On March 30, LG Chem held South Korea’s first supercritical pyrolysis plant and a new generation of thermal insulation material airgel aimed at building a circular economy for plastics in Shimen National Industrial Park, Dangjin City, South Chungcheong Province Factory opening ceremony.
LG Chem plans to invest a total of 310 billion won (234 million U.S. dollars) by 2024 to build a supercritical pyrolysis plant, a new generation of heat insulation material gas, and a new generation of thermal insulation materials in the hinterland of about 240,000 square meters (the size of 32 football fields) in the Shimen National Industrial Park. Gel (Aerogel) factory, cultivate environmental protection future business.
Supercritical pyrolysis is a recycling method in plastic pyrolysis, which is characterized by using a special heat source in the state of water vapor whose temperature and pressure exceed the critical point of water to decompose plastics, so less carbon blocks are produced, and no maintenance is required. can run. The consumption of pyrolysis oil is expected to reach 3.3 million tons by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of more than 19%. Plastic pyrolysis oil can be directly used as fuel oil, extracted paraffin products, used as refinery raw material oil or used as raw material for plastics, and the solid products can be used as building materials or fuels. Pyrolysis technology usually needs to be used under anaerobic conditions in the treatment of waste plastics, which can effectively reduce the emission of dioxins and the total amount of nitrogen oxides.
It is understood that LG Chem will use the British recycling company Mura’s technology Hydro-PRT, hydrothermal cracking reaction recycling technology, which can recycle post-consumer plastics, convert these mixed plastics into traditional oil and hydrocarbon gases, and further convert It is upcycled into raw materials for the production of virgin polymers and chemicals – thus forming a complete waste plastic recycling loop.
It is reported that this technology can convert more than 80% of waste plastics into renewable oil, and the remaining 20% of by-product gas can also be reused as energy for the operation of related facilities. The supercritical pyrolysis plant constructed this time is also the first large-scale facility to produce petrochemical raw materials from waste plastic pyrolysis oil that was previously only used as fuel.
According to McKinsey’s prediction, in the next 10 years, plastic recycling may contribute two-thirds of the profit growth of the petrochemical industry, of which chemical recycling accounts for about 40%. Chemical recycling will become an important technology in the era of carbon neutrality. In terms of pyrolysis oil, it is estimated that the consumption will reach 3.3 million tons by 2030, with an average annual growth rate of more than 19%.
Airgel is produced using LG Chem’s self-developed technology, and more than 95% of it is composed of gas. Although it is light in weight, it has the characteristics of not getting wet when it comes into contact with water, and not burning. Aerogels are used as thermal insulation materials for industrially produced pipes and equipment to minimize heat loss. Airgel is expected to grow at an average annual rate of more than 30% due to the demand for transportation, storage and heat insulation of environmentally friendly energy (liquefied hydrogen).
Aerogels are a class of synthetic porous ultralight materials derived from gels in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced by a gas without significant collapse of the gel structure, forming a solid with extremely low density and thermal conductivity. Aerogels can be made from a variety of compounds such as
Silica aerogels feel like brittle expanded polystyrene, while some polymer-based aerogels feel like rigid foam.
Due to its excellent thermal insulation performance, airgel materials are widely used in a wide range of fields, mainly in energy equipment, transportation, building materials, clothing and other fields, with a huge potential scale. According to IDTechEX Research
It is mentioned that due to the gradual progress of airgel technology in recent years, most of the application fields are still in the early stage and growth stage of airgel promotion, such as regional energy, building construction, clothing, daily chemicals, LNG
Pipelines and other fields are developing rapidly. At present, the relatively mature fields of application are mainly oil and gas pipelines (except LNG pipelines), refining and chemical projects, industrial heat insulation, etc. Construction and transportation will see faster growth. 2019
Most of the downstream applications of airgel are concentrated in oil and gas projects (56%) and industrial insulation (26%). These two parts of the market account for 82%, construction accounts for 6%, and transportation projects account for 3%. And IDTechEX
According to research analysis, the proportion of the construction field will increase in 2024, and the proportion of applications is expected to double from the original, accounting for nearly 12%. By 2029, the proportion of construction will reach nearly
18%, the transportation sector will also increase to 5%, while the traditional oil and gas sector will reduce to 41%, construction
Construction and emerging sectors will be the main consumption drivers. Airgel materials are mainly used in the field of energy and chemical engineering as external insulation materials for energy infrastructure, including insulation materials for distillation towers, reaction pipelines, storage tanks, pumps, and valves, as well as natural gas and LNG.
Insulation materials for liquefied gas pipelines, deep-sea pipeline insulation materials, power plant equipment insulation materials, etc.
微信扫一扫打赏
