The transfer of the hazardous chemicals industry faces many challenges

A set of data recently released by the Ministry of Emergency Management shows that among the major provinces that undertake transfer projects in the central, western and northeastern regions of China, 632 new transfer projects have been added since 2019
.
Among these transfer projects, high-risk processes account for a large proportion, and some projects have a low level of intrinsic safety
.
According to the 2-3-year construction period of hazardous chemical projects, more than 470 projects are expected to be put into operation this year
.

The Ministry of Emergency Management believes that the overall development and safety of some undertakings are not enough, and blindly undertake transfer projects when the safety foundation, supervision capabilities, and professional quality of personnel do not match
.
"If risk management and control are not in place, it is likely to enter a period of frequent accidents
.
" Sun Guangyu, director of the First Division of Hazardous Chemical Supervision of the Ministry of Emergency Management, said bluntly that hazardous chemical projects are accelerating from the eastern coastal areas such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the central and western regions.
Northeast transfer
.
Undertaking industrial transfer is an important driving force for regional economic development, but at the same time, relevant regions are also facing many challenges
.

Shifts are not just geographic changes

Industrial transfer is in line with the laws of economic development, and the central, western and northeastern regions also have the advantage of undertaking hazardous chemical projects
.
"High-risk projects often belong to high-energy-consuming industries, which require a greater safety distance, and have a relatively large demand for energy resources with sufficient supply and low prices
.
" Chen Shouhai, director of the Oil and Gas Policy and Law Research Center of China University of Petroleum, told reporters that the central, western and northeastern regions The supply of land, energy, etc.
is relatively abundant, which is attractive to a certain extent
.

At present, 21 provinces and regions have selected industries to undertake
.
For example, Hubei Xiantao, Tianmen, Jingzhou and other places have key undertaking counties, and are involved in new materials, new chemicals and other fields; Ningxia, as an important undertaking place for the transfer of the chemical industry, has initially formed a coal chemical industry, petrochemical industry, and fine chemical industry.
industrial structure
.
For all the acceptance areas, the Emergency Management Department will carry out a one-year special rectification, focusing on ensuring safety
.

"Compared with the eastern coastal areas, there are no major disadvantages in terms of capital and infrastructure, and the main shortcomings are safety awareness and management level
.
For example, enterprises are the daily managers of project operations, and they should be most aware of safety risks.
However, some enterprises have a fluke mentality, hoping to pursue profit maximization at the minimum cost, thereby reducing costs such as safety production, and some even 'take a risk' when they have recognized the hidden dangers
.
Another example, government supervision is quite It is important, but some relatively underdeveloped areas in the central and western regions, facing hard-won projects, are worried that too strict will 'scare off' investors, so they take risks
.
In some places, the rules and regulations are not perfect, there are management loopholes, or there is a risk of taking risks.
The process and technology of the project are not understood, and it is difficult to identify the safety risks
.
" Chen Shouhai introduced
.

"These projects have complex production processes and relatively high management requirements
.
Transfer projects should take the opportunity to improve the level of intrinsic safety through technological progress, not just geographical changes, and avoid transferring risks from the eastern region to other regions
.
" Chen Danjiang, an expert in the product industry, further said
.

Controlling the increment and managing the stock go hand in hand

For the receiving regions, it is not only the safety management ability that needs to be improved
.
Wang Da, deputy chief engineer of the China Chemical Safety Association, said frankly that the high-risk nature of the hazardous chemicals industry determines that there are loopholes in its production, storage, transportation, disposal and other links, and systemic risks still exist
.
In places like the inexperienced Midwest, the problem is even more acute
.

Sun Guangyu suggested that capacity control should be strengthened from three aspects: First, control the increment, promote the formulation of the overall plan, industrial development plan and project access conditions for the chemical park, accelerate the establishment and improvement of the project access management system, and strictly control the incremental access threshold.
The second is to control the stock, make overall plans at the provincial level, implement the safety design diagnosis of the existing projects under the contract, evaluate one by one, and eliminate the fittest, so as to comprehensively improve the intrinsic safety level; the third is to improve the quality of the park and accelerate the promotion of the contracted chemical industry.
Park safety risk assessment review and "one park, one policy" rectification and improvement
.

"After the hazardous chemical project is transferred, if the treatment is not properly carried out, pollution will easily follow, which will affect the energy consumption and environmental capacity of the land
.
In a short period of time, when the project is put into production, can the local area do a good job in the treatment of waste gas, waste water and waste residue? How about the energy efficiency level of the projects undertaken? Can it reach the benchmark value corresponding to high energy-consuming industries?” Chen Danjiang noticed that the ecosystems in many central and western regions are relatively fragile.
Remote areas such as suburbs and deserts have higher requirements for emission management and environmental supervision
.
"In addition, the requirements for energy conservation and carbon reduction are becoming more and more stringent, and these projects are also major carbon emitters
.
It is necessary to seek development and control emissions, which is a test for the project itself and the region where it is located
.
"

Improve the level of intrinsic safety from the source

Shanxi, Sichuan, Hunan and other places have successively launched hazardous chemical industry transfer projects and special rectification of chemical park safety risk prevention and control
.
In addition, the Ministry of Emergency Management has also screened 50 key counties (parks) for tackling tough problems to demonstrate and drive other areas
.

"It is more important to improve the level of intrinsic safety from the source and improve the mechanism for preventing and resolving major risks
.
" Wang Da proposed that under the new situation, attention should be paid to the level of digital and intelligent management and control of safety risks
.
Considering the lack of professionalism in the receiving area, personnel training cannot be ignored
.
"For example, focusing on fine chemical and major hazard source enterprises, urge enterprises to achieve the safety qualification of post operators through education improvement, internal adjustment, talent recruitment and other methods
.
"

Chen Shouhai said that it is necessary to truly establish the concept of "safety above everything else"
.
"In particular, it is necessary to improve the management capabilities of the competent authorities and enterprises in the regions where they are undertaken, so that those who really understand technology and can enforce the law can be retained and used well
.
"

"Even if the project is successfully put into operation, it does not mean that it will be done once and for all.
With the continuous improvement of energy conservation and emission reduction standards in the undertaking area, the requirements for the project will also increase
.
Moreover, some developed cities along the eastern coast are already at the forefront of emission reduction.
Invisibly, it will continue to widen the emission gap with the receiving regions, putting more pressure on the latter
.
" Chen Danjiang said that many regions in the central and western regions are rich in renewable energy resources, and some regions are piloting green hydrogen industry integration carbon reduction projects , and encourage projects to use more green power, actively develop high-quality, durable and recyclable green products, increase the proportion of low-carbon raw materials, and reduce the carbon footprint of the product's life cycle.
This is a green and sustainable development path that can be used for reference
.