The demand can reach nearly 2 million tons, how to break through the import dependence of metallocene polyethylene

Metallocene polyethylene (mPE) is a kind of polyethylene prepared by metallocene catalyst, which was first industrialized by
Exxon in 1991.
Among them, metallocene catalyst is a single-active central catalyst, which has the advantage of being more homogeneous and regulated than the Ziegler-Natta catalyst, which is most commonly used in polyethylene coordination polymerization process, and the molecular weight distribution of the product is narrower
.

Metallocene polyethylene (mPE) is widely used in many fields
due to its advantages of good rigidity and transparency, high sealing strength, excellent stress crack resistance, superior tensile and impact resistance, strong puncture resistance and obvious weight reduction.

Metallocene polyethylene is formed by polymerization of raw material ethylene and α-olefins, of which α-olefins mainly include 1-butene, 1-hexene and 1-octene, at present, there is only 1-butene and 1-hexene production in China, and there is no production of
1-octene.

Domestic demand is large and highly dependent on imports

In 2021, there are about 9 enterprises in China that can produce metallocene polyethylene, mainly
mLLDPE.
The total plant capacity is 1.
71 million tons/year, which is limited by catalysts, and the output is low, about 182,000 tons
.

At present, the main application fields of metallocene polyethylene in China are films (food film, winding film, shed film, heat shrinkable film, heavy packaging film and other films), pipes (PE-RT), bottle caps, rotational molding fuel tanks, wires and cables, etc.
, which are widely used in food, industry, agriculture, construction and packaging industries
.

Among them, the film mainly includes food packaging film, winding film, agricultural film, shed film, heat shrinkable film, heavy packaging film, etc.
; The pipe is mainly a domestic hot and cold water transportation pipe, and the application scenarios include floor heating, heating connection, heat exchanger, solar panel and thermal circulation system; Small amounts of metallocene polyethylene are also used in other areas
such as bottle caps, rotational molding tanks and wire and cable.

China's metallocene polyethylene consumption mainly relies on imports
.
In 2021, China's metallocene polyethylene production was 182,000 tons, net imports were 859,000 tons, and consumption was 1.
041 million tons
.
Of these, about 889,000 tons are used to produce films, 129,000 tons are used for pipes, and 23,000 tons are used for the production of bottle caps, rotational molding tanks, wires and cables, etc
.

Note: Other application areas include bottle caps, rotational molding tanks, wires and cables, etc
.

The production process mainly adopts Unipol and MarTECH ADL slurry method

According to incomplete statistics, the global processes that can be used to produce metallocene polyethylene include: gas phase method (Unipol, Innovene G and EVOLUE), solution method (DOWLEX, Borceed, Nexlene and SCALIRTECH), slurry method (Borstar, MarTECH SL and MarTECH ADL).

Overall, Univation's Unipol PE technology is the most widely used polyethylene production process by mPE manufacturers worldwide, followed by Chevron Phillips' MarTECH ADL technology
.

Since most of the other polyethylene technologies require joint ventures or even no transfers, there are few
enterprises for metallocene polyethylene production.
China's metallocene polyethylene production plant mainly adopts Unipol and MarTECH ADL technology
.

Note: Chevron Phillips' MarTECH ADL technology is shared with Total and is exclusively licensed by Chevron Phillips, with catalysts supplied
by Total.

Increase research and development efforts and accelerate the process of industrialization

Overseas, except for ExxonMobil's metallocene catalysts, which are produced in-house, the metallocene catalysts of the remaining mPE manufacturers are mainly provided
by technology licensees.
In contrast, the situation in my country is more different
.

Overall, at present, among the 9 domestic metallocene polyethylene production enterprises, 5 enterprises are provided by technology patenters for metallocene catalysts (imported), while the other 4 enterprises use domestic catalysts
.

The metallocene catalyst of the domestic polyolefin plant is mainly produced by Zibo New Plastic Chemical, accounting for about
60% of the market.
Xinsu Chemical was once a subordinate of Sinopec Qilu Petrochemical, and was restructured into a private enterprise in 2005, providing metallocene catalysts (TH-5 series)
for Qilu Petrochemical, which was the first in China to achieve industrial production of mPE.
Up to now, the company has a number of metallocene catalyst grades, mainly suitable for the production of gas-phase polyethylene, in addition to supplying Qilu Petrochemical, in recent years, it has also supplied a small amount of catalyst products
to mPE enterprises such as Daqing Petrochemical and Lanzhou Petrochemical.

W.
R.
Grace also owns metallocene catalyst products (ActivCAT catalysts).

The catalyst can be used in the production of metallocene polyethylene and metallocene polypropylene, and can be applied to gas phase, slurry and gas/slurry production processes
.
As far as it is known, only Qilu Petrochemical has purchased a small amount of this product for the development of
new grade metallocene polyethylene.

Cultivate technological innovation capabilities, and vigorously develop metallocene catalysts and metallocene polyethylene

On the supply side, the metallocene polyethylene project under construction clearly announced in China is ExxonMobil Huizhou ethylene project, if it can be completed and put into production as scheduled, it is expected that China's metallocene polyethylene production capacity will reach 2.
94 million tons / year
in 2025.

On the demand side, the rapid growth of demand in the field of film and pipe is the main driving force for the growth of metallocene polyethylene consumption; Demand growth in traditional areas such as bottle caps, rotomolded fuel tanks and wires and cables was relatively stable, while the growth in demand for metallocene polyethylene was relatively small
.
It is estimated that the demand for metallocene polyethylene in China will reach 1.
51 million tons in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 7.
3%, and will reach 1.
96 million tons
in 2030.

The rapid development of domestic food, industry and logistics has driven the consumption of food packaging film, stretch film, heavy packaging film and heat shrinkable film, thereby driving the continuous expansion
of metallocene polyethylene market demand in the film.
In addition, with the further expansion of metallocene polyethylene application in the field of pipe and the increasing market demand, the consumption of metallocene polyethylene in the field of pipe will also grow rapidly
.

In terms of catalysts, on the one hand, the performance of metallocene catalysts is continuously optimized, and new metallocene catalyst systems and loading systems are developed at the same time to reduce the amount of catalysts and reduce the comprehensive cost of use; On the other hand, combined with the development of catalysts, strengthen the development of new metallocene polyethylene, improve and stabilize product quality, realize all self-sufficiency in domestic metallocene polyethylene demand at an early date, and realize the transformation
of China's petrochemical product structure to high-end.