Domestic enterprises’ innovative achievements continue to emerge, and the process of domestic substitution of expanded polypropylene (EPP) is accelerating

Expanded polypropylene, referred to as EPP, is a highly crystalline polypropylene/gas composite material with superior performance. Foamed polypropylene has many advantages such as high rigidity, light weight, good dimensional stability, strong impact resistance, good high temperature resistance, good low temperature characteristics, strong thermal and sound insulation properties, high specific strength, and green environmental protection. It has been penetrated It has entered many fields such as medicine, food, catering, daily necessities, agriculture, industry, construction, automobiles, aviation, etc. It is the most widely used and fastest-growing new environmentally friendly pressure-resistant buffering and thermal insulation material in the domestic market.

Automobiles and packaging are the two largest application areas of foamed polypropylene. In the automotive field, foamed polypropylene is mainly used in manufacturing scenarios such as sun visors, sound insulation panels, ceiling linings, bumper internal cushioning materials, safety seat shock-absorbing materials, side door anti-collision energy-absorbing blocks, etc. Foamed polypropylene is used in every car. The demand for propylene is around 6Kg; in the field of packaging, foamed polypropylene is an important raw material for meat packaging materials, tableware, bottle seals, beverage cups and other food and pharmaceutical packaging.

Driven by the rapid development of domestic automobile, food, pharmaceutical and other industries, the market demand for foamed polypropylene continues to increase and its scale expands rapidly. According to the released “China Foamed Polypropylene Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2022-2026” shows that in 2021 The annual domestic market demand for foamed polypropylene has reached 86,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%; the market size has reached 2.39 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.2%.

Due to the high technical barriers to foamed polypropylene and the relatively short development history of my country in this field, the domestic foamed polypropylene market is still dominated by leading international chemical companies. The main companies include BASF (BASF), JSP Co., Ltd., Kaneka (Kaneka Group) and Berstorff et al.

The main foamed polypropylene companies in my country include Huitong Lightweight, CGN Jun’er, Haozhi New Materials, Delong Composite, Jusailong Engineering, Deguan New Materials, Huajiang Technology, Xianghou New Materials, etc. At this stage, my country’s foamed polypropylene industry is still in its primary development stage, domestic output is still relatively small, and domestic products are still mainly concentrated in the middle and low-end markets, and high-end products are highly dependent on imports.

Industrial Analysts personnel said that as a result, in order to meet the growing market demand, local companies in my country have increased their research and development of foamed polypropylene. efforts, thereby promoting the continuous emergence of relevant high-quality results. In November 2022, the domestic enterprise Qingdao Zhongke Ruibang New Material Technology has the industrial production capacity of high-performance foamed polypropylene (EPP) degradable materials, and plans to build a 20,000 tons/year production base. As of now, the enterprise has Completed the construction of an EPP industrialization demonstration line with an annual output of 1,500 tons. In the future, as the R&D process of foamed polypropylene by local enterprises continues to accelerate, the output of domestic high-end foamed polypropylene products will continue to increase, the localization process of the high-end market is expected to continue to accelerate, and the industry has huge development potential.