At the 77th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund for the Montreal Protocol held not long ago, the Chinese delegation submitted the second phase of hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFC) The overall phase-out strategy and six consumer industry plans including polyurethane (PU) foam and extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam were approved. The plan promises that China will eliminate a total of about 134,000 tons of HCFC consumption and achieve climate benefits of collaborative emission reductions of 221 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. In this regard, my country’s PU foam and XPS foam industries will accelerate the application promotion and project implementation of climate-friendly alternative technologies, promote the replacement of HCFC foaming agents, and ensure that the HCFC elimination task is fully completed by 2025.
According to members of the Chinese delegation who participated in the meeting, the Chinese delegation conducted a large number of communications and consultations with the Multilateral Fund Secretariat and Executive Committee member states during the meeting, and finally Reached consensus and approved the second phase phase-out plan for HCFC in four consumer industries in my country (the other two industry plans, namely the cleaning industry and the refrigeration maintenance industry HCFC phase-out plan, have been approved in principle at the 76th meeting), which involve plastics The PU foam industry of the industry has been approved for approximately US$140 million, and the XPS foam industry has been approved for approximately US$110 million. These two industries will gradually reduce HCFC consumption in the next ten years through production line transformation projects, technical assistance activities and the implementation of HCFC phase-out management policies, and will eventually complete the industry-wide HCFC phase-out in 2025.
According to the protocol, my country will complete the consumption reduction target of 35% of the baseline level in 2020 and phase out the 67.5% baseline level in 2025. my country is currently the world’s largest HCFC producer, consumer and exporter. Among them, PU and XPS are the most important HCFC consumer industries, and the elimination task is very arduous. Meng Qingjun, deputy secretary-general of the China Plastics Processing Industry Association, said that in the past five years, although my country has achieved the compliance goals of freezing and reducing HCFC by 10% of the baseline level, the next HCFC elimination task is still arduous and urgent. Taking PU foam as an example, in the next ten years, the industry should completely eliminate about 35,000 tons of HCFC blowing agents, all using environmentally friendly zero ODP value (ozone depletion potential value), low GWP value (global warming potential value) alternative technologies . However, these alternative technologies are not perfect at this stage, and there are still certain safety risks. After replacement, the insulation and flame retardant properties of the products are reduced, and the cost is also increased.
There are currently more than 2,000 PU foam companies in the country, most of which are small companies, involving nearly ten sub-industries such as insulation boards and spray foam. Meng Qingjun believes that these companies are far lower than the first-stage project companies in terms of mastering alternative technologies, safety and production management, and funding capabilities. How to meet the technical and product performance requirements of various sub-industries and reasonably plan the elimination process are also difficult problems facing the PU foam industry.
“Promoting the elimination of HCFC in the field of foam plastics in my country requires the joint efforts of relevant enterprises, industry organizations and environmental protection departments. The majority of foam enterprises must also take active action to prepare alternative technologies as soon as possible. Accumulation and reserves, and actively apply to the Environmental Protection Foreign Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Environmental Protection for the HCFC elimination project in the foam industry.” Meng Qingjun suggested.
While industrial development meets human living needs and economic growth, it will also bring negative pressure to the environment. Raging smog, record-high temperatures, and successive El Niño phenomena have sounded the alarm for countries around the world to protect the environment. HCFC made contributions as a product in the early stages of industrial development, but after humans discovered its damage to the ozone layer, they proposed to replace it with new products as soon as possible to protect our fragile atmosphere. As a major producer and consumer, China has the unshirkable responsibility to fulfill this responsibility and set an example for developing countries in reducing emissions.
According to the Montreal Protocol, my country still needs to phase out about 380,000 tons of HCFC production and 240,000 tons of consumption from 2016 to 2040, involving more than 3,000 manufacturing companies. With millions of companies and employees, the task of fulfilling contracts is very arduous.
However, my country’s HCFC elimination work still faces many challenges. Taking polyurethane foam as an example, the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises still face difficulties in the selection and application of alternative technologies and phase-out financial support, and require further guidance and leadership. According to the author’s understanding, in addition to export products that are mandated to use environmentally friendly foaming agents, products using HCFC-141b as the foaming agent occupy a large share of my country’s polyurethane foam industry.
This includes both cognitive deficiencies and technical deficiencies. The new environmentally friendly foaming agents currently on the market are still far behind alternative products in terms of price and performance. This requires enterprises, industry organizations and environmental protection departments to work together to further�A lot of energy. On the one hand, strengthen the publicity and supervision of HCFC substitution, encourage foam plastic companies to obtain technical and financial support for environmental protection projects, accelerate the elimination of non-environmental protection production processes, enhance the understanding and acceptance of environmentally friendly products among users, and bear part of the increased production costs. On the other hand, companies and scientific researchers are also required to step up the research, development and optimization of alternative technologies and products to improve product performance while reducing product prices.
Only by taking a multi-pronged approach can we work with the international community to protect the earth, our home, on which mankind depends for survival.
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