What is the future of polyoxymethylene?

The original poster can search the forum again; there are already posts on this topic, and I believe they will find a satisfactory answer

China’s polyoxymethylene industry still has a long way to go. http://www.hc360.com July 5, 2005, 18:15. HC360.com – Plastic Industry Section. Polyoxymethylene is a general-purpose thermoplastic engineering plastic that boasts excellent mechanical properties, electrical properties, wear resistance, dimensional stability, and chemical resistance. In particular, it exhibits outstanding fatigue resistance as well as good self-lubricating properties. It is an ideal engineering plastic for replacing metals, especially non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminum, and zinc, as well as their alloys. It is widely used in industries such as electronics and electrical equipment, automobiles, light industry, machinery, chemicals, and building materials. 　　 　　Polyoxymethylene is produced from methanol, and can be divided into homopolyoxymethylene and copolyoxymethylene based on different synthesis processes. 　　 　　Since its introduction, polyoxymethylene has seen rapid development thanks to its excellent properties. In the year 2000, the world’s total production capacity was around 750,000 tons, of which polyoxymethylene accounted for approximately 80%. From 1995 to 2000, the average annual growth rate of global polyoxymethylene consumption was around 5%. With the continuous development of emerging industries, it is expected that the annual demand for polyoxymethylene will continue to grow at a rate of 4% to 5% over the next decade. World production and consumption of polyoxymethylene are concentrated in industrially developed countries and regions such as the United States, Western Europe, and Japan. The main manufacturers of polyoxymethylene in the world include DuPont, Hostaflex-Sellans, BASF, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, Toray, Asahi Kasei, Ticona, Poland’s ZAT, and Formosa Plastics in Taiwan, China. World polyoxymethylene is mainly used in industries such as automotive, electronics and electrical, and machinery. According to available statistics, the global consumption pattern of polyoxymethylene in 1999 was as follows: 30% for the automotive industry, 20% for the electronics and electrical industry, 12% for industrial equipment, 10% for piping and irrigation systems, 10% for consumer goods, and 18% for other applications. 　　 　　Our country began to develop and build its first polyoxymethylene production facility in the late 1970s, but despite more than 20 years of effort, progress remained slow, with only a few enterprises such as the Shanghai Solvent Factory and the Shijingou Joint Chemical Plant of Jihua Corporation carrying out production. The production processes employed all follow the triomethylene formaldehyde route; the copolymerization technology in this area lags far behind that used abroad. There are high costs associated with raw materials and utility consumption, and the product quality is unstable. The main reasons for this are the low one-pass conversion rate of triomethylene formaldehyde in these enterprises, as well as inadequate techniques for the recovery and purification of formaldehyde. Moreover, the polyoxymethylene technology developed in China has many shortcomings from an engineering perspective, preventing the achievement of economies of scale and thus restricting the development of China’s polyoxymethylene industry. The domestic polyoxymethylene industry is underdeveloped and far from being able to meet domestic demand. In recent years, Yunnan Natural Gas Chemical Group Company has introduced a polyoxymethylene production technology and plant with an annual capacity of 10,000 tons from the Polish company ZAT. The plant has now been built, and products will be available on the market this year. By then, the domestic production capacity for polyoxymethylene will reach 12,700 tons per year. 　　 　　In recent years, the consumption of polyoxymethylene in our country has increased rapidly; in 2000, the apparent domestic consumption reached.. 840,000 tons. The consumption ratio is: 55% for electronics and electrical equipment, 15% for the automotive industry, 20% for consumer goods, 8% for industrial machinery, and 2% for other categories. Due to low domestic production, the country relies mainly on imports to meet domestic market demand; import volumes have been increasing year by year in recent years, with figures of 57,000 tons, 63,400 tons, 90,600 tons, and 108,300 tons for the years 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 respectively. In our country, polyoxymethylene is primarily used in the electronics and electrical industry. In recent years, the electronics and electrical industry here has developed rapidly, and the automotive industry has gradually become a key industry in our country; as a result, the demand for polyoxymethylene will continue to increase. It is estimated that China’s demand for polyoxymethylene will reach 100,000 tons in 2002, and exceed 120,000 tons by 2005. Even if all the major domestic plants operate at full capacity, it is still far from meeting domestic demand. Due to the huge market for polyoxymethylene in our country, various brands from international companies are competing fiercely in the domestic market, and foreign manufacturers are using various methods to expand their market share there. It is reported that both DuPont and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical plan to invest in building polyoxymethylene production plants with a capacity of 10,000 tons in our country. The polyoxymethylene market in our country holds great potential; it is primarily used in industries such as automobiles and electronics, which are all strategic sectors vital to the nation’s economy and people’s livelihoods. Foreign companies attach great importance to China as a potentially huge market, and China’s polyoxymethylene industry will face fierce competition. Therefore, domestic enterprises should seize the opportunities to develop rapidly; otherwise, they risk being eliminated in the increasingly competitive global market. Hence, it is extremely urgent and important to develop China’s polyoxymethylene industry. China’s energy structure is dominated by coal, and methanol, the raw material used in the production of polyoxymethylene, is one of the coal chemical products that can be manufactured on a large scale in the country. Therefore, from the perspective of the energy structure, it holds strategic significance for China to develop polyoxymethylene vigorously, as this will help foster a new coal chemical industry in the 21st century. As a pillar industry in our country, the automotive industry is developing rapidly at present. However, the proportion of polyoxymethylene used in China’s automotive sector is far below the world average; therefore, it is necessary to increase the use of polyoxymethylene in this industry. This will not only promote the development of China’s polyoxymethylene industry but also contribute to the localization of automobile production. As the localization process of China’s automobile industry accelerates, the automotive industry will be one of the sectors with the fastest growth in polyoxymethylene consumption in the future. 　　 　 In summary, polyoxymethylene is a strategic product for our country, and its development should be actively promoted. Therefore, it is recommended that **the relevant departments organize experts to digest and absorb the introduced technologies, and then mobilize various resources to work on overcoming the challenges, in order to develop domestic production facilities capable of producing 10,000 tons per year as soon as possible, with a focus on advancing the technology related to copolymerized formaldehyde. Even if it is difficult to see results in the short term, given the current scale of market demand and future trends in demand growth, it is necessary to introduce advanced foreign polyoxymethylene technologies in the near future and build several production facilities with a capacity of tens of thousands of tons each. The development of the polyoxymethylene industry in our country is urgent and cannot be delayed any longer. It can be said that China’s polyoxymethylene industry has a long way to go.

Polyoxymethylene still has a promising future, especially in China. Currently, only a few companies are able to produce qualified products of this type, and demand in China is quite high; as a result, most of the product is imported. This is likely related to the quality of the products manufactured domestically

Polyoxymethylene is definitely a growing industry in China; the key is to overcome technical barriers in order to produce high-quality products. Currently, 2/3 of it in the country needs to be imported.

To assess the prospects of a particular product, it is sufficient to look at **policy orientations; whether it’s the 11th Five-Year Plan or the recently introduced plan for the development of the petrochemical industry, both encourage the growth of polyoxymethylene! What do you think the prospects are!

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