The International Convention on Mercury Emission Reduction, a mandatory international convention on mercury emission reduction, officially signed at the Diplomatic Plenipotentiary Conference held in Japan in October this year, proposes strict control over the mercury process. China's PVC production is dominated by calcium carbide, and the urgency of related companies has suddenly increased. The industry will further enhance the green development and transformation and upgrading of the calcium carbide process PVC industry by further strengthening the application of low-mercury catalysts and the development of mercury-free catalysts, while fulfilling the relevant requirements of international conventions. This is what the reporter learned from the on-site experience exchange meeting of the mercury pollution prevention and control industry in the calcium carbide process held in Erdos from August 22 to 23 and the annual meeting of the 2013 chlor-alkali industry environmental protection work.

Li Lei, deputy director of the Department of Pollution Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that the special inspection by the Ministry of Environmental Protection found that in recent years, most calcium carbide PVC companies have formulated low-mercury catalyst replacement plans and gradually increased the use ratio, but the overall application of low-mercury catalysts and advanced clean production and The absolute application rate of mercury pollution control technology is still not high. The replacement of high-mercury catalysts by low-mercury catalysts must be achieved by “reforming stocks and controlling increments”. In the next step, the Ministry of Environmental Protection will establish and improve relevant management systems, implement comprehensive monitoring, strictly prevent illegal production, use, emissions and disorderly flow, establish a mercury pollution information update and reporting system, and dynamically master the calcium carbide process PVC production and upstream and downstream industries. On the other hand, it will formulate and implement local mercury pollution prevention and control programs, carry out local prevention and treatment effectiveness evaluation, and promote the implementation of various policy measures.

 Li Yongwu, president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, stressed that the strengthening of mercury pollution prevention in the PVC industry of calcium carbide method is not only an urgent need for China's heavy metal pollution prevention and control work, but also an inevitable requirement for the industry to accelerate transformation and upgrading. At present, the development of PVC industry in calcium carbide method has reached a very important node. The next stage should be done in four aspects. First, it is necessary to combine the prevention and control of mercury pollution with the elimination of excess capacity to achieve the optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure. Mercury technology and mercury-free catalyst research and development and popularization and application; Third, the combination of mercury pollution prevention and responsibility care to protect people's safety and health; Fourth, enterprises, governments and associations form a joint effort to jointly promote prevention and control work.