The 30-ton/year citalopram COP production line was successfully put into operation in Nantong, Jiangsu

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Recently, the domestic high-end chemical new materials industry has seen a new breakthrough: the 30-ton/year cycloolefin polymer (COP) production line of Huansixing New Materials Company was successfully put into operation in Nantong, Jiangsu. This milestone marks another significant advancement by our country in the field of cycloolefin polymers, which has long been dominated by Japanese companies, providing materials that are under domestic control for high-value industries such as optics and healthcare. Image: Project implementation – steady progress from approval to operation. Yuansihuan New Materials (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. was established in 2023 and is located in the Yangkou Chemical Industrial Park, Rudong County, Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. The company integrates research and development, production, and application, striving to become a global leader in the manufacturing of high-purity, high-transparency, high-performance new materials. The 30-ton/year cycloolefin polymer production facility that has been put into operation is located on the south side of Tinghai Road and the east side of Zhenhai Road in Yangkou Town, Rudong County, covering an area of 16,666 square meters. The project construction includes the establishment of new COP production units, warehouses for raw materials and finished products, auxiliary buildings, initial rainwater tanks, as well as other supporting facilities; meanwhile, existing resources such as the comprehensive building, fire water tanks, and accident water tanks are made full use of. Upon full production capacity, the project is expected to achieve an annual production volume of 30 tons of cycloolefin polymers. The project has previously received approval from the Nantong Administrative Approval Bureau, and in July 2024 it was given approval for its environmental impact assessment report; the construction project planning permit was also issued following that approval. Technical barriers: Key materials that have long been monopolized by Japanese companies. Cycloolefin polymers (COP) are high-value thermoplastic engineering plastics obtained from cycloolefin monomers through ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). As a high-performance thermoplastic optical-grade material, COP possesses a range of excellent properties, including high transparency, low birefringence, low moisture absorption, low shrinkage, low dielectric constant, as well as good heat resistance, chemical resistance, light resistance, melt flowability, gas barrier properties, and dimensional stability. COP is widely used in fields such as optical instruments, healthcare, and packaging. In the optical industry, it can be applied to smartphone lenses, security cameras’ lenses, automotive lenses, AR/VR optical lenses, as well as polarizing film protectors ； In the medical field, it is used in the manufacturing of medical devices such as microplate readers, blood storage containers, prefilled syringes, and vials for vaccines. However, the COP production process is complex, and the synthesis of cycloolefin monomers is difficult; only a few companies around the world possess the technology and capability for large-scale production. As of January 2025, the global COP production capacity stood at 52,600 tons per year, accounting for 56.6% of the total capacity. All producers are from Japan, including Zeon and Japan Synthetic Rubber (JSR). As one of the first companies in the world to develop COP devices, ZEON launched the ZEONEX® product in 1991 and the ZEONOR® product in 1998, thereby maintaining a dominant position in the global market for a long time. Previously, China did not have any COP production facilities or investment plans. Domestic substitution: Multiple parties are working to break the monopoly situation. In recent years, thanks to the strong encouragement and support from relevant policies, the process of domestic substitution for COC/COP has accelerated significantly. Our country has made COC/COP one of the strategic priorities for the development of the chemical industry, including it in various **development plans. The \"Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment (2022 Edition)\") explicitly includes \"the development and production of high-end polyolefins such as COC/COP cycloolefin polymers\" in the national catalogue of industries that encourage foreign investment ； The \"Implementation Plan for the Innovative Development of the Fine Chemicals Industry (2024–2027)\") also calls for focusing on the development of high-end polyolefins, engineering plastics, and similar materials. According to statistics, China’s consumption of COC/COP in 2024 was approximately 30,000 tons, of which 28,000 tons were imported, resulting in a self-sufficiency rate of less than 7%. In the optical industry, the share of COC/COP consumption exceeds 50%, and as the number of smartphones and security cameras increases, along with the growing demand for lenses in autonomous driving technologies and AR/VR, this will further drive rapid growth in consumption. It is estimated that by 2030, China’s consumption of COC/COP will rise to 60,000 tons, with a consumption growth rate of around 12% between 2024 and 2030. Currently, domestic companies such as Tuoeni Technology, Wuxi Akeli, and Liaoning Luahongjin have achieved industrial-scale production of cycloolefin polymers, with COC production capacities of 3,000 tons per year, 1,000 tons per year, and 500 tons per year respectively. Jinfat Technology’s 80-ton/year COC pilot plant was put into operation in 2023. The successful commissioning of this 30-ton/year COP production line for citalopram-based new materials further enriches the technical approaches and production capacity landscape in China’s COP sector, injecting new momentum into the country’s high-end new materials industry.