The material industry is facing a heavy document： by 2025, the competitiveness of some non-grain bio-based products is equivalent to that of fossil-based products, and 3~5 bio-based material industry

On January 13th,The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other six departments issued the "Three-year Action Plan for Accelerating the Innovation and Development of Non-grain Bio-based Materials"(hereinafter referred to as the "Program").

The "Proposal" clarifies that by 2025, the non-grain bio-based materials industry will basically form an innovative development ecology with strong independent innovation capability, continuously enriched product systems, green circulation and low carbon, the utilization and application technology of non-grain biomass raw materials will be basically mature, and the competitiveness of some non-grain bio-based products will be equivalent to that of fossil-based products, and a high-quality and sustainable supply and consumption system will be initially established.

Among them, in terms of ecological cultivation, the "Proposal" proposes to form about five key enterprises with core competitiveness, distinctive features and outstanding development advantages, and build three to five bio-based material industrial clusters, so that the industrial development ecology will be continuously optimized.

The reporter of national business daily noted that the Plan put forward five key tasks, namely, breaking through key technologies for efficient utilization of non-grain biomass, promoting technology amplification and application demonstration, strengthening penetration capacity to expand application fields, cultivating leading enterprises and characteristic industrial bases, and strengthening the construction of industrial support system.

The development goal of 2025 proposed by the "Program" Image source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Bio-based materials refer to products made from renewable biomass or through biological manufacturing, including but not limited to carbon-containing chemical raw materials and chemicals. Bio-based materials are the fruits of the integration and innovation of biotechnology and chemical industry, and the coupling development of biochemical industry and traditional chemical industry, which is helpful to reduce the dependence of petrochemical industry on fossil raw materials and reduce the safety risk of production process.

In recent years, relying on the advantages of complete industrial system, China’s bio-based materials industry has developed rapidly and is in a critical period of industrialization development. However, it also faces problems such as single raw material structure, urgent breakthrough of key industrialization technologies and improvement of industrial support system.

MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)Interpretation of the Plan indicates that during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, China’s biotechnology has accelerated its evolution, biochemical industry has developed rapidly, and the chemical industry has accelerated its transformation. At this time, the Plan was issued, aiming at accelerating the innovative development of bio-based materials based on non-grain biomass and promoting the coordinated development of industry and agriculture based on China’s national conditions, which will not only help rural revitalization and the construction of beautiful China, but also help the guidance on high-quality development of petrochemical industry and the implementation plan of peak carbon dioxide emissions.

Yu Debiao, Director of CCID Consulting Consumer Economic Research CenterIn an interview with national business daily reporter WeChat, he said that the documents issued this time are mainly for implementation.Peak carbon dioxide emissions Action Plan to 2030To promote the low-carbon development of non-food bio-based materials. "By breaking through the key technologies of efficient utilization of non-grain biomass, we will strengthen the amplification and application demonstration of non-grain biomass technology, and finally realize the efficient and green development of non-grain bio-based materials."

The "non-grain bio-based materials" mentioned in the "Program" mainly refer to bio-based materials based on non-grain biomass such as staple crop straws and residues.MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)It is said that China’s bio-based materials industry has developed rapidly, a relatively complete industrial technology system has been built, the industrial scale has been expanding, the backbone enterprises have gradually expanded, and the application of key products has gradually expanded. But at present, bio-based materials are mainly based on food raw materials.

Because the per capita arable land and grain reserves in China are quite different from those in some resource-rich countries, although China’s grain has been harvested year after year, the supply is abundant and the market is stable, it is difficult to develop bio-based materials based on grain raw materials, and it is bound to face contradictions such as "competing for food with the people" and "competing for food with livestock".

Therefore,MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)It is emphasized that to develop bio-based materials in China, we must implement the strategy of "storing grain in technology", transform "non-grain biomass" in the traditional sense into raw materials for developing bio-based materials, prevent and resolve contradictions such as "competing for food with the people" and "competing for feed with livestock", indirectly improve the grain output of unit cultivated land in China, and make another contribution to the rice bowl in China.

Workers from a biomass power generation company loaded baled straw into Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Shizhen.

At present, there are still some difficulties in accelerating the innovation and development of non-grain bio-based materials. Compared with the route of large-scale production of bio-based materials based on traditional grain raw materials, non-grain bio-based materials are produced from non-grain biomass such as crop straws and residues, which is more difficult in raw material pretreatment, saccharification and fermentation conversion efficiency, and comprehensive cost control.

MIIT (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)The interpretation of the Plan indicates that the production technology based on non-grain biomass in China is currently in the stage of tackling key problems and climbing, and the key platform technologies such as preparation of industrial strains (groups) and functional components of enzymes and proteins, standardized harvesting and preservation of non-grain biomass and pretreatment are waiting for breakthrough, and it is urgent to connect all key platform technologies seamlessly with existing technologies, so as to realize the application demonstration of bio-based materials in the whole industrial chain on a large scale by non-grain biomass.

To this end, the Proposal proposes to push forward technical cooperation, deepen the coupling between biotechnology and traditional chemical industry, implement key technological innovation projects, break through key platform technologies such as saccharification of non-grain biomass, substitution of non-grain biomass for grain fermentation production, efficient purification and concentration, and construction of industrial strains and enzyme protein components, build a distributed non-grain biological disposal and saccharification base according to local conditions, improve the output efficiency per unit of cultivated land, reduce energy consumption and cost, and consolidate the technical and economic foundation of non-grain bio-based materials.

At the same time, it is necessary to promote the demonstration of technology application, deepen the synergistic coupling between biochemistry and agricultural planting, implement technology amplification and application demonstration projects, carry out demonstrations of non-grain biomass saccharification, industrial production of bio-based chemicals and polymers, high-value and efficient utilization of agricultural residues, and development of bio-based materials processing technology, so as to realize standardized, large-scale and green operation of non-grain biomass saccharification and fermentation, product separation, purification and concentration, and improve stability, consistency and economy.

Bio-based materials are an important supplement to fossil-based materials. At present, the variety of bio-based materials in China is not rich enough, and both basic chemicals and polymers need to be developed. How can we expand the downstream application of bio-based materials?

To this end, the Proposal proposes to improve the material system, adhere to the combination of demand traction and technology promotion, and guide enterprises to use biological fermentation, biosynthesis, chemical synthesis and other processes to build a bio-based material system based on non-grain biomass, and clarify the key development directions of carbon-containing chemicals such as lactic acid and succinic acid, as well as carbon-containing polymers such as polylactic acid and polyamide.

At the same time, it is necessary to expand the application market, support bio-based materials enterprises to build upstream and downstream cooperation platforms with key downstream enterprises, jointly promote the application of biodegradable daily-use products and high-end functional products, guide the green upgrading of consumption, and accelerate the demonstration application of bio-based products such as biodegradable plastic films and droppers in the main cash crop producing areas and facility agriculture.

By 2025, the variety of bio-based chemicals will be continuously enriched, the stability of polymers will be significantly improved, and large-scale applications will be realized in plastic products, textile fibers and other fields.

national business daily