High-end, green, intelligent, see how the chemical fiber industry to win the future with strength

In response to the call of the national carbon peak and carbon neutrality goal, reducing the carbon emission intensity and total amount of the chemical fiber industry is an important development task for a long period of time in the future. Liu Shiyang, Project manager of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, analyzed the key points of carbon emission measurement and the influencing factors of carbon footprint in the chemical fiber industry, and explained the relevant results of carbon emission research in the chemical fiber industry.

At the enterprise level, the influencing factors of carbon accounting mainly include three aspects: energy use intensity and total amount, energy structure and product structure. The accounting boundary of a product's carbon footprint is generally from the acquisition of raw materials, the production of energy and materials, the manufacture and use of products, to the treatment and final disposal of products at the end of life. At present, according to the purpose of the enterprise, the accounting boundary is often defined as "cradle to door" and "door to door". "Cradle to Gate" encompasses the raw material acquisition and manufacturing stages. "Door to door" covers only the manufacturing stage (regardless of the manufacturing of the raw material and its environmental load).

Zheng Guo, vice chairman of the Industrial Surfactant Committee of the China Fine Chemical Association and member of the Oil Additives Branch of the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, introduced that after years of development, China has researched and developed dozens of different fiber varieties of oil agents with independent intellectual property rights, and achieved mass production and application. However, the output and varieties still can not meet the rapid development requirements of the chemical fiber industry, still need to import a large amount of oil every year, especially in the filament fiber (POY, FDY) oil, about 80% of the market in the hands of Japanese and German companies, almost monopolized by foreign countries. In this regard, China still needs to focus on solving the problem of imported oil used in functional fibers for the domestic chemical fiber industry.

The sustainable development of the industry is closely related to the active performance of individual enterprises' social responsibilities and the promotion of green and low-carbon development. At the forum, the heads of enterprises from Satelli, Quanzhou Haitian and Zhejiang Beauty shared the experience and achievements of chemical fiber enterprises in green development exploration practice on the topics of "construction of sustainable vision of chemical fiber enterprises", "Exploration and sharing of green fiber application" and "Research on cutting-edge technology of waste textile recycling".

Sun Jian, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Sustainability at Sateri, introduced the content of Sateri's 2030 Sustainability Vision, which aims to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 in terms of climate and ecosystem protection. Aim to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. In terms of closed-loop cleaner production, through the establishment of a clean closed-loop production system, the emission of harmful substances is reduced to the greatest extent, and we strive to achieve zero-harm production by 2030. In terms of innovation and circular economy, the circular economy is promoted through value chain innovation and multi-party collaboration to create a circular artificial cellulose fiber industry chain. In terms of inclusive growth, we strive to ensure the health and safety of our employees and communities, and create shared value and prosperity through caring and empowerment.

Since the green fiber label and product certification work carried out by China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, the number of green fiber certification enterprises has continued to expand, and with the development of green consumption concept, the application field of green fiber has also continued to expand. As the first downstream enterprise in China to obtain green fiber products certification, Su Yubi, general manager of Quanzhou Haitian Material Technology Co., Ltd. introduced the development of Haitian green fiber products and their products at the forum. From the perspective of product types, at present, Haitian materials' green fiber products include: recycled polyester/recycled nylon fiber, color masterbatch environmental protection fiber, bio-based environmental protection fiber. ecorona is a recycled product made of recycled polyester bottle flakes by special processing process, which has been successfully applied to various products of Haitian and won high praise from customers.

The technical problems of waste textile recycling have been concerned. China is a big country of textile production, but the recycling rate of waste textiles is low. The traditional physical recycling method can not realize the permanent recycling of waste textiles, and the existing chemical method can not meet the development needs of high-value recycled polyester products. Zhejiang Beauty New Materials Co., Ltd. uses waste polyester materials such as waste clothing and scraps as raw materials to produce high quality, multi-functional, traceable and permanent recycling polyester fibers. Guan Jun, deputy chief engineer of Zhejiang Beauty New Materials Co., LTD., introduced that Beauty took the lead in independent innovation of 10,000-ton chemical recycling polyester industrial production demonstration line, and its technical route is to achieve high-value recycling of waste textiles by alcohol hydrolysis - transesterification. The core technologies include: pretreatment technology, recycled DMT synthesis, refining technology, high-purity DMT preparation, by-product utilization. The technical route has the advantages of convenient purification of regenerated monomers, wide applicability of raw materials, mild reaction conditions and low equipment requirements.