1-Hexene copolymer polyethylene production companies are few and the future development prospects are optimistic

1-Hexene is one of the important varieties of α-olefins and is mainly used as a comonomer in the production of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) resins. 1-hexene copolymerized polyethylene refers to a polyethylene resin made with 1-hexene as a comonomer. Compared with LLDPE made from the copolymerization of 1-butene, the LLDPE made from the copolymerization of 1-hexene is significantly superior in tensile strength, impact strength, tear resistance and durability, and its environmental cracking resistance reaches 5000 hours. The above can be used as high-end special polyethylene resin, especially suitable for the production of large hollow blow molded containers, pipes, packaging film materials, agricultural covering films and other products.

​ ​ The 1-hexene copolymer polyethylene industry started early abroad, and the more representative large companies include Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil Chemical, Chevron Phillips, Japan’s Mitsui and other companies. It has more advanced production technology and sufficient raw material 1-hexene. my country’s 1-hexene copolymer polyethylene industry started late. After years of development, although the technical level of the industry has continued to improve, the level of independent innovation in production technology in the industry is not high. The production technology of many domestic companies has introduced technology from leading foreign companies. , such as the Unipol gas phase method of Univation Company in the United States. In addition, the barriers to entry in the 1-hexene copolymerized polyethylene industry are high, and there are few companies that have achieved large-scale production.

At this stage, there are not many 1-hexene copolyethylene manufacturers in China. The production capacity is mainly concentrated in the hands of two large groups, Sinopec and PetroChina. The 1-hexene copolyethylene manufacturers affiliated to Sinopec include Maoming Petrochemical and Yangzi Petrochemical. , Qilu Petrochemical, 1-hexene copolyethylene production enterprises affiliated to PetroChina include Dushanzi Petrochemical, Daqing Petrochemical, Lanzhou Petrochemical, in addition to Shanghai Jinfei Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Shenyang Chemical Co., Ltd. and other enterprises. Overall, my country’s 1-hexene copolymerized polyethylene industry has a high degree of concentration.

According to the“2023-2028 China 1-Hexene Copolymerized Polyethylene Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report” released by the Industrial Research Center, in 2022, China’s 1-hexene copolymer polyethylene production will be 541,200 tons. Stimulated by the growth in demand in the downstream market, many companies such as Sinopec, Shandong New Era Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., ExxonMobil (Huizhou), and CNOOC Shell (Phase III) plan to build or expand 1-hexene in the next few years. For copolymerized polyethylene production equipment, competition among enterprises will become fierce after the new/expansion projects are put into operation.

From the perspective of industry development prospects, although most polyethylene in my country currently uses 1-butene as the comonomer, compared with 1-butene copolymerized polyethylene, 1-hexene copolymerized polyethylene has high tensile strength, It has the advantages of impact resistance, tear resistance, puncture resistance and high light transmittance. Therefore, it is imperative to use 1-hexene as the comonomer instead of 1-butene. 1-hexene copolymerized polyethylene has good development prospects.