On December 27, 2022, the 20,000-tonne/year ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) unit of Sierbang Petrochemical was successfully put into operation and simultaneously produced qualified products, which marked the in-depth promotion of Shenghong's "1+N" new energy new material strategy. The extension of the high-end polyolefin industry chain has made a major breakthrough again, which will further enhance the core competitiveness of the enterprise, and the new energy industry will promote the rapid increase of UHMWPE demand.
UHMWPE is a thermoplastic engineering plastic with excellent performance. It is impact-resistant, wear-resistant and corrosion-resistant. It is widely used in aerospace, marine engineering, rail transit, petrochemical, new energy materials and other cutting-edge fields. It is known as the "magic plastic of the 21st century".
In recent years, with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, high-speed rail, medical bionics, high-performance fibers and other industrial technologies, the demand for UHMWPE has increased significantly. In the field of new energy, UHMWPE has become one of the hot lithium battery diaphragm materials at present due to its strong anti-external force puncture ability, melting and not collapsing at high temperature, and extremely high safety performance.
Thanks to the continuous growth of China's new energy vehicle power battery market, it has driven the rapid growth of the lithium electric diaphragm market. According to the data, 2.6 million new energy vehicles were sold in China in the first half of 2022, corresponding to the installed capacity of power batteries of 11.01Gwh, an increase of 109.8% year-on-year. During the same period, the domestic shipment of lithium electric diaphragm was 5.4 billion square meters, an increase of more than 55% year-on-year, corresponding to the demand for UHMWPE resin of about 110,000 tonnes.
It is expected that by 2025, the average annual compound growth rate of domestic UHMWPE diaphragm material demand will exceed 30%, and the market will usher in a period of rapid development.
Leading by science and technology will accelerate the filling of the high-end UHMWPE gap
At present, China's UHMWPE production capacity accounts for 40% of the world's total production capacity. But, while the mainstream production technology has been localized, the high-end materials required in China still need to be imported in large quantities. According to statistics, the current production capacity of UHMWPE resin for diaphragm in China is about 80,000 tonnes/year, compared with the actual market demand of 110,000 tonnes in the first half of 2022, the import dependence is more than 50%. As a national high-tech enterprise, Sierbang Petrochemical has an industry-leading technology reserve in the research of key catalysts and polymerization technologies for the production of UHMWPE. By adopting advanced washing technology, the volatile content of Sierbang products is lower, the products’ properties are more stable, the particle diameter distribution of the product is more uniform, and the particle size can be flexibly adjusted according to the needs of users, with a better plasticization performance. It can completely replace imported products, which will greatly reduce the dependence of high-end diaphragm materials on foreign markets and help realize domestic substitution.
Press the "fast forward button" to accelerate the trillion-level energy storage new track
Not long ago, Shenghong officially signed a contract with the energy storage headquarters project, with a total investment of 20 billion yuan. Relying on the core refining and chemical raw material platform, it will build a complete energy storage industry chain from new energy materials, cells, modules to terminal products. As the first move of the project, the Sierbang ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene device has fully come into production, which can achieve an annual output of 20,000 tonnes of UHMWPE products, which will provide sufficient high-end diaphragm materials for the downstream cell link, hence pressing the "fast forward button" for Shenghong's trillion-level energy storage new track. With high performance, low cost and special resinization becoming the main development trends of UHMWPE resin, the successful production of the Sierbang ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene device is of great significance to break the blockade of foreign technology, enrich the structure of China's polyolefin products, improve market competitiveness, and play an important role in improving the quality and efficiency of enterprises. In the future, Shenghong will continue to focus on the research and development of high-end polyolefins and the expansion of production capacity.
With the upstream and downstream deeply coupled, the "1+N" strategy will continue to be promoted in depth to accelerate the construction of a world-class green new energy new materials industrial cluster with international competitiveness.
