Cutting-edge technology has become the "wind vane" leading the development of polyurethane industry

With the theme of "Circularity, Carbon Neutrality, Frontier and Innovation", the "2022 Polyurethane Frontier Technology International Forum & Entrepreneur Summit" was held
in Shanghai on November 17-18.
Leaders from polyurethane enterprises such as Wanhua Chemical, BASF, Covestro, Huntsman, Mestar Chemical, Xiangyuan New Materials, Yinuowei, Bolan Zhitu, Polyurethane Alliance Network, as well as experts and scholars from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Anhui University, Fudan University, Donghua University, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions of higher learning and industry associations attended the event
.

At the forum, a number of the latest technologies and research results and application cases of the polyurethane industry were released, and the future development trend of the polyurethane market was studied, covering sustainable development, circular economy, "dual carbon" goals, waterborne, bio-based, aerospace, self-healing polyurethane, energy conservation and environmental protection
.

Policy-driven to achieve carbon neutrality in all links

The orderly development of the polyurethane industry, policy orientation is one of the
main factors.
Lu Yin, director of the new materials division of the Shanghai Municipal Economic and Information Commission, said that since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, chemical product manufacturers have been affected to a certain extent, but the positive action between the polyurethane industry reflects social responsibility and responsibility
.
As an industry, the government authorities will continue to support the development of the polyurethane industry; Li Guisheng, Deputy Dean of the School of Materials and Chemistry of University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, proposed from the perspective of industry talent training, hoping that the university and experts from various enterprises in the polyurethane industry will establish friendly industry-education integration and cooperation, and cooperate with enterprises to educate people
.

Regarding the impact and promotion of the relevant standards and regulations of "dual carbon" on the industry, Rumin Pan, President of Huntsman Polyurethanes Asia Pacific, pointed out that the polyurethane industry bears a very important responsibility
for energy conservation and emission reduction.
Polyurethane companies compete in the market, but they are peers
in the "zero-carbon economy".
Cities are key areas for polyurethane zero-carbon management; Building insulation is a major application area
for emission reduction.
Shanghai has proposed that by 2030, all new houses must be ultra-low energy consumption houses, and this policy standard is forward-looking
in China.
Therefore, this will be one of the important growth points of
the polyurethane industry in the future.

Dr.
Jiang Nanqing, secretary general of the Green Cycle Inclusive Committee of the All-China Environmental Protection Federation, said that the circular economy helps solve 45% of greenhouse gas emissions, which is partly unsolvable by the energy transition
.
It is of great significance to strive to reduce the energy consumption of our products, and we must achieve carbon neutrality
in all products, their manufacturing and use.

The momentum is good, and the innovation goals of the polyurethane industry are clarified

According to Zhou Jian, chairman of Suzhou Xiangyuan New Materials Co.
, Ltd.
, the consumption of polyurethane products in 2020 has reached 11.
75 million tons, the polyurethane industry has begun to enter a period of high-quality development, the research and development and production level of major additives continue to improve, and the products have certain competitiveness in the international market
.

He said that it is expected that in 2025, the global polyurethane market size will reach 93.
1 billion US dollars, and the consumption of polyurethane in China is expected to reach 18.
28 million tons, with a compound annual growth rate of 8%
during this period.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the polyurethane industry increased the development and application of functional, green and environmentally friendly composite technology, realized the monomer scale of the enterprise reached the advanced level, further increased the industrial concentration, and became an important exporter
of raw materials and products.

He introduced that at present, China has become the world's largest production base of polyurethane raw materials and products, all kinds of polyurethane raw materials and materials can basically meet the market supply and demand, but some high-end, high-performance raw materials are still mainly imported from abroad, with the rapid development of the national economy, some safe and comfortable high-performance, high value-added products have obvious gaps, research and development of non-toxic, non-polluting, degradable reusable safety and comfort products have become the innovative development goal
of polyurethane materials.

Dr.
Siyan Qing, Innovation Manager of Covestro, focused on the theme of "Sustainability Inspires Innovation", and introduced Covestro's innovation cases to help the circular economy, including electrochemical exchange of carbon dioxide, the synthesis of aniline from biomass using biotechnology, and waste recycling
.
He believes that with the advancement of cutting-edge science and technology, the way the polyurethane industry is produced, used and designed will be changed
.
The key to achieving circular economy and "dual carbon" goals in the chemical industry is technological innovation
.

Yinghao Liu, Director of Polyurethane R&D at BASF Asia Pacific, introduced BASF's future goals and methods in the field of low-carbon polyurethanes, as well as providing customers with solutions in a series of low-carbon footprint products to support customers to achieve the "dual carbon" goal
.

Innovative technology leads the industry to take the road of environmental protection and low carbon

Professor Wang Xinling of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Shanghai Jiao Tong University pointed out in the research report of self-healing polyurethane materials that the linear polyurethane with furan ring as the side chain reacts with BMI DA to prepare the side chain cross-linked polyurethane, which has excellent thermal reversibility and repairability, and should develop in the future in the direction of low-cost, efficient, controllable intelligence, multi-functional, and high-performance self-healing system
.

You Zhengwei, Director of the Department of Composite Materials of Donghua University, introduced the application prospect of multifunctional polyoxime materials, he believes that dynamic cross-linked oxime ester has the characteristics of both thermoplastic and thermosetting polyurethane, and dynamic bond polymers are in a critical period of industrial application promotion, and look forward to further cooperative research and development and application results
.

Professor Wang Wusheng, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Anhui University, pointed out that waterborne polyammonia PUD synthesis is to develop industrialized products that meet customer needs with the lowest cost, waterborne polyurethane new applications require new structural waterborne polyurethane, thermal condensation is the most likely to achieve the ideal structural method
in the future.

Additives play an important role in the polyurethane production process, especially in the application of
new blowing agents.
Sun Yu, chairman of Jiangsu Meisde Company, believes that the company is preparing to build the Auxiliaries Engineering Technology Center of China Polyurethane Industry Association, and jointly contribute
to the innovation and development of the polyurethane industry through industry-university-research cooperation.

With the theme of "Aldehyde-free Empowerment, Win-win Future", Yuan Min of Wanhua Chemical Group Co.
, Ltd.
focused on the company's commitment to promoting aldehyde-free wood-based panels, and has successively established in-depth cooperation with leading custom enterprises such as Oppein, Sophia, and Weishang Furniture to jointly promote the switch of the customized industry to be aldehyde-free
.
It has opened up the whole industry chain process
from the production of aldehyde-free adhesives to the production of aldehyde-free wood-based panels and then to the production of customized furniture.
Zhang Xiaojun, deputy general manager of Shengnuo Group, also believes that the future development direction of the upholstered furniture field should be environmentally friendly, low-carbon, intelligent and cost-effective
.

Kong Delei, Research Institute of Cold Chain Logistics Professional Committee of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, analyzed the development and trend changes of the cold chain industry
.
He said that the development trend of cold storage - green cold chain is a part of green logistics, is a new trend of cold chain technology in the future, and will develop
in the direction of green, standardization and systematization.
Fu Zhenwu, R&D manager of Shandong Yinuoi New Materials Co.
, Ltd.
, said that biomass polyol products prepared from bio-based raw materials such as vegetable oil, sucrose and glycerin are green chemicals and have a significant impact
on the sustainable development of the polyurethane industry.
Zero ODP, low GWP foaming agent technology replacement, environmental protection, low energy consumption is the technical development direction
of polyurethane rigid foam insulation industry.

Zhuang Jing, Sales Director of BrandFlex Coating Equipment (Shanghai) Co.
, Ltd.
, introduced the new generation of variable ratio foam spraying equipment - IS40
.
He said that the difference between the IS40 equipment and other foam spraying systems is reflected in the advantages of simple disassembly of the fluid module and control module, easy replacement, low-pressure heating can make the pump run more smoothly and have a longer life, non-contact heater, and prevent material carbonization
.

The forum and summit were held online and offline, with 87,000 viewers from more than 30 countries and regions around the world
.
The participants sighed: "In the past two days, I have obtained a lot of the latest information in the field of polyurethane, and the salon with things is also full of dry goods, which is completely worthy of the theme
of cutting-edge technology.
" ”