HDPE Special Material for Large Containers Has Bright Prospect

By He Liping

Owing to its advantages in good thermal stability, corrosion resistance, convenient processing and modified products, HDPE (high density polyethylene) has become a raw material resin with extensive applications in large hollow blow-molded plastic products. Such plastic products have already been used in the packing of pesticides, liquid chemicals, detergents, beverages and foods. The total consumption of resins in large hollow plastic products in China was around 790 thousand tons in 2004 and the proportion was around 30% for domestic HDPE special material, around 15% for general-purpose resin substitutes and around 55% for imported HDPE special material.

Lagging domestic production

Chevron Phillips of the United States is the company that has developed the technology for the production of high molecular weight HDPE for large hollow plastic containers and also a great number of product types. The HDPE production technology developed by the company is already being used in quite a few producers such as Daelin of Korea and Shanghai Golden Phillips Petrochemical Company Ltd.     Due to stringent requirements on product quality, not many HDPE special material types for large hollow blow-molded containers have been developed in China. Types that have been produced and used include DMD1158 and QHB07 in Qilu Petrochemical Company Ltd., 8200B in Daqing Petrochemical Company Ltd., 50100 in Shanghai Golden Phillips Petrochemical Company Ltd. and HD5420GA in Xinjiang Dushanzi Petrochemical Company Ltd. The consumption of DMD1158 developed by Qilu Petrochemical Company Ltd. is the largest, accounting for 22% of the total and the output was 20.5 thousand tons in 2004. QHB07 is a special material for large hollow plastic containers developed by Qilu Petrochemical Company Ltd. in 2004. It is used in large blow-molded IBC packing drums to replace products from Basell. The consumption was however very small in 2004. In terms of product quality, DMD1158 has low melt mass flow, great viscosity and difficult granulation. It is still taken out of the producer in powder form. Downstream processing plants have to add additives themselves and the quality of products is therefore often unstable.

Huge domestic market

China has numerous enterprises engaged in the processing of hollow plastic containers. Most of them are contributed by Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong provinces. There are nearly 2 000 molding equipment. More than 60 has a volume of 120 - 1 250L, more than 200 has a volume of 60 - 120L and other equipment has a volume of below 50L. Except producers of large closed “L” ring containers and IBC containers that have a relatively large capacity, most producers have small scale, numerous number and dispersed distribution.    Plastic packing is a development orientation of the packing sector in recent years. The use of plastic containers to replace glass containers and steel containers, in particular, has become popular in the packing of most liquid products. The rapid development of export trade after the WTO accession and the accelerated replacement of steel containers by large 200L plastic containers and IBC plastic containers have greatly stimulated the development of the large hollow container sector. The demand of HDPE special material for large hollow containers will also increase constantly. Besides, large sundry storage boxes and garbage boxes in large and medium cities of China have also started to use plastic containers.

Table 1  Major Producers of HDPE Special Material for Large Hollow Containers in Foreign CountriesCountry         ProducerFrance          AtofinaGermany         BorealesUSA             Chevron PhillipsUSA             BasellKorea           DaelinKorea           Korea PetrochemicalThailand        Thai PetrochemicalBritain         BP SolvaySource: CNCIC Chemdata

Table 2  Major Producers of Large Hollow Containers in China as of 2004(thousand t/a, thousand tons)Producer                         Capacity       Output Beijing Nanyuan Barrel Plant    12      6Shanghai Lishi Packing Co.      5       4Guangdong Yufeng Plastic Container Packing Co.  5       4Hangzhou Yongming Plastic Packaging Co.         5       4Hangzhou Qianjiang Plastic Container Co.        5       4Wuhan C-BONS Group              5       4Source: CNCIC Chemdata