Plastic granulation: effectiveness for new product development

In recent years, low-cost large-scale ethylene plants in the Middle East will be completed and put into operation one after another. A large number of polyolefin products will inevitably flood the Chinese market. Under such circumstances, how should companies adapt their products to the needs of the market and achieve the desired economic benefits through the development of new varieties? In response, Xu Zhenming, director of the plastics research center of Yangzi Petrochemical Research Institute, suggested that domestic plastic raw material production enterprises should put the development of the granulation system on the agenda, and increase the polyolefin plant pelletizing line according to their own conditions in order to increase market resilience and achieve poly Seamless connection between olefin producers and plastic products companies.

The development of plastic raw material polyolefins has two approaches, reactor direct production and development through a granulation system. The direct production of reactors has always been the main direction for the development of polyolefin products, and the development of granulation systems has long been neglected in China. In fact, more than 30% of the world's plastics are in the form of blends, ie, polymer powders and various additives. With the increasing scale of polymerization equipment, some of the batches are not large, and production is difficult. Higher products are more suitable for production through the development of granulation systems. The international large plastic raw material production enterprises attach great importance to this development. Internationally renowned polyolefin material and cable supplier Borealis, most of its products are special compound pellets. Mitsui Chemicals Japan also supplies the market with specially compounded pelletized polyethylene products.

The development of a granulation system has made the development of new plastic varieties, especially polyolefin blends, flexible and changeable, and the serialization and diversification of products has been significantly shortened. Polyolefin mixture can be widely used in construction, automotive, home appliances and other industries, because the current domestic petrochemical companies basically do not provide colored polyolefin compounding, making these industries colored high-grade products are required to use imported raw materials, domestic materials can only Play the role of low-end products.

In recent years, with the development of the polyolefin additive industry, especially the industrialization of multifunctional additives, domestic plastic raw material production enterprises have gradually increased their awareness of the development of polyolefin products through the granulation system, and the polyolefin plant granulation system has gradually assumed The important role of polyolefin product development. Shanghai Petrochemical has begun to provide mixed ingredients, Qilu Petrochemical has also completed the grade of mixed ingredients.

The development of the granulation system is mainly the addition of new granulation lines. The original polyolefin device is generally equipped with only one granulation line. When the device needs to be converted to other varieties, the switching time is longer. The original varieties in the granulation line have not been cleared, and they will enter new varieties of production, and will also produce transitional materials. Generally, transitional materials can only be sold at a reduced price. Since there is only one granulation line, the development of some high-value-added products has been restricted, hindering the diversification of plastic products. In response to such problems, currently foreign polyolefin devices are generally equipped with more than one pelletizing line, and some are equipped with three. However, although there is a big difference in the polymerization technology of domestic polyolefin devices, the granulation process uses a set of polymerization devices equipped with a granulation line, which can no longer meet and meet the needs of new plastics development.

Therefore, domestic plastic raw material production enterprises should increase the polyolefin plant granulation line according to their own conditions, and continue to develop new varieties in order to expand the market share of the product.

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