Academician Jiang Shicheng: Dual carbon brings the chemical fiber industry to a higher starting point
China’s bio-based fiber industrialization is in an advanced or even leading position in the world. Because fossil resources are non-renewable, we will still have to return to bio-based materials in the future and use these as raw materials to develop petrochemical and chemical fibers. Our next step is to lead the world and move towards higher-end and high-quality development in this field.
China’s chemical fiber industry gradually developed after liberation. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was very weak.
A large amount of synthetic fibers, or wood, or cottonseed lint, are actually grown and produced from this material, but the amount is very limited because the Chinese still have to solve the problem of eating. At that time, a good way was found to solve the clothing problem of the Chinese people by using petroleum as a raw material.
Bio-based fiber complies with the concept of carbon neutrality
Because fossil resources are non-renewable, petroleum resources may become less and less in the next 50 years or longer. However, the demand for these materials is increasing, and they will still have to return to the Bio-based materials are green plants that rely on photosynthesis, and their straws and wastes are used to make chemical raw materials and chemical products.
In the field of chemical fibers, we are keeping pace with foreign research, and have now developed many internationally advanced things in the bio-based fiber industry. For example, we have studied the regenerated cellulose fiber developed by modern industrialization called solvent method, which is called Lyocell in China. This fiber was originally monopolized by Austria. Now China has developed 30,000 tons of projects, and even 60,000 tons. In addition, nylon 56 with Chinese characteristics has been developed, and now bio-based nylon 56 has been developed. Its hexamethylenediamine is not chemically produced, but is made by fermentation.
It should be said that China is no worse than foreign countries in terms of bio-based fiber, and in some aspects, industrialization is still ahead. This is the direction for the future, which is to have better technology. Because in the past, bio-based products were not available, but their quality was poor and the cost was high, making them unacceptable in the market. But now with the advancement of science and technology, we can return to photosynthesis, achieve sustainable development, and be recyclable and renewable.
The road to biorefinery is long and arduous
Many products now rely on petrochemical raw materials, and they will still rely on petrochemicals for a long time in the future. However, it is impossible to rely on petrochemicals forever, because oil resources will gradually become less and less. We must find a new way out in the future. It happens that the world is developing bio-based raw materials. In other words, the original petroleum refining is now called bio-refining. This kind of green plants are produced through photosynthesis, or the waste of green plants. How to make better comprehensive utilization of materials, or straw, and make its effective ingredients into chemical products? This requires scientific and technological progress and innovation.
China and foreign countries are doing research at the same time, and we are still ahead in industrialization in some aspects. Of course, this task is very arduous and has a long way to go. I believe this is definitely a way to return to nature, return to recycling and regeneration On the road of development, this is very correct. The petrochemical industry, chemical fiber industry, and textile industry must make some efforts for this.
At the beginning, China only produced relatively low-end cotton, wool, linen, regenerated cellulose, and viscose fibers. The quality and technical standards were relatively low. At that time, we In order to develop rapidly to meet the needs of the people and improve the market’s requirements for these aspects, we have turned to the field of petrochemicals and chemical fibers. After 50 years of development, we have reached a very high level. Of course, there is still room for improvement, but the entire environmental resources Constrained by the requirements, our development direction must change.
Fiber transformation to high-quality development
Return to the original photosynthetic green plants, or their straw waste, and use these as raw materials to develop petrochemical and chemical fibers. Now it happens to be an alternation stage. The petrochemical industry and chemical fiber are at a peak stage. It may still progress and the output will increase. However, due to these environmental restrictions, carbon emission issues, environmental pollution issues, etc., this area will become more and more Restricted by society, it must transform and develop, and it must develop with high quality. The next step is to make technological innovation the focus of development. As a cutting-edge technology, we must move in this direction as soon as possible.
From the perspective of fiber, we are still moving relatively fast. I have just given examples of bio-based fiber industrialization. These applications should be said to be in an advanced or even leading position in the world. For example, the polylactic acid I just mentioned was made from grain and corn in the past. However, corn is feed and its stock is limited. It is far from enough to really meet the needs of the chemical industry. But the straw in rural areas is 600-700 million tons a year, which is a very large and valuable resource. Of course, it can be used in many ways, but it can be made into chemical raw materials.��A very important direction.
Now in the field of chemical fiber, some innovative technology companies have developed the recycling of whole straw. It turns out that straw contains cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. It must be separated separately and then processed and utilized. This is relatively difficult and the conversion efficiency is relatively low. After crushing the whole straw, through high-throughput screening, we found a fermentation bacteria that can be converted into sugars at a relatively high concentration, and then use the sugars to make the following energy products, including chemical products.
A 10,000-ton experimental device is being built in Taiyuan. Of course, with a lot of help from the government, how to recycle straw and how to distribute it will probably lead to a path of Chineseization. It is definitely a direction to turn rural waste into valuable, high-quality, cost-acceptable chemical products.
China’s chemical fiber industry has gone through these 40 years, from 1980 to 2020. During the 40 years, our chemical fiber industry has grown from scratch, from big to strong, and has gone from being very backward and poor in the past. , can now provide a variety of advanced fiber materials, providing an advanced chemical fiber powerhouse for the textile industry and solving various needs of people’s livelihood. Our next step is to lead the world and move toward higher-end, high-quality development in this field.
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