Pathways for Reducing Pollutants and Carbon Emissions Synergistically Targeting Chemical Industrial Parks in China

Abstract

The chemical industry plays a crucial role in strengthening the manufacturing sector of China, and chemical industrial parks are key platforms for new industrialization. Chemical industrial parks encounter numerous challenges in mitigating pollution and carbon emissions, encompassing issues such as a low resource-utilization rate, deficient recycling practices, substantial costs associated with end-of-pipe pollution control, and escalated safety and environmental risks. This study investigates collaborative pathways for pollution reduction and carbon mitigation within chemical industrial parks. According to the characteristics and research progress of carbon emissions and pollution generation, the implications of carbon reduction synergies are analyzed. A comprehensive analytical framework is established for general industrial processes, covering material metabolic processes in enterprise production, symbiotic metabolism in industrial parks, and material metabolism in park infrastructure. Moreover, specific technical pathways for pollution reduction and carbon mitigation are proposed: (1) establishing a comprehensive inventory of carbon and pollutant emissions; (2) integrating and optimizing the technological and industrial structures of chemical industrial parks through the development of green production technologies, symbiotic upgrades in infrastructure, enhanced inter-enterprise cooperation, coordinated efforts in pollution reduction,carbon mitigation, and safety production, and optimization of product-industry-space structures; and (3) conducting a cost-benefit analysis of pollution reduction and carbon mitigation technology pathways through a life cycle assessment. Employing the Hangzhou Bay Shangyu Economic and Technological Development Zone as a case study, an empirical analysis of pollution reduction and carbon mitigation technology pathways is undertaken. Furthermore, recommendations are made from three perspectives: improving precision measurement systems to strengthen material flow management in chemical industrial parks, reinforcing symbiotic links through systems engineering to empower pollution reduction and carbon mitigation, and stimulating systemic efficiency reforms for the green and high-quality development of chemical industrial parks.

Keywords

• chemical industrial park
• pollution reduction and carbon mitigation
• life cycle analysis
• material flow management
• emissions inventory
• infrastructure
• industrial symbiosis