The pipeline materials have all won awards, and you don't know this knowledge yet? High end pipes have "black material"
Recently, the new technology for producing high-performance polyethylene pipe resin, jointly developed by Shanghai Petrochemical, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Institute of Chemical Technology, and others, won the first prize of the 2022 China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Science and Technology Progress Award. The various high-performance pipes produced using this new technology can be widely used in fields such as water pipes, gas pipes, nuclear power water pipes, large-diameter pipes, etc., effectively ensuring the domestic market demand. 01 What is polyethylene pipe resin?Polyethylene pipe resin is an important application field of polyethylene resin, mainly used for extrusion processing of various types of pipes. The development of polyethylene pipe resin has a history of over 50 years, and currently, pipes and their raw materials are classified and named internationally based on their minimum required strength(MRS). Minimum required strength is the foundation of pipe structure design. Based on this, pipes can be divided into three generations:First generationPE pipe materials below grade PE63Generally, it is medium density polyethylene with poor pressure bearing capacity, and its minimum required strength is above 6.3 MPa. Currently, it is basically not used for pressure pipes, and some are used in sewer pipes, drainage pipes, etc., gradually being phased out by the market.Second generationPE80 grade pipe materialGenerally, it is medium density or high-density polyethylene with certain pressure bearing capacity, and its l minimum required strength is above 8 MPa. It is mainly used in water supply pipes, etc.Third generationPE100 grade pipe materialGenerally, it is high-density polyethylene with strong pressure bearing capacity, and its minimum required strength is above 10 MPa. It is mainly used in the fields of water supply pipes, gas pipes, etc. Especially in the gas pipe field, it is currently strictly required to use pipes with a PE100 grade or higher.MRS: refers to the strength of the pipe subjected to circumferential tensile stress (calculated according to international standards). PE80 (8-9.99 MPa) and PE100 (10-11.19 MPa) are the grading numbers obtained by rounding the MRS of polyethylene raw materials. The grading number of the material is obtained by multiplying the MRS by 10. 02 What is high-performance polyethylene pipe resin?High performance polyethylene pipe resin, also known as crack resistant PE100-RC resin (RC: Resist Crack), is currently considered the fourth generation of pipe resin. Under full notch creep test (FNCT) testing conditions, its slow crack growth time exceeds 8760 hours, and it is called "super tough PE100 resin".A Journey of Pipeline Materials for a Drop of Crude OilPetroleum is transported to refineries through extraction and processed to produce polymer grade ethylene, butene, hexene, and other raw materials.Next, it enters the refining unit of the device for further refinement. The refined ethylene, butene, hexene, and other raw materials are fed into a supercritical loop reactor. Under the action of a catalyst, polyethylene with a relatively high density and low molecular weight is polymerized to obtain polyethylene. After flash evaporation separation of polyethylene and unreacted raw materials, the polyethylene powder with catalyst activity continues to undergo gas-phase polymerization reactions with ethylene, butene, hexene, and other raw materials in the gas-phase reactor, Produce relatively low density high molecular weight polyethylene.After passing through two different types of reactors, high-density polyethylene powder is finally produced. The powder is melted and extruded by an extruder, cut into particles underwater, transported by hydraulic power, and dried by centrifugation to produce a clean and smooth granular product, which is then sent to the finished product silo. The particles are then packaged and stacked neatly through packaging equipment, and transported to the hands of customers. 03 Which is better, "black material" or "white material", for high-performance polyethylene pipe resin?Polyethylene pipe resin is lightweight, corrosion-resistant, creep resistant, and easy to process, with good rigidity and toughness balance performance and slow crack growth performance. It is an important raw material for engineering pipelines such as gas pipelines, urban pipeline networks, heating and communication cable sheaths. Polyethylene pipe resins can be divided into two types: white and black.Simply put, "white material" refers to high-density polyethylene pipe material without any color masterbatch added, which has characteristics such as high tensile strength, good resistance to rapid crack propagation, and good impact resistance.The addition of carbon black to the formula of "black material" results in better product performance and can be used to manufacture municipal backbone pipelines. It has broad application prospects in pipeline manufacturing fields in key industries such as energy extraction, and has a large market demand.The PE100-RC series produced by Shanghai Petrochemical includes black and white materials, suitable for different application scenarios. 04 Shanghai Petrochemical Continuously Achieves Breakthroughs in High Performance Pipe MaterialsThe No. 4 polyethylene unit of Shanghai Petrochemical's synthetic resin department was completed and put into operation in 2002, with a production capacity of 250000 tons/year. The Nordic Chemical (BORSTAR) bimodal polyethylene process technology was introduced. The pipeline material products produced by the No. 4 polyethylene device are the earliest in China to pass the PE100 international authoritative certification, and are the only device in China that has the ability to produce black pipeline material basic resin in large quantities. It is also the most comprehensive device in the series of various types of pipeline materials in China.The high-density polyethylene gas pipeline special material developed by Shanghai Petrochemical is the first product in China to pass the international authoritative organization PE100+certification and be listed in the PE100 Association's high-quality product catalog. In October 2022, this product was exported for the first time, effectively establishing market awareness. This special material has a series of good properties, which are completely comparable to imported raw materials.But the material of this pipe can only be used for manufacturing gas pipelines with a diameter less than 400mm, and domestic manufacturing of large diameter pipelines still relies on imported materials. This is a technical bottleneck that domestic enterprises cannot eliminate for a long time.Based on the experience in the preparation of polyethylene pipe materials for small diameter pipes, Shanghai Petrochemical has developed and produced large-diameter low melt vertical pressure pipeline materials that meet the performance standards, effectively meeting the demand for large-diameter heat exchange and water supply pipes in the domestic market, especially in the nuclear power field. At present, downstream pipeline production enterprises use this material to manufacture large-diameter pipes, which have passed the pipeline industry inspection and certification. 05 interview with expertsZhou Hao, Chief Engineer of Shanghai Petrochemical Synthetic Resin Department and Director of Synthetic Materials Research InstituteQ: What is the current level of Shanghai Petrochemical pipe resin at home and abroad?A: Currently, Shanghai Petrochemical's pipeline materials are the best in China, with stable quality and complete brand names, which can be applied to ordinary water pipes, gas pipes, large-diameter water pipes, nuclear power pipes, etc. The products cover the domestic pipe market. However, although Shanghai Petrochemical's products are on par with high-end imported materials in terms of quality, market competition has become intense. Famous foreign companies such as Nordic Chemical, Ineos, Total, Basel, etc., with advantages in technology, quality, scale, and brand, occupy the main share of the foreign and domestic gas market. So, we still need to further enhance market competitiveness.Q: Facing the gap, what is the development direction of Shanghai Petrochemical's pipe resin technology in the future?A: Shanghai Petrochemical will make efforts in the following four areas in the future. One is to achieve the upgrading and upgrading of product performance. According to the existing process, hexene is used as a comonomer instead of butene, greatly improving product performance. The second is to further ensure the stability of product quality, and every batch must fulfill its quality commitment to users. The third is to strengthen market promotion and user service, and increase the expansion of the domestic market by collaborating with various parties such as the China Gas Pipe Association and sales companies. The fourth is to go abroad and seize foreign markets. Following the successful export of high-density polyethylene gas pipeline special materials to New Zealand and Australia in the early stage, Shanghai Petrochemical has signed orders with Russia and India since the end of 2022, and the export prices of the products are higher than those in China. This not only enhances international awareness, but also brings good economic benefits.◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ Ren Congjing, Associate Professor of the School of Chemical Engineering at Zhejiang University and the Chemical Branch of Ningbo Research Institute at Zhejiang UniversityQ: As a major cooperative research and development unit, how do you feel about this cooperation with Sinopec?A: Zhejiang University and Sinopec have a long-term and close cooperative relationship. Both sides have always focused on the current major technical problems of the country, society, and industry, and have opened up a scientific research and education channel of "condensed problem-solving - basic research - pilot studies - design amplification - production implementation".Faced with a huge market gap in high-grade polyethylene pipe materials and a high dependence on imports, Zhejiang University and Shanghai Petrochemical have worked hard for nearly 20 years to overcome the "bottleneck" problem, forming new technologies for the production of high-performance polyethylene pipe materials. They have successfully developed PE100 and PE100-RC pipe materials on the 250000 ton/year polyethylene plant of Shanghai Petrochemical, becoming an important symbol of China's polyethylene pipe material technology reaching a new level.In long-term exploration and practice, the project relies on the scientific research platform and talent resources of Zhejiang University, as well as the enterprise platform and industrial resources of Shanghai Petrochemical, fully leveraging the advantages of industry university research linkage, breaking the passive situation of relying solely on imports for high-grade polyethylene pipe materials, effectively serving the "top of the country" and helping the country to achieve technological self-reliance and self-reliance.
