The nitrous oxide, a byproduct of nylon manufacturing, is nearly 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The amount recycled equals emissions from 400,000 cars.
BY Phil McKenna and Lili Pike
A Chinese industrial gas company recently took a noteworthy step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions from chemical plants in China by capturing and reusing waste gas from the production of nylon.
Linggas, a company based in Beijing that sells industrial gasses used in electronics manufacturing, began capturing and purifying waste nitrous oxide gas at a rate of 6,000 tons per year from the Henan Shenma Nylon Chemical Company in central China on September 15, according to a Linggas company official.
Nitrous oxide, the “laughing gas” long used by dentists, is also a climate super-pollutant, nearly 300 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Chemical plants that manufacture adipic acid, a key ingredient in the production of nylon and polyurethane, release vast quantities of nitrous oxide as an unwanted byproduct. The nylon and polyurethane the plants produce is used in everything from car parts to running shoes.
Adipic acid manufacturing in China, where eleven chemical plants—including Henan Shenma’s—now produce nearly half of the world’s supply, generates hundreds of thousands of tons of nitrous oxide per year, the vast majority of which is likely emitted into the atmosphere.
A recent InsideClimate News investigation found nitrous oxide emissions from adipic acid plants in China may equal the greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 25 million automobiles, more than all the cars in California, Beijing and Shanghai combined. That is equal to 1.7 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions between now and 2035, a figure that nearly matches the additional emissions resulting from major climate policy rollbacks initiated under the Trump administration over the same time period, according to a recent analysis by the Rhodium Group.
Eliminating the emissions of 6,000 tons of nitrous oxide per year would have a greenhouse gas impact equal to taking nearly 400,000 vehicles off the road for the same time period, according to the U.S. EPA’s greenhouse gas equivalencies calculator.
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