In the context of global energy transformation, new chemical materials have become an important starting point for the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of the petrochemical industry, ushering in unprecedented development opportunities.

"because of its excellent performance and important supporting materials for high-end manufacturing and strategic emerging industries, new chemical materials have become one of the fastest growing market demand in the industry and an important engine to support the high-quality development of China's economy. it is also the focus of innovation and the focus of international competition." Fu Xiangsheng, vice president of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, pointed out at the 2024 China (Anqing) Chemical New Materials Industry Conference held a few days ago.

From the point of view of the industry, with the continuous growth of China's petrochemical industry, the development of new chemical materials industry is also moving towards a new stage, but there is an obvious deficiency in the supply of some products, so there is an urgent need to focus on high-end chemical new materials and strengthen technological research. We will speed up the creation of a new high ground for China's chemical new materials industry.

The self-sufficiency rate is constantly increasing.

Since the 1980s, the innovation and development of new chemical materials has become a recognized representative of the technical level of the petrochemical industry, which is the focus of the innovation and transformation of multinational corporations. Europe and the United States and other developed countries have taken the innovation and development of new chemical materials as their national strategy.

"many multinational corporations have achieved transformation through the innovation of new chemical materials." Fu Xiangsheng pointed out.

China attaches great importance to the development of new chemical materials. In 2010, China became the second largest petrochemical country and the largest chemical country in the world. In recent years, the growth rate of the refined oil consumption market began to slow down, the diesel market showed a state of saturation, and the structural contradictions in the industry were highlighted again. "it has become a key trend in the transformation of Sinopec enterprises to produce less refined oil, more chemicals and high-performance materials." Fu Xiangsheng said.

It is understood that new chemical materials refer to new or developing advanced materials with excellent properties and functions in the chemical industry, and new materials with high technology content, high value, knowledge-intensive and technology-intensive, including high-performance resins, high-performance synthetic rubber, high-performance fibers, high-performance membrane materials, electronic chemicals and so on.

"under the guidance of national policy and the joint efforts of the whole industry, China's chemical new materials industry has witnessed rapid development since the 12th five-year Plan. In recent years, the quality of industrial development has been continuously improved, and the self-sufficiency rate has gradually increased, from 64.2% in 2017 to 82.7% in 2023. It is estimated that in the next few years, the demand for new chemical materials in China will grow at an average annual rate of more than 8%. By 2030, the self-sufficiency rate of China's new chemical materials industry will reach more than 90%. " Yang Ting, secretary-general of the Chemical Park working Committee of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, pointed out.

There is still a shortage of supply

Despite the sustained and rapid development of China's chemical new materials industry in recent years, there is still much room for improvement in high-end technological innovation and product structure.

Fu Xiangsheng said: "affected by multiple factors, especially technological constraints, China's new chemical materials industry has always been the deficiency of the petrochemical industry, and it is also an important reason why China's petrochemical industry is' big but not strong'."

Statistics show that among the main categories of new chemical materials in China in 2023, the output of high-end polyolefin plastics is 8.5 million tons, China's apparent consumption is 15 million tons, and the product self-sufficiency rate is 56.7%; electronic chemicals output is 800000 tons, apparent consumption is 1.2 million tons, product self-sufficiency rate is 66.7%; high performance fiber output is 110000 tons, apparent consumption is 150000 tons, product self-sufficiency rate is 73.3%. The output of high-performance rubber is 5.8 million tons, the apparent consumption is 6.8 million tons, and the product self-sufficiency rate is 85.3%. Only polyurethane, fluorosilicon and lithium battery materials can be 100% self-sufficient. Take photovoltaic film as an example, China consumes about 3.58 billion square meters of photovoltaic film in 2023 and is expected to reach 4.5 billion-5 billion square meters in 2025. Among the common POE and EVA films, almost all of China's POE resin is imported.

In Yang Ting's view, there are outstanding problems in China's chemical new materials industry, such as adequate overall support capacity and obvious shortage of supply. "first, China has an absolute shortage of products, and there is a serious shortage of production capacity and output, mainly due to the high threshold of production technology, while China has not yet mastered the core key technologies. Second, the planned production capacity is large, but the actual output is insufficient, the existing production technology level is low, can only produce low-end brands or product quality can not meet the demand, or the product price is high, the competitiveness is not strong. Third, the application technology of new chemical materials is weak, not enough attention to material modification, market promotion is limited; some application areas of certification access threshold is high, long time, Chinese production enterprises started relatively late. Fourth, the synthesis process of the material itself is more mature, but the supply of key raw materials is insufficient, so there is a hidden danger of shortage. Fifth, new materials used for specific purposes, such as national defense and aerospace, are currently used in small quantities and do not have the scale of economic production; they have room for imagination after they are put into civilian use, but the product cost is high, the investment in development and promotion is high, and the risk is high. Sixth, alternative products, including raw material route substitution and material system substitution, the market prospect is good, but the actual promotion is difficult, and the Chinese market penetration is low. "

Seize the commanding heights of technology with innovation

In the view of many experts, the goal of carbon neutralization brings great historical opportunities to the new energy industry, but also brings huge space for the development of new chemical materials.

"China is the world's largest producer of new energy, with photovoltaic modules, wind turbines, gearboxes and other key components accounting for 70% of the global market share, driving the rapid development of new chemical materials such as unsaturated resins, epoxy resins, carbon fibers, EVA, nitrile rubber and wet electronic chemicals." Yang Ting said.

Fu Xiangsheng emphasized that the key to the future development of new chemical materials lies in innovation, and the "four focuses" should be highlighted. "The first is to focus on major national strategic needs and key projects, concentrate on key technology research, consolidate and upgrade product stability; the second is to focus on key chemical new material products with large demand, wide application range, and good technical foundation. Overcome the 'stuck neck' problem and improve the self-sufficiency rate of high-end products; the third is to focus on forward-looking technology research and development and strengthen innovations such as key common technologies and cutting-edge leading technologies; The fourth is to focus on the cluster development of the new chemical materials industry, use chemical parks as a carrier to guide and promote the cluster development of enterprises, and continuously extend, supplement, strengthen, and build chains."

In Yang Ting's view, the key development direction of China's new chemical materials in the future can be summarized as "supplementing, optimizing, using, and exceeding". "'Compensation 'refers to making up for shortcomings and strengths and weaknesses in response to major national strategic needs. Focusing on the needs of electronic information, new energy, automobiles, rail transit, energy conservation and environmental protection, medical health and other industries, we have broken through the supply bottleneck of a number of key chemical new materials and supporting raw materials, and enhanced our independent guarantee capabilities. Excellent 'refers to improving the performance of existing materials to meet end consumer demand. Carry out technological upgrades and iterations based on existing products, promote the upgrading of a number of new chemical material products with large consumption scale and good technical foundation, and achieve high-end, differentiated, serialized and low-cost supply. Use 'refers to facing the main economic battlefield and connecting the entire industrial chain. Strengthen the connection between new chemical materials and downstream industries, strengthen the promotion of modified products, and promote the demand-oriented development of industry-university-research and application in the fields of design electronic chemicals, automobile lightweight, new energy equipment, green buildings and other fields. Super 'refers to advanced layout and accumulation of cutting-edge technology. Focusing on the frontiers of science and technology, we will focus on fields such as 3D printing, superconductivity, biomimetic materials and new display materials, extreme environmental materials and material genetic engineering to accumulate advantages for future competition." Source: China Chemical News