The highlights of the transformation and development of Hubei's chemical industry are prominent
Liu Haijun, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Department of Economy and Information Technology of Hubei Province, introduced at the 2023 National Petroleum and Chemical Industry Science and Technology Innovation Conference that Hubei has built a relatively complete industrial system including petrochemical, phosphorus chemical, coal chemical, salt chemical, fine chemical and new chemical materials. The chemical industry's operating income in 2022 reached 686.3 billion yuan, ranking sixth in the country and first in the central region, and has become a true advantage and pillar industry in Hubei.
Liu Haijun introduced that there are four highlights in the transformation and development of the chemical industry in Hubei Province: firstly, planning industry transformation from a high starting point and continuously clarifying new development coordinates. Hubei Province has included the modern chemical and energy industries as one of the five key industries with a revenue of trillions of yuan to be developed. The "Implementation Plan for the Transformation and Upgrading of the Chemical Industry in Hubei Province (2023-2025)" has been formulated and introduced, with the goal of building a world-class phosphorus based new material industry cluster, a national high-end electronic chemical special zone, a national modern coal chemical production base, a national new functional fertilizer supply guarantee base, and an important petrochemical industry base in the central region, among other "one cluster, one special zone, and three bases", to promote Hubei's transformation from a major chemical province to a strong chemical province.
The second is to construct chemical industrial parks with high standards and continuously strengthen and develop new carriers. We have formulated and issued construction standards and implementation rules for the recognition and management of chemical industrial parks, organized a review and recognition of the completed chemical industrial parks in the province, and carried out the integration of chemical industrial parks in accordance with the principles of "one place, one district" and "one district, multiple parks". The first two batches have identified 41 compliant chemical industrial parks, with a chemical enterprise entry rate of 76.8%.
The third is to efficiently promote major projects and continuously consolidate new foundations for development. The province has successively built three major refining bases, namely Wuhan, Jingmen, and Qianjiang, with a crude oil processing capacity of 20 million tons per year. Sinopec China and South Korea have invested over 7 billion yuan to implement two major projects: the ethylene debottlenecking project and the adjustment of refining structure; Jingmen Petrochemical invested 11.9 billion yuan to implement "oil to specialty" and "oil to specialty" conversion, achieving the upgrading of the product structure of specialty oil products and new materials; Qianjiang Jin'ao Technology Company has invested over 10 billion yuan to achieve "reducing oil and increasing chemical production" and promote breakthroughs in the field of high-end advanced chemical materials.
The fourth is to protect the ecological environment at a high level and continuously gather new driving forces for development. We will vigorously promote the "transformation and relocation" of chemical enterprises along the Yangtze River. Out of the 478 enterprises on the task list, 461 have been completed, and the remaining 17 are progressing according to the timeline. All chemical enterprises within a one kilometer radius along the Yangtze River have completed the "reform, relocation, and transformation", achieving the goal of moving from new to high-rise, from green to strong. Strengthen the comprehensive treatment of industrial solid waste such as phosphogypsum, and achieve a comprehensive utilization rate of 70.3% for phosphogypsum in the province by 2022.
In response, Li Wenjun, Assistant Director and Researcher of the Science and Equipment Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, suggested that Hubei should continuously extend the phosphorus chemical industry chain, such as vigorously developing high-end phosphorus based chemicals such as phosphorus flame retardants, organic phosphorus, and functional phosphates, as well as new phosphorus based microelectronics materials such as high-purity yellow phosphorus, ultra high purity electronic grade phosphoric acid, and electronic grade phosphane, and supporting the development of industries such as lithium battery separators, negative electrode materials, energy storage systems, and power batteries to create a high-value industry chain.
