Industry News

Source: HCA Newsletter

At the end of October 2015, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China proposed the implementation of the “Dual-Control” action on total energy consumption and energy consumption intensity (energy consumption per unit of GDP).

The main purpose of the “Dual-Control” action is to improve energy efficiency, guide regions to deal with the relationship between “Dual-Control” of energy consumption and economic and social development, force a change in the mode of economic development, promote continuous optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, and achieve high-quality development.

The Government Work Report in 2021 included “Reducing Energy Consumption Per Unit of GDP by about 3%” as a major development target for 2021 and proposed a 13.5% reduction in the overall target for the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

China’s energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) has been reduced by a cumulative 24.6% since 2012, equivalent to a reduction in energy consumption of 1.27 billion tons of standard coal. from 2012 to 2019, China has supported an average annual growth of 7% in the national economy with an average annual growth of 2.8% in energy consumption and a significant improvement in energy use efficiency.

Preliminary research predicts that in order to achieve the goal of “reducing energy intensity by 13.5%”, China will support a GDP growth rate of about 5% with an average annual energy consumption growth of about 2% during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with the economic and social development will further reduce the dependence on energy consumption. Reducing energy intensity is also a practical need to promote clean and low-carbon energy transition and force industrial restructuring.

In the process of reducing energy intensity, there is no doubt that the focus will be in controlling fossil energy consumption and accelerating the development of non-fossil energy. The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan also proposes that the proportion of non-fossil energy in total energy consumption should be increased to about 20%.

The National Energy Administration said that during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, it will reasonably control the total energy consumption and appropriately increase management flexibility, differentiate and allocate the “Dual-Control” targets for energy consumption in each region, and strengthen the implementation of target responsibilities; at the same time, improve the paid use of energy rights and trading system, accelerate the construction of a national energy rights trading market.

Energy consumption “Dual-Control” mechanism is a strict environmental regulation policy. From retrospect, once a local assessment performance warning appears, the region would use administrative means to control and strive to complete the annual target. This “warning-rectification-compliance” trigger mechanism is reinforced by the concept of “ecological civilization” and the “30/60” target.

In general, the government issued Dual-Control performance initiatives would cover specific details including for the industry, product (technology process, product quality level, etc.), capacity scale, phase-out or replacement criteria, completion time and other aspects. In short, it is to review and control the high-energy-consuming projects, and to shut down those that do not meet the energy consumption requirements; and to raise the approval threshold for new high-energy-consuming projects, making it difficult for high-energy-consuming projects to land in the short term.

On August 17, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) published Completion of the Dual-Control Target of Energy Consumption in Various Regions in the First Half of 2021. The energy consumption intensity of nine provinces (regions) in Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Shaanxi and Jiangsu rose instead of falling in the first half of the year. The reduction rate of energy consumption intensity in 10 provinces of Zhejiang, Henan, Gansu, Sichuan, Anhui, Guizhou, Shanxi, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jiangxi in the first half of the year did not meet the progress requirements.

Entering the fourth quarter, in less than four months from the end of the year’s “big test”, the “named regions” one after another took measures to improve energy consumption to avoid exceeding the energy consumption quota. Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang and other major chemical provinces have struck hard, with thousands of enterprises taking measures such as production suspensions and power cutdown, catching local enterprises off guard.

Many regions also have also experienced power shortage and the power gap caused by the lack of coal supply from both domestic and overseas has been suppressing production since July and may be difficult to ease during the year.

Production restrictions have now become the most direct and effective way to control energy consumption around China. However, for many industries, the changes in the economic situation, the recurrence of overseas epidemics and the intricate trend of commodities this year have left various industries facing diverse problems, and the Dual-Control of energy consumption has once again caused shocks by production restrictions.

The impact on the downstream manufacturing industry, especially those with relatively weak bargaining power, e.g., home appliances, clothing, textiles, machinery manufacturing, automotive and other companies, is bound to increase production costs, and will be impacted in short-term and even medium and long-term.

For the petrochemical industry, although in previous years, there have been power restrictions at the peak of electricity consumption, but “open two stop five”, “90% of production restrictions”, “thousands of enterprises to stop production” is the case unprecedented. If power restrictions continue, production capacity is certainly not able to keep up with demand, making the demand side of the supply tighter.

Power shortage and plant shutdown may also have possible positive impacts

• As the high demand from incremental orders from overseas due to pandemic may not sustainable, production restriction will regulate the capacity expansion and protect the downstream when the future order crisis comes.
• China has been moving towards industrial transformation, but the process has been interrupted by the increasing global demand for high energy consumption products due to the disruption of supply chain by pandemic. Power and production restrictions are the main path for traditional industries to achieve the Dual-Control targets for energy consumption and industry transformation.
• Production restrictions enhance the position and bargaining power of China’s manufacturing industry in the global industrial chain. The current pricing power of finished products is jeopardized by the internal capacity expansion and price competition.

Power shortage and plant shutdown have brought significant impact on short-term production disruption. particularly in September. The Dual-Control policy may continue to the end of the year or early next year in some sectors and regions.

The overall chemical prices are expected to continue to rise in the fourth quarter and hit the high point. Companies will also face double pressure of price increase and shortage of goods.

For details, please click the link: China Dual Control Impact Summary EN 2021-09-29

At present, there are two kinds of mainstream lithium cathode material projects in the market: LFP cathode material project and ternary cathode material project.

In recent one year, there is a total of around 30 expansion projects for cathode materials in China, with a planned capacity of more than 3.2 million MT/year. Number of LFP and ternary projects are basically the same.

A. Rongbai Technology

1. 20,000 MT/year high-nickel cathode project in South Korea

On October 30, 2020, Rongbai Technology announced that it planned to increase the capital in the subsidiary JAESE Energy with its own and self-financing funds up to RMB 1.19 billion in order to improve the company’s global strategic layout, enrich the company’s overseas sales channels and customer resources, and to enhance the company’s overall competitiveness and profitability. It will invest to build a 20,000 MT/year high nickel cathode project in South Korea, with capital increase of KRW 679 per share. The capital increase will be carried out in batches according to the project progress.

2. 100,000 MT/year high nickel cathode line (phase II and subsequent projects)

On February 9, 2021, Ningbo Rongbai announced that the phase I 15,000 MT/year of the “100,000 MT/year high-nickel cathode project”, which was built in cooperation with the wholly-owned subsidiary Guizhou Rongbai and Zunyi Honghuagang government, has been built up and put into operation in 2019. The company has decided to start the phase II and subsequent projects in 2021, and has signed up a cooperation agreement with Honghuagang government about the implementation period, project construction land, policy preferences and other contents. The investment and construction capital for the phase II and subsequent projects is expected to not exceed RMB 2.9 billion.

B. Dang Sheng Technology

1. Dansheng Technology (Changzhou) Lithium New Material Industrial Base Phase II Project

2. Jiangsu Dansheng lithium cathode material production base phase IV project

C. BTR

On May 17, 2021, BTR announced that its subsidiary BTR (Jiangsu) New Material Technology plans to sign up the Joint Venture Contract and the Capital Increase Agreement with SK Innovation and EVE Asia, which will increase the investment to BTR (Changzhou) and build the “50,000 MT/year high nickel ternary cathode material project” via the joint venture.

D: Fulin PM

1. 50,000 MT/year of new energy lithium cathode material project

On January 9, 2021, Fulin PM agreed that the subsidiary Jiangxi Shenghua New Material to build the 50,000 MT/year new energy lithium cathode materials project, with an estimated total investment of RMB 600 million.

Note: On March 17, 2021, Fulin announced that it agreed that the company and its wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangxi Shenghua New Materials to sign up an investment agreement with Ningde Times and Changjiang Daochen Hubei (Limited partnership) for capital increase in Jiangxi Shenghua.
Jiangxi Shenghua will introduce the investors via capital increasing. The investment obtained from the capital increase will only be used for the construction of the 50,000 MT/year LFP expansion project and the working capital.

2. 250,000 MT/year of LFP cathode material project

On March 17, 2021, Fulin announced that it planned to build a 250,000 MT/year LFP cathode materials project through its subsidiary Jiangxi Shenghua New Materials, with an estimated total investment of RMB 4 billion.

E: Xiamen Tungsten

On August 2, 2021, Xiamen Tungsten’s subsidiary Xiamen Tungsten New Energy issued the shares for the first time and prospectus on the GEM, raising a total of RMB 1.54 billion for the 40,000 MT/year lithium-ion battery materials industrialization project (phase I and phase II)

Note: the 40,000 MT/year Li-ion battery materials project will be built in three phases. Among which, the phase I and phase II capacity are the equity investment project with a total capacity of 20,000 MT/year and the investment of RMB 184,793.40 (unit: RMB 10 thousand)

F: Xiangtan Electrochemical

1. 20,000 MT/year high-performance lithium manganese cathode materials project

On February 20, 2020, the pre-proposal of non-public A shares (revised) was issued. The total amount of funds raised from non-public offering will not exceed RMB 528 million (inclusive), and the net funds after deducting the issuance expenses will be used for the following projects.

2. Hunan Yuneng Cathode Material Project

On June 26, 2021, Xiangtan Electrochemical announced that, in order to respond to the rapid development of the industry and seize the opportunity of industry development, Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Material (Xiangtan Electrochemical’s joint-stock company) will make investment in Fuquan, Guizhou and Anning, Yunnan, respectively.

3. 110,000 MT/year lithium cathode materials project

On January 19, 2021, Hunan Yuneng’s 110,000 MT/year lithium cathode material project was settled in Anju District, Suining, Sichuan.

G: Shenzhen Dynanonic

1. 40,000 MT/year Nano LFP project

On April 23, 2020, Dynanonic released the non-public A shares proposal on the GEM. The funds raised by non-public offering totaled RMB 1.2 billion, and the net amount after deducting the issue costs will be used for the 40,000 MT/year nano LFP project and related working capital. The funds used on the two projects will be RMB 850 million and RMB 350 million, respectively.

2. Jiang’an County 80,000 MT /year LFP project

On January 19, 2021, Dynanonic announced that it signed up the “80,000 MT/year LFP Project Investment Agreement with Ningde Times and Jiang’an County People’s Government based on the principle of mutual benefit and common development, agreeing to invest and build the 80,000 MT/year LFP project in Jiang’an County, Yibin City, Sichuan, with a total investment of around RMB 1.8 billion

3. 150,000 MT /year LFP project

On March 30, 2021, Dynanonic announced that it plans to build the 150,000 MT/year LFP project at the Qujing Economic and Technological Development Zone. The project includes the 100,000 MT /year LFP project jointly built by the company and Huizhou EVE

H: Gotion High-tech

1. Gotion’s 30,000 MT /year high-nickel ternary CAM project

On May 29, 2020, Gotion High-Tech issued the non-public A shares proposal, the total amount of funds raised from the non-public issue shall not exceed RMB 7,306,207,300 (inclusive). According to the agreement between the company and the subscriber Volkswagen China, the total amount of subscription shall not be less than RMB 6 billion, which means the total amount of funds raised shall not be less than RMB 6 billion (inclusive). After deducting the issuance costs, the net funds raised will be used for Gotion Battery’s annual 16 GWh high specific energy power lithium battery industrialization project, Gotion Material’s 30,000 MT/year high nickel ternary CAM project and related working capitals

2. 200,000 MT /year high-end cathode materials project

On July 27, 2021, Gotion announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hefei Gotion High-Tech Power Energy signed up an investment agreement with the Management Committee of Hefei Lujiang High-Tech Industrial Development Zone for the 200,000 MT /year high-end cathode materials project in Lujiang County, Anhui, on July 25, 2021.

I: Huayou Cobalt

50,000 MT/year high nickel CAM and 100,000 MT ternary precursor integration project

On June 12, 2021, Huayou Cobalt announced that it plans to build an integrated project with 50,000 MT/year high-nickel CAM and 100,000 MT/year ternary precursor materials via its wholly-owned subsidiary Guangxi Bamo Technology

J: Zhejiang Times

Lithium Battery Material International Industry Cooperation Park Project

On May 18, 2021, the Zhejiang Times Lithium Battery Material International Industry Cooperation Park Project was settled in Quzhou.

K: Lopal Technology

High-performance LFP lithium battery material project

Jiangsu Lopal signed up an investment agreement with Pengxi County People’s Government on October 10, 2020 to build the high-performance LFP battery materials and engine exhaust treatment fluid project at the Jinqiao area of Pengxi Economic Development Zone. To support the construction of the project, Lopal Technology plans to build a new company with a registered capital of RMB 100 million. The new company will be built by its wholly-owned subsidiary Jiangsu Liyuan Battery Materials, which holds 100% of the shareholding.

L: Taifeng Pulead

160,000 MT/year high-energy density lithium cathode materials intelligent manufacturing site project

On March 25, 2021, Taifeng Pulead published a tweet on its official Wechat, announcing that the 160,000 MT/year high-energy density lithium cathode materials intelligent manufacturing site project officially kicked off at the Xining Nanchuan Industrial Park.

M: CNNC HuayuanTitanium

500,000 MT/year LFP project

On February 4, 2021, CNNC Titanium announced that it planned to build a 500,000 MT/year LFP project through its wholly-owned subsidiary Gansu Dongfang Titanium Industry

N: Changyuan Lithium Technology

Expansion project of the lithium battery cathode material for vehicles (phase I)

On May 6, 2020, Hunan Changyuan published the prospectus for the public offering of shares (filing) on the GEM for the first time. The company intends to publicly issue no more than 482,301,568 ordinary RMB shares (A shares), and the total amount of funds raised will be determined based on the actual number of shares to be issued and the issue price.
After deducting the issue expenses, the funds raised will be fully used for the projects related to the company’s main business.

O: Fengyuan Shareholding

1. 10,000 MT/year high nickel CAM for li-ion battery

On February 28, 2020, Fengyuan issued the non-public A-shares proposal, the company’s non-public raised funds is no more than RMB 450 million. After deducting the issuance costs, the funds raised will be used in the following projects

2. Li-ion battery cathode material production site of Fengyuan

On August 27, 2021, Fengyuan announced that Shandong Fengyuan Lithium Energy Technology, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, planned to sign up the “Investment Cooperation Agreement on Lithium Battery Cathode Material Production Base Project” with the Management Committee of Anqing Economic Development Zone, intending to build the 50,000 MT/year LFP cathode material production base project at the Anqing Economic Development Zone.

P: Zhenhua New Material

On August 25, 2021, Zhenhua New Material issued a prospectus stating that the company intends to publicly issue 110,733,703 of common RMB shares. After deducting the issue expenses, the funds raised will be invested in the following projects in order of priority

1. Construction project of the Li-ion battery cathode material production line (Shawen phase II)

2. Lithium-ion power battery ternary material production line (Yilong Phase II)

Q: Longbai Group

200,000 MT/year lithium-ion battery materials industrialization project

On August 13, 2021, Longbai Group announced that the company reviewed and approved the “Proposal on the Investment and Construction of 200,000 MT/year Lithium-ion Battery Materials Industrialization Project. In order to obtain the development opportunity of the new energy LFP batteries, Henan Longbai New Material Technology plans to build 200,000 MT/year lithium-ion battery materials industrialization project.

Source: Oriental wealth website, chemical new materials

On September 27, the signing ceremony of the carbon dioxide to green methanol project between Jiangsu Sierbang Petrochemical, a subsidiary of Shenghong Group, and Icelandic Carbon Recycling International was held in Beijing. This marks the official launch of the world’s first “Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization – Green Methanol – New Energy Materials” industrial chain project jointly built by China and Iceland.

The first phase of the project has an investment of nearly RMB 300 million and is expected to be put into operation in 2022. The project can recover carbon dioxide from industrial tail gas, produce photovoltaic grade EVA resin, creating a new green path of “turning carbon into treasure.

The designed carbon dioxide recovery scale of the project is 150,000 tons/year, which is equivalent to the carbon dioxide emission of 15 large petrochemical units in one year. About 20,000 tons of photovoltaic grade EVA resin can be produced from the recovered carbon dioxide, which can produce 50 million square meters of photovoltaic film. After all used for photovoltaic power generation, the installed capacity can reach 5GW, and 6-9 billion kwh of electricity can be generated in a year, which is equivalent to the power generation capacity of two million KW thermal power plants in a year.

The project can achieve 100% carbon dioxide recovery and conversion rate through technological innovation. It can not only achieve the carbon reduction goal, but also change the source of downstream photovoltaic raw materials. Some raw materials that used to be produced from coal chemical industry can now be transformed directly from carbon dioxide, which will not only be green at the source, but also greatly promote the transformation of clean energy in China.

The project’s “Simulated Photosynthesis” has a stronger and more effective ability to absorb carbon dioxide. It can directly and actively absorb 150,000 tons of carbon dioxide every year and indirectly reduce carbon dioxide by 550,000 tons/year, equivalent to 37,000 hectares of forest planting area, which has good social and ecological benefits.

As the execution entity of the project, Sierbang Petrochemical operates the world’s largest single 2.4 million MT/year alcohol-based multiple chemical project, mainly using the international leading methanol to olefin process. It is a core supplier of photovoltaic grade EVA, acrylonitrile, MMA, EO, etc., and its production capacity and output are among the top in the country.

In the past, due to plant capacity, process technology and other reasons, China’s photovoltaic grade EVA capacity was insufficient, and the import dependence was as high as 70%, which greatly affected the photovoltaic industry. Through special technical research, the self-developed photovoltaic grade EVA of Sierbang has achieved a major breakthrough in the improvement of key indicators such as crystal point and melt index, and the technical process has reached the international advanced level and stable mass production.

After the project is completed, the green methanol will be transformed into intermediate raw materials such as ethylene through MTO (methanol to olefin) process and transported to downstream units to produce photovoltaic grade EVA and other new energy materials, so as to create the world’s first low-carbon recycling green industrial chain of “Carbon Dioxide Capture and Utilization – Green Methanol – New Energy Materials”.

In addition to making carbon dioxide into photovoltaic materials, Sierbang Petrochemical also plans to convert carbon dioxide into food grade carbon dioxide and new energy battery electrolyte solvents, with a scale of one million tons, so as to provide effective assistance for China’s development of new energy industry and reduction of carbon emissions.

Source: Shenghong Group

In recent years, the rise of the global new energy vehicle industry has driven the explosion of lithium battery demand. As the electrolyte solvent of lithium battery, the demand for battery grade DMC (dimethyl carbonate) is expected to usher in long-term and rapid growth.

Due to high separation and purification barriers, although domestic DMC production capacity is rich, few enterprises can provide high-purity battery grade DMC.

Considering the rapid development of new energy industry and the release of polycarbonate production capacity, the total demand for DMC is expected to reach 617,000 tons, 801,000 tons and 1,065,000 tons in 2021-2023 y, with a year-on-year increase of 21%, 30% and 33%, respectively.

In terms of total output, DMC output is expected to be 710,000 tons, 900,000 tons and 1.08 million tons in 2021-2023, with a year-on-year increase of 58%, 26% and 20%, respectively.

In the medium term, industrial grade DMC is in excess supply, and battery grade DMC will be in short supply due to its limited technical barriers.

The raw materials of DMC are commodities, including ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, methanol and syngas. Its downstream demand is mainly electrolyte solvent, polycarbonate, developer, coating, etc.

At present, the phosgene DMC process has been completely eliminated. The total capacity of the transesterification DMC synthesis unit accounts for more than 80% of the total DMC capacity, becoming the mainstream process of DMC production in China.

At the same time, with technological progress, methanol oxidative carbonylation method has also been successfully industrialized. CNSG Anhui Hong Sifang adopts liquid phase method of the process and Chongqing Dongneng New Energy is using gas phase process. Some companies are trying urea production process, but there are still barriers for large-scale production.

The total DMC capacity in China is nearly one million tons per year, and the industrial capacity accounts for more than 80%. On the one hand, the demand for industrial grade DMC dominates the total demand; On the other hand, battery grade DMC requires high purity, usually 99.99% or even more than 99.999%, and the corresponding process requirements are high.

By the middle of 2021, the total capacity of industrial grade and battery grade DMC in China is 790,000 tons per year and 165,000 tons per year, respectively.

There are only four domestic enterprises producing battery grade DMC, including Shida Shenghua, Shandong Haike, Oxiran Chem and CNSG Anhui Hong Sifang. Among them, Shida Shenghua, the leading enterprise, accounts for more than 60% of the current battery grade DMC production capacity.

In addition, the production capacity of battery grade EC (ethylene carbonate) is basically concentrated in a few enterprises such as Shida Shenghua, Dongying Haike, Oxiran Chem, Liaoning Kong Lung, Yingkou Hengyang New Energy Chemical and Zhongke Hongye Chemical. The battery grade EMC (methyl ethyl carbonate) with higher technical difficulty is concentrated in a few enterprises such as Shida Shenghua, Dongying Haike, Liaoning Kong Lung and Liaoyang Best Chemical.

Downstream applications of DMC include lithium battery electrolyte, polycarbonate, developer, adhesive, coating and triphosgene, etc., among which electrolyte solvent and polycarbonate account for 60% of the demand. Industrial grade DMC is used in most application fields such as polycarbonate and developer; Battery grade DMC is used for lithium battery electrolyte, and is used as electrolyte mixed solvent in combination with vinyl carbonate (EC).

The rapid growth of demand has attracted many players. The estimated new capacity in 2021 is 620,000 tons per year. From 2021 to 2025, the new capacity of domestic DMC will be about 1,905,000 tons per year, including about 1.45 million tons of industrial DMC and about 450,000 tons of battery DMC. In the short term, industrial grade DMC will be in surplus, and the battery grade DMC will be in short supply before the end of 2022.

Source: Petrochemical Industry Going Global Alliance

On September 9, 2021, the Management Committee of Meishan High-tech Industrial Park made the first public announcement of the environmental impact assessment of a 50 KMT/year LFP cathode material integration project of Wanhua Chemical (Sichuan).

Basic project information

The project is mainly to build a 50 KMT/year LFP capacity and supporting capacities. The construction site is located in Meishan High-tech Industrial Park in Meishan, Sichuan Province. In fact, this is not the first time Wanhua has built capacity for lithium materials. On March 15, 2021, Wanhua Chemical announced that it intends to absorb and merge its wholly-owned subsidiary, Yantai Zhuoneng Lithium Battery.

Zhuoneng Lithium Battery is mainly engaged in the development, production, and sales of lithium battery cathode materials. In April 2020, Wanhua Chemical formally acquired 100% of Zhuoneng Lithium Battery’s equity. Before the successful acquisition of lithium materials, Wanhua Chemical had already started the expansion of ternary cathode material capacity and invested RMB 1.16 billion last year for the construction of a 10,000 MT/year ternary cathode material for lithium batteries capacity. According to the website of Meishan Municipal People’s Government, Wanhua Chemical’s 10,000 MT/year lithium battery ternary materials project was publicized for the second time in October 2020.

On February 24, 2021, the EIA document was accepted by Meishan Ecological Environment Bureau. Currently, the project is under construction. In April 2021, Wanhua Chemical disclosed the public announcement of the environmental assessment of a lithium-ion battery R&D pilot project. The project, with an investment of about RMB 70 million, will be built at the existing plant site of Zhuoneng Lithium Battery. It is mainly for the development of ternary precursors, positive electrode materials, negative electrode materials, and zirconium oxide ceramic materials for small trials, as well as the development of zirconium oxide, pouch cell cores, ternary precursors, and positive electrode materials for pilot trials. Wanhua Chemical’s entry into the lithium cathode materials industry is a reflection of its strategic need to expand its diversified product portfolio and achieve a transformation into the wider new chemical materials industry.

Source: WeChat public account of Chemical New Material

According to the news released by CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission) on August 31, CSRC has approved the registration of the following companies for initial public offering of shares on the board in accordance with the statutory procedures: Beijing FJR Optoelectronic Technology, Beijing Tongyizhong New Material Technology and JJE Electronic Technology. The above companies and their underwriters will negotiate with the Shanghai Stock Exchange to determine the issuance schedule and publish the prospectus documents.

Several days ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the “List of National Specialized and New “Small Giant” Enterprises Recommended for Support (Second Batch, First Year)”, Beijing Tongyizhong New Material Technology is in the list. Thus, we can conclude that it is a company with high strength.

Beijing Tongyizhong New Material Technology was established in 1999. It is a national high-tech enterprise specializing in the R&D, production and sales of UHMWPE fiber and related compounding materials. It is one of the first enterprises in China to fully master the UHMWPE fiber technology and realize the industrialization of UHMWPE fiber.

Its main products include UHMWPE fiber and related compounding materials. Among which the compounding materials are divided into two categories: weftless cloth and bulletproof products. UHMWPE fiber is the main raw material used to produce the weftless cloth. The company also produces bulletproof products on the basis of weftless cloth by using specific technology and materials

In 2000, Beijing Tongyizhong became one of the first enterprises realizing the industrialization of UHMWPE fiber in China

In 2012, Beijing Tongyizhong was relocated to the National High Technology Industrialization Demonstration Project Base, achieving an UHMWPE fiber output of 550 MT. The 4th generation of UHMWPE fiber production line was put into operation.

Source: CSRC (China Securities Regulatory Commission), Beijing Tongyizhong

On Aug. 30, Chem China announced its semi-annual report, stating that Donghua Tianye’s Phase I 100,000 MT/year PBAT project will be put into operation in January 2022.

On March 26, a grand groundbreaking ceremony for Donghua Tianye’s 500,000 MT/year PBAT and related projects was held. Phase I capacity is 100,000 MT/year, with a total investment of around RMB 650 million. Among which, the construction investment is RMB 520 million. Phase I project covers an area of around 150 Mu, with a construction period of around 1 year; Phase II 400,000 MT/year PBAT and 300,000 MT/year BDO project is also being planned.

Sinochem Donghua Tianye is a joint venture between Donghua Technology and Xinjiang Tianye. Donghua Technology and Xinjiang Tianye hold 51% and 49% of the shares, respectively.

Donghua Engineering Technology is a listed company in Shenzhen, which belongs to China Chemical Engineering Group. It has a comprehensive Class A qualification in engineering design with good reputation in chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, municipal environmental protection, construction and energy industries. It has rich experience in engineering construction and operation management in the chemical and environmental protection industries.

Donghua Technology will take advantage of its experience in engineering and contract construction as well as its technical strength to undertake the construction and operation of PBAT project via Donghua Tianye.

Xinjiang Tianye has 210,000 MT/year BDO capacity, ranking at the top in China. After the project is built up, Xinjiang Tianye will give full play to its production experience, performance and management capabilities in calcium carbide, BDO and ethylene glycol, and gather the respective resources and advantages of both shareholders, achieving the complementary advantages and win-win cooperation to open up new business for the mutual benefits.

Donghua ‘s “High-efficiency titanium-based catalyst for PBAT synthesis” was approved

In June 2021, Donghua established the China Chemical Environmental Protection Research Institute of Hefei R&D Center of China Chemical Science and Technology Research to build a place for environmental protection technology curation, transformation of scientific and technological achievements, coupling of scientific and technological resources, gathering of high-end talents and a model room for scientific research reform, including research on PBAT technology for degradable materials.

In early August, the appraisal meeting of “High-efficiency titanium-based catalyst for PBAT synthesis” developed by Donghua was held in Hefei. The expert team unanimously agreed that the overall technology of the R&D results reached the leading level in China, and agreed to pass the evaluation of the scientific and technological achievements.

It is reported that the high-efficiency titanium catalyst for PBAT synthesis is characterized by high catalytic activity, controllable polymerization reaction and stable performance, and its comprehensive performance is better than the conventional antimony and germanium catalysts. The technical results will be used on the industrialization project of PBAT in Donghua Tianye as priority, and will be promoted to the industry based on the application results.

Source: WeChat public account of Chemical New Material

On August 25, 2021, the government of Luozhuang District (Linyi, Shandong) and Jutai Group held a signing ceremony for a new bio-based materials project.

The bio-based new materials project is proposed to be located at the Luozhuang Economic Development Zone, Linyi City, with a total floor area of around 510 Mu and a total investment of RMB 5 billion. It plans to build 200,000 MT/year polylactic acid capacity with the related facilities, as well as 200,000 MT/year succinic acid capacity. After the project is built up, a total output value of RMB 6.77 billion can be achieved, with profit tax of RMB 2.18 billion.

Jutai Group is a private enterprise with the key products such as methanol, olefin, glycol, aromatics, etc. It has built up the 1.2 million MT/year methanol project and the 600,000 MT/year polyolefin project. The 1 million MT/year glycol project at the Toketo Industrial Park (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia) and the 1.2 million MT/year glycol project at the Dalu Industrial Park (Erdos, Inner Mongolia) are currently being built. In order to enlarge and strengthen the modern coal-based new energy and new materials industry and promote the extension of entire industrial chain, Jutai Group plans to build the aromatics and PTA polyester new materials projects at Toketo Industrial Park.

Source: TK bio-based materials, National Coal Chemical Website, Jutai Group, Chemical New Materials.

The Chinese government will arrange more than RMB 10 billion of special funds for the development of SMEs and support more than 1,000 national-level small innovative companies in order to increase their investment in innovation.

The recipient companies are in the early stage of development, and the focus is on mid/high-end industries such as new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy, new materials, biomedicine, etc.

These companies always focus on a specialized development strategy with good sales performance, high technological content, advanced equipment and technology, effective management systems, and strong market competitiveness. In addition, they have high potential development and growth, and they are expected to become leading and advanced international enterprises in their industries in the future.

The Chinese government will support the national-level (or provincial-level) public service demonstration platforms for the above-mentioned companies to provide them with technological innovation, IPO counseling, transformation and application of innovation results, digitalization and intelligent transformation, application of intellectual property rights, access to the cloud and industrial design, and other services. In addition, it will also provide “point to point” services to key companies.

On August 25, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced the List of National-Level Professional, Special, Unique, and Innovative “Small Giants” Recommended for Support. Among them, there are around 30 new chemical material companies, and the list is as follows:

Sources of Information: WeChat public account of Chemical New Material

There is a total of 5 EPR producers in China, with a total capacity of 395,000 MT/year in 2020.

The table below lists EPR producers and facilities in China (2020):

Sources of Information: Chemical Information Weekly