Polypropylene Industry Challenges and Opportunities

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Jiangnan University Ge Yuguang

Jiangsu Jialun New Material Co., Ltd. Zhang Ximing

Dongguan Humen Golden Color Master Factory Sun Xia

As we all know, since the advent of polypropylene, its production capacity and market needs have been developing at an eye-catching speed. Now it has become the world's fastest-growing synthetic material with the largest number of grades and the widest range of applications. According to the forecast of the international authoritative department, with the development of the world economy, this trend will continue to be maintained. China's polypropylene production capacity and demand have been far higher than the world average growth rate, but the production capacity still can not keep up with the development of demand. At present, the self-sufficiency of polypropylene in China is only 70%, and 30% need to be solved by imports, thus making China become the world's largest importer of polypropylene. The development of polypropylene is so swift and violent that the market demand is so great that most of the delegates present today may not be able to personally understand this. It can be realized that the polypropylene factory is under increasing pressure to survive, and the profit space is getting smaller and smaller. This is an undeniable fact and it is also a common issue for all of us. My topic today is to analyze this situation with everyone and discuss the direction of future development.

1           The development of polypropylene in China

In the 1970s, enterprises represented by Shanghai Sanyi Cotton Co., Ltd. started producing polypropylene staple fiber, but the output was very small. The outbreak period of polypropylene development was in the mid-1980s. The factory's products were mainly filament yarns and elastic yarns. The characteristics of polypropylene enterprises sprang up like mushrooms, but the scale was relatively small. The products are replacing some of the polyesters and nylons in the apparel sector with price advantages. The equipment used was VC403 spinning machine, VC441 drawing machine and VC711 texturing machine. At the time, there were three reasons for the climax of polypropylene investment: First, the price of polypropylene was low; second, the processing of polypropylene was simple, the technical difficulty was not high, and entry was easy; third, the investment was small and the return was fast. With the increase in the number of companies and the increase in production, market competition began to show. As a result, a series of differentiated varieties such as foreign fibers and colored fibers emerged. When people had a deeper understanding of the performance of polypropylene, they began to develop in the field of decoration. At the same time, spinning equipment also developed from VC403 to VC404, and then to VC406. Drafting equipment developed from VC401 to VC402 and then to VC443. The charging equipment developed from VC711 to VC473. The continuous development of new products and the continuous upgrading of equipment mean that the competition between companies is intensifying. By the early 1990s, the polypropylene factories in the early days were relatively thick and had a deeper understanding of polypropylene, and had a better understanding of the direction of future development. So some companies began to explore new areas of application, entering the BCF carpet, spunbond nonwovens and high-strength industrial wire. The polypropylene fiber plant left behind is shrinking, and the variety is limited to colored yarns used in the face, a small amount of colored silk used in the decorative field, ribbons and bags of silk. When people use quilt cover, the amount of polypropylene filaments is even smaller. Later, the price of polypropylene slivers is inversely related to the price of polyester slivers. Many polypropylene products cannot be produced, and the market once occupied by polypropylene is recaptured by polyester. It can be said that all polypropylene factories are facing such challenges. This period of history also tells us that China's polypropylene industry is slowly maturing, and our polypropylene factory's ability to meet challenges and resist risks is also growing.

2           Factors driving the rise in polypropylene prices

Of course, the rise in oil prices is the main factor driving the rise in polypropylene prices. However, as oil prices rise, the prices of all synthetic materials will rise simultaneously. Regardless of the analysis of monomer raw materials and processing costs, the price of polyester exceeds that of polypropylene. In the past, the price of polypropylene was about 1,000 yuan less than that of polyester, but now the price of polypropylene is about 1,500 yuan more than polyester. The fundamental reason is that in recent years, with the progress of polypropylene production technology, especially the introduction and application of various new types of catalysts, modifiers and additives, as well as the improvement of production processes, major companies in the world have continuously increased their research and development efforts. A large number of new polypropylene products have greatly broadened the scope of application of polypropylene and opened up new applications. Polypropylene has the advantages of small specific gravity, non-toxicity, easy processing, impact strength, resistance to flexing, and good electrical insulation, making it widely used in the automotive industry, household appliances, electronics, packaging and building materials furniture. Of the five general-purpose plastics, polypropylene production is second only to polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride, and domestic consumption is second only to polyethylene. In fact, the consumption of polypropylene in fiber is only about 10% of the total. In the polypropylene consumer market in the world, injection molding products account for a major share, especially in industrially developed countries and regions. higher. When the superior performance of a material is fully tapped and the scope of application is rapidly expanded, its price is bound to rise. Considering the power to determine the price of polypropylene, at best, only 10% of the right to speak is the right fiber.

3         Polypropylene Industry Opportunities

The rapid development of polypropylene has benefited greatly from the continuous improvement of catalyst performance. Since 1954, Professor Natta discovered in the laboratory for the first time that titanium chloride has been used as a catalyst to synthesize polypropylene resin for more than 50 years, the performance of polypropylene catalyst has been continuously improving and improving. At present, polypropylene catalysts produced in the world fall into two major categories. One type of catalyst is based on the improvement and improvement of ZN catalysts, and the other is metallocene and non-mao single-site catalysts. The development direction of ZN catalysts is to develop serialization and high performance on the basis of high activity and high orientation, and to continuously develop new products with better performance. The development direction of metallocene and non-mao single-site active catalysts is to further realize the industrialization of technology and the general product market with large starting demand. In short, the ultimate goal of the development and application of these catalysts is to continuously increase the variety of polypropylene, improve quality and reduce costs.

On the other hand, we see that the number of polypropylene production facilities in China is large and the production capacity of single units is small. The average production capacity of continuous production facilities is only about 100,000 tons/year, which is far lower than the average production of polypropylene production processes in the world. scale. As the scale of the device is too small, energy consumption and material consumption are generally higher than the advanced level in foreign countries, the price of the product is also very difficult. In recent years, in addition to a few sets of scale of 200,000 tons, in the newly built installations, the vast majority exceeded 300,000 tons, reaching a world-class scale, and its cost can be expected to drop significantly.

The sustained high-speed growth of the polypropylene consumer market will inevitably catalyze the investment boom in the polypropylene industry. In fact, this boom has started since 2006. The investment is based on the fact that from 2000 to 2006, the average growth rate of polypropylene production in the world reached 4.6%. Consumption growth during the same period was 6.4%. According to investment practice, a new round of investment will have a certain margin, and the global financial crisis that occurred in 2008 will certainly give a discount to the growth rate of polypropylene. It is estimated that by 2010 the operating rate of polypropylene in the world will drop to around 80%. China is the world's largest importer of polypropylene, with a gap of 3 million tons per year. Therefore, in this wave of investment boom, 6 million tons/year of production capacity will be gradually put into operation, of which 65% belong to Sinopec and CNPC two major groups (Sinopec was 2.53 million tons/year, PetroChina was 1.35 million tons/year). If the new plant can be put into operation as scheduled, Sinopec's production capacity will likely exceed that of Basel, which ranks first, and it will leap to the top of the global polypropylene producers. PetroChina will also enter the top five. Another problem worth considering is that in China's polypropylene consumption structure, the consumption of film-cracked fibers accounts for about 50% of the entire polypropylene dosage. Because China is a big country in the export of woven bags, with the rapid development of the economy and the improvement of the people's living standards, the production cost of woven bags will grow faster and the competitiveness in the international market will decline. This will inevitably lead to the transfer of this industry to underdeveloped countries, which will affect the actual use of polypropylene in our country.

In summary, in the next few years, the variety of polypropylene will surely become more and more, the quality will become better and better, and the choice of raw materials will become larger and larger. The return of polypropylene prices that everyone hopes for may be possible. By that time, another spring of polypropylene began again.

4         Polypropylene Advantage Products

After more than 30 years of ups and downs, the domestic polypropylene products have gone through several waves and few waves. To sum up, there are a total of four types of products, these products are determined by the nature of polypropylene itself, and after repeated trials in the market, really determine their own status of the product.

4.1   Fine denier polypropylene filament

A single polypropylene filament is not desirable, and its fatal weakness is poor drape (light weight). However, the use of polypropylene does not absorb moisture, good moisture conductivity and good water absorption of cotton, silk, hemp, combined to form the best wear comfort fabrics, so that other textile fibers looming. This fabric is the best choice for underwear and sportswear, especially for intense exercise in the high latitudes of the cold without having to worry about body stickiness and colds. What is emphasized here is to do this kind of product. It must use dyeable polypropylene. Because the polypropylene cannot be dyed, the contrast between the front and back of the fabric is too great and the grade of the garment is down. It is not yet possible to produce spun polypropylene. Foreign reports have used metallocene-catalyzed polypropylene (miPP). Metallocene catalyzed polypropylene can receive other specific monomers from polypropylene during the polymerization process, and can lock molecules. Fibers are not easily deformed. This specific monomer If it is an organic active group, dyeing can be improved. Metallocene catalyzed polypropylene molecular weight distribution of 2.0 (usually 3-6) can easily obtain fine denier and high spinning speed.

4.2   Polypropylene carpet

The carpets commonly used in office buildings, hotels, hotels, and homes are made of polypropylene or nylon as raw materials. Compared with the two, the abrasion resistance and resilience of nylon are better than those of polypropylene. Nylon can be dyed and printed, but polypropylene cannot. However, polypropylene's anti-staining ability (non-hygroscopic) is better than nylon, and more importantly, polypropylene not only has a light weight, but also its price is only 1/2 of nylon, which makes it possible for polypropylene to compete with nylon in the carpet industry. . From a technical point of view, there is much room for improvement in the quality and functionality of polypropylene carpet yarns. Spinning hollow fiber can improve the resilience of polypropylene, and the use of dyeable polypropylene can achieve color printing, making it possible to make small-lot and multi-variety economic carpets, and make up for the lack of liquid coloring products in this field. The addition of flame retardant can be made into flame-retardant carpets to meet the fire protection requirements of office buildings, hotels and other places. Embedding metallic composite conductive fibers in carpet weaving can not only eliminate static electricity in the carpet, but also can play a good antibacterial effect.

4.3   Polypropylene hygiene material

The dominant position of polypropylene in the field of disposable hygiene products is quite stable. Polypropylene nonwovens are widely used in baby diapers, feminine hygiene products, adult incontinence products and disposable medical clothing. The biggest driving force for the growth of the global polypropylene fiber market is the continuous increase in the consumption of disposable non-woven fabrics. Foreign raw material production enterprises attach great importance to this area and have introduced a variety of special materials for spunbond nonwovens. According to reports, these special materials can reduce the processing smoke by 50%, eliminate the yellowing phenomenon caused by the oxidation of the product, and can also reduce the melting point of polypropylene (148°C). The liquidity is good, and the production line can reach a speed of 4,200 m/min. advantage. Using these special materials can produce lighter, softer thermal bonding cloths and can also be used to produce nonwovens with higher filtration efficiency.

4.4   Polypropylene webbing material

The raw materials used in the luggage belt area are mainly nylon, polyester and polypropylene. Due to the price, nylon has basically exited the field. Therefore, the market for bags and bags is the competition between polyester and polypropylene. Bags with strong requirements for polyester, polypropylene can meet the specifications of the use of fiber bags and bags is medium denier, more suitable for polypropylene processing, and can use the cheapest slice or powder, even with a little back material no problem, and polypropylene The processing cost is lower than polyester. The dyeing of the bag belts is the coloring of the original solution, polypropylene can avoid the shortcomings of the dyeing. The price of luggage belts is determined by the width and thickness of the straps. This point polypropylene has an absolute advantage. The proportion of polypropylene is 0.92g/cm3, while the proportion of polyester is 1.38g/cm3. The difference between the two is 1.5 times, which is enough to offset the price difference between the two on raw materials. Therefore, polypropylene in the webbing industry still occupies an absolute advantage.

4.5   other

Polypropylene high-strength wire is indeed a good variety. The 3000D-12000D polypropylene high-strength wire of Jiangsu Jialun New Material Co., Ltd. can achieve a strength of 7.5g/D and an elongation of 12±2%. According to the different requirements of geotechnical materials, physical indicators can be adjusted. However, due to the fact that the price of polypropylene is higher than that of polyester 1500 yuan/ton, the competitive advantage of polypropylene high-strength yarn is lost, and it can only be used for special occasions where acid and alkali are required. As long as the price of polypropylene goes down, the amount of high-strength polypropylene fibers will go up immediately.

The road of polypropylene cigarette filter has basically gone, mainly because the performance of polypropylene cannot be compared with acetate fiber. China National Tobacco Corporation has reduced the number of domestic polypropylene filter manufacturers to two, one in Wuxi and one in Danyang. Next year is the final production period of the polypropylene cigarette filter, and the historic mission is completed upon expiration. At present, these two companies are using corn fiber to develop cigarette filters, but the technology of filter tip glue is difficult to pass.

5         Conclusion

As far as the polypropylene industry is concerned, due to factors such as the price increase of polypropylene and the single product of the company, the polypropylene factory is facing greater pressure for survival. The rapid increase in the consumption of polypropylene and the increase in profits of manufacturers have attracted a large influx of global technology and capital, making polypropylene the fastest growing, most versatile and widely used synthetic material in the world. The improvement of the overall technical level of polypropylene, in turn, can stimulate the development of the polypropylene industry, so that the polypropylene factory has more room for raw material selection, and at the same time it can improve the quality of existing products and develop more functional varieties. In this process, the technological innovation and structural adjustment of the polypropylene factory are even more important.