Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

hatrack

(59,442 posts)
Sat Aug 8, 2020, 09:39 AM Aug 2020

Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Just 11 Chinese Factories May Equal GHG Impact Of All California's Cars

In December 2007, Charles Perilloux, an American chemical engineer, traveled to China to help install inexpensive and game-changing technology at a Chinese chemical plant that was spewing a climate "super-pollutant" into the atmosphere. The emissions quickly fell to near zero.

The state-owned Henan Shenma Nylon Chemical Company manufactures adipic acid, a key ingredient in nylon and polyurethane, which is used in everything from car parts to running shoes. While producing adipic acid, the factory emitted thousands of tons of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide in warming the planet. Shenma's emission reductions had a greenhouse gas impact equivalent to taking one million cars off the road, records from the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) show. Through the program, Shenma reduced its emissions in exchange for lucrative carbon credits.

EDIT

Then, in 2012, funding for the U.N. program dried up. What has happened since at the two plants, and at nine others across China that now manufacture nearly half of the world's adipic acid, has been a mystery. Zhao Duo, a general manager with Shenma, told InsideClimate News that his company continues to abate its nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, but he would not say to what extent.

EDIT

However, an InsideClimate News investigation, based on dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of documents from the Chinese government, the United Nations, and Chinese state media, strongly suggests that when funding for the U.N. program ended, so too did nearly all of the emissions reductions. This likely occurred despite the availability of proven, low-cost abatement technology. If the vast majority of the plants' emissions are released, unabated into the atmosphere, their collective emissions would exceed the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from all passenger vehicles in California, the most populous state in America, as well as the emissions from all cars in Beijing and Shanghai, China's two largest megacities. If this is true, it's a climate tragedy of epic proportions.

EDIT

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04082020/china-n2o-super-pollutant-nylon-emissions-climate-change

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Environment & Energy»Nitrous Oxide Emissions F...