News Center

The beautiful Songhua River flows quietly through the city of Jilin City, and Jilin also has the reputation of "Northland River City", but the background and temperament of this second largest city in Jilin Province are not only beautiful, but also full of "hard core" Wind-this is one of the important clusters of my country's carbon fiber industry. In the historical development process of domestic carbon fiber in the past, Jilin City has left a strong mark. So far, it is still leading the development of domestic carbon fiber industry to a considerable extent.

On July 25, Jilin Carbon Fiber and Composite Industry Chain Innovation and Development Forum and 2019 China Chemical Fiber Industry Association Carbon Fiber Branch Annual Meeting was held in Jilin City.

The conference was co-sponsored by China Chemical Fiber Industry Association and Jilin Municipal People's Government, and co-organized by Jilin Chemical Fiber Group Co., Ltd., China Chemical Fiber Industry Association Carbon Fiber Branch, Jilin Carbon Valley Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. and Jilin Jinggong Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. The meeting conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as the outstanding achievements of my country's carbon fiber industry in the past two years, the new achievements in the development of large tow carbon fiber, the characteristic application fields of domestic carbon fiber power, and how to promote the coordinated development of carbon fiber and downstream applications.

Duan Xiaoping, vice president of China Textile Industry Federation and president of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, Jiang Shicheng, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, he Yanli, vice president of China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, Peng Yi, researcher of Industrial Safety and Import and Export Control Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, Ye Zhimin, deputy secretary general of China Textile Industry Federation and executive vice chairman of Textile Light Science and Technology Education Foundation, Wang Yuping, deputy director of Science and Technology Development Department of China Textile Industry Federation, song Dewu, chairman and general manager of Jilin Chemical Fiber Group Co., Ltd., and more than 300 guests, as well as relevant representatives from Jilin Science and Technology Bureau and Industry and Information Bureau, and relevant representatives from domestic and foreign carbon fiber industry chain enterprises, universities, and scientific research institutes attended the meeting.

Unprecedented vitality of technological innovation in the industry

"A few years ago, I think the overall mood of the domestic carbon fiber industry is still not too high. But in the past two years, the development of the industry has appeared a 'watersheet', especially at this meeting, everyone's mood is relatively high. This shows that the technical level of domestic carbon fiber has been improved, and domestic carbon fiber has been recognized by the market." Duan Xiaoping's emotion at the meeting resonated with everyone.

The domestic carbon fiber industry has been developing all the way over the years, and the reason behind the current high mood of practitioners is that there is a solid result support.

Xu Lianghua, deputy dean of the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and director of the National Carbon Fiber Engineering Technology Research Center, introduced the progress made by domestic carbon fiber in terms of technological progress and industrialization level during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period at the meeting. ''In recent years, what is exciting is the high enthusiasm for innovation of domestic carbon fiber companies, the unprecedented vitality of technological innovation of enterprises, and the improvement of innovation capabilities. Especially since the beginning of this year, the innovative technologies of leading enterprises have achieved unprecedented results."

He said that this year, the spinning speed of 12K dry spray wet carbon fiber in China has reached 500 m/min, that of 3K wet spinning has reached 300 m/min, that of 25K ~ 50K precursor and carbon fiber has reached 1,000 tons, that of 25K 240 bundles of precursor has reached 12 m/min, and that of 25K 220 bundles of precursor has reached 13.5 m/min.

These technologies are basically broken by leading enterprises. Cong Zongjie, general manager of Weihai Development Fiber Co., Ltd., introduced that the technical research on the efficient preparation of polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber has become an important direction for the development of China's carbon fiber industry. Three technical ways for its efficient preparation include: speed increase (increase spinning speed), bundle (increase fiber tow) and unit consumption (reduce unit cost). In terms of speed increase, the domestic dry-jet wet spinning technology jointly undertaken by Weihai Development and Beihua has made a breakthrough, achieving a stable operation of 500 m/min spinning speed. The wet spinning speed jointly undertaken by Weihai Development and Beihua has also made a breakthrough. The "high-strength PAN-based carbon fiber industrialization preparation technology based on wet spinning process" has realized the stable operation of multi-spinning position spinning speed of 300 m/min. The overall technology of these two projects has reached the international advanced level and has been applied to the field of medium and high-end composite materials, laying a technical foundation for efficient preparation and playing an exemplary and leading role in China.

In addition to technological innovation, the level of industrialization is currently in a stable stage of development. The industry uses the concept of "thousand-ton club" to describe this vividly, which means that the leading enterprises have a single-line carbon fiber production line with a production capacity of thousand tons.

"The real industrialization system of domestic carbon fiber has been established." Xu Lianghua pointed out that compared with the early days of the 13th Five-Year Plan, the industrialization scale of domestic carbon fiber has not changed much at present. There are still 12 thousand-ton lines, of which dimethyl sulfoxide technology is the main one, with 8 lines, including 2 lines expanded by Weihai, 3 lines by Zhongfu Shenying Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd., 2 lines by Jiangsu Hengshen Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. and 1 line by Zhonganxin.

The effective capacity release rate is also an important indicator to measure the level of industrial development. At the meeting, according to the comprehensive situation introduced by many guests, although China's carbon fiber production capacity was 25000 tons in 2018, the effective production capacity was about 15000 tons, and the actual market supply was about 9000 tons. Therefore, if calculated according to the effective capacity, in 2018, the capacity release of China's carbon fiber industry has reached 60%.

"Our level of industrialization is still relatively bright. 60% of the capacity release rate, even in the global carbon fiber field is already good." Xu Lianghua said.

The expansion of application areas has also achieved good results. At present, domestic carbon fiber has achieved independent supply guarantee in the aviation field, and has also been applied in many types of equipment in the aerospace field. In particular, it is worth pointing out that the technical breakthrough of wet spinning T800 carbon fiber is the largest "dynamic" carbon fiber developed in China. In terms of civilian products, the civil field represented by wind power blades has expanded very quickly, which has played a good example for the development of domestic carbon fiber in the civil field.

"if the development of domestic carbon fiber enterprises during the 12th five-year Plan period depends to a large extent on policy support, then during the 13th five-year Plan period, the development level of domestic carbon fiber enterprises far exceeded expectations. This shows that the 'hematopoiesis' function of domestic carbon fiber enterprises has been improved, and independent research and development to guide and meet market demand has been basically achieved." Xu Lianghua stressed.

Duan Xiaoping puts forward some thoughts on the current development of the domestic carbon fiber industry from another angle, that is, the industry cycle and maturity. Taking the polyester industry as an example, he pointed out that it has basically taken 30 years for the domestic polyester industry to develop to a basic maturity, and there will be a cycle every 10 years, and there will be a relatively large-scale integration. the reasons behind this integration and change include technological progress, financial crisis and other factors. If we take the course of the relatively mature polyester industry as a reference, we will find that in the past 30 years, China's polyester industry has experienced three major integrations and changes, resulting in mergers and acquisitions, some bankruptcy, and new entrants.

Duan Xiaoping pointed out that carbon fiber technology is difficult, but the overall technological progress of society is accelerating, so it can still be assumed that it will take 30 years for the domestic carbon fiber industry to basically mature. If it starts from 2005 to 2007, it is still 16 to 18 years from 2035 to 2037. At present, the domestic carbon fiber industry has undergone an adjustment, and there are already out-of-business enterprises. This round of adjustment is basically coming to an end, and it has been about 40% of the distance from 2035 to 2037 when the industry enters a mature development period. In this process, opportunities and challenges coexist.

Large tow carbon fiber "charm" four

The development of large tow is one of the mature and effective ways to reduce the cost of carbon fiber. In recent years, with the rapid development of global wind power and other industries, the demand for low-cost carbon fiber composites has expanded year by year. In this context, the major foreign carbon fiber production enterprises have large tow carbon fiber as one of the key directions of future development. At present, the main manufacturers in China that have the ability to produce large tow carbon fiber are: Formosa Plastics, Bluestar, Jilin Chemical Fiber, Jilin Jinggong, Shanghai Petrochemical and Weihai Development. The main products are T300-24K/48K.

Jilin Chemical Fiber Group is a leader in the successful preparation of large tow carbon fiber in China. Just a day before this meeting, there was good news from the group's big tow project.

On July 24, the China Textile Industry Federation organized and held the China Textile Industry Federation's science and technology guidance project "25K ~ 50K polyacrylonitrile-based precursor and carbon fiber key technology and industrial development" jointly undertaken by Jilin Carbon Valley Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd., Jilin Jinggong Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. and Changchun University of Technology in Jilin City. The appraisal committee unanimously agreed to pass the appraisal and considered that the overall technology of the project reached the international advanced level.

According to reports, the project has an annual production capacity of 16000 tons of large tow carbon fiber precursor and 4000 tons of large tow carbon fiber. The production and operation are safe and stable, and its product performance is comparable to similar international products. It has been widely used in wind power blades and buildings. The fields of reinforcement, rail transit and sports and leisure products have good economic and social benefits.

The project has developed the core technology and key equipment for the industrialization of large tow carbon fiber (25K-50K), adopted the independently developed non-metallic ion inorganic redox initiation system, and developed high-quality polyacrylonitrile suitable for the preparation of large tow carbon fiber precursor. DMAC wet two-step spinning technology for preparing homogeneous structure precursor has been developed, realizing stable production of single-wire 5000-ton 25K-50K precursor. Constant tension control technology for large tow fiber during pre-oxidation process has been developed, combined with temperature intelligent control and automatic decoking process, the stable production of single-line 2000-ton 25K-50K carbon fiber is realized. The project has independent intellectual property rights and applied for 3 patents.

Song Dewu, chairman and general manager of Jilin Chemical Fiber Group Company, said in an interview: "The project passed the appraisal, marking the real industrialization and marketization of China's 25K ~ 50K large tow carbon fiber, and also marking the substantial progress of Jilin Chemical Fiber's more than 10 years of carbon fiber research and development and research. Over the past year, 25K, 48K and other products have achieved good results in downstream customer applications and product performance testing."

Song Dewu further said that stable product performance and differentiated production, economy and efficiency are the direction and purpose of the development of large tow, which can truly reflect the unique advantages of low-cost, universal and high-quality large tow carbon fiber. In the next step, on the basis of maintaining stable product performance, Jilin Chemical Fiber Group will continue to closely integrate with downstream application and design manufacturers to promote the development of large tow carbon fiber production.

It is particularly worth pointing out that the large tow carbon fiber produced by Jilin Chemical Fiber Group has successfully opened the application market in the field of wind power. According to reports, Weihai Development, Jilin Chemical Fiber Group and Jilin Jinggong have formed strategic partners to jointly verify the application of large tow carbon fiber in wind power carbon beams. At present, 24K carbon fiber kiloton mass production and application have been realized.

Reporters saw in the carbonization workshop of Jilin jinggong carbon fiber co., ltd that the equipment with a height of 4-5 meters was neatly arranged. the technological process of the whole workshop included wire laying, pre-oxidation, low-temperature carbonization, high-temperature carbonization, etc. Silver carbonization furnace neatly arranged together is very spectacular, the inside of the product subjected to the need for high temperature, a magical change, carbonization furnace is the key equipment of carbonization, carbonization is the key to the formation of carbon wire. "Part of the large tow carbon fiber we buy is produced on this line." Pointing to the carbonization line, a representative of Weihai Development said.

According to reports, in 2018, the low wind speed wind field and offshore wind power jointly promoted the large-scale development of blades. With the increase of blade length, only carbon fiber can not only reduce the quality of the blade, but also improve the stiffness of the blade, which further promotes the continuous rapid growth of large tow carbon fiber in the field of wind power, which is expected to exceed 25000 tons by 2020. Carbon fiber is mainly used in the key part of the main force of wind turbine blades-carbon beam, compared with glass fiber reinforced plastic blades can reduce weight by 12%, but has higher stiffness and fatigue resistance, and has lower transportation and installation costs and maintenance costs, can extend the service life of the fan.

In 2018, China's wind power blades consumed about 7000 tons of carbon fiber over 24K. It is also driven by the demand of the wind turbine blade market that in 2018, China's two major carbon fiber clusters, Shandong and Jiangsu, ranked the top two in the consumption of large tow carbon fiber, thus making Guangdong Province, which has long ranked first, ranked third.

"In recent years, driven by the strong wind power giant Vestas, the demand for carbon fiber in wind blades has grown rapidly. As the cost and price of large tow carbon fiber continue to decline, large tow carbon fiber, which is targeted at sports equipment, wind blades, automobiles and pressure vessels, has entered the fast lane of development." Jilin Jinggong Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd. General Manager Zhuang Hailin said.

Industrial heavyweight Jilin has unlimited potential

The meeting was held in Jilin City, so that the "host" of the development of the carbon fiber industry has attracted much attention.

According to reports, in the 1970 s, Jilin Carbon Plant built the earliest carbonization production line in China and became the country's first designated production enterprise for special carbon fiber. PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company is also one of the earliest enterprises in China to produce carbon fiber precursor and carbon wire, and has developed the first set of production technology for carbon fiber precursor in China. Since Jilin City was recognized by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the only national carbon fiber high-tech industrialization base in the country in 2010, the carbon fiber industry in Jilin City has entered the fast lane of development and has blossomed in R & D, production and downstream applications.

From the perspective of raw materials, Jilin City is the largest acrylonitrile production base in China. At present, CNPC Jilin Petrochemical has formed a production capacity of 430000 tons/year, which can provide sufficient raw material support for PAN-based carbon fiber production. From the perspective of energy, Jilin City has abundant hydropower and developed thermal power, with a total power capacity of 4.4 million kilowatts, which can provide sufficient power resources for carbon fiber production. From the perspective of industrial agglomeration, Jilin carbon fiber industrial base was founded in 2009, covering an area of 2.8 square kilometers. At present, 11.2 square kilometers of land has been planned in Jingkai North District of Jilin Province for the development of the whole carbon fiber industry chain.

At the same time, Jilin City has also set up a special carbon fiber industry to promote the leading group. The group can coordinate 14 departments such as municipal development and reform, industry and information technology, science and technology, and finance to solve related problems, and can form a joint force to promote the development of carbon fiber industry. In terms of electricity charges that carbon fiber enterprises are generally concerned about, Jilin City has reduced the electricity price of carbon fiber enterprises to 0.3 yuan/degree, and has given enterprises 2 million yuan to 10 million yuan reward for landing projects, and will cash in 27.89 million yuan of electricity price subsidy funds in 2018.

Under the strong support of a variety of comprehensive elements, Jilin City has formed a large-scale and clustered development trend of the carbon fiber industry, with a complete industrial chain of "propylene-acrylonitrile-polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fiber precursor-carbon fiber-carbon fiber downstream products". It has become one of the important gathering places of China's carbon fiber industry.

At present, there are more than 20 enterprises in Jilin City engaged in carbon fiber precursor, carbon wire and carbon fiber products research and development and production. The production capacity of carbon fiber precursor reached 16000 tons, which is the largest in the country. The product specifications cover 1K, 3K, 6K, 12K, 24K, 25K and 48K. The production capacity of carbon fiber reached 5400 tons, ranking second in the country. Its 48K large tow carbon fiber has been produced on a large scale. Among them, Jilin Carbon Valley Carbon Fiber Co.

In terms of application, the car seat back products of Jilin City have entered the FAW-Volkswagen supporting system, and the application of thermal insulation materials in the photovoltaic industry is at the forefront of the country. Aerospace material components, hard composite carbon felt, heating products, drones, etc. have been formed in mass production.

According to Song Jiasheng, deputy director of the Jilin Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the space camera composite body structure developed by Changchun Changguang Aerospace Composite Materials Co., Ltd., the composite material cabin for missile body structure and other products are at the leading domestic level, and the advanced composite satellite structure developed, Rocket fairing and other products are at the domestic advanced level.

"The development of the carbon fiber industry in Jilin City is changing with each passing day and has unlimited prospects. At present, Jilin City is in a critical period of transformation and development, focusing on the realization of the comprehensive revitalization of the old industrial city, all-round revitalization, we propose to transform traditional industries at the same time, vigorously develop carbon fiber-based strategic emerging industries, to build the whole carbon fiber industry chain, and further promote the carbon fiber industry to achieve large-scale, cluster, chain development." Xie Yi's remarks let us see the unlimited development potential of Jilin City as an important industrial cluster of domestic carbon fiber in the future.

Only when the vitality of each cluster is fully bursting and the potential can be fully tapped, can domestic carbon fiber go more steadily, smoothly and more confidently in the second half of the process towards the mature development stage of the industry.

"In the future, carbon fiber may appear in applications that we did not expect before. China's carbon fiber industry should 'never forget the original intention, keep in mind the mission', build a world-class carbon fiber and composite materials industry, break through the key technologies and materials of the industry, and make contributions to the national economy and the construction of major national projects." Duan Xiaoping said.