As a chemical company, how to combine economic growth with environmental protection? How to make a contribution to protecting the ecological environment and addressing climate change while realizing the company’s profitability? To this end, the reporter made a special trip to interview Guan Zhihua, Chairman of the Management Board of BASF Greater China.
Reporter: In 2010, the total sales of BASF in Greater China reached 6.3 billion euros, occupying a 1.2% market share of China’s domestic petrochemical industry, an increase of 26% over 2009. Often behind the huge economic value lies the intensification of energy consumption and the increase of pollution emissions. Has BASF encountered this problem?
Guan Zhihua: In 2010, although the output increased and the sales increased by 26%, the total energy consumption of BASF Greater China was basically the same as that of 2009, and the total power consumption was about 875,000 MWh. The total steam consumption was about 4.63 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2%. This is due to the fact that all production sites in BASF Greater China have adopted various measures including improving processes or heat exchangers, upgrading lighting or air-conditioning systems, etc. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce energy consumption. The two production sites in Shanghai and Kaohsiung, Taiwan Photovoltaic power generation equipment was also installed to increase the use of alternative energy sources.
Sustainable development is an integral part of BASF’s strategy. Since 2008, BASF has been the only industrial company in the world that regularly publishes a comprehensive report on its corporate carbon footprint. We are committed to establishing a standard greenhouse gas emission reporting system along the product value-added chain. In 2010, this standard was included in the BASF report for the first time.
I can provide some data worthy of attention: In 2010, BASF Greater China produced 1.93 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions due to production. Due to the use of BASF’s patented catalyst, the decomposition efficiency of nitrous oxide has been improved. , in order to reduce emissions compared with 2009 while expanding production scale. From the perspective of funds, in 2010, the investment to improve energy utilization and reduce carbon emissions reached 1.5 billion euros, accounting for 1/3 of the entire research and development funds. From the perspective of customers, by using the Seebalance tool to evaluate, it can be seen that the use of BASF products can help customers reduce emissions of 322 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year compared with non-use of BASF products. These products include heat insulation materials, fuel additives, industrial catalysts, etc. At present, BASF has achieved ahead of schedule the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions per ton of products sold by 25% in 2020.
In addition to measuring greenhouse gas emissions, BASF also monitors various types of air pollution including carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and other inorganic compounds as well as dust, non-methane volatile organic compounds emissions of matter. In 2010, the total amount of air pollutants produced by BASF in Greater China was 1,182 tons. As far as water protection is concerned, in 2010, we expanded the sewage pretreatment facilities in Qingdao and built a new domestic wastewater treatment facility in Kunming. In terms of solid waste disposal, the recycling rate is now about 64%.
Reporter: Since last year, BASF has invested more and more projects in China. In addition to the newly-built Nanjing water treatment plant, the dispersion plant in Huizhou, Guangdong, and the polyurethane compound plant in Tianjin, BASF also plans to invest in Nanjing’s integrated joint venture. To expand. In addition, the Chongqing MDI project has also broken ground this year. What are the considerations behind the large-scale mergers and acquisitions? Are environmental safety issues taken into consideration?
Guan Zhihua: At present, BASF’s business scope in Greater China mainly includes petrochemical products, polymer dispersions, polystyrene, polyurethane, engineering plastics, coatings, special products for textile and leather industries, electronic materials, Intermediates, catalysts, chemical building materials, paper chemicals and care chemicals, etc., with 6,980 employees and 38 production bases. Greater China has jumped to become BASF’s third largest market in the world in 2010, second only to Germany and the United States. With the expansion of production scale and the growth of the number of consumers, how to provide customers with reliable localized services has become more and more important. Building a localized production, marketing, sales and technical service network is also conducive to energy conservation, emission reduction and chemical management. product contamination.
For example, at Yangba Company located in Nanjing, all production devices are intelligently connected through a pipeline network, which greatly reduces the logistics cost and environmental risks of chemical transportation, and can also save raw materials and energy. This integrated production The establishment of the base is in line with China’s economic development concept of “transforming the mode and adjusting the structure”.
Also, in response to the rapid development of China’s automobile industry, in 2010, BASF’s Polyurethane Specialty Products R&D Center in Pudong, Shanghai developed a number of environmental protection solutions. One of them is to use engineering plastics to reduce the weight of cars, and the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers can be reduced by 0.4 kg compared with the same period last year; the other is a low-emission and odor-free seat system for cars. In response to the acceleration of urbanization and the construction industry, the center has developed a new flame-retardant spray foam to meet the requirements of buildings for fire-retardant properties. We have also developed a new environmentally friendly product using water as a blowing agent as a specialty insulation foam for LNG carriers.
The goal of BASF is in 2015Currently, 70% of the products come from localized production. We acquired Ciba and Corning, not only retaining all their production bases in China, but also integrating employees, and the entire organization has been incorporated into the organizational framework of BASF Greater China. We consider two issues. One is whether we can do better and safer after mergers and acquisitions, which means using BASF’s high-safety and high-environmental protection model; the other is to prevent overcapacity. If we repeat construction in one area, the environmental capacity may become more saturated, and the intensity of fixed capital will increase, resulting in vicious competition and overcapacity. Integration is a more environmentally friendly and low-carbon way out. Although it may be more difficult, it is in line with the concept of sustainable development.
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