It is a joy to have boron coming from the salt lake

Boron is called "industrial monosodium glutamate", which is of great strategic significance to my country's energy security and national economy. However, the development of my country's boron industry has long been restricted by resource endowments and technical bottlenecks. The downstream industries of boric acid almost all use imported boron products, which is dependent on imports. Very high. At the recently held 2023 World Potash Conference and Golmud Salt Lake Forum - boron industry sub-forum, experts pointed out that the Qinghai Salt Lake boron mine, which accounts for 36% of the country's total boron resources, has not yet achieved large-scale production, and its efficient use Development is an effective way to solve my country's high dependence on imports of boron resources. The boron industry should accelerate transformation and upgrading and production capacity adjustment, and make full use of salt lake boron resources to produce high value-added boron products.

High dependence on importsThe boron industry urgently needs to be upgraded

Han Guangqi, executive vice president of the Boron Chemical Industry Association of China Inorganic Salt Industry Association, pointed out that boron is not only an important basic raw material in the traditional industrial field, but also an important part of my country's strategic emerging industries. At present, domestic high-grade boron resources are increasingly scarce. The market competitiveness of basic boron products is weak, and the proportion of imported products may continue to increase in the future.

It is understood that the market demand for boron products in my country is huge. Statistics in 2021 show that the domestic output of borax in my country was 155,000 tons and the import volume was 1.862 million tons, showing a high degree of dependence on imports.

"The overall level of utilization of traditional boron ore resources in my country is relatively backward, the added value of products is not high, and the production cost is high." Li Xuebin, chief engineer of Dalian Jinma Boron Technology Group Co., Ltd., said that the production capacity of a single set of borax production equipment abroad It can reach more than 200,000 tons/year, and generally 10,000 to 30,000 tons/year in my country. He further pointed out that most boron fine chemicals in my country have the characteristics of high energy consumption, low-end and low-quality. Foreign companies often purchase low-end products from my country for processing, and then make them into high value-added products, which are then sold to my country.

"Resource characteristics determine that my country's boron industry must take the road of high-tech industrialization with low resource and energy consumption, environmental friendliness, and large output." Li Xuebin said, "Change the extensive processing, development and utilization of boron resources and promote the industry structure. Adjustment and industrial upgrading are a very urgent task.”

There are many boron resources in Salt LakeThe "Dongfeng" of industrialization has arrived

"The efficient development and utilization of boron resources in salt lakes is an effective way to solve my country's high dependence on imports." Ji Lianmin, an associate researcher at the Qinghai Salt Lake Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that boron isotope resources in salt lake brines are abundant. Extraction, separation and enrichment of high-abundance boron 10 isotope products from salt lake brine is of great significance for improving the economic added value of salt lake boron chemical products.

It is reported that the Qinghai Salt Lake Boron Mine has reserves of 18 million tons of boron oxide, accounting for 36% of the country's total boron reserves, but has not yet achieved industrial scale production.

"Currently Qinghai Salt Lake already has a certain industrial foundation for boron extraction, with abundant fresh water resources, sufficient fuel and electricity supply, and convenient road and rail transportation. The local government has also listed the boron chemical industry as one of the five characteristic pillar industries for local priority development First, encourage the development of boron resources." Ji Lianmin believes that the "east wind" for the development of boron resources in Salt Lake has arrived.

According to reports, in recent years, the Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute has carried out research on boron extraction technology from salt lakes and realized the optimization of the boric acid extraction process. Ji Lianmin said that the process has shown excellent results in the selective separation of boron and efficient utilization of resources, and has good application prospects. On this basis, the Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute cooperated with Xinghua Lithium Salt to establish a 12,000 tons/year industrialization demonstration line for the separation and extraction of boric acid from salt lake brine. All technical indicators of the production line have reached the international advanced level, the total yield of the extraction section is greater than 98%, and the main content of crude boric acid is greater than 95%, realizing the large-scale production of 10,000 tons of liquid boron resources in Qinghai Salt Lake.

High-end materials are difficult to prepareThe dawn of active exploration is now

Li Xuebin believes that after the development and utilization of boron resources realizes "open source", breakthroughs are urgently needed in the preparation of high-end boron materials to meet the country's major needs, especially the localization of nuclear power grade high-purity boric acid and nuclear shielding materials is very important.

Li Xuebin suggested that the development of boron industry can be divided into "two steps". "First of all, we must further increase investment in technologies and products that have already accumulated to a certain extent, and strive to make breakthroughs during the '14th Five-Year Plan' period, to achieve the effect of point to area, and play a guiding role in the structural adjustment of my country's boron industry. Secondly, we should also integrate The industry should formulate forward-looking plans to ensure the sustainable development of the boron industry in the future." He said.

"The production of high value-added boron products and boron materials is the future development trend." Ji Lianmin said that inorganic borides are important basic materials for heat dissipation materials for electronic products, fuel cell catalysts, and coating materials; organic boron materials are used in medicine and other fields are widely used.

In recent years, my country has made some progress in the preparation of high-end boron products. Qinghai Liada Chemical Co., Ltd. cooperated with Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute to build an industrialized demonstration line for the separation and extraction of high-purity electric melting grade boric acid from salt lake brine by extraction method, with an annual output of 6,000 tons and product indicators reaching the international advanced level.

"In 2018, we started to build a high-purity boric acid project. By 2023, a 6,000-ton/year industrial pilot plant has been built, and it will reach a considerable amount of 15,000 tons/year in October 2023." General Manager of Liada Company Li Hongling said that this progress may make my country's boric acid industry no longer rely on imports, and while reducing costs for the industry, it will also help my country's economic construction. (Zhao Ruoyi)