Current speed reading: preliminary construction of China's biological natural gas standard system

The national standard has been officially implemented, and China's biological natural gas standard system has been initially established.

(Data map)

Recently, the national standard of Biological Natural Gas (GB/T 41328-2022) (hereinafter referred to as the "National Standard"), which was led by Southwest Research and Design Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the "Southwest Institute"), was officially implemented. This standard fills the gap in the field of biological natural gas standards in China, and helps to accelerate the industrialization process of biological natural gas, promote the comprehensive utilization of organic waste and the development of ecological circular agriculture. At the same time, this standard will initially establish the standard system of biological natural gas with the national standards of Biological Natural Gas Terminology (GB/T 40506-2021), Biological Natural Gas for Vehicles (GB/T 40510-2021), and the agricultural industry standard Biological Natural Gas Engineering Technical Specifications (NY/T 3896-2021).

"After the release of the national standards, the problem of the lack of technical standards in the industry was solved, which promoted the development of the bio natural gas industry, and further implemented the requirements of accelerating the formulation and promulgation of bio natural gas series standards, including bio natural gas products and standards for integration into gas pipeline networks, in the Guidance on Promoting the Industrialization of Bio natural Gas issued by the National Energy Administration in 2019." The national gas standardization technical secretariat who participated in the formulation of the national standard told the reporter.

Under the guidance of national standards, can the bio natural gas, which integrates many advantages such as clean energy, negative carbon emissions, prevention and control of agricultural non-point source pollution, play a big role?

The standard comes at the right time

Since the field of bio natural gas involves many traditional industries such as environment, chemical industry, biology, energy, sanitation, automobile, mechanical processing and manufacturing, the development level of each industry is uneven, and no unified standard has been formed in technology, products, equipment and other aspects, there are certain difficulties in the connection of upstream and downstream industries, leading to certain technical and market barriers between industries.

"Although the overall process technology of China's bio natural gas is similar to that of foreign countries, the technical standard guidance for the preparation of natural gas from biomass gas has never been based on," the person told reporters.

"Before the release of the national standard, there were only two natural gas product standards in China: Natural Gas (GB 17820-2018) and Coal to Synthetic Natural Gas (GB/T 33445-2016), but neither of these two standards was applicable to the production of natural gas from biofuel." The person said, "This is because the technical indicators, test methods, storage and transportation regulations of biogas are obviously different from those of traditional natural gas and coal based synthetic natural gas due to the difference in feed gas and preparation process."

"In addition to the lack of special standards and technical specifications for upstream raw material supply and downstream products in the bio gas industry, there is also a problem of water control in Kowloon in the formulation and management of relevant standards." The head of a bio gas enterprise said frankly. For example, in terms of product quality, the national standards for biological natural gas products are assigned to the National Technical Committee for Gas Standardization, and the national standards for automotive biological natural gas are centralized in the National Technical Committee for Energy Base and Management Standardization. In addition, there are also industry standards proposed by the General Institute of Hydropower and Water Resources Planning and Design and managed by the National Energy Administration. However, there is no national organization to carry out relevant work in the production of biological natural gas, so it is urgent to establish domestic standards.

"National standards have been issued to standardize the technical requirements and inspection methods of biological natural gas, solve the problem of trade delivery of biological natural gas products, and provide evidence for users to accept gas products. The standards also put forward safety requirements for product transportation, marking, storage, transportation and use, and solve the problem of industrial safety management." The said person from the National Gas Standardization Technical Secretariat.

Enterprises may face new cost pressure

"On the whole, this standard is very strict, especially for back-end process processing," said the head of the above bio natural gas enterprise.

"The new standard is higher than before. We need to re inspect whether the current production equipment and process can meet the standard requirements, and also involve the changes of projects and related production equipment that have been submitted for approval and are in progress. There may be some difficulties for the later implementation and landing of the project." Zhao Ting, general manager of Anhui Biological Gas Development Co., Ltd., said, "If the standard requirements cannot be met, it will involve subsequent investment in technical transformation and equipment replacement."

"Standards help promote the development of the industry, which is a good thing. But at present, the development of the industry has been a little afraid of hands and feet. Bright spots are scattered, and the market competitiveness needs to be improved. For enterprises that are not easy to make profits, whether it is transformation projects or equipment, it has increased investment costs, and the pressure is not small." The person in charge of the above bio natural gas enterprise said frankly.

"There was no standard before, and it can be connected to the grid if it meets the second class standard of the petrochemical industry. Now the national standard comes out, and it is not easy to connect to the grid after reaching this standard." Zhao also expressed concern.

Cai Li, a doctor from the Natural Gas Research Institute of PetroChina Southwest Oilfield Company, pointed out that the national standard this time is a national standard voluntarily adopted through economic means or market regulation. If it is accepted and adopted by the enterprise or incorporated into the economic contract by agreement of all parties, it will become the technical basis that all parties must comply with. "At present, the regulation and restriction of product quality are more important, which is also a national standard that enterprises are encouraged and recommended to adopt voluntarily."

Supporting policies are indispensable

The development of bio natural gas is not only conducive to complementing the supply and demand gap of natural gas in China, improving the energy security guarantee ability, but also can solve the environmental pollution problems caused by dung, straw burning in the open air, and realize the energy industrialization of urban and rural organic waste, which is of great significance to the protection of urban and rural ecological environment.

"From our previous survey and visit, more and more countries have attached importance to bio natural gas. Many European countries have formed relatively complete industrial standard systems. Compared with the traditional natural gas industry, we are very optimistic about the development of bio natural gas, but the production volume is still a little small at this stage." said the head of the above bio natural gas enterprise.

The interviewee said that at present, only national standards are not enough. The bio gas industry needs to constantly improve the industrial system by improving technology and reducing production costs, so as to ensure the sustainable development of the bio gas industry in the climbing period.

Industry insiders suggest that it is advisable to accelerate the preparation and revision process of testing standards for bio natural gas related products, pay attention to the coordination between relevant centralized management and the standards themselves, and fully consider the quality characteristics of bio natural gas and the requirements for transportation and use, so as to improve the formulation of various standards.

"National standards also require supporting policies at the provincial level. In the future, more attention should be given to the development of the bio gas industry and enterprises, and incentive mechanisms should be established to stimulate the vitality of relevant project subjects through multiple channels." said the head of the above bio gas enterprise.

key word: