At present, the synthetic fiber raw materials commonly used by people are derived from petrochemical resources. While bringing convenience to life, they also cause ecological and environmental problems such as "white pollution". The replacement of traditional non-degradable plastics with bio-based materials has great development potential. A few days ago, China's first 1,000-ton polylactic acid fiber production line was completed in AHFY Group, which is expected to promote the large-scale industrialization of new bio-based materials.
Biomaterials will replace chemical fiber
China is a big producer of chemical fiber. In 2018, the output of chemical fiber reached 50.11 million tons, of which the output of synthetic fiber was 45.662 million tons, accounting for more than 70% of the world's total output of chemical fiber. However, synthetic fiber raw materials are mainly derived from petrochemical resources. While bringing convenience to people's lives, they have also brought many negative impacts on the natural ecological environment.
According to statistics, in the global annual output of about 500 million tons of plastic and chemical fiber, only 10% of plastic is recycled, and about 8 million tons of plastic waste flows into the ocean. It takes more than 450 years to degrade these plastic waste in the marine environment. Disposable plastic products such as plastic tableware, plastic bags, straws, and agricultural films not only cause "white pollution" to become more serious, some even enter the food chain cycle and invade animals and human bodies in the form of microplastics.
On the one hand, the crisis of resources and environment continues to escalate, and on the other hand, there is a strong demand for green and sustainable development of the chemical fiber industry. Under this situation, the call for replacing bio-based materials with petroleum-based materials is growing.
"Just as solar, nuclear, and hydrogen energy will gradually replace fossil energy, and new energy vehicles will gradually replace traditional diesel locomotives, bio-based materials produced using renewable resources are also expected to gradually replace petrochemical materials. This will be the post-petroleum era A major change in the field of materials! "Said Li Rongjie, chairman of Anhui Fengyuan Group.
According to reports, bio-based materials are derived from biomass resources, and starch, cellulose in plant roots, stems, and fruits are converted into biological products such as polylactic acid through bio-fermentation technology, which are then refined and polymerized to form high-molecule environmentally-friendly biomaterials.
"Under the action of microorganisms or composting, bio-based materials can be decomposed into non-toxic carbon dioxide and water, and there is a huge market demand in the fields of plastics, packaging, manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries." The China Chemical Fiber Industry Association survey showed that Polylactic acid, polybutylene succinate, etc. in bio-based materials are currently the largest biodegradable materials in the world, the most widely used, the most cost-effective, and the closest to petroleum-based materials, which will account for biodegradable materials 70% to 80% of market share.
Academician Jiang Shicheng of the Chinese Academy of Engineering pointed out that replacing traditional non-degradable plastics with bio-based materials can alleviate the oil crisis and reduce environmental pollution, and has great development potential. As the industrialization process continues to deepen, bio-based materials will play a pivotal role in human energy substitution, environmental friendliness, and social development.
Breakthrough in Technology
In recent years, the bio-based materials industry has developed strongly. Some developed countries have invested heavily in biodegradable plastics and other fields in order to accelerate the pace of industrialization and occupy a dominant position in market competition. It is reported that since the 1990s, European and American countries have begun to develop polylactic acid fibers, but due to factors such as high production costs, their industrialization process has been difficult.
As of now, the global production of polylactic acid is mainly concentrated in a few companies such as Cargill in the United States, Total in France and Glatt in Belgium. Among them, Belgium Glatt is an early technical partner of the AHFY Group, and its Chinese factory was introduced by the AHFY Group in 2002. Judging from the development momentum of the domestic polylactic acid industry, related production enterprises are generally small in scale, and are restricted by strain fermentation and extraction technology. The product quality is generally not high and it is difficult to meet foreign standards.
"Except the Fengyuan Group, other domestic polylactic acid production enterprises currently purchase polylactide (a key intermediate of polylactic acid) as a raw material by foreign manufacturers, and then produce polylactic acid through ring-opening and polymerization." The head of the lactic acid research and development institution said that these companies generally lack upstream lactic acid bacteria, fermentation, extraction, and purification technologies, which is equivalent to only about 30% of the polylactic acid industry chain.
"AHFY is the only company in China that can produce polylactic acid chips using grain crops such as corn or straw cellulose as raw materials, and has realized the integration of the entire industrial chain." Li Rongjie told the Economic Daily reporter that after nearly 20 years of technical research, AHFY Group currently Has mastered the six core technologies of lactic acid bacteria preparation, fermentation, extraction and purification, polymerization, environmentally friendly fiber, and environmentally friendly plastic production, and has formed more than 30 major process method invention patents, which fundamentally solved the performance and cost issues of polylactic acid materials .
Experts said that AHFY Group and Cargill, France Total, Belgium Grath and other companies together form the first matrix of the global polylactic acid industry. , Has achieved beyond the other three companies.
Large-scale industrialization has advantages
Although polylactic acid has excellent properties such as non-toxicity, environmental protection, and degradability, its industrialization process has not been smooth, mainly due to the high production cost.
"If we use our polylactic acid chips to produce polylactic acid fibers, the cost will be lower than cotton." Li Rongjie calculated for the reporter: about 3.5 tons of straw can produce 1 ton of polylactic acid, when the price of straw is 500 yuan / ton Around the time, the cost of polylactic acid is lower than cotton and natural plant fibers such as viscose, tencel, and modal.
However, compared with petroleum-based materials, the current cost advantage of polylactic acid is not obvious. According to estimates, when the price of oil is between $ 40 and $ 50 per barrel, the price of petrochemical fiber is about $ 1,200 / ton, and the price of petroleum plastics is about $ 1,500 / ton, both of which are lower than $ 2,000 / ton of polylactic acid.
"However, polylactic acid can achieve complete biodegradation, and it is a new environmentally friendly material that truly meets the requirements of plastic restriction and ban in countries around the world. At the same time, polylactic acid fibers also have natural, skin-friendly, bacteriostatic, and anti-mite properties. Cotton. "Li Rongjie said.
From the perspective of the market, polylactic acid is widely used in home decoration, automotive interior and other market applications. Many car manufacturers have discussed cooperation with the AHFY Group on many occasions. The original polylactic acid sports fabric, want to buy out its right to use … As the market awareness of polylactic acid materials increases, its huge market potential is constantly emerging.
In addition to factors such as cost and market awareness, the supporting application problems downstream of the industrial chain are also important links restricting the development of polylactic acid industrialization. Li Rongjie said that although the polylactic acid industry in the United States and other developed countries has developed earlier, it has been tepid in the application of polylactic acid fibers, which is closely related to its lack of corresponding downstream links such as spinning, weaving, printing and dyeing. China's industrial advantages.
"We firmly believe that polylactic acid is the most promising new material to shake the traditional position of petroleum-based plastics and chemical fibers." Li Rongjie said that the AHFY Group has formulated a development plan for the polylactic acid industry, and it is expected to form 3 million tons of polylactic acid production by 2022 Capacity will be further increased to 20 million to 15 million tons by 2025. If the commercialization process goes smoothly, the upstream part of the polylactic acid industry chain is expected to form a trillion-dollar market size within 8 to 10 years.
"Transforming the 'black gold economy' of petroleum coal into the 'green gold economy' of biomass processing, AHFY must promote agricultural development in an industrial way, replace fossil resources, improve the ecological environment, and be a model for the development of a circular economy." Li Rongjie said.