LBA foaming agent belongs to a new generation of foaming agent products and has huge potential for industry development.

Foaming agent refers to a type of additive that can be added to form a cell structure in plastics. LBA foaming agent, the full name is Solstice LBA (HFO-1233zd, 1-chloro, 3, 3, 3 trifluoropropylene), which belongs to the HFO type of foaming agent and refers to a new generation of foaming agent suitable for the field of polyurethane foaming. The agent product has an ODP of 0, a GWP of 1, a boiling point close to room temperature, and is a non-flammable liquid.

According to the “China LBA Foaming Agent Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that compared with the first three generations of foaming agents such as CFC-11, HCFC-141b and HFC-245fa, LBA foaming agent has lower thermal conductivity, higher mechanical strength, stronger environmental performance, better thermal insulation performance and better safety performance. High, good compatibility and other advantages. Therefore, under the current background of the continuous advancement of domestic dual-carbon goals and the continuous strengthening of environmental protection efforts, LBA foaming agents have application advantages in polyurethane material foaming scenarios in cold chain transportation, household appliances, rail equipment, building insulation, industrial insulation and other fields. is larger, the industry development prospects are relatively broad.

LBA foaming agent was first launched by Honeywell in the United States. Since 2014, with the advantages and performance of LBA foaming agent constantly highlighted, major mainstream refrigerator brands such as Haier, Midea, Whirlpool, etc. have introduced LBA foaming agent. Its application in products has prompted the domestic LBA foaming agent industry to enter the market introduction period. At the same time, as consumer demand continues to upgrade, more construction, refrigeration refrigerators, and air source heat pump water heater companies have begun to apply LBA foaming agents to their products, accelerating the development of the industry.

But overall, the current domestic polyurethane foaming agent market for home appliances is still dominated by the third-generation product HFC-245fa. The LBA foaming agent market is still in the early stages of commercialization, with a narrow application scope and a small market scale. However, HFC foaming agents have a relatively high GWP value and poor environmental performance. In the future, as domestic environmental protection efforts continue to increase, they will be gradually launched on the market. Therefore, the market penetration rate of LBA foaming agent, which is a key substitute for HFC foaming agent, is expected to continue to increase, and the industry has huge development potential.

The current LBA foaming agent production capacity is mainly concentrated in the research and development company Honeywell of the United States and its related joint ventures, and the market presents a monopoly pattern. In the future, local related companies will still need to accelerate the development and application of LBA foaming agents, continue to break the monopoly of foreign capital, and accelerate the localization of the domestic market to meet growing demand.

Industry analysts said that LBA foaming agent is a new generation of HFO foaming agent products launched by Honeywell. It has excellent comprehensive performance and has greater advantages in polyurethane foaming scenarios in home appliances, construction, industry and other fields. In the future, as domestic environmental protection efforts continue to strengthen and the dual-carbon goal continues to be promoted, the market penetration rate of LBA foaming agents will continue to increase, and it is expected to replace HFC foaming agents and become the mainstream foaming material in the polyurethane market. The industry has broad development prospects.