A few days ago, the 77th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol was successfully held in Montreal, Canada. The total amount of funds exceeded 500 million U.S. dollars, and China’s second phase of action has kicked off a new prelude, and people in the industry have also made concerted efforts. Recently, Tiantian Chemical Network interviewed Dr. Sheng Enshan, Asia-Pacific Technical Director and Asia-Pacific R&D Center Director of Huntsman Polyurethane Company on the phase-out of HCFC 141b in China.
Huntsman Group is a global listed company that manufactures and markets special chemicals, and Huntsman Polyurethanes is the largest division of Huntsman Group. Many new technologies and new technologies in the polyurethane industry Applications, including many replacement CFC and HCFC foam technologies, are from Huntsman Polyurethanes.
Dr. Sheng Enshan, Technical Director of Asia-Pacific Region and Director of Asia-Pacific R&D Center of Huntsman Polyurethanes
Q1: What is the current progress of HCFC 141b replacement work? What are the main and latest technologies to replace HCFC 141b, and what are their advantages and disadvantages?
Sheng: At present, China’s HCFC 141b replacement work is advancing steadily and orderly in accordance with the relevant national plans. The Chinese government attaches great importance to the phase-out of HCFCs. On the one hand, it actively fulfills its solemn commitment to the international community; At the same time, the output of 141b is decreasing year by year according to the national plan, and the price of HCFC 141b has continued to rise from the beginning of 2016 to the present, which further promotes the relevant production enterprises to accelerate the transformation of foaming technology.
At present, the technologies to replace HCFC 141b mainly include all-water foaming, hydrocarbon foaming, HFC foaming, and HFO foaming. All-water foaming is safe, environmentally friendly and low in cost, but the performance must be improved through the optimization of formula technology; hydrocarbon foaming agent is low in cost and excellent in performance, but it needs to solve the problem of flammability and explosion through equipment transformation; HFC blowing agent The foaming agent has excellent performance, but it is not environmentally friendly and will eventually be eliminated, and the cost of raw materials is high; the HFO foaming agent has excellent performance, environmental protection, and has no flammable and explosive problems. The only disadvantage is that the cost of raw materials is too high. At present, the vast majority of large and medium-sized refrigerator and freezer enterprises in China have already used hydrocarbon foaming agent technology, electric water heater enterprises are gradually switching to hydrocarbon foaming agent technology, and the pipeline insulation industry has fully promoted full water foaming and Hydrocarbon foaming technology, plate companies began to promote the use of hydrocarbon foaming technology.
Q2: In the fields of pipe insulation, refrigerators and spray coating, HCFC 141b is still the main blowing agent in China due to the relatively poor performance of alternatives. How does Huntsman view alternative products in these areas? field development?
Sheng Sheng: In the fields of pipeline insulation, spray coating and refrigerators, HCFC 141b can be replaced by different foaming technologies and formulation optimization. In the pipeline industry, Huntsman has fully promoted the use of all water and hydrocarbon foaming technologies. In the reefer industry, Huntsman has access to hydrocarbon and HFC foam technologies. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to promote and accelerate the phase-out of HCFC 141b through technological research and development and product upgrading of polyurethane enterprises.
In the spraying industry, we have developed an all-water foaming open-cell foaming technology with excellent performance, and it is widely used in industrial applications that do not require high thermal insulation performance. At the same time, we have also developed HFC foaming technology with excellent performance. But HFC will eventually be eliminated, so Huntsman has developed HFO foaming technology with excellent performance. Given the high cost of HFCs and HFOs, their use in the spray coating industry will be very limited. On the other hand, because hydrocarbons are flammable and explosive, and the safety management of spraying sites is extremely difficult, the use of hydrocarbons in the spraying industry is basically impossible. Therefore, the elimination of HCFC in the spraying industry will be the most severe challenge to the polyurethane industry.
How do you view issues such as the difficulty or reluctance of small and medium-sized enterprises to transition during the phase-out process of HCFC 141b due to high costs in China? How to solve such problems?
Sheng: As an increasingly important and responsible big country, China needs to work with all countries in the world to fully fulfill our common commitment to phase out HCFCs on time or even ahead of schedule , to leave a sustainable environment for our children and grandchildren. The phase-out of HCFC 141b is enforced and promoted by the state, and all enterprises should speed up technological transformation to replace HCFC 141b. In order to achieve the phase-out of HCFC 141b as scheduled, relevant enterprises in the industry must strengthen self-discipline, work together, and jointly innovate, and adopt process improvement and technological innovation as soon as possible.�Upgrade and product development to achieve HCFC 141b replacement. It must be pointed out that due to the large one-time investment in technology upgrading and the small scale of production, SMEs face more challenges in the process of HCFC phase-out. Relevant state departments should strengthen law enforcement and supervision while ensuring that all enterprises compete in a fair market environment. At the same time, the state can also encourage the transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises’ foaming technology by assisting enterprises to apply for multilateral funds, policy encouragement, and financial support.
Q4: As a global leader in the polyurethane field, Huntsman has also experienced and participated in the 141b phase-out process in developed countries such as the United States and Europe. What experience and suggestions do you have for China’s HCFC 141b phase-out process?
Sheng: Enterprises should choose HCFC 141b replacement technical solutions suitable for their own conditions according to their own industry characteristics, product characteristics and scale. Home appliance companies recommend the use of hydrocarbon foaming technology, sheet metal industry recommends hydrocarbon foaming and mixed foaming technology, pipes give priority to all water and hydrocarbon foaming technology.
The accelerated phase-out of HCFC and the final phase-out of HFC have brought new challenges to the polyurethane industry (especially the spraying sub-industry) on the one hand, and brought many opportunities for innovation to enterprises in the industry on the other hand . It is recommended that raw material suppliers, downstream foaming companies, universities and research institutes jointly innovate and jointly research and develop foaming agents, monomeric polyether polyols, additives, combined polyether polyols, foaming engineering processes, etc., for China and even The final and complete elimination of HCFC and HFC in the world contributes new wisdom and new solutions.
Profile of Dr. Sheng Enshan:
Dr. Sheng Enshan graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Anhui Normal University (undergraduate), and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Xi’an Jiaotong University (exempted master). In 1988, he won the Sino-British Friendship Scholarship without examination, and studied at Loughborough University of Technology (Ph.D.) in the UK. In 1992, he received a Ph.D. in polymer surface and interface science. From 2002 to 2004, Dr. Sheng Enshan completed the MBA course in his spare time, and obtained the MBA degree from the Maastricht Business School in the Netherlands as an outstanding student in 2004. Dr. Sheng Enshan joined Huntsman Polyurethanes in 1995. He has successively served as technical service specialist, technology development manager, marketing manager, deputy general manager, and general manager. He is currently the technical director of Huntsman Polyurethanes Asia Pacific, and Huntsman Asia Pacific R&D Center Director. He is a senior member of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a member of the United Nations Environment Program Foam Expert Committee, and an editorial board member of “Polyurethane Industry”.
Special interview with reporter from Tiantian Chemical Industry Network
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