A Study on Industrial Ecology of Petrochemical Industry in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Tze-Huei Chan, 詹子慧
• Other Authors: 張慶源
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2002
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11694630058031409935

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 環境工程學研究所 === 90 === Petrochemical industry is one of the capital-intensive and highly energy-consumed industries. It is also strongly associated with many other industries. Most of the consumer products are originated from the petrochemical industry or related with it. Because it is so indispensable, what we have to do is to make it more efficiently energy-consumed, less resources-utilized, more resources and energy conserved and recovered, and less waste polluted. By modifying the industry-ecological model of Graedel and Allenby (1995), an industry-ecological model of Taiwan’s petrochemical industry was established. Also, the material flows, energy consumption, and pollutant emission were examined. In addition, the eco-efficiency indices were constructed to assess whether Taiwan’s petrochemical industry was getting more and more environment-friendly and sustainable. Further, a comparison of the eco-efficiency indices of petrochemical industries between five countries, namely the United States, Japan, Mainland China, South Korea, and Taiwan was made, providing the information of environmental performance of said nations. The results of material flows analysis indicated that, except the node of up-stream materials processor with an estimated negative waste (=production＋imports－exports－supply to the mid-stream materials processor－accumulation) which meant there were still other un-counted up-stream materials producers existed, the proposed petrochemical industry-ecological model can well describe the scenario of Taiwan’s petrochemical industry. When there are 1) no recycled materials from the up-stream materials processor, mid-stream materials processor, and down-stream materials processor, 2) no reused materials to the up-stream processor, and mid-stream processor, 3) 70 % of consumed products retained as the consumer inventory, 4) with consideration of both governmental and non-governmental recycling systems, 5) 90 % of recycled consumer products reused by the down-stream materials processor, and 6) 10 % of recycled consumer products retained as the recycling processor inventory, it was estimated that approximate 0.35 tons waste materials were produced per ton petrochemical material flows (in terms of ethylene equivalents) through the system. The energy consumption, air pollutants emission, and water resource usage of petrochemical industry were approximated one-third to those of all sectors of industries in Taiwan, indicating that the petrochemical industry was highly energy-and-resources-consumed. However, compared to other countries, the energy consumption (EPC) per ethylene equivalent production (MEPC) indices of Taiwan’s petrochemical industry are close to those of Japan and the U.S. and better than those of Korea and Mainland China. As for the CO2 emission per MEPC, the emission of Taiwan is the lowest among the five nations. The orders of EPC per GDPT (GDP of the whole nation) are: Mainland China＞Korea＞Taiwan＞the U.S.＞Japan. As for the CO2 emission per GDPT, the orders are: Mainland China＞Korea＞the U.S.＞Taiwan＞Japan. The MEPC per GDPT follows the orders: Korea＞Taiwan＞Mainland China＞the U.S.＞Japan.