In the first year of the “Twelfth Five-Year Planâ€, the Chinese masterbatch industry, dominated by small-scale enterprises and micro-enterprises, has experienced the same impact as the international financial crisis. The soaring prices of raw materials, the huge increase in labor costs, the tightening of bank loans, and tight electricity consumption have caused the industry's survival and development to become awkward. At the same time, the downstream industry's demand has not shrunk, plastic products industry to maintain a steady growth of 25%; chemical fiber products due to the impact of cotton prices, demand surge; but also due to low-carbon environmental protection requirements, the proportion of chemical fiber liquid coloring is also expected to increase significantly. In the masterbatch industry of intermediate products, it has to sacrifice profits to digest the impact of factors such as soaring raw material prices and try to meet downstream demand. In the “12th Five-Year†opening, the Chinese masterbatch industry is facing a severe test. Harvester Blade,Harvester Mower Blade,Harvester Knife Blade Nofia Machinery Factory , http://www.hzharvetermachine.com
The Chinese masterbatch industry has made substantial progress during the “11th Five-Year Plan†period. From 2006 to 2008, it was a period of rapid development of China's masterbatch industry. It is during this period that the masterbatch industry has doubled its output and increased from 250,000 tons to more than 500,000 tons per year. From 2008 to 2011, the industry was in a period of stable development, and there was no significant fluctuation in output. Masterbatches companies struggled to adjust their structure in the midst of an economic storm.
At present, China's masterbatch enterprises have gradually started to grow from large-scale and low-capacity production methods to large-scale and large-scale development. Some leading domestic enterprises have developed into benchmark enterprises that can compete with foreign companies. Such as Ningbo Masterbatch Co., Ltd., Shandong Chunchao Masterbatch Co., Ltd. and so on. In the next few years, with the advancement of the country's western development, advancement and expansion into the western region will become a new topic and a new challenge faced by the masterbatch industry. It will also bring new opportunities for the development of the industry.
With the continuous improvement of technical level, the distribution of masterbatch varieties has undergone major changes. The first change is the marked increase in the share of color masterbatch in the total masterbatch production. The share of color masterbatches in China’s total production has increased from 14% in 2005 to 26% in 2010, reaching an annual output of 146,000 tons. The second change is the decrease in the share of white masterbatch. Compared with 2005, the white masterbatch with the largest proportion of masterbatches decreased from 44% to 20%.
In the face of the development of China’s economy, foreign companies are constantly infiltrating. This year, Cabot Corporation of the United States established a black masterbatch production line with an annual output of 45,000 tons in Tianjin. It started construction on September 19, and the second-phase project can reach 80,000 tons. By then, this factory will become the world's largest masterbatch processing plant. Its construction will certainly affect the pattern of China's masterbatch and world masterbatch industry.
Due to the steady development of the industry during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan†period, the current difficulties are not enough to stop the Chinese masterbatch industry from advancing. The development of the masterbatch industry will continue to adapt to the rapid development of China's plastic products and chemical fiber industry. It is expected that the development of the master batch will continue at a rate of more than 10% during the “12th Five Year Plan†period. Mainly reflected in the following aspects:
——Development of multi-functional masterbatch. Plastic or chemical fiber products often require the product to have a variety of properties at the same time, and the coloring and other functions are integrated into a masterbatch, which is of great significance for improving the performance of plastic or chemical fiber products and simplifying the production process.
Such as colored, flame-retardant, anti-static multi-functional masterbatch used in coal mine products; used in chemical fiber fabrics such as coloring, antibacterial, heat preservation, conductive masterbatch and so on. The combination of multiple functions inevitably raises many technical difficulties for the preparation and application of masterbatches. For example, the compatibility between various functional auxiliaries and the dispersion in the product are different from the single function masterbatch. It is the difficult problem to be overcome during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period.
——Development of high-performance engineering plastics and thermoplastic elastomer masterbatches. During the "11th Five-Year Plan" period, China's high-performance engineering plastics and thermoplastic elastomers developed rapidly, such as thermoplastic fluoroplastics and thermoplastic polyurethanes; in response, its products also need to be colored with masterbatch, such as FEP Masterbatches, polyvinylidene fluoride masterbatches, and thermoplastic polyurethane masterbatches all present new challenges to the masterbatch industry. The preparation of these masterbatch is very different from the traditional masterbatch in the selection of raw materials, processing technology and use conditions. How to adapt to the high-temperature processing performance of high-performance engineering plastics, the special processing rheological characteristics of thermoplastic elastomers will be the technical problems faced.
——Development of special grade large batch masterbatch. With the rapid development of China's plastics industry, the production of masterbatch will have a larger increase than in the past. Some masterbatch varieties will no longer be directly supplied to downstream plastic product manufacturers. Instead, they will be directly provided to the upstream petrochemical enterprises, using color masterbatches and resins to make color-modified materials directly, such as pipe materials (PE100 PE80 PPR) and automobile special materials. Wait. The formation of this mode of production makes the production mode of masterbatch, which has always been characterized by small batches and varieties, be partially transformed into a single variety and large-scale production mode. The change of the production method will also challenge the masterbatch technology. How to ensure the homogeneity of the produced masterbatch for a long time and how to adapt to the large screw granulation technology will be the technical problem to be solved by this masterbatch.
——Development of dispersants and additives for masterbatches. With the development of multi-functional masterbatch, high-performance engineering plastics, thermoplastic elastomer masterbatch, and special brand high-volume masterbatch, R&D of matching dispersants and additives is also the masterbatch during the “12th Five-Year Plan†period. The important tasks faced by the grain industry include the development of complex dispersants, high temperature dispersants, and rheological properties modifiers.
——Development of masterbatch performance test standards and establishment of testing organizations. During the “11th Five-Year Plan†period, two masterbatch industry standards were promulgated and implemented, and the review passed an industry standard and a national standard. On April 1 of this year, the industry standard of "carbon black master batch QB/T 4132-2010 for polyethylene (PE) pipe compounding for water supply" was officially implemented. At present, there are only four industry standards officially promulgated and implemented in the masterbatch industry. Due to the lack of standards, there are no professional inspection agencies. This situation is far from meeting the needs of the high-speed masterbatch industry. During the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan†period, the formulation and promulgation of masterbatch performance test standards should be focused on, and a professional masterbatch testing agency should be established as soon as possible.