How much do you know about vinyl polyolefin elastomers (E-POE)?
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Vinyl polyolefin elastomers (E-POE): POE (Polyolefin Elastomer) is primarily a random copolymer of ethylene or propylene with α-olefins such as 1-octene, 1-hexene, and 1-butene; metallocene catalysts are used to introduce longer side chains from the α-olefins, thereby enabling the formation of a rubbery phase in this soft amorphous copolymer. The earlier POE products were the Engage series, successfully developed by Dow Chemical in the United States in 1993, with the production process later being optimized. POE requires lower costs, less energy consumption, is lighter in weight, and is more environmentally friendly to achieve flexibility; it is widely used in areas such as photovoltaic films, wires and cables, automotive parts, mechanical tools, household items, toys, entertainment and sports products, shoe soles, seals, and hot melt adhesives. Vinyl polyolefin elastomers (abbreviated as E-POE) can be synthesized using only ethylene as a raw material, without the need for higher-carbon α-olefins or metallocene catalysts. This material boasts excellent properties; for example, in terms of enhancing the toughness of polypropylene, its independently developed polyolefin elastomer requires only one-third of the amount of the commercially available products to achieve the same level of toughening, with better quality as well. In terms of technology, the main domestic source at present is Hefei Zhongke Keler Company.
UCST E-POE technology: The first group in China to work on E-POE development was led by Professor Chen Changle from the University of Science and Technology of China. Professor Chen graduated from the Department of Chemistry at UCST, before going to the University of Chicago and Northwestern University in the United States, where he studied under Professors Richard Jordan and Tobin Marks respectively. Professor Chen Changle is also the founder and actual controller of Hefei Zhongke Keler. Established in August 2022, the company focuses on research and the industrialization of technologies in the polyolefin sector; its products include polyolefin elastomers, photovoltaic encapsulation materials, cycloolefin copolymers, and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Zhongke Keler’s unique E-POE technology: It makes use of nickel catalysts with asymmetric structures and α-diamine ligands that have been developed entirely independently. Taking advantage of the unique \"chain walking\" property of nickel-based metal catalysts during the polymerization of ethylene, this technology enables the formation of branches of varying lengths throughout the polymerization process. Using only ethylene as the raw material, along with domestically produced additives and conventional polymerization equipment and processes, E-POE can be manufactured. The production cost of E-POE is much lower than that of traditional routes involving the polymerization of ethylene and α-olefins, and it also reduces the operational risks associated with such processes. Moreover, its performance has been tested by numerous manufacturers of photovoltaic film materials and automotive modification materials, and its various specifications are on par with or even better than those of mainstream imported products.
Zhongke Keler nickel-based catalysts: The core of this technological process lies in its self-developed nickel-based catalysts, for which full intellectual property rights are now held. These catalysts enable the development and large-scale production of catalysts used throughout the entire industry chain for producing toughened-grade POE and photovoltaic-grade POE. Moreover, the synthesis of the catalyst requires no harsh conditions; it is stable in water and oxygen, and its raw materials are readily available, making it suitable for large-scale industrial production. The nickel-based catalysts developed by Zhongke Keler. The structure of these nickel-based catalysts – in particular, those in the series of asymmetric diimine nickel catalysts with tert-butyl substitutions – features the incorporation of tert-butyl groups, which enhances the solubility of the catalysts in industrial reagents used for ethylene polymerization. By fixing the tert-butyl groups on one side of the diimine, it is possible to systematically regulate the substituents on the other side of the ligand, thereby enabling the creation of a series of nickel catalysts with varying steric effects. The steric effect of the catalyst, as well as conditions such as the polymerization temperature, have a very significant impact on the catalytic activity for the polymerization of ethylene, and on the molecular weight, topological structure, and thermodynamic properties of the resulting polyethylene. At present, Zhongke Keler has completed the development of catalysts for the production of polyolefin elastomers; it has achieved the production of these catalysts on a kilogram scale, and has also completed research on the corresponding polymerization processes.
In July 2023, Zhongke Keler signed an EPCM contract with Beijing Petrochemical Company, marking the entry of the 10,000-ton E-POE demonstration plant into the actual engineering design phase. Subsequently, in January 2024, the project received environmental impact assessment approval from the Environmental Protection Bureau of the High-Tech Zone in Hefei City, Anhui Province. In February 2024, Zhongke Keler completed a Pre-A round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan, with Jinsa Capital and Xianghe Capital leading the investment. On September 20, 2024, Beijing Zhonghai Jihui Technology signed a contract with Anqing High-Tech Zone for a 100,000-ton/year E-POE material production project. This project is the second E-POE project jointly developed by Zhongke Keler. In addition, companies and institutions such as Dongming Petrochemical, Zhejiang Transfar Chemical, Xingchuan New Materials, and Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Technology have also made investments in this field; progress is rapid, ranging from technology research and development to pilot-scale production units and ultimately to industrial-scale manufacturing. Dongming Petrochemical: The “5,000 tons/year E-POE pilot project”, developed in collaboration with a research team from the University of Science and Technology of China, was registered in March 2024. The construction of the extrusion and devolatilization facility was completed in August, and on November 18th, this 5,000 tons/year E-POE project was successfully brought online; the facility is now ready for trial production. Dongming Petrochemical has thus become the second company in China to adopt the E-POE production process. This project is based on the research teams led by Professor Chen Changle from the School of Chemistry and Materials Science at the University of Science and Technology of China, and it is jointly developed by Dongming Petrochemical and Zhongke Kele.
On November 29, 2024, Transfar Chemical and Xingchuan New Materials witnessed the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the world’s first industrial production facility for hyperbranched polyolefin elastomers (H-POE), with an annual production capacity of 30,000 tons (Phase 1). This facility is located in Longyou County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and was developed by Quzhou Xingchuan New Material Technology Co., Ltd. (Xingchuan New Materials). The process technology for the Xingchuan New Materials project is globally innovative and internationally leading. Over a period of more than ten years, the founding team worked on upgrading the catalysts and optimizing the polymerization processes, and by March 2022 they completed the evaluation of the results from the pilot tests. In November 2023, Xingchuan New Materials and Transfar Chemical jointly built the world’s first pilot-scale production facility for kiloton-level hyperbranched polyolefin elastomers, enabling continuous and stable operation; the evaluation of the results obtained from this pilot project was completed in August 2024. The design capacity of this pilot plant is 1,000 tons per year. It employs an advanced solution-based ethylene homopolymerization process, which can significantly simplify the production process and reduce production costs. The catalytic system and production process for the entire pilot project were developed independently, with the localization rate of equipment exceeding 90%. Furthermore, the 10,000-ton-scale process package developed based on the pilot plant results passed the safety and reliability assessment for chemical processes in China for the first time in November 2024. Moreover, multiple product grades have been recognized by key downstream users, and can be widely applied in areas such as photovoltaic adhesive films, toughening modifications, foaming, wires and cables, waterproof membranes, and hot melt adhesives. At the same time, key application patents had been granted approvals in multiple countries and regions such as China, the United States, Japan, and Europe by 2020.
Rongsheng Petrochemical: 200,000 tons/year POE technology has passed reliability verification! 2024-12-18 09:08·Chemical New Materials On December 7, the process technology for Rongsheng New Materials (Zhoushan) Co., Ltd.’s 200,000-ton/year POE production facility, which was developed by the R&D center of Zhejiang Zhiying Petrochemical Technology Co., Ltd. and engineered by Shanghai Zhiying Chemical Technology Co., Ltd., successfully passed the \"First Domestic Process Safety and Reliability Assessment Meeting\" organized by the Zhejiang Chemicals Safety Association.