Polyurethane forward-looking: China to build the world's largest raw material and products base

Polyurethane is an important new chemical material, known as the "fifth largest plastic" because of its excellent performance and variety of uses. China's polyurethane industry has gradually developed and grown with the 100-year history of the founding of the CPC. Today, from furniture, clothing, to transportation, construction, to aerospace and national defense construction, the ubiquitous polyurethane materials not only represent the level of innovation of the modern chemical industry, but also become an important support for China's construction of a manufacturing power.

China's polyurethane industry began in the late 50s and early 60s of last century, starting from the production of Polyurethane Raw Materials. In 1958, Dalian Dye Factory took the lead in successfully developing toluene diisocyanate (TDI), and in 1968 built a production plant with an annual output of 500 tons, which created conditions for the development of China's polyurethane industry. Subsequently, Jiangsu Chemical Research Institute and other units have successively developed polyether PU flexible foam plastics, mixed PU elastomers (MPU), polyurethane coatings, polyurethane waterproof materials and other products. In 1976, the Department of Chemical Industry of Jiangsu Province organized Jiangsu Chemical Research Institute and other units to carry out technical research on polyurethane runway glue, and in 1978 began to promote and apply various types of sports venues in China.

After the reform and opening up, China began to introduce foreign advanced TDI production technology and equipment. In 1983, the former Ministry of Light Industry invested and built an annual output of 10,000 tons of diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) and TDI project in Yantai, Shandong Province.

After the 80s of the 20th century, China began to introduce foreign advanced polyurethane raw materials and products production technology and equipment, domestic scientific research institutions and enterprises also began to develop reaction injection molding, high resilience cold curing foam, polymer polyol, modified MDI and a series of products and special raw materials new technologies. Liming Chemical Research Institute has developed five kinds of products, including automotive integral skin steering wheel, filler instrument panel, microporous elastomer fenders, cold-curing high-resilience foam, and energy-absorbing impact bumper simulators, filling the domestic gap.

After the 90s of last century, with the sustained and rapid development of China's economy, polyurethane, as a new multi-functional polymer material, has been more and more widely used in transportation, home appliances, furniture, metallurgy and other fields. The rapid growth of demand has also further stimulated the development of the polyurethane industry, flexible foam box foam small enterprises are booming, refrigerator production base automatic casting hard foam insulation layer production line, sandwich board hard foam casting production line, continuous method large block soft foam production line, molded soft foam production line, etc. A total of hundreds of them, large-scale polyurethane coatings, adhesives and other production plants are also more than 10.

In the 21st century, after more than ten years of research and experience accumulation, through the digestion and absorption of imported technical devices, China has basically mastered the production technology of the main raw materials of polyurethane. With the rapid development of China's refrigerator, freezer and furniture industry, the application of polyurethane materials has risen rapidly, and China's polyurethane industry has entered a stage of rapid development and has become one of the fastest growing fields in China's chemical industry. Represented by Yantai Wanhua, China's polyurethane manufacturers have begun to make comprehensive breakthroughs in the fields of production scale, product types and technical level, leading enterprises have entered the international stage, and the industry has formed a three-pronged situation of multinational enterprises, large state-owned enterprises and private enterprises.

At present, China's main Polyurethane Raw Material production capacity has exceeded 1/3 of the global production capacity, becoming the world's largest polyurethane raw material and products production base, but also the world's most complete polyurethane application field, the production and consumption of raw materials and products in the industry continues to grow, and the industrial structure continues to optimize. China's polyurethane raw materials output value of 60 billion yuan, products output value of 320 billion yuan, production of 95% of the world's refrigerated containers, 70% of toys, 60% of shoes.

At present, the polyurethane industry has entered a new stage with the theme of innovation-led and green development. At present, the output of polyurethane downstream products such as building materials, spandex, synthetic leather and automobiles in China ranks first in the world. The state is vigorously promoting waterborne coatings, implementing new policies for building energy conservation, and developing new energy vehicles, which also bring huge market opportunities to the polyurethane industry. The "dual carbon" goal proposed by China will promote the rapid development of building energy conservation and clean energy industry, and bring new development opportunities for polyurethane insulation materials, coatings, composite materials, adhesives, elastomers, etc.