Oriental Union Chemical Corporation's Carbon Reduction Innovation Go Eco Makes the Earth Smile

        The continuous intensification of global climate change has forced humanity to realize the importance of reducing carbon emissions; In order to effectively respond to climate change, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation uses carbon capture and reuse technology to achieve zero carbon transformation, creating a green new business model, and laying a sustainable competitive foundation.

                Pioneers in carbon capture applications

        Since its establishment, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation has attached great importance to issues such as industrial safety, health, and environmental protection, and has a business philosophy of green sustainability. In addition to balancing the development of chemical production and environmental protection, it also continuously improves process design and investment equipment, recycles and reproduces homogeneous related waste, practices recycled economy, and reduces environmental impact.

        Justin H.C.Tsai President stated that, As a specialty material chemistry company, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation produces excellent carbon capture solvents for ethanolamines and ethyleneamines. In addition to assisting customers in carbon capture, we are also developing carbon capture reuse (CCU) technology. The CO2 recovery rate generated by the process is as high as 95%, reducing carbon emissions by 100000 tons per year. It is not only refined into ultra-high purity CO2, sold to industrial, food, and electronic industries, but also processed into ethylene carbonate (EC) We supply manufacturers of polycarbonate, composite materials, and lithium battery electrolytes, while actively developing green technologies and products such as CO2 chemicals, plastic recycling, and biodegradable materials to address carbon emissions issues

        Green sustainability starts with CO2 process recovery

        The Oriental Union Chemical Corporation Ethylene Glycol (EOG) workshop is a continuous reaction production process that introduces ethylene and oxygen produced by the Oriental Union Chemical Corporation gas field into the reactor. It is catalyzed by silver catalyst and undergoes oxidation reaction at high temperature and pressure. The main reaction produces ethylene oxide (EO), while the side reaction produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). Therefore, The company has long been paying attention to the issue of carbon capture process recovery, actively carrying out ethylene glycol workshop renovation projects, selecting high-performance catalysts, paired with the Low CO2 solution and absorbent formula proposed by E&R (Eickmeyer) company, to improve CO2 recovery efficiency; Replace the internal components of equipment such as the absorption tower and stripping tower, and change the tray to a structural packing to reduce the CO2 concentration at the reactor inlet and improve absorption efficiency.

        In order to consider the efficiency of CO2 suppression reaction and reduce production limitations, the engineering design unit directs the CO2 generated by the side reaction to the inlet of the reactor and absorbs it using potassium carbonate solution to ensure the generation and efficiency of the main reaction product. Finally, the CO2/stripping steam mixture is discharged to the backend CO2 recovery system for purification and treatment, completing the carbon capture operation of the entire process recovery, Implement the front-end steps of Oriental Union Chemical Corporation in the recycled economy.

                Developing green business models for downstream application of products

                Oriental Union Chemical Corporation drives transformation through research and development, with a product transformation strategy of green, carbon reduction, and Wuhan Far Eastern New Material. The carbon capture operation in the ethylene glycol factory's process recycling has laid a solid foundation for the company's carbon capture and reuse. Through this, the company develops high-purity CO2 and CO2 derived chemicals downstream, improves carbon reduction benefits, and also creates economic output value.

        1. Equipped with carbon capture and purification technology to produce high-purity CO2

        Oriental Union Chemical Corporation is currently the only enterprise in Taiwan that captures CO2 during the manufacturing process, produces high-purity CO2, and has already mass-produced it. Among them, 30% is used to provide industrial grade (99.9% purity, applied to industrial dry ice and metal welding), food grade (99.99% purity, added to carbonated beverages), and electronic grade CO2 (purity up to 7N or more) for semiconductor processes. Currently, we are committed to developing electronic grade CO2 with a purity of 8N or more, which can be widely used in high-tech industries in the future to replace organic solvents to clean chips and solve the problem of residual and volatile organic compounds, At the same time, it can also be used as a laser light source for EUV high-order wafer devices.

        Another 70% of the production is used to produce green chemicals, such as mass-produced ethylene carbonate (EC), as well as various CO2 containing functional chemicals and derivative chemicals under continuous development.

        2. Over 20 years of carbon capture and reuse business model performance: ethylene carbonate (EC)

        As early as 1999, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation collaborated with Xumei Huacheng Company (merged with Qimei Company in 2009) to build a ethylene carbonate plant focused on green processes, using CO2 as the raw material and reacting with EO to effectively reduce carbon emissions. After completion in 2002, with an annual production capacity of 40000 tons, it became the world's largest ethylene carbonate factory, providing full supply to Qimei Company for the production of polycarbonate (PC), widely used in optical discs, composite plastic materials, and lithium battery electrolytes. After completing the bottleneck removal project in 2008, the annual production capacity increased to 60000 tons. The business model and achievements of carbon capture and reuse over 20 years confirm that Oriental Union Chemical Corporation is a pioneer in the recycling and utilization of greenhouse gases.

        3. Develop CO2 functional chemicals and derived chemicals

        Reducing carbon emissions and utilizing CO2 are the driving forces for the future new economy. In response to this situation, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation is actively developing innovative technologies that can reduce carbon emissions and recycle CO2. The research and development team has made significant progress in developing various CO2 functional and derivative chemicals in recent years.

        (1) CO2 introduction into polyether polyols (CO2 contained polyols) and new surfactants

        Oriental Union Chemical Corporation introduces CO2 gas into existing polyether polyols (CO2 contained polyols), which has carbon sequestration benefits. When applied to interfacial active agents, it can reduce crystallinity, facilitate transportation and blending, and reduce surface tension and foaming, thereby reducing wastewater generation and environmental degradation; When applied to polymer materials, it can also optimize resilience, hydrolysis resistance, foam uniformity, flexibility, dyeing properties, etc.

        On the other hand, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation has also developed CO2 containing block type polyethylene glycol. In addition to retaining the wetting and dispersion of PEG, as well as its functional properties as a CO2 containing polyol reaction monomer, it can reduce the melting point at the same molecular weight, making the high molecular weight PEG that was originally a solid at room temperature appear liquid, greatly improving the convenience of subsequent use and reducing the need for production process preparation The energy consumption required for heating and melting during use.

        In addition, due to changes in structural polarity, the CO2 containing block type polyethylene glycol series chemicals can exhibit physical and interface properties different from the original PEG, which has the opportunity to expand the application fields of downstream Wuhan Far Eastern New Material. Currently, they have been verified by downstream manufacturers in rubber vulcanization, water-based PU and other application fields; The R&D team also applied the same technology to embed CO2 into natural alcohols and amine polyoxyethylene ethers, and developed a series of low foam, non colloidal new detergent and emulsifier raw materials.

        (2) New type of concrete additive containing CO2

        The R&D team of Oriental Union Chemical Corporation has developed a water-soluble chemical additive containing sequestered CO2 (carbon sequestered), which gradually releases CO2 during the hydration process and forms carbonate minerals. It can be separately or configured as Type G/Type F admixtures and added to fresh concrete to improve the compressive strength of the concrete mixture, reduce the amount of cement binder, and further reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete. In addition, the team has also developed carbon capture concrete additives, which can be added to recycled water, recycled aggregates, or maintenance sections to accelerate the mineralization of these materials, making them into recycled aggregates or concrete that absorb CO2 and fix them as calcium carbonate.

        (3) Polycarbonate Diols (PCDL) containing CO2

        Oriental Union Chemical Corporation has developed polycarbonate diols (PCDL), which contain CO2 and have low carbon emissions. PCDL can be used as a copolymer of polyurethane materials (PU), providing carbon sequestration benefits and enhancing their flexibility, toughness, hydrolysis resistance, heat resistance, weather resistance, and oxidative degradation resistance.

                Net zero transformation: 35% carbon reduction by 2030, carbon neutrality by 2050

        In the future, Oriental Union Chemical Corporation will continue to develop materials such as battery materials, electronic chemicals, high-purity gases, and special applications in response to global technological trends, and refine carbon capture and reuse (CCU) process technology, research and development of green products such as CO2 chemical low-carbon process plastic recycling and biodegradability; At the same time, we will implement recycled economy, energy transformation, and low-carbon production in process management, achieving the goals of 35% carbon reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050, opening a new page for enterprise sustainability development.

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