Gas head nitrogen fertilizer methanol industry urgently needs to break the bottleneck

It is reported that last week, the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association sponsored the experience exchange meeting of natural gas raw material synthesis ammonia and methanol production technology in Chengdu
.
Gu Zongqin, chairman of the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, pointed out at the meeting that the current development of natural gas-to-ammonia and methanol industries faces prominent problems such as insufficient natural gas supply, lagging development of energy-saving and carbon-reducing technologies, large fluctuations in raw material prices, single product structure, and relatively high energy consumption per unit of product.
It is urgent to break through the bottleneck and achieve low-carbon and high-quality development
.

Gu Zongqin said that the current tight energy supply and price fluctuations are particularly prominent
.
From an international perspective, since the beginning of winter, global natural gas prices have hit a record high
.
Among them, the price of natural gas in Europe has soared by 4 to 10 times, boosting the price of electricity to the highest level in the past ten years, exceeding 100 euros per MWh
.
The same is true in China.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, some nitrogen fertilizer and methanol companies have deeply felt the pressure of rising natural gas, coal and electricity prices
.
Gu Zongqin said that under this circumstance, enterprises should do a good job of ensuring supply and stabilizing prices
.
According to him, the current synthetic ammonia production capacity using natural gas as raw material accounts for about 20% of the total synthetic ammonia production capacity
.
Enterprises should arrange the start and stop time reasonably, and when the natural gas supply is sufficient, they should improve the utilization rate of production capacity and produce more fertilizers as much as possible; arrange maintenance during the period of tight natural gas supply in winter
.
Enterprises should also strengthen price self-discipline, consciously accept supervision, take the lead in stabilizing the ex-factory price of nitrogen fertilizer, and protect the interests of farmers
.

Green development is an urgent concern of the gas nitrogen fertilizer and methanol industries
.
Gu Zongqin pointed out that at this stage, there is still a certain gap between the energy consumption per unit product of synthetic ammonia and methanol in China and the international advanced level
.
The Ammonia Technology Roadmap report released by the International Energy Agency shows that the best available technology (BAT) energy performance level for natural gas-to-ammonia synthesis is 28 GJ/t, producing about 1.
8 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of ammonia
.
Foreign projects that have been put into production can reach a minimum of 27 GJ/ton, while the domestic minimum consumption is close to 30 GJ/ton, and there is still potential for further improvement in energy consumption
.
At present, CNOOC Chemical, Yuntianhua, Chongqing Jianfeng and other units are carrying out energy-saving and carbon-reducing transformation to steadily improve the level of green development
.

Continuing to improve the ability of scientific and technological innovation is also the focus of the development of the gas nitrogen fertilizer and methanol industry
.
Gu Zongqin emphasized that many enterprises currently have problems in safety, environmental protection, energy saving, carbon reduction and management.
To solve these problems, the most fundamental and effective way is innovation
.
Enterprises should pay attention to the cultivation of their own innovation ability, learn from external experience and successful practices, and integrate innovation achievements into all aspects of enterprise production management
.

Gu Zongqin also proposed to actively do a good job in industry standards
.
He said that recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, etc.
have successively released documents such as "Benchmarking and Benchmarking Levels of Energy Efficiency in Key Fields of High Energy-consuming Industries (2021 Edition)" and "The 14th Five-Year Plan for Industrial Green Development", which proposed higher standards for the industry.
request
.
Enterprises should actively participate in the formulation of national standards, industry standards and group standards
.
The "Grading Standard for Cleaner Production Level (Air Pollutants) in Natural Gas, Coke Oven Gas to Synthesize Ammonia, and Urea Industries" led by China Shipping Chemicals will solicit opinions, which is the first gas-head nitrogen fertilizer production standard in all project approval plans of the Nitrogen Fertilizer Association
.
In order to make the standard more extensive, it is hoped that more aggressive enterprises will actively participate in the formulation and give feedback and suggestions
.
In addition, enterprises should also actively benchmark against the advanced industries, find gaps in energy saving, green and low-carbon consumption, product diversification, safety and environmental protection, business management and other aspects, sum up experience, and improve competitiveness and management level
.