As the world’s largest energy consumer and producer, China’s energy transformation has always been a hot topic of discussion in the whole society. The refining industry, closely related to energy transformation, is not only an energy production industry, but also one of the main industries for energy consumption and carbon emissions. Under the “dual carbon” goal, the refining industry is facing greater constraints and challenges, and is also facing more transformation opportunities.

Honeywell has a century long history of technological accumulation and innovation in the refining industry, and through a series of innovations, helps the refining industry to achieve carbon reduction while further improving production efficiency and increasing benefits. The UOP Zhangjiagang Integrated Production Base under Honeywell Energy and Sustainable Technology Group is one of the company’s important strategic centers in China. This base is in line with the development trend of energy transformation, and has grown into one of Honeywell’s important strategic centers serving customers in the refining industry in China by gradually integrating the advantages of innovative research and development, technical engineering, and integrated production.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Zhangjiagang Integrated Production Base, Yu Feng, President of Honeywell China, expressed his views on how the company can help the refining industry achieve energy transformation and sustainable development in the new era.

“The East Serves the East” Create a Local Innovation Benchmark

Dealing with climate change and strengthening commitments to sustainable development is a common focus of concern in today’s society. The application of sustainable technologies will accelerate the transformation of green economy, promote energy system transformation, and promote fundamental changes in social production and consumption patterns. In China, with the “dual carbon” goal becoming an important lever for promoting high-quality development, energy transformation and the application of low-carbon technologies have become a common trend for various industries to achieve sustainable development.

Honeywell adheres to the development concept of “serving the East from the East”, and through a series of innovative technological processes and intelligent operation models, helps Chinese refining enterprises accurately identify the main sources of carbon emissions, as well as practical and feasible emission reduction methods, technologies, and improvement plans. On the basis of ensuring economy, it better realizes low-carbon processes and achieves multi-dimensional green development.

Zhangjiagang Integrated Production Base is one of the important R&D and engineering technology service centers of Honeywell UOP worldwide, responsible for Honeywell UOP’s innovative research and development, engineering design, project execution, technical support and services in China. The center introduces advanced core refining technologies and conducts research and development innovation on this basis, achieving rapid achievement transformation and empowering the innovative development of the refining industry.

The Zhangjiagang Integrated Production Base covers an area of approximately 447 acres and is one of Honeywell’s largest investment projects in China. It is also Honeywell Energy and Sustainable Technology Group’s first catalyst production base in China. From investing in the construction of the factory in 2014 to being awarded the title of “Green Factory” in Jiangsu Province in 2023, Honeywell UOP Zhangjiagang Integrated Production Base has actively assisted the local petroleum refining and coal chemical industries in achieving low-carbon transformation with its long-term sustainable development strategy and investment. It has also provided strong support for the local economic transformation and upgrading, becoming a strong witness to Honeywell’s development strategy of “serving the East from the East” in China.

This integrated production base has multiple industry-leading product production lines, mainly producing dehydrogenation catalysts, reforming catalysts, and methanol to olefin catalysts. The products are widely used in the petrochemical and coal chemical industries. Two of the catalyst production lines have been awarded the title of “Provincial Demonstration Intelligent Workshop”, fully meeting the growing demand for key catalysts and adsorbent products in the domestic market.

In addition, Honeywell has observed that the application of digital technologies such as intelligence and interconnectivity is also an effective way to help the refining, petrochemical, and chemical industries save energy and reduce carbon emissions. On the basis of existing equipment and technology, by applying digital technology to improve processes, increase asset efficiency, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Honeywell’s connected factory solution can achieve end-to-end optimization of operations and production, helping customers in the refining, petrochemical, and chemical industries quickly find solutions that can achieve greater efficiency, low-carbon optimization.

Empowering the refining industry with cutting-edge innovative technologies to achieve new quality productivity

Honeywell has targeted solutions for industries that account for two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, which can fully support the development of circular economy and promote energy and environmental transformation. In the refining industry, Honeywell assists industry clients in identifying the main sources of carbon emissions and feasible emission reduction methods and technologies, and proposes targeted technical solutions for industry emission reduction in raw materials, processes, emissions, operations, and other aspects. With Honeywell UOP’s process technology, equipment, and lifecycle solutions, companies can create greater value from every drop of oil, every cubic meter of natural gas, and every ton of coal.

For a long time, the naphtha cracking process has been the mainstream route for preparing olefins. However, the yield of naphtha cracking process is low, there are many by-products, and carbon emissions are high. Although using ethane cracking can improve yield and reduce carbon emissions, the supply of ethane as a raw material is in short supply. Faced with the increasing demand for light olefins, Honeywell UOP has launched the Naphtha to Ethane/Propane (NEP) process, which can efficiently convert liquid raw materials into ethane and propane. This will further optimize production, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, improve profitability, flexibility, and sustainability, and better respond to new demands and challenges in the olefin industry.

In May 2023, Honeywell signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Shenghong Petrochemical to provide advanced process technologies such as NEP for its refining and chemical integration project at the Lianyungang Petrochemical Industry Base, promote the construction of an intelligent, low-carbon, and sustainable integrated production system, and assist in the comprehensive promotion of the upgrading of the petrochemical industry. The Shenghong Refining and Chemical Integrated Project adopts innovative green production process technology, and multiple devices have set production scale records in China and even the world.

The energy transformation of the aviation industry also relies on the development of the refining industry, with aircraft fuel typically accounting for 20% to 30% of operating costs. Under the trend of improving efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, the application of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) is imperative. Compared to petroleum based fuels, sustainable aviation fuels produced using Honeywell UOP technology can reduce greenhouse gases by 60% to 88% throughout their entire lifecycle, helping airlines achieve low-carbon flight.

As early as 2016, Honeywell Ecofining ™ The technology has taken the lead in achieving commercial production of sustainable aviation fuels. To meet the rapidly growing demand for renewable fuels such as sustainable aviation fuels in the market, Honeywell has successively launched solutions covering a range of raw materials. Except for Unicracking ™、 Ecofining?, Honeywell’s renewable fuel product portfolio also includes ethanol to sustainable aviation fuel (ETJ) technology and eFining ™， The latter can use green hydrogen and carbon dioxide to prepare electronic fuels.

At present, more than 50 factories worldwide have obtained Honeywell’s sustainable aviation fuel production process licenses, and it is expected that the total production capacity will exceed 500000 barrels per day when all are put into operation. In China, Honeywell has collaborated with Zhejiang Jiaao Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Jinshang Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. to assist in the construction of sustainable aviation fuel production bases and promote the application of sustainable aviation fuels in China. Among them, the large-scale sustainable aviation fuel production base project built by Jiaao Environmental Protection in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, uses Honeywell UOP’s EcofiningTM process technology, catalysts, and equipment. After completion, it is expected to become one of the largest sustainable aviation fuel devices in China that adopt EcofiningTM process technology and are the first to be put into production.

As an important part of the sustainable development loop, the capture and storage of carbon dioxide is also an important path to achieving carbon neutrality goals. It is predicted that by 2050, Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) will contribute approximately 14% of carbon dioxide emissions reduction. At present, Honeywell has launched advanced solvent technology, new thin-film carbon capture technology, improved adsorbents, and new process design. Through cross industry and cross regional cooperation in the application of efficient combustion technology and carbon capture technology, it helps customers find improvement space in emissions and recovery, fully squeezing the green potential of emissions and recovery processes, and achieving energy conservation and emission reduction goals.

In the field of resource recycling and reuse, Honeywell successfully commercialized the disruptive UpCycle plastic recycling process in 2021. This technology can greatly reduce the carbon footprint in the recycling and manufacturing process, achieve hundreds or thousands of recycling and reuse, promote the development of plastic recycling economy, and have the potential to help improve the global waste plastic recycling rate to 90%.

Implementing ESG concepts and taking the path of sustainable development

Actively implementing the ESG concept and promoting innovation and application of sustainable technologies is the only way for enterprises to enter the future, and it is also a “golden key” to balance green development and long-term growth. Honeywell promises to achieve carbon neutrality goals for all business operations and facilities by 2035, and continues to promote sustainable development for the company. Since 2004, the greenhouse gas emission intensity of Honeywell’s business operations and facilities has decreased by over 90%.

In China, Honeywell is also committed to fulfilling its commitment to sustainable development and supporting China’s proposed “dual carbon” and other sustainable development goals. The sustainable transformation of factory operations is a key element in achieving the company’s carbon neutrality goals. Honeywell currently has four factories certified as national or provincial “green factories”. Among them, the Zhangjiagang factory was successfully selected for the 2022 Green Factory List published by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology last year, demonstrating Honeywell’s professional strength in low-carbon manufacturing and energy management, and also a strong demonstration of Honeywell’s commitment to sustainable development.

During the construction phase of the Zhangjiagang factory, Honeywell not only achieved zero discharge of industrial wastewater containing nitrogen and phosphorus, but also promoted the comprehensive utilization of general industrial solid waste. Since its operation in 2014, the Zhangjiagang factory has carried out carbon footprint certification for its main products, established multiple ISO quality management systems, and carried out over 20 sustainable development projects related to production materials, equipment, and emission recycling. The factory’s production process has been optimized to achieve cost reduction, efficiency increase, energy conservation, and consumption reduction.

In addition, Honeywell has released multiple sustainable development white papers to assist China in achieving energy transformation. The industry white paper “Refueling for Sustainable Aviation” provides support for addressing current and future carbon reduction challenges in the aviation industry and other fields, and promotes the accelerated landing of a series of mature solutions such as sustainable aviation fuels in China. Previously, companies such as “White Paper on Low Carbon Development in the Refining Industry” and “Promoting Sustainable Development with Green Technology” were also released, becoming one of the leading companies in the industry’s sustainable development.

To address the many challenges posed by climate change, Honeywell is leveraging a range of innovative technologies and solutions to assist the refining industry in achieving carbon reduction while further increasing profits. Honeywell’s core business aligns with China’s macro strategy and market demands. Adhering to the concept of deeply cultivating China and focusing on long-term development, Honeywell will further deepen technological innovation and local cooperation, promote low-carbon, efficient, safe, and healthy high-quality sustainable development, and empower Chinese partners to achieve energy transformation goals.