DM Monitoring
XI’AN: Large metal pipes and clusters of towering reaction tanks occupy an under-construction industrial plant in the city of Yulin, a major coal base in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.
It is here that coal, a pollution-intensive raw material, is turned into polyglycolic acid (PGA), a degradable material that can be used to make a variety of products such as disposable tableware, toothbrush, or even surgical suture.
CNH Energy Yulin Chemical Co., Ltd., which owns the plant, is one of many enterprises in the city that recycle coal to reduce its environmental effects as part of efforts to fulfill China’s carbon commitment to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed efforts to develop the country’s energy industry while visiting Yulin on Monday, noting that such development should follow a green and low-carbon path. Such efforts would be conducive to peaking carbon dioxide emissions and achieving carbon neutrality without straining resources, energy and environmental capacity, he said.
China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of energy. According to the country’s outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and the long-range objectives through the year 2035, China will promote the clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient use of energy, accelerate the development of new energy and environmental protection industries, and promote the overall green shift of economic and social development.
Yulin is at the forefront of the transformation. In the PGA plant, it is estimated that 50,000 tonnes of PGA will be churned out annually by utilizing the coal mined in the city.
Around 517 million tonnes of raw coal was produced in Yulin in 2020, accounting for about 13.2 percent of the national total, local statistics showed.
