The world’s first! Shenghong launches the carbon dioxide-methanol-new energy materials industry chain project

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On September 27, the carbon dioxide-to-green methanol project undertaken by Sierbang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Shenghong Group, and Icelandic company Carbon Cycle International was signed in Beijing. It marks the official launch of the world’s first industrial chain project for carbon dioxide capture and utilization – green methanol – new energy materials, jointly developed by China and Iceland. The first phase of this project requires an investment of nearly 300 million yuan, and it is expected to come online in 2022. This project can recover carbon dioxide from industrial exhaust gases to produce photovoltaic-grade EVA resin, which is a key component in photovoltaic panels; this resin is then used in photovoltaic power generation, thus creating a new green pathway for turning carbon into a valuable resource. The project is designed to capture 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, which is equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 15 large-scale petrochemical plants. Through the advanced processing carried out by integrated upstream and downstream facilities, the recovered carbon dioxide can be turned into a valuable resource, yielding 20,000 tons of photovoltaic-grade EVA resin. These materials can be used to produce 50 million square meters of photovoltaic films; when all of these are used for photovoltaic power generation, the installed capacity can reach 5 GW, generating 6–9 billion kWh of electricity per year – an amount equivalent to the output of two 1-million-kilowatt thermal power plants in one year. Compared to traditional afforestation methods for absorbing the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, this project’s \"simulated photosynthesis\" approach is more effective at capturing carbon dioxide; it can directly absorb 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, and indirectly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 550,000 tons per year. This is equivalent to the coverage area of 37,000 hectares of forest, or 370 square kilometers of land, resulting in significant social and ecological benefits. As the entity responsible for implementing this project, Sierbang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Shenghong Group, operates the world’s largest single-unit alcohol-based polyproduction facility with an annual capacity of 2.4 million tons. It utilizes internationally advanced methanol-to-olefins technology, and is a key supplier of domestically in-demand products such as photovoltaic-grade EVA, acrylonitrile, MMA, and EO; its production capacity and output rank among the highest in the country. Once the project is completed and put into operation, the additional green methanol will be converted into intermediate materials such as ethylene through the MTO (Methanol to Olefins) process, and then transported to downstream facilities for the production of new energy materials like photovoltaic-grade EVA. This will enable the creation of the world’s first low-carbon circular green industry chain that integrates carbon dioxide capture and utilization, green methanol, and new energy materials. In addition to using carbon dioxide to produce photovoltaic materials, Sierbon Petrochemical also plans to convert carbon dioxide into food-grade carbon dioxide, as well as into solvents for new energy battery electrolytes, on a scale of millions of tons.