【Haichuan Chemical Environmental Protection News】The chemical industry joins the battle to protect the air quality

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According to Sinochem New Network, on December 20th and 21st, air pollution in Beijing reached its peak during this severe fog episode that affected the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Since December 16, more than a dozen provinces and municipalities in the north have been hit by severe fog, with red alerts issued successively in Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and other places. Since the onset of winter, the continuous severe fog has led to production disruptions and restrictions, imposing heavy pressures on businesses as a result of the measures taken to address this issue. At the same time, it has also placed urgent tasks such as upgrades and renovations ahead of regions like Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong. According to the emergency response plans established by various provinces, during conditions of heavy fog, enterprises are required to suspend or limit production. Since November, Hebei Province has issued two \"orders for the control of air pollution\"; industries such as steel and coking that fail to meet the required standards must cease operations for rectification by the end of the year. This measure is regarded by the industry as the strictest action taken to address pollution. These series of measures have put pressure on enterprises in Hebei Province in the fertilizer, coal chemical, and pharmaceutical industries to suspend or reduce production. Du Guolin, Party Secretary and Chairman of Jinmei Jinshi Chemical Industry Investment Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from China Chemical News that due to the current production restrictions, many of the company’s downstream enterprises have had to shut down their facilities, which has led to reduced demand. As a result, these enterprises have high inventory levels, and their cash flows have been significantly affected. Furthermore, the company is currently facing a shortage of raw coal supply, which limits its operational capacity. Although the current fertilizer market conditions have improved significantly, enterprises can only maintain an operating rate of around 70%. During this severe fog event, the environmental protection authorities in Shandong Province conducted on-site inspections of the cities that had issued warnings. To date, 1,767 enterprises in the province have suspended operations, while 1,399 enterprises have reduced their production levels. In areas heavily affected by pollution such as Liaocheng and Dezhou, restrictions were imposed on the use of motor vehicles, which also had a significant impact on logistics and transportation. Shandong Province is one of the provinces that has been tightening environmental protection measures in recent years. At the beginning of November, Shandong Province **released a report on the results of this year’s special environmental protection inspections across the province; 158 companies were placed on the environmental protection \"black list\", including 44 chemical enterprises and 7 coking enterprises. According to Zhang Jinzhi, a researcher in the Policy and Regulations Department of the Shandong Provincial Environmental Protection Agency, in recent years the environmental protection and public security departments in Shandong have carried out joint law enforcement efforts to crack down on malicious illegal activities such as illegal discharge of pollutants, unlawful release of toxic and harmful substances, improper disposal of hazardous waste, intentional misuse of pollution control facilities to exceed allowable emission levels, and falsification or alteration of environmental monitoring data. Fraudulent practices in areas such as online monitoring of pollution sources and the operation and maintenance of pollution control facilities are also targeted. Any cases that meet the criteria for referral are promptly handed over to the public security authorities for handling, with legal action taken against those responsible. Eliminating the source of pollution is key to addressing haze problems. As a major coal-producing province, Shanxi has accelerated the greening process in its coal processing and coking industries in order to tackle haze. Wang Cunjun, director of the Office for Key Projects at the Shanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology, said in an interview with reporters that one of the reasons for the deterioration of the atmospheric environment in the north is the direct burning of large amounts of raw coal; in rural areas of Shanxi alone, six to seven million tons of raw coal are burned in this way each year. To address air pollution at its source, some coal and coking enterprises in Shanxi have proactively adjusted their product portfolios and accelerated the development of \"green coke\" to utilize environmental protection technologies in the effort to combat air pollution. It is understood that this year, Taiyuan University of Technology, the Taiyuan Environmental Protection Bureau, Taiyuan Kecorikang Clean Energy Company, and Shanxi Qingyuan Environmental Consulting Company collaborated to overcome the key technologies involved in the production of clean coke for civilian use, and this project was included in the major research initiatives funded by the Shanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology. Niu Zhenkui, a coking expert from the Shanxi Coal Chemical Industry Association, said that the production of \"green coke\" involves using low-quality coal with high ash and sulfur content; by adding additives, the sulfides in the raw coal are converted into sulfates, while other organic compounds are extracted to produce chemicals such as methanol, crude benzene, and coal tar. Compared with raw coal with the same sulfur content, the use of \"green coke\" reduces sulfur dioxide emissions by 70% and dust emissions by 96%. Starting this year, Shanxi Province will vigorously promote this green technology to accelerate the reduction of haze at its source.