By the end of this year, many kinds of plastic products will bid farewell to our lives. Following the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, recently, Beijing, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places have issued upgraded versions of "plastic restriction orders", which have become "plastic ban orders." . After the "ban on plastics", materials that can replace plastics quickly take the lead, especially providing a broad market space for "fully biodegradable plastics".
In order to snatch this "blue ocean", many scientific research institutions and enterprises in China have already begun to deploy:
On October 12, NBCH Polymer Materials Technology Group issued an announcement stating that the company plans to build a 600,000-ton/year fully biodegradable thermoplastic industrial park PBAT/PBS/PBT flexible production project.
NBCH landed on the A-share main board market on August 28 this year and is mainly engaged in the R&D, production and sales of thermoplastic elastomer TPES. The current market value is 8.989 billion yuan.
The project that the company intends to invest in is divided into two phases, each phase is 300,000 tons/year, and the total construction period is 5 years. "This project meets the requirements of the national industrial policy for reducing environmental pollution. The product has a strong ability to replace other plastic products and has a broad market." NBCH said that the first phase of the first phase is to build a 100,000-ton/year production line, which can be flexible according to market demand It produces PBAT, PBS, PBT and other different products, and has the ability to expand the chain to produce other products of different brands.
According to Hay Think, it is not only the NBCH department, but many companies have already made plans for biodegradable plastics in advance.
In July of this year, the high-rate polylactic acid foaming material and heat-resistant product molding industrialization project implemented by NBHT Bio-based Materials Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. officially passed the scientific and technological appraisal organized by the China Textile Industry Federation. The project filled the domestic polylactic acid Continuous foaming production technology, equipment and products are blank, reaching the international advanced level.
NBJL Polymer Technology Group is mainly engaged in the production and sales of plastic products and biodegradable products, and is a manufacturer of plastic tableware. The company's business also involves biodegradable plastics, and its business proportion is increasing year by year. From 2017 to 2019, the proportion of biodegradable material products was 0.75%, 2.42% and 3.55%, respectively.
Scientific research institutions have already begun to tackle key problems
Not only enterprises, but also research institutes have already begun to study biodegradable plastics. "My team and I have spent more than ten years successfully researching heat-resistant polylactic acid (PLA) foam materials and their products, and they have been mass-produced." Professor Zhu Jinxiang Hay Think, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences Said that polylactic acid is recognized as one of the biodegradable polymers most likely to be applied on a large scale, but polylactic acid has poor heat resistance (use temperature below 50°C) and low cost performance, which seriously affects the application field of polylactic acid .
In response to these problems, Ningbo Materials has successfully developed heat-resistant polylactic acid foam materials after years of research. "The strength of the polylactic acid melt is too low to be directly foamed. Through the modification technology, the strength of the polylactic acid melt is increased by 70 times while ensuring heat resistance, which meets the foaming requirements." Zhu Jin said, at the same time through and Foam Equipment Company jointly tackled key problems and developed a proprietary continuous foaming equipment for polylactic acid.
"In short, we have overcome industry problems such as polylactic acid heat resistance, foamability, and proprietary foaming equipment, and took the lead in realizing the industrial production of polylactic acid foamed sheets." Zhu Jin said, heat-resistant polylactic acid foaming The material can replace traditional polystyrene (PS) foam materials for lunch boxes, food packaging, express delivery and other fields. This technology greatly improves the cost performance of polylactic acid.