NPC deputy, a chemist, publishes breakthrough for oil industry
Bao Xinhe, a physical chemist from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a National People's Congress deputy, reported a revolutionary chemical processing method that could make the country's basic chemical materials more affordable and eco-friendly.
The research, which reported a new reaction process to convert coals into olefins, was published over the weekend by Science magazine and stirred attention among the international scientific community.
"Olefins are known as the mother of petrochemicals, and are important intermediates in the production of plastic and medicines. The production capacity of olefins, to some extent, represents the development level of a country's chemical industry," said Wang Zizong, assistant chief engineer at Sinopec Group, one of the nation's top producers of crude oil.
