Oil expert wins title of 'role model of the times'

Chen Junwu, an expert on oil refining engineering technology, was awarded the title of "role model of the times" by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on Monday.

Born in 1927, Chen is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has devoted himself to China's petrochemical industry for 70 years. As the founder of catalytic cracking engineering technology in China and a prestigious specialist in oil refining engineering and coal-chemical technology, he has made groundbreaking contributions to advance the country's oil refining industry, according to the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

At present, China has built and put into operation more than 150 sets of catalytic cracking units - which break long petroleum molecules into shorter more useful ones - with a total annual processing capacity of nearly 200 million metric tons. Over the years, the catalytic cracking process has produced nearly 70 percent of the nation's gasoline, 40 percent of its propylene and 30 percent of its diesel, according to Science and Technology Daily.