The polyurethane industry is an emerging sector reaping the benefits of continuous growth and development in China. The proposals laid out in the 12th Five-Year Polyurethane Industrial Development Plan state that China aim for the following: make independent technological innovations to meet or approach international standards in the production of raw materials accessory ingredients, and other major products; accelerate the process of industrial restructuring, upgrade the production of high-end products, eliminate backward production capacities, establish a rational polyurethane material industrial system,and become more environmentally friendly by lowering carbon output. By the end of the 12th Five-year Plan period (2011-2015), the Chinese polyurethane industry will have a production capacity of 9～10 million tons, the biggest in the world.
To reach the objective, the polyurethane industry has determined a development plan for all major sub-branches.
The isocyanate sector should optimize industrial allocation following the principle of developing large-scale businesses, making circular integration, base production and industrial concentration. It must organize production and technological progress under the principles of low carbon, security, environmental protection and green operations. It must develop new-types of isocyanate products under the principle of precision production, high performance operation, and adjusting products to high added values.
The polyether polyol sector should intensify restructuring efforts and change the present situation of single product structure, irrational proportions, and low-end products. It must study, improve and promote DMC method to develop new technologies, elevate production efficiency, lower energy consumption, and reduce pollution. It must take further measures to standardize and integrate the common soft-foam PPG market. It must strengthen capacity to produce and develop new highly reactive PPG products and meet lower stream high-end consumption demands.
The propylene oxide (PO) sector should improve the capacities of existing facilities for energy conservation, energy consumption reduction and environmental protection. It must enhance HPPO new technologies and improve the capacity of independent development of crucial new technologies. It must enhance industrial integration and elevate the overall HSE level for the PO sector.
The polyurethane foam plastics sector should develop key technologies and facilities for architectural energy saving, localized production of equipment, scaled development of businesses, modern technologies, multi-functions of products, and precision operations. It must intensify public service platform construction to meet major demands around the country, and enable the gross production capacity to reach 3.8～4.1 million tons.
The polyurethane elastomer sector should reinforce CPU and waterproof pavement materials restructuring, improve technologies, and elevate industrial concentration ratios. It must improve TPU and spandex production technologies and product quality, and merge into the high-end product market. It must expand application scales in the emerging industries.
The polyurethane coating sector should center its core technologies around environmental protection, energy conservation and functions. It must pay closer attention to developing technologies for polyurethane waterborne wood coatings, high performance polyurethane, polyurea waterproof coating, two-component polyurethane coatings and special-purpose resin. It must hasten the process of industrialized production and expand application scales.
The water-based polyurethane sector should improve its overall performance. It should optimize equipment and construction technologies, and focus on more product varieties with multiple functions, as well as higher solid, highly clean, lower energy consumption, and higher quality products. It must develop application type PUD production technologies and facilities for 10,000-ton-level polyurethane synthetic leather, coatings and adhesive. The corresponding product functions must meet international advanced levels.
The polyurethane shoe-sole stock solution sector should develop low-density sole materials. It must develop new technologies for high performances and low costs to improve the cost performance ratio and competitiveness with other sole materials. It must improve performances of polyether products and expand application scales.
The polyurethane synthetic leather resins sector should accelerate developing environment-friendly polyurethane synthetic leather resins and industrialize their production. It must develop functional polyurethane synthetic leather resins and speed up development of special-purpose accessory ingredients.
The polyurethane adhesive and sealing compound sector should vigorously develop technologies for producing adhesive TPU particle resins. It must accelerate the non-solvency process, and set up 10,000-ton-level specialized commercial production facilities. It must accelerate the development of PUD downstream adhesive ingredients and production technologies. It must improve performances of one –component wet solidifying polyurethane sealing compound and expand their applications in the auto and architecture fields. It must expedite the development of organic silicone modified polyether sealant, and middle resin production technologies with independent intellectual properties, and set up production facilities with an annual capacity of 5,000-10,000 tons.
The polyurethane foam plastics processing equipment sector should mainly focus on developing technologies and products for environment protection, energy conservation, elevation of existing facility credibility and stability. It must also be highly concerned with development in new application fields.
Each proposal is written out in full detail in the 12th Five- Year Plan and contains information about what technological requirements need to be met to facilitate industry growth. They include: development of facilities and technologies for TDI large liquid phosgenation reaction; research of new gas phase phosgene techniques; and development of complete sets of technologies for industrialization of aliphatic isocyanate gas phase phosgene method, technologies and facilities of HPPO production, technologies for water-based polyurethane resin production, polyurethane foam stabilizer and high performance and low toxicity fire retardants, renewable biological degradable polyurethane materials, melt spinning spandex slice technologies, technologies of high-performance CPUE materials replacing imported materials and applied in auto tire surfaces, and chlorine cyclic utilization technologies in the process of producing isocyanate.
Source: China National Chemical Information Center