Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd. product carbon footprint report

Report subject (sealed): Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd

Date of preparation: March 15, 2023

Reporting year: 2022

1. Introduction to Product Carbon Footprint (PCF).

In recent years, the greenhouse effect and climate change have become the focus of global attention, and the new term "carbon footprint" is becoming more and more widely used all over the world. Carbon footprint is usually divided into three levels: project level, organizational level, and product level. Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) refers to the sum of greenhouse gas emissions at each stage of a product's life cycle, that is, the accumulation of various greenhouse gas emissions at multiple stages, from raw material extraction, product production (or supply), distribution, use, to final disposal/recycling. Greenhouse bodies include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFO), perfluorocarbons (PFC), and nitrogen trioxide (NF3). The calculation result of the product carbon footprint is the weighted sum of various greenhouse gas emissions during the life cycle of the product, expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in kgCO2e or gCO2e. Global warming potential (GWP), that is, the carbon dioxide equivalent value of various greenhouse gases, is usually provided by the United Nations Intergovernmental Committee of Experts on Climate Change (IPCC), and this set of factors is currently widely used around the world.
Product carbon footprint calculations only include a full life cycle assessment (LCA) portion of greenhouse gases. Based on the LCA evaluation method, a variety of carbon footprint assessment guidelines and requirements have been established internationally for product carbon footprint certification, and there are currently three widely used carbon footprint assessment standards:(1) The PAS2050:2011 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Assessment Specification for Goods and Services in the Life Cycle, which is jointly issued by the British Standards Institute (BSI), the Carbon Trust and the UK Food and Rural Affairs Department (Defra), is the earliest international standard with specific calculation methods, and it is also the most commonly used product carbon footprint evaluation standard.
(2) Greenhouse Gas Accounting System: Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standards, which is a product and supply chain standard issued by the World Resources Institute (VRI) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD);
(3) (ISO/TS 14067:2013 Greenhouse gases – Carbon footprint of products – Requirements and guidelines for quantification and information exchange), this standard is seed PAS 2050 and prepared and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The purpose of product carbon footprint accounting standards is to establish a consistent and internationally recognized method for assessing product carbon footprint.

2. Definition of goals and scope

2.1 Introduction of enterprises and their products

Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd. was officially established on February 13, 2018 in Lianjiang County, Fujian Province, with a registered capital of 352 million yuan, located in Lianjiang County Kemen Industrial Park, a key planned industrial zone in the province with convenient transportation and beautiful scenery, adjacent to Lianjiang Kemen Port, a natural deep-water port of 10 million tons. On July 1, 2021, Shenma officially became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hengshen Group.

The company has built two sets of cyclohexanone plants with an annual output of 200,000 tons, with a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan, and the annual output value is expected to reach 4 billion yuan after full production. After the project is put into operation, it will comprehensively optimize the industrial structure, so that Hengshen Group has a complete eight-way industrial chain, and at the same time improve the production capacity and output of high-quality cyclohexanone in our country, drive the improvement of the local and even the entire textile industry, and will have a profound impact on the competitiveness of domestic textiles in the international market.
In order to further consolidate and enhance comprehensive competitiveness, Shenma opened the second phase of the 200,000-ton cyclohexanone project while preparing for the construction of the first phase of the cyclohexanone project, and the second phase of the project has been completed and put into operation. The total output of the second phase of the Shenma New Materials project can reach 400,000 tons per year, which constitutes a dual-circuit supply of the group's cyclohexanone raw materials with the Phenol Phenol-pallahexanone project of Shenyuan New Materials, further consolidating and enhancing the comprehensive competitiveness of the group's industrial chain.

2.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to obtain the carbon footprint of the product life cycle process of Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd. to produce "one ton of cyclohexanone products", and the research results are conducive to Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd. to grasp the greenhouse gas emission pathways and emissions, and help explore the potential for emission reduction, effectively communicate with consumers, improve reputation and strengthen the brand, so as to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, it provides a good data foundation for effective communication between product buyers and third parties.

2.3 Description of carbon footprint scope

The types of greenhouse gases verified in this report include the greenhouse gases listed in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrofluorochlorocarbons (CFCs, HFCs, HCFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), etc., and the method proposed in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (2013) is used to calculate the GWP value of the product production cycle.
To facilitate lightweighting, the calculation of carbon footprint is defined as the carbon footprint generated by producing one ton of product.

The verification period is from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

The verification location is Fujian Shenma New Materials Co., Ltd. (address: No. 1 Songqi Avenue, Kemen Industrial Park, Lianjiang County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province).

According to the actual situation of the company, the verification team used PAS2050 as the evaluation standard in the process of product carbon footprint verification, and the inventory boundary can be divided into two types: B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer). The system boundary of this inventory is of the "cradle to gate" type, and the system boundary of product manufacturing is shown in the figure above (the process in the dotted border is not included in the greenhouse gas emission calculation). This report excludes greenhouse gas emissions from:
(1) Greenhouse gas emissions from personnel-related activities are not counted;
(2) Emissions generated by factories, warehouses, offices, etc. are not counted due to the complex impact of various factors such as geography and factory arrangement;

Table 1.1 Production processes included and not included within the system boundary

3. Data collection

In accordance with the requirements of the PAS 2050: 2011 standard, the company's verification team has set up a carbon footprint inventory working group to inventory the carbon footprint of products produced with one ton of cyclohexanone products. The working group first prepares for the product carbon footprint inventory, then determines the work plan and scope, and completes the greenhouse gas emission inventory through document review, on-site visits and telephone communication. The preliminary preparation mainly includes: understanding the basic situation of the product, production process and raw material suppliers; And investigate and collect some original data, mainly including: production statements, financial data, etc., to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the data, and in the later report preparation stage, a large number of databases, literature reports and mature and available LCA software are consulted to obtain emission factors.

3.1 Primary activity level data

As required by the PAS2050:2011 standard, primary activity level data is applied to all processes and materials, i.e. processes and materials owned, operated or controlled by the organization that generates the carbon footprint. The primary activity level data in this report includes all energy and material consumption (material inputs and outputs, energy consumption, etc.) in the product lifecycle system. This data is collected and measured from companies or suppliers and provides a true reflection of energy and material inputs throughout the production process, as well as outputs of products/intermediate products and waste.

3.2 Data on the level of secondary activity

According to the requirements of the PAS2050:2011 standard, it is necessary to use secondary data from sources other than direct measurements where primary activity level data is not available or where there are problems with the quality of primary activity level data (e.g. unresponsive measuring instruments). Data from the primary source databases and literature for secondary activity data in this report.

The categories and sources of data used in the calculation of product carbon footprint are shown in Table 2.1

4. Carbon footprint calculation

The formula for a product's carbon footprint is the sum of all materials, energy, and waste from all activities throughout the product's life cycle multiplied by their emission factors. The calculation formula is as follows:

Among them, CF is the carbon footprint, P is the activity level data, Q is the emission factor, and GWP is the global warming potential value. The emission factors are derived from the CLCD database and related literature, and since there are no emission factors in some material databases, the values are all derived from similar material emission factors.

5. Carbon footprint indicators in the production process of producing one ton of products

Table 4.1 Comparison of carbon footprint contributions in the whole life cycle stage of producing one ton of cyclohexanone products

6. Conclusions and recommendations

The carbon footprint of producing one ton of cyclohexanone products is 268.21kgCO2eq, of which the heat consumption in the production process accounts for more than 96.15%.

Through the above analysis, it can be seen that the contribution of electricity consumption in the production process to the carbon footprint is as high as 96.15%, and in order to enhance brand competitiveness and reduce product carbon footprint, it is recommended as follows:

1. Continue to increase investment in environmental protection, continuously improve the environmental protection process level of various production enterprises, carry out equipment, technology and process transformation to reduce energy consumption;

2. In the case of little difference in the price of raw materials in the original village, try to select suppliers with a small carbon footprint of raw materials;

3. Use renewable energy instead of non-renewable energy to reduce energy waste and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

7. Conclusion

Low-carbon development is an inevitable choice for enterprises to survive and develop in the future, and accounting for product carbon footprint is the first step for enterprises to achieve greenhouse gas management and formulate low-carbon development strategies. Through the carbon footprint accounting of the product life cycle, enterprises can understand the sources of emissions, clarify the emissions of each production link, and lay the foundation for formulating reasonable emission reduction targets and development strategies.