Abstract:

The USA is the second largest greenhouse gas emission country in the world. In recent years, its greenhouse gas emissions have shown an overall downward trend. 6.558 billion tons of greenhouse gas were emissioned in 2019, accounting for about 12.5% ??all over the world. CO₂ is the most important greenhouse gas. The development of the USA petrochemical industry has reached the world advanced level. Although the number of refineries has been reduced to 135 in 2019, but its refining capacity and ethylene capacity reached 940Mt/a and 36.28Mt/a. Meanwhile, refining output and ethylene output reached 850Mt/a and 32.27Mt/a. Affected by factors such as plant scale and energy consumption, the total carbon emissions of the USA petrochemical industry in 2019 reached 296 million tons, accounting for about 4.5% of USA greenhouse gas emissions. However, its carbon emissions have not been increased with petrochemical capacity in the past 30 years. The main reason is that USA petrochemical industry have adopted low-carbon strategies, such as strengthening energy conservation and efficiency, adjusting refinery energy structure, expanding the scale of biofuels production and promoting the recycling of waste plastics, gradually optimizing the industrial structure and vigorously developing the CCUS. Petrochemical industry as the fourth largest source of carbon emissions in China, should seize the wave of green and low-carbon development of the times. To begin with, adopting to the principle of giving priority to energy conservation, and promote the low-carbon transformation of the industry. Moreover, it should be increased the proportion of clean energy and achieve diversified development of raw materials. Thirdly, strengthening the leadership of scientific and technological innovation, and solve the problems of low-carbon technology. Last but not the least, find out the carbon data as soon as possible and include it in the carbon market timely.

Key words: greenhouse gas, CO₂ emission, petrochemical industry, low carbon development, climate, energy

摘要：

美国是全球第二大温室气体排放国，近年来其温室气体排放整体呈下降态势，2019年为65.58亿吨，约占全球的12.5%，其中CO₂是温室气体排放的主要贡献者。本文指出：美国炼化行业的发展在全球处于领先地位，2019年炼油厂数量虽缩减至135座，但仍具备9.40亿吨炼油能力和3628.6万吨乙烯生产能力，二者产量分别为8.50亿吨和3227.1万吨；受装置规模和能耗等因素影响，2019年美国炼化行业碳排放总量达2.96亿吨，约占全美温室气体排放的4.5%，其碳排放量近30年内并未随着炼化产能规模的扩张而持续增加；主要源于美国炼厂采取了强化节能提效、调整炼厂能源结构、扩大生物燃料生产规模并推广废塑料循环利用，以及逐步优化产业结构和大力发展二氧化碳捕集、利用和封存（CCUS）产业等低碳策略。文中提出炼化行业作为我国第四大碳排放源，应紧抓时代绿色低碳发展浪潮，一是坚持节能优先原则，助推行业低碳转型；二是提升清洁能源占比，实现原料多元发展；三是强化科技创新引领，破解低碳技术难题；四是尽快摸清“碳家底”，适时纳入碳市场。

关键词: 温室气体, 二氧化碳排放, 炼化行业, 低碳发展, 气候, 能源