Source of this article: “Electrical Appliances” Magazine Author: Deng Yajing
Editor’s note: Under the general trend of the national “dual carbon” goal, all walks of life in China are facing a low-carbon transformation. Especially in the chemical and manufacturing industries, with the advancement of the “dual carbon” goal and the introduction of new materials and new technologies, these industries will usher in a huge strategic transformation and upgrading. As an important pole in the chemical industry, the polymer full foam industry chain, from raw materials to technical applications, will inevitably face remodeling and development, and will also usher in a series of new opportunities and new challenges. But in any case, working together to achieve the “dual carbon” strategic goal requires the joint efforts of all people in the industry.
FOAM EXPO China, the International Foaming Technology (Shenzhen) Exhibition held on December 7-9, 2022, is committed to providing business opportunities and industry platforms for the upgrading and reshaping of the foaming industry chain, contributing its own strength to “Double Carbon” in the torrent of the times.
The FOAM EXPO team will share industry articles and outstanding companies that are implementing the “two-carbon” strategic goal in the polymer foam industry chain in the next few articles.
On November 8, 2021, at the 4th China International Import Expo, Haier Refrigerator showed two cooperation projects. First, Haier and Covestro jointly exhibited Boguan 650, the industry’s first low-carbon polyurethane refrigerator. Second, Haier and Dow signed a memorandum of understanding on a strategic cooperation agreement – Dow will provide Haier with the PASCAL vacuum-assisted foaming technology. As the leading brand in the refrigerator industry, Haier’s move reflects the fact that under the “dual carbon” goal, the low-carbon road of China’s refrigerator industry has begun.
In fact, the reporter of “Electrical Appliance” conducted in-depth exchanges with related enterprises in the industry chain such as polyurethane foaming equipment, foaming agents, and foaming materials when conducting this special interview, and learned that in 2021, the whole machine manufacturing has already Low-carbon requirements such as energy saving, environmental protection, and electricity saving are the necessary conditions for whether to sign a purchase agreement. So, how can companies in the polyurethane foam industry chain help refrigerator factories reduce carbon?
#1
Low carbonization of foam materials
In the production process, the insulation layer of each refrigerator needs to use foaming materials. If the existing materials are replaced with low-carbon clean materials, the refrigerator industry will be one step closer to achieving the “double carbon” goal. Taking the cooperation between Shanghaier and Covestro at the CIIE as an example, Haier refrigerators use Covestro’s biomass polyurethane black material to reduce the proportion of fossil raw materials in the production process and replace them with renewable raw materials such as plant waste, residual fat and vegetable oil. , the biomass raw material content reaches 60%, which greatly reduces carbon emissions. Experimental data show that compared with traditional black materials, biomass polyurethane black materials can reduce carbon emissions by 50%.
Regarding the case of Covestro’s cooperation with Haier refrigerator, Guo Hui, manager of the sustainable development and public affairs department of Covestro (Shanghai) Investment Co., Ltd., said: “Covestro is working with ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) ) to carry out mass balance certification, the above-mentioned biomass polyurethane black material has been certified by ISCC. In addition, Covestro Shanghai integrated base has obtained ISCC Plus certification, which is the first ISCC Plus certification of Covestro in Asia Pacific This means that Covestro has the ability to supply large-scale biomass polyurethane black materials to customers in the Asia-Pacific region, and the product quality is no different from the corresponding fossil-based products.”
Wanhua Chemical’s production capacity of black materials and white materials ranks first in the industry. With the refrigerator factory actively promoting the low-carbon development route, the cooperation between Wanhua Chemical and the refrigerator factory will be upgraded again in 2021. On December 17, the joint laboratory of Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. and Hisense Group Holdings Co., Ltd. was unveiled. The relevant person in charge of Wanhua Chemical said that the joint laboratory is an innovative laboratory based on the national green carbon reduction demand and the forefront of the core technology of home appliance manufacturing. By building a platform, building a system, strong integration, and excellent management, the joint laboratory can support Hisense’s research and development of cutting-edge technologies, core technologies, and key technologies in the process of innovation and development, while accelerating the cultivation and transformation of research results, leading the home appliance industry. Green upgrade to promote the realization of the low-carbon goal of the whole industry chain. On the same day, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. and Haier Group Corporation signed a strategic cooperation agreement at Haier headquarters. According to reports, the agreement involves global business layout, joint innovation, industrial interconnection, low-carbon environmental protection, etc. It is not difficult to see that the cooperation between Wanhua Chemical and the two major refrigerator brands directly refers to low-carbon technology.
Honeywell is a blowing agent company. Solstice LBA, which is being vigorously promoted, is an HFO substance and is a major supplier of the next-generation blowing agent in the refrigerator industry. Yang Wenqi, general manager of the Fluorine Products Business of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technology Group’s High Performance Materials Division, said: “In December 2021, Honeywell announced the low GWP Solstice series of refrigerants, blowing agents, propellants and Solstice is widely used around the world and has so far helped the world reduce more than 250 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is equivalent to reducing the potential carbon emissions of more than 52 million cars for a whole year. Solstice LBA blowing agent focuses on helping the home appliance industry Eliminate low-energy-efficiency products, and speed up the replacement of energy-saving and environmentally friendly materials while ensuring product safety and improving thermal insulation performance. As more and more companies choose Honeywell’s low-carbon and environmentally friendly materials and technologies, speed up product development And the process of updating. Nowadays, the competition in the home appliance industry is fierce, and companies are very sensitive to the increase in cost, but Haier, Midea, Hisense and other home appliance companies have unanimously chosen to use Honeywell materials, which is their recognition of the environmentally friendly foaming agent, and more It is a recognition of Honeywell’s Solstice LBA foaming agent technology, which gives us more confidence to speed up product technology updates and bring more environmental protection and low-carbon possibilities to the home appliance industry.”
#2
Energy-saving production process
In line with the global environment of holding high the banner of “carbon neutrality, carbon peaking” and focusing on energy conservation and environmental protection, the technological transformation of refrigerator foaming will be the general trend of future development.
Dow is not only a provider of white and black materials, but also a provider of advanced technology solutions. As early as 2005, Dow has already begun to reduce its carbon footprint, taking the first step in reducing carbon footprint. After more than ten years of development and precipitation, Dow has determined its own sustainable development goals and focus. From the three aspects of circular economy, climate protection and providing safer materials, it has explored and repeated many times around the world. make breakthroughs. For example, take Dow’s European RenuvaTM polyurethane sponge chemical recycling solution as an example. This is the world’s first industrial-grade polyurethane sponge chemical recycling project, which re-forms waste mattress sponges into polyether products through chemical reactions. Through this solution, Dow can recycle more than 200,000 waste mattresses per year, and the annual recycling and processing capacity of polyether products exceeds 2,000 tons. Another case is that for the refrigerator industry, Dow launched the third-generation PASCATM technology in the world. The technology uses a unique vacuum process and a new type of polyurethane foam system to fill the insulating cavity in the refrigerator wall, which will further help refrigerator factories to improve energy efficiency, reduce production costs, improve production efficiency, and accelerate the goal of carbon neutrality for the refrigerator freezer industry. Made a good example. According to estimates, projects using PASCAL technology will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 900,000 tons between 2018 and 2026, which is equivalent to the total amount of greenhouse gases absorbed by 15 million trees that grow for 10 years.
Anhui Xinmeng Equipment Co., Ltd. is a refrigerator foam wire supplier, and is helping the refrigerator factory achieve carbon reduction goals by continuously reducing the power consumption of the wire. Fan Zenghui, general manager of Anhui Xinmeng, revealed: “With the newly negotiated orders in 2021, refrigerator companies have put forward new requirements for the power consumption of the production line. For example, Anhui Xinmeng provides every worker on the foaming production line for Hisense Shunde factory. Smart meters have been installed in all of them to provide real-time feedback on the power consumption of the equipment. When engineers develop new products in the later stage, these data can be used as theoretical support for enterprises to refer to at any time. These data will also be fed back to us so that we can upgrade equipment. Further reduce the power consumption of equipment. In fact, refrigerator companies used to have relatively general requirements for energy saving in production lines, but now they have put forward higher requirements and must be supported by specific data.”
At the end of 2021, although various companies in the polyurethane industry chain provide different low-carbon technology routes, they are actively cooperating with the whole machine factory to help the refrigerator and freezer industry achieve the “double carbon” goal.
Post time: Aug-30-2022