. Some China-developed technologies, such as slurry-process ammonium phosphate production technology, the rapid extraction technology of phosphoric acid in the low-temperature conversion of potassium chloride to produce sulfur-based compound fertilizer, and the co-generation of DAP by the traditional process and MAP by the slurry process, has reached the world advanced level. Breakthroughs have also been made in the localization and gigantism of high-concentration phosphorus and compound fertilizer production technology and equipment.
   During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, the calcium carbide sub-industry actively increased its industrial concentration. From 2005 to 2010, the average scale of calcium carbide enterprises increased from 42 700 t/a to 80 000 t/a. The industrial layout has also improved, and capacity is more concentrated in resource-rich and energy-rich areas. The calcium carbide capacity of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces and autonomous regions accounts for up to 60% of China's total. During the Eleventh Five-Year Period, the calcium carbide sub-industry eliminated all open calcium carbide furnaces and increased the proportion of internal combustion-type calcium carbide furnace capacity to 80% and the proportion of closed calcium carbide furnace capacity to 20%, greatly improving the exhaust utilization rate of calcium carbide furnaces. In addition, the calcium carbide sub-industry has improved the diversification of its downstream products. Calcium carbide producers actively explore the markets of calcium carbide-based 1,4-butanediol, neoprene, vinyl acetate (PVA), calcium cyanamide and their derivatives. These products now account for more than 10% of China's total calcium carbide consumption.
    During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, the chlor-alkali sub-industry increased its industrial concentration, improved its industrial layout and upgraded its industrial technology and equipment. From 2005 to 2010, the average scale of China's chlor-alkali producers increased from 78 700 t/a to 100 000 t/a. The chlor-alkali capacity rapidly transfers to coal-rich western regions. The fine product ratio of chlorine-consuming products has increased. The capacity of ion-exchange membrane-based caustic soda has accounted for more than 70% of China's total caustic soda capacity. The chlor-alkali sub-industry has completely eliminated the graphite anode diaphragm process and the mercury process.
   During the Eleventh Five-Year Program period, the soda ash sub-industry actively developed less-polluting trona production technology and increased the proportion of trona in the total soda ash output from 4% to more than 15%. At the same time, by adjusting production processes, transforming Solvay-process-based units into Hou's process-based ones and using advanced technology and equipment, it improved the quality of soda ash product and reduced waste emissions and energy consumption. By the end of 2010, there were eight soda ash producers with a capacity of more than 800 000 t/a each in China. They account for about 50% of China's total