On September 27, Sierbang Petrochemical's 800-tonne/year POE pilot device successfully produced qualified products, and the project was successfully and simultaneously opened, marking Sierbang becoming the only enterprise in China with both photovoltaic-grade EVA and POE independent production technology. The company's research and development capabilities and high-end products will continue to lead China's new energy material industry.
Independent research and development to break the monopoly will fill the gap in POE industrialization
POE (polyolefin elastomer) is an irregular copolymer of two monomers of ethylene/α-olefin. It has good low-temperature toughness and easy thermoplastic processing. It is widely used in photovoltaic adhesive film, polyolefin material toughening modification, foaming, adhesive and other fields. Under the background of "carbon neutrality", the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry has significantly driven the development of photovoltaic film, and the demand for POE has increased significantly.
Foreign enterprises have patented the catalysts required for the production of POE, and have strictly sealed the process technology of high-carbon α-olefin, an important raw material for the production of POE. Key technologies are constrained by people. There is no enterprise in China that can industrialize the production of POE products, which seriously restricts the development of downstream high-end manufacturing industries.
As a national high-tech enterprise and a leading new energy materials research and development enterprise in China, Sierbang Petrochemical launched the independent research and development of POE key technologies in September 2020. It has successively completed the research of Mao metal catalyst and key polymerization technology, developed a pilot process technology, and built a set of pilot equipment for the whole process from catalyst preparation to extrusion granulation. At present, this device is the most complete process with most comprehensive facilities, and the closest to an industrial reality in China. The POE pilot project has been completed and put into production, which has realized the complete autonomy for POE catalysts and a full set of production technologies, and accelerated the industrialization process of POE in China and filled the gap in the industry.
Two-line parallel to build the world's largest photovoltaic film material base
New chemical materials are the key materials needed for national economic construction, and they are also typical representatives of the national industrial development level and overall technical level. Over the years, the structural contradiction of "excess of low-end products and shortage of high-end products" in China's petrochemical industry has been very prominent.
Taking the mainstream photovoltaic film material EVA as an example, its import dependence is more than 60%. After the national "dual carbon" goal was put forward, Sierbang Petrochemical carried out innovative research and development, and successfully mastered a series of core independent technologies such as the production technology of EVA photovoltaic film materials, which provided strong support for the national green energy transformation. After the company's 700,000 tonnes/year EVA project is fully completed, the total EVA production capacity will reach one million tonnes, ranking first in the world.
At present, Sierbang is planning to build a 500,000 tonnes/year POE photovoltaic film material project to build a whole industrial chain of photovoltaic new materials with a horizontal coverage and chain extension to meet the strong demand for photovoltaic film materials in China's new energy industry development. POE and EVA go hand in hand, and Sierbang Petrochemical is accelerating towards the goal of "building the world's largest photovoltaic membrane material industrial base".
