Since 2018, many "big things" have happened in the basalt fiber industry:
In August 2018, Dazhou City, Sichuan Province invested 400 million yuan to build a basalt fiber production R & D base with an annual production scale of 20,000 tons;
In September of the same year, a pilot project for the production of basalt continuous fibers using a kiln with a total investment of 90 million yuan was officially ignited in Luojiang Park, National High-tech Zone, Deyang, Sichuan Province;
In March 2019, an investment of nearly 2.5 billion yuan, covering an area of about 260 acres, the basalt fiber new material industrial park in Hua'an City, Guang'an City, Sichuan Province officially opened …
As one of the four high-tech fibers in China, basalt fiber is a key product of China's "13th Five-Year Plan" strategic emerging industry. Because it has a variety of excellent properties, and is green and pollution-free, the use range from aviation, aerospace to transportation, environmental protection, etc., is very wide. Some predictions show that in 2019, the global continuous basalt fiber market output value is expected to reach 104.7 million US dollars, with a compound annual average growth rate of 10.9%; during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, China's basalt fiber output will reach a scale of more than 150,000 tons.
Because of the attractive market prospects, many investors are targeting the basalt fiber industry, and some places have also listed basalt fiber as a key area for the future development of new materials. Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou have become hot spots for basalt industry investment. .
Unlimited market prospects
"The basalt fiber industry has a very broad market development prospect." Liu Jiaqi, an academician of the Institute of Geological Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that basalt fibers have the characteristics of good comprehensive performance, wide use, and high cost performance. They do not produce toxic substances and no exhaust gas during normal production and processing. , Wastewater, waste residue discharge, no pollution, high-tech 21st century "green industrial materials." Various molded products made from it are processed and processed, from the outer shell of the spacecraft to the brake pads, fishing rods, etc. It is widely used in aerospace, aviation, firefighting, automobiles, ships, construction, environmental protection, sports and other fields.
As long as the performance, quality and quantity of basalt fiber products meet the requirements, its market potential is very large. Some people in the industry estimate that at present, basalt fiber produced around the world cannot meet 1% of demand.
"Basalt fiber will be another 100 billion-level market. In the" Thirteenth Five-Year Plan "and China's manufacturing development plan, the country will vigorously develop basalt fiber. At present, a number of national standards and industry standards have been formulated and introduced. The development of the basalt fiber industry has broadened space and created conditions. The market awareness of basalt fiber has been greatly improved, and market demand has also increased year by year.
Some analysts believe that in recent decades, China's composite materials have developed rapidly and have a solid foundation for the development and promotion of continuous basalt fibers. Moreover, China has a vast territory, with extremely rich reserves of basalt deposits, and a huge market for the application of new materials. In addition, basalt ore is a natural material. During the production process, no boron or other alkali metal oxides are emitted, so no harmful substances are precipitated in the smoke and dust, which does not cause pollution to the atmosphere. It is an environmentally friendly material.
China has unique conditions for low-cost manufacturing of basalt fiber, and has low-cost, completely independent intellectual property rights for large-scale development of new technologies, new devices and new processes for continuous basalt fiber. At present, the technology and scale of basalt fiber in the world is still in its infancy, which provides a great development space and market opportunity for China to continue to develop advanced technology.
It can be said that in the context of China's economy facing increasing constraints on resources, energy, environmental protection and sustainable development, it is of great strategic significance to take the lead in developing this special inorganic non-metallic new material industry.
Capacity needs to be increased
As one of the four major fibers in China (basalt fiber, carbon fiber, aramid fiber, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fiber), what are the advantages of basalt fiber?
Academician Liu Jiaqi said that the biggest characteristics of basalt fiber materials are special properties, low thermal conductivity, and good flame retardancy. They are good insulation materials that are resistant to both high and low temperatures. They can be used to make fire-resistant blankets, fire curtains, and other flame-retardant materials. Filter fabric, filter material, high temperature felt, etc. in the field of high temperature filtration.
Academician Zhou Fengjun of the Chinese Academy of Engineering stated at the 2nd Symposium on the Application of Basalt Fiber Products that the use of basalt fiber and its composite materials' high resistance, corrosion resistance, high and low temperature resistance can play an important role in engineering construction, especially in engineering construction. The use of basalt fiber composites as structural reinforcement materials for infrastructure in traffic pavement, tunnel engineering, dock engineering, island reef engineering, etc. in the construction of wet environments can not only improve the resistance of the project, but also greatly extend its service life.
Feng Peng, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University, believes that basalt fiber, as a high-performance fiber, has the characteristics and advantages of light weight, high strength, design, corrosion resistance, convenient construction, non-magnetic, and insulation after being made into a composite material. For bridges, industrial platforms and other structures, it can be used as functional structural parts such as electrical towers and flues. At the same time, its processability can be applied to new-type buildings or landscape engineering.
In addition, basalt fiber has a high dielectric constant and good insulation properties, and can be used to make a variety of electrical accessories; a high sound absorption coefficient and strong electromagnetic radiation resistance are vital to national security. Although the performance is superior, compared with other fibers, the basalt fiber market is still in its initial stage. The development time is only a short period of 20-30 years, and development still faces some difficulties. The congenital deficiency is that the composition fluctuates greatly. Because basalt is formed by earth lava, the composition of the same ore site may fluctuate greatly, which will affect the stability of the fiber. The production cost is high. Due to the abundant basalt resources and lower raw material costs, the higher production costs mainly involve higher energy prices and larger consumption of platinum-rhodium alloy leakage plates. At the same time, production efficiency is low. Due to the poor thermal conductivity of the basalt melt and the high crystallization upper temperature, it is easy to crystallize, so the production process conditions are high and the fiber formation is difficult.
Industry insiders said that only when performance and cost reach a relatively balanced level will there be broader applications in the market. The production capacity of basalt fiber at home and abroad needs to be improved. At present, there is a large gap in market demand. How to reduce its production costs and improve production efficiency is the direction that practitioners need to work hard. This is both a challenge and an opportunity.