It is difficult to control the ash content of polypropylene. my country’s ultra-low ash polypropylene relies heavily on imports.

Ultra-low ash polypropylene is a high-end polypropylene product, which refers to polypropylene products with an ash content within 0.005. The ash content of polypropylene refers to the content of the remaining substances in the polypropylene sample that cannot volatilize after burning at high temperature (850±50)°C. Excessive ash content will seriously affect the quality of polypropylene products. The sources of ash in polypropylene products mainly include raw material impurities, main catalyst/secondary catalyst impurities, granulation additive impurities, and impurities mixed in during transportation and packaging.

According to the “2021-2025 China Ultra-Low Ash Polypropylene Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center 》 shows that the ash content of polypropylene comes from a wide range of sources, and the production of ultra-low ash polypropylene is difficult. Currently, my country does not have the large-scale production capacity of ultra-low ash polypropylene. Market demand still relies on imports, with an import dependence rate of more than 95%. Ultra-low ash polypropylene is mainly used in the electronic and electrical fields. With the development of my country’s electronics industry, ultra-low ash polypropylene market consumption will continue to increase and is expected to reach 160,000 tons in 2025.

The ultra-low ash polypropylene market is extremely concentrated. Globally, ultra-low ash polypropylene production capacity mainly comes from three companies: Korea Petrochemical, Borealis, and Singapore TPC. The total supply of the three companies accounts for about 92% of the global supply. my country’s ultra-low ash polypropylene demand almost entirely comes from the above three companies, accounting for 98%. Domestic companies with ultra-low ash polypropylene production grades include Zhongyuan Petrochemical, Shanghai Petrochemical, Duzishan Petrochemical, Qingdao Refinery, etc. Among them, the products developed by Zhongyuan Petrochemical have high market recognition, and their annual output is about 5,000 tons.

Ultra-low ash polypropylene has low ash content and excellent product performance. It is mainly used in electronic and electrical fields such as battery separator materials and capacitor separator materials, as well as in automobiles, baby products, household appliances and other fields. Electronics and electrical appliances are the main application scenarios of ultra-low ash polypropylene, with consumption accounting for 93%, of which battery separator materials account for more than 60%, and capacitor separator materials account for more than 30%.

As a high-end battery separator material, ultra-low ash polypropylene is mainly used in dry-process lithium battery separators. However, dry-process lithium battery separators are at risk of being replaced by wet-process lithium battery separators. Therefore, the main consumer market of ultra-low ash polypropylene is showing a shrinking trend. . At the same time, the price of ultra-low ash polypropylene products is high, and the import price is around US$1,550-2,050/ton. Overall, the current ultra-low ash polypropylene market demand expansion is limited, and market development is difficult.

Industry analysts said that the production of ultra-low ash polypropylene is difficult, and the current domestic market demand mainly relies on imports. Ultra-low ash polypropylene is highly dependent on imports, has high prices, and its main consumer markets are shrinking, making market development difficult. In the future market development, Chinese companies still need to improve production technology and ash control, and increase the localization rate of ultra-low ash polypropylene. At the same time, they also need to continue to expand new application fields of ultra-low ash polypropylene and develop new application markets.