The Development of Chemical Industry Urgently Needs the Upgrading of Ideas

On August 27, a fire and combustion accident occurred in a chemical park in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Netizens uploaded videos to show that the scene was filled with black smoke. The accident is less than half a year away from the 3.21 explosion accident in Xiangshui Chemical Enterprise, Jiangsu Province.

Both accidents point to the same industry in the same province. From the perspective of local government, Jiangsu Province naturally needs to sum up experience and lessons to remedy the loopholes in the supervision of production safety and prevent the recurrence of such accidents in terms of system; from the perspective of industry and science and technology, the difficulties and challenges faced by China's chemical industry also need to be faced bravely. Chemical industry is an important industry related to national economy and people's livelihood. According to the statistics of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, in 2018, the main business income of the whole petroleum and chemical industry in China was 12.4 trillion yuan, the total profit was 839.38 billion yuan, and the total import and export value was 754.34 billion yuan. There were 27813 Enterprises above the scale of petrochemical industry in China, and 676 industrial parks with petroleum and chemical industry as the leading industry in China. Among them, there are 14 super-large parks with output value exceeding 100 billion yuan.

The economic data is only one aspect. The large petrochemical industry, including petrochemical industry, basic chemical industry and chemical fibre, is closely related to people's production and life. From consumer goods to industrial products, from raw materials to complete sets of equipment, from the sky to the ground and underwater, chemical products have become necessary for human society. At the same time, chemical industry has more or less infiltrated into other industries. Therefore, it is unrealistic to strip off the chemical industry and shut down all chemical enterprises for the sake of environmental protection and absolute safety. However, the practical problems in the chemical industry still need to be addressed, especially through the implementation and refinement of the new development concepts put forward by the state. For example, in view of the problem of "discoloration" and serious pollution of some chemical enterprises, the scientific and technological circles and insiders put forward the concept of "green chemical industry" very early and led the development of the industry. The state also took "green development" as one of the five development concepts in the 13th Five-Year Plan. However, in the past two years, from Zhangjiakou to Xiangshui, from Yima to Changzhou, the successive chemical industry safety accidents tell us that from the safety point of view, in addition to pre-prevention, post-remedy and other "operation" level work, we also need to crack and lead from the height of establishing a new concept of industry development.

The safety issue of life-threatening cannot be overemphasized. In this regard, the situation of China's nuclear industry can be used as a reference. In March 2011, after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the Chinese Academy of Engineering organized the consultation project "Re-research on China's nuclear energy development". This consultation study analyzed the contradictions faced by the safe development, scale development and sustainable development of nuclear energy in China under the new situation of nuclear power development. It was proposed that the development policy of nuclear power in China could be summarized as strategic competition, ensuring safety, steadily and efficiently. It was suggested that "developing nuclear power on a safe and steady scale" be the basis of China's energy development. One of the strategies is to further improve the safety of nuclear power under the principle of safety first, to ensure the elimination of radioactive material leakage accidents that have a serious impact on public health and the environment, and to attach importance to and do a good job in the top-level design of nuclear power development in the medium and long term.

Like the nuclear power industry, under the new situation, it is also necessary to establish a development policy from a strategic perspective on the basis of investigation and research for the safety and high-quality development of China's chemical industry. For example, according to a British agency's statistical analysis of the types of chemical reaction accidents, the top three are: polymerization, nitration and sulfonation, accounting for 47%, 11% and 10%. So, is the situation in our country the same? What are the urgent problems to be solved in terms of system, management and technology? Are the links of industrial chain and innovation chain coordinated and have an impact on security? Based on this, what decision-making reference can be provided for the Party and the state, and what guidance can be provided for the development of the chemical industry? All these problems need the cooperation of government, industry, University and research institutes.

Therefore, after "green", the chemical industry also needs to carry out new upgrading and transformation from the perspective of concept and policy. This is not only the requirement of implementing the new development concept, but also the important content of adhering to the bottom line thinking proposed by the Party Central Committee and preventing and resolving major risks.