Sun Lili, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that the development of new chemical materials in China will promote the high-quality development of several trillion-level industries, and 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 opportunities for development.

The period of the 14th five-year Plan is an important key period for China's petrochemical industry to turn to independent innovation and achieve independent development, as well as to the high-end development of new materials. Although the scale of China's three major synthetic materials-plastic, synthetic rubber and synthetic fiber-has ranked first in the world, it is still blank in many high-end new materials and has a high degree of external dependence, so it is necessary to speed up the pace of transformation and technological research and development. At present, it is an important opportunity to promote the high-quality development of China's petrochemical industry. " Sun Lili, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out at the recent investment promotion meeting of the petrochemical new materials industry in the Danyang Economic Circle of 2024 Hainan Free Trade Port.

Sun Lili believes that the development of new chemical materials in China will promote the high-quality development of several trillion-level industries, and it is necessary to aim at four major directions at the same time.

Huge market capacity

Data show that from January to May this year, China's petrochemical industry achieved business income of 6.62 trillion yuan, an increase of 5% over the same period last year, total profits of 351.9 billion yuan, down 3.4% from the same period last year, and total imports of US $383.14 billion, down 3.7% from the same period last year.

Sun Lili pointed out that in recent years, China's oil refining and chemical industries have achieved great-leap-forward development. Up to now, China's oil refining capacity has reached 937 million tons / year, making it the largest oil refining country in the world; 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 first in the world. "with such a huge 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 China will promote the high-quality development of several trillions of industries." Sun Lili pointed out that in the field of new energy power generation, the output of major manufacturing links such as polysilicon, wafers and components in 2023 increased by 64% compared with the same period last year, and the industry output value exceeded 1.7 trillion yuan; in the field of new energy vehicles, the industry output value exceeded 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 exceeded 1.3 trillion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of more than 12%. In the field of biological manufacturing, the total output value of the industry will reach 420 billion yuan in 2023 and is expected to reach 2 trillion yuan in 2033. "such a huge emerging industry is advancing rapidly, promoting the rapid development of economy and society, and new chemical materials are closely related to these rapidly advancing emerging industries, which can be expected in the future."

Focus on four directions

Petrochemical materials are involved in all aspects, and there are hundreds of thousands of kinds of petrochemical materials. at present, the three major synthetic materials in China have reached the first place in the world, and then extend further, in which direction should the force be made?

Sun Lili gave the answer: "one is high-performance synthetic resin." To focus more on high-performance polyolefin materials, they have a wide range of applications, including not only conventional packaging, but also packaging materials for high-end electronic chemicals, as well as engineering plastics and catalytic materials. many catalytic materials come from high-performance polymeric resin materials.

Second, special rubber and thermoplastic elastomers. High performance elastomer POE has a wide range of applications. At present, the performance of POE varies greatly, and there is a lot of room for improvement. 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 used in different scenarios, such as antistatic fibers, melt-blown fabrics, 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 traditional wastewater treatment, water purification, the production of electronic chemicals and hydrogen production by electrolysis of water. " Sun Lili pointed out.

"in the future, it is very likely that new chemical materials will develop along these categories. The development of new materials is endless, and its essence is the reconstruction and reorganization of different molecules. in this process, there will be new discoveries and iterative progress. " Sun Lili said.

Green and low carbon is the premise.

Although the market capacity is huge and the prospect is broad, under the goal of "double carbon", the development of new chemical materials is still facing challenges.

"We should not only have market capacity, but the most important thing is to achieve high-quality development and form new productive forces. The green development of new chemical materials is the trend of the times, which is also full of new challenges. " Sun Lili said that at present, new chemical materials are mainly fossil energy, with high energy consumption and long production process, so it is necessary to use new green and low-carbon technologies to support the development of the industry.

Sun Lili pointed out that the green and low-carbon transformation of new chemical materials in the whole life cycle conforms to the needs of the development of the ecological environment and the urgent need of industrial upgrading. Recently, some western countries have proposed to verify, test, evaluate and evaluate the carbon footprint and total carbon of China's chemical materials production, so as to set up trade barriers. However, from the perspective of our own development, we should also do a good job in this area. On the one hand, we should improve our voice in the international arena, 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 should make efforts in the greening of raw materials and the greening of energy use. For example, green electricity can be used to produce green hydrogen and green alcohol, which is a good way to turn raw materials green. At the same time, the technology itself should be green, including the greening of the manufacturing process and the progress of the catalyst. In addition, the strengthening of the production process will also play a role in improving efficiency, and the efficient innovation of the manufacturing industry can make the production processes such as compression and separation more efficient. Finally, the recycling of resources and resource wastes 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.

Source: international Academician Science and Technology Innovation Center