Recently, when the reporter interviewed the Qilu Petrochemical Park in Zibo, Shandong Province, it was found that many small factories around the park that used earth-based methods to make protopine were shocking.
Ethylene Road is a major gateway to the Qilu Petrochemical Park. The reporter walked on this road and found that there were five or six such small factories on both sides within a few miles. Every family has erected several chimneys with a twist of seven twists. The smoke in the chimneys is thick with black smoke, and from time to time it has a pungent odor. It is extremely incompatible with the modern Qilu Petrochemical Park. The reporter walked into a small production area without a label. He saw only the yard was dilapidated, and the dust on the ground was flying with the wind. Seven or eight people who were dishevelled and tired were wearing a pot of alkaloids. At the scene, the reporter did not see more production equipment except for a few cauldrons. The people in the company told reporters that these cauldrons are all the equipment for the small-scale production of earth-based protopine production plants. Sulfur dioxide, alkali steam, etc. emitted during the tanning process are extremely damaging to the environment, and product quality is also difficult to guarantee. In order to save money, they used only a three or four-meter-long pipe to serve as a chimney. The smoke filled the air and covered the sun. The surrounding residents were miserable.
According to the reporter's understanding, there are only 70 or 80 such home-made caustic soda enterprises in Shandong Zibo alone. Judging from the situation on the site, the environmental protection of these enterprises is certainly not passable. Moreover, the reporter learned from local authorities that most of these companies are illegal companies, and there are very few production licenses and hazardous production safety production licenses.
So why are there so many earth-producer companies?
It is understood that protopine is an important chemical raw material widely used in petrochemical, papermaking, textile, metallurgy and other fields. Compared with liquid caustic soda, the caustic soda is easy to store and less dangerous. Therefore, there is a huge market demand in the areas where the southeast coast and other chlor-alkali industries are less developed, and the market prospects are very promising. The current market demand for protopine reaches more than 1 million tons. However, there is a serious shortage of production capacity in this area. “With high-quality products produced by advanced environmental protection technologies, there are less than 30% of the total. Therefore, these indigenous companies provide a space for survival.†The person in charge of Shandong Qilu Ronghui Soda Industry Co., Ltd. told reporters. This is currently the largest domestic company that produces protopine with advanced technology and equipment.
According to him, caustic soda is actually a follow-up product of caustic soda, which is to use 30% liquid caustic soda to remove water. If you do not consider environmental protection, product quality and other factors, its production process is very simple. A few cauldrons can be produced without the need for large-scale installations. The investment cost is low and the operation is simple. As a result, some people in the Zibo area took a fancy to market opportunities and used local rich raw materials to cast stoves and build factories.
For the pollution problems of these illegal earth-producing caustic soda enterprises, relevant departments in Zibo City have long realized it. An official from the local environmental protection department told the reporter that starting in 2003, they issued documents to carry out large-scale reorganization of these companies and closed some of them. However, due to the large demand in the caustic soda market, it is very difficult to carry out rectification under the drive of interests. Although the competent authorities have increased supervision in recent years, some factories have taken measures to stop work during the day to avoid supervision and evolve from open production to semi-underground production.
“These companies have also seriously impacted the entire market. Due to the low cost, their products entered the market at a low price, making the protopine market in recent years, although promising, the price has not been a big improvement. For this reason, Some companies that use advanced technology to produce caustic soda are not able to produce on a large scale," said a person in charge of Smelting Soda.
Why is the production of caustic soda by advanced technology is not competitive with the backward-land-based caustic soda enterprises?
The person in charge told the reporter that since the 1980s, China has introduced several sets of advanced protopine production facilities. These devices have advanced technology, good product quality and, most importantly, are very environmentally friendly. However, due to the high investment cost of such equipment, and fuel and natural gas as fuel, the production companies cannot afford to bear the cost, and the market prices are affected by the earth-based caustic soda enterprises, so most of them cannot be put into production. Some of them are not completely idle, but they are only open and stop. It is said that only one such device in Sichuan is still operating normally due to the use of local rich natural gas resources. The company's current operating equipment is the introduction of Qilu Petrochemical 20 years ago, and the investment in optical equipment has reached 45 million yuan. Due to cost issues, this advanced equipment has been idle. A year ago, Ronghui Company took over the equipment and made technical changes to its boilers, changing its fuel from oil to coal, which reduced the cost.
"But the only country that currently carries out this kind of technological transformation is our family. The current output is only 60,000 tons," said the person in charge.
Ethylene Road is a major gateway to the Qilu Petrochemical Park. The reporter walked on this road and found that there were five or six such small factories on both sides within a few miles. Every family has erected several chimneys with a twist of seven twists. The smoke in the chimneys is thick with black smoke, and from time to time it has a pungent odor. It is extremely incompatible with the modern Qilu Petrochemical Park. The reporter walked into a small production area without a label. He saw only the yard was dilapidated, and the dust on the ground was flying with the wind. Seven or eight people who were dishevelled and tired were wearing a pot of alkaloids. At the scene, the reporter did not see more production equipment except for a few cauldrons. The people in the company told reporters that these cauldrons are all the equipment for the small-scale production of earth-based protopine production plants. Sulfur dioxide, alkali steam, etc. emitted during the tanning process are extremely damaging to the environment, and product quality is also difficult to guarantee. In order to save money, they used only a three or four-meter-long pipe to serve as a chimney. The smoke filled the air and covered the sun. The surrounding residents were miserable.
According to the reporter's understanding, there are only 70 or 80 such home-made caustic soda enterprises in Shandong Zibo alone. Judging from the situation on the site, the environmental protection of these enterprises is certainly not passable. Moreover, the reporter learned from local authorities that most of these companies are illegal companies, and there are very few production licenses and hazardous production safety production licenses.
So why are there so many earth-producer companies?
It is understood that protopine is an important chemical raw material widely used in petrochemical, papermaking, textile, metallurgy and other fields. Compared with liquid caustic soda, the caustic soda is easy to store and less dangerous. Therefore, there is a huge market demand in the areas where the southeast coast and other chlor-alkali industries are less developed, and the market prospects are very promising. The current market demand for protopine reaches more than 1 million tons. However, there is a serious shortage of production capacity in this area. “With high-quality products produced by advanced environmental protection technologies, there are less than 30% of the total. Therefore, these indigenous companies provide a space for survival.†The person in charge of Shandong Qilu Ronghui Soda Industry Co., Ltd. told reporters. This is currently the largest domestic company that produces protopine with advanced technology and equipment.
According to him, caustic soda is actually a follow-up product of caustic soda, which is to use 30% liquid caustic soda to remove water. If you do not consider environmental protection, product quality and other factors, its production process is very simple. A few cauldrons can be produced without the need for large-scale installations. The investment cost is low and the operation is simple. As a result, some people in the Zibo area took a fancy to market opportunities and used local rich raw materials to cast stoves and build factories.
For the pollution problems of these illegal earth-producing caustic soda enterprises, relevant departments in Zibo City have long realized it. An official from the local environmental protection department told the reporter that starting in 2003, they issued documents to carry out large-scale reorganization of these companies and closed some of them. However, due to the large demand in the caustic soda market, it is very difficult to carry out rectification under the drive of interests. Although the competent authorities have increased supervision in recent years, some factories have taken measures to stop work during the day to avoid supervision and evolve from open production to semi-underground production.
“These companies have also seriously impacted the entire market. Due to the low cost, their products entered the market at a low price, making the protopine market in recent years, although promising, the price has not been a big improvement. For this reason, Some companies that use advanced technology to produce caustic soda are not able to produce on a large scale," said a person in charge of Smelting Soda.
Why is the production of caustic soda by advanced technology is not competitive with the backward-land-based caustic soda enterprises?
The person in charge told the reporter that since the 1980s, China has introduced several sets of advanced protopine production facilities. These devices have advanced technology, good product quality and, most importantly, are very environmentally friendly. However, due to the high investment cost of such equipment, and fuel and natural gas as fuel, the production companies cannot afford to bear the cost, and the market prices are affected by the earth-based caustic soda enterprises, so most of them cannot be put into production. Some of them are not completely idle, but they are only open and stop. It is said that only one such device in Sichuan is still operating normally due to the use of local rich natural gas resources. The company's current operating equipment is the introduction of Qilu Petrochemical 20 years ago, and the investment in optical equipment has reached 45 million yuan. Due to cost issues, this advanced equipment has been idle. A year ago, Ronghui Company took over the equipment and made technical changes to its boilers, changing its fuel from oil to coal, which reduced the cost.
"But the only country that currently carries out this kind of technological transformation is our family. The current output is only 60,000 tons," said the person in charge.