As a biodegradable plastic, PBAT industry development opportunities and challenges coexist

PBAT is a semi-crystalline polymer of polybutylene adipate and terephthalate, which is a thermoplastic biodegradable plastic. PBAT has the advantages of impact resistance, heat resistance, and good ductility, and is a representative product of petroleum-based degradable materials. In addition, PBAT also has the characteristics of PBT and PBA and is widely used in agriculture, packaging, medical and other fields.

Commonly used preparation methods for PBAT include direct esterification, series esterification and split esterification. The direct esterification method refers to the esterification reaction of raw materials such as adipic acid and phthalic acid with 1,4-butanediol in a high-temperature environment in an esterification kettle, and finally undergoes polycondensation to form the polymer PBAT. The direct esterification method has the advantages of short time consumption, convenient operation, and high production efficiency. It is the mainstream preparation method of PBAT in my country. However, this method has limitations, including uneven product quality and difficulty in controlling accuracy.

In January 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly issued the “Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening Plastic Pollution Control”, clearly proposing to increase the production capacity of degradable plastics and create a full industrial chain of degradable plastics. In recent years, with the gradual implementation of national environmental protection policies and taking effect, degradable plastics have gained broad market prospects as a substitute for traditional plastics. In 2021, my country’s degradable plastic market will reach 19.46 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.6%. As a mainstream product in the degradable plastic market, PBAT’s production capacity continues to increase. According to the “2022-2027 China PBAT Market Analysis and Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, my country’s PBAT will be The production capacity exceeds 500,000 tons/year.

Agriculture and packaging fields account for a relatively high demand for PBAT. In the agricultural field, PBAT can be used as agricultural mulch to increase soil temperature, increase the net photosynthetic rate of leaves, and can increase the weight and central sugar content of fruits. At the same time, PBAT mulch film has good biodegradability and can effectively solve the white pollution problem caused by traditional mulch films. In the field of packaging, PBAT can be used to produce plastic wrap for fruit and vegetable packaging, shopping bags, and electronic product packaging bags.

The threshold for the PBAT industry is low and there are many manufacturing companies. my country’s leading PBAT companies include Guangzhou Ruifeng Group Co., Ltd., Shandong Dawn Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., Ningbo Hong Polymer Technology Co., Ltd., etc. The annual PBAT production capacity of the above companies ranks among the top in the country. In recent years, due to the increasingly strong market demand for PBAT, leading companies have significantly expanded production, resulting in overcapacity in my country’s PBAT industry.

Industry analysts said that benefiting from the strong support of national environmental protection policies, the scale of my country’s PBAT industry continues to expand. As a degradable material, PBAT has been widely used in many fields, and the market demand is strong, driving the industry’s production capacity to continuously increase. However, in recent years, as many companies have expanded production, the problem of overcapacity in PBAT in my country has become increasingly prominent, and there is an urgent need to optimize the industrial structure.