【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】The Largest in the World from 2023 to 2025! Anhui’s ordinary carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyol (PCE) production line has been officially put into operation
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Let’s give praise and encouragement to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment; your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement. **********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Continuous updates and summaries are available; feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** On April 9, 2025, the commissioning ceremony for the continuous production facility for carbon dioxide-based new materials at Anhui Pucarbon New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Anhui Pucarbon”) was held in the Huainan Modern Coal Chemical Industry Park. Anhui Pucarbon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hefei Puli Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Puli Materials”). The Anhui ordinary carbon-based project for the annual production of 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols represents the first industrial-scale production facility of this product and its manufacturing process at a capacity of 10,000 tons per year. The total investment in this project is approximately 2 billion yuan. Once it is completed and operational, it will be able to sequester around 180,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The annual sales revenue is expected to be around 7.5 billion yuan, with annual tax revenues amounting to about 300 million yuan. It is also anticipated that the project will create 400 new jobs. Of this, Phase 1 of the project covers an area of 150 mu and involves an investment of around 600 million yuan; it aims to build a production facility capable of manufacturing 50,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols, making it the largest such facility in the world at present. Construction of this project began in February 2023, and it was successfully commissioned for trial operation in January 2025, ushering in a new era for carbon-negative new materials in the polyurethane industry – carbon dioxide-based polyols. Upon reaching full production capacity, the project is expected to generate annual sales revenue of 1.5 billion yuan, annual tax revenues of around 60 million yuan, and create 150 jobs. The second phase involves an investment of 1.4 billion yuan, with an annual production capacity of 250,000 tons of carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols and propylene carbonate. Anhui Ordinary Carbon New Materials Technology Co., Ltd. was established in December 2021; it is a high-tech enterprise specializing in chemical new materials. The company actively responds to the **\"dual carbon\" policy** by adopting a forward-looking approach in developing technologies and business areas related to carbon dioxide-based polyols. With the high-value utilization of carbon dioxide as its core competitive advantage, it achieves a perfect integration of carbon dioxide utilization and new materials, thereby creating a model for high-value utilization of carbon dioxide. Focusing on the utilization of carbon dioxide, enterprises are making efforts to develop new carbon dioxide-based materials such as carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols (PCE), propylene carbonate (PC), and biodegradable materials (PPC). These products serve as high-performance alternatives to imported ones and are widely used in construction, furniture and home decoration, automotive interiors, apparel, insulation, biodegradable materials, new energy sectors, and the electronics industry. They represent the \"carbon neutrality\" solutions and related technological innovation projects that are currently of great interest to the polyurethane industry. In March 2024, the company’s project for producing 300,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols (Phase 1) was included in the **first batch of the ‘List of Green and Low-Carbon Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects’**. In August 2024, the **Development and Reform Commission approved a special grant for the company’s carbon dioxide-based polyol project under the category of \"pollution control and energy conservation and carbon reduction,\" providing the company with 50 million yuan in investment funds from the central budget. On December 31, 2024, the company’s “technology for producing carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyether polyols” was included in the “2024 Catalog of Green and Low-Carbon Product Technologies and Suppliers” published by the Anhui Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology.
In March 2024, the company’s project for producing 300,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols (Phase 1) was included in the **first batch of the ‘List of Green and Low-Carbon Advanced Technology Demonstration Projects’**. In August 2024, the **Development and Reform Commission approved a special grant for the company’s carbon dioxide-based polyol project under the category of \"pollution control and energy conservation and carbon reduction,\" providing the company with 50 million yuan in investment funds from the central budget. On December 31, 2024, the company’s “technology for producing carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyether polyols” was included in the “2024 Catalog of Green and Low-Carbon Product Technologies and Suppliers” published by the Anhui Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology. Carbon dioxide-based PCE can be used in polyurethane elastomers. The raw materials for this PCE are carbon dioxide and propylene oxide; it is a random block copolymer of polycarbonate and polyether, and its overall performance characteristics are similar to those of polycarbonate polyol PCD. The molecular weight distribution of the product is less than 2, the degree of functionality can be 2 or 3, and the mass fraction of carbon dioxide is greater than 30%. The product boasts high comprehensive mechanical properties and weather resistance, while also being in line with the carbon neutrality policy objectives.
In 2010, the American green plastics company Novomer began industrial production of polyether polycarbonate di (poly) alcohols using CO2 and PO. The catalytic technology employed by the company was based on the β-diamine zinc and salen-type metal complexes (salenMX) developed by Coates’ research group at Cornell University, with the salenMX catalytic system being the main one used. The carbonate units in the polyether polycarbonate di (poly)ol produced using this technology can reach 99%. From this, the Converge® polyol product series was developed. At the same time, the CO2-based polyols produced by Novomer have a CO2 content of up to 40% in their composition, which allows for a 40% reduction in the amount of PO required. In terms of raw material costs, CO2-based polyols have a significant advantage. However, due to the low polymerization activity of the catalysts used in their production, and because the SalenMX metal catalysts give the products a color, further decolorization is required, which results in CO2-based polyols produced using this technology having higher prices than polyether polyols. In 2016, Saudi Aramco Technology Company (SATC) acquired Novomer in its entirety. ■ British company Econic Technologies was established in 2011; the catalytic technology it uses is based on the dinuclear salan metal complex developed by Professor Williams at Imperial College London. However, the company’s patents indicate that a Zn-Co-DMC complex is also added as a catalyst during the polymerization process. The advantage of this combined catalyst is that it enables the production of polyether polycarbonate polyols with a CO2 mass content of 10%–30% at lower reaction temperatures (60–75°C) and pressures (0.5–1.0 MPa). However, some drawbacks of this process are a long reaction time and a high amount of catalyst required. Econic Technologies is advancing the commercialization of CO2-based polyols through technology licensing; in June 2022, the company signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China’s Changhua Chemical. Changhua Chemical has invested approximately 5.8 billion yuan in Lianyungang, Jiangsu, to build a \"carbon dioxide polyether and high-performance polyol project\". The project is implemented in two phases: Phase 1 mainly involves the construction of an 80,000-ton/year carbon dioxide polyether plant, a 300,000-ton/year polyether polyol plant, a 360,000-ton/year polymer polyol plant, an 800-ton/year catalyst plant, as well as utility systems, auxiliary facilities, and off-site works ； In the second phase, a 980,000 tons per year carbon dioxide polyether plant, a 360,000 tons per year polymer polyol plant, as well as utility systems, auxiliary facilities, and off-site works will be constructed. Once fully completed, the project will be able to produce 1.06 million tons of carbon dioxide polyether, 300,000 tons of polyether polyol, and 720,000 tons of polymer polyol per year. ■ In 2016, the German chemical giant Covestro built its first plant for producing polyols from CO2 in Dormagen, Germany, with an annual production capacity of 5,000 tons. The catalyst used was a Zn-Co bimetallic cyanide catalyst derived from Covestro’s predecessor, Bayer. The device utilizes the waste CO2 gas from local ammonium salt manufacturers, with up to 20% of the material being CO2; the product is launched on the market under the Cardyon® brand. Currently, cardyon® has been successfully applied in areas such as mattress foam, automotive interiors, adhesives for sports flooring, and thermoplastic polyurethane insoles. ■ In 2017, the Spanish company REPSOL announced the development of a new type of polyol-poly carbonate polyol using CO2, and the company established a medium-scale production facility in Puertollano, Spain. The CO2-based polyols produced by Repsol contain 20% CO2.
■ In China, Jiangsu Zhongke Jinlong Environmental Protection New Materials Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Zhongke Jinlong”) is one of the first companies in the country to use carbon dioxide to synthesize carbon dioxide-based polyols (PPC polyols). Established in 2003, the company employs a catalytic system based on Zn3[Fe(CN)6]2-DMC, developed by the team led by Chen Liban from the Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team reported a method for preparing carbon dioxide-based polyols using substances containing 1–10 active hydrogen atoms as regulators. These polyols have a functionality level similar to that of the regulator added, with an average molecular weight ranging from 2000 to 20,000; the molecular weight is controlled by the amount of regulator used, and the content of carbonate units in the product is approximately 30%. Some of its shortcomings include low catalyst activity, long reaction times, and the occurrence of side reactions (with 15%–20% formation of small molecular cyclic carbonates). Later, a Zn-Co-DMC catalyst with higher activity was used. ■ The team led by Wang Xianhong from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a rare earth-doped bimetallic cyanide catalyst. This catalyst exhibits high activity in the copolymerization of PO/CO2 to produce high-molecular-weight polyether polycarbonates (with an average molecular weight of around 100,000), yet the content of carbonate units in the polymers is less than 40%. In 2012, a method was reported for the copolymerization of CO2 and PO using a dibasic acid as a chain transfer agent under Zn-Co-DMC catalysis, yielding polyether polycarbonate diols with a molecular weight that could be adjusted between 1000 and 3000; the content of carbonate units was 43% ± 3%, while the content of cyclic carbonates was 7%–8.5%. The team used a DMC catalytic system to prepare polyether polycarbonate polyols with different functionalities. In 2018, Juyuan Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Jilin Shenhua Group, began to plan a project to produce 50,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide-based polyether polyols using this technology; however, no further progress was made and the construction of this project was not carried out. ■ Hefei Puli Advanced Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Puli Materials”) was established in 2017. Focusing on carbon dioxide utilization technology, the company has independently developed a catalytic synthesis method for carbon dioxide-based polycarbonate polyols (PCE). The core team of the company consists entirely of members from Zhejiang University. The CO2-based polyols produced by the company can have a CO2 mass fraction of over 30%. The inclusion of carbon dioxide significantly reduces the reliance of synthetic materials on petrochemical raw materials, thereby lowering the direct carbon emissions associated with material synthesis. This approach not only helps achieve carbon neutrality but also generates substantial economic value. In Puli Materials’ CO2-based polyol products, the proportion of carbonate structures can reach up to 70%, giving them overall properties similar to those of polycarbonate polyols. Anhui Pucarbon is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Puli Materials.
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