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Metallocene polyethylene is a novel thermoplastic, the most important technological progress in the polyolefin industry in the 1990s, and an important innovation after the LLDPE production technology. Since it is polyethylene produced using metallocene (MAO) as a polymerization catalyst, its performance is significantly different from that of PE polymerized using traditional Ziegler-Natta catalysts. The unique excellent performance and application of metallocene catalysts in the synthesis of metallocene polyethylene have attracted widespread attention in the market. Many world-renowned large petrochemical companies have invested huge manpower and material resources to compete for development and research, and it has become a hot topic in the polyolefin industry and even the entire plastics industry.
In the early days, metallocene catalysts were used for ethylene polymerization to only produce waxy substances with a molecular weight of 20,000 to 30,000, and the catalytic activity was not high and had no practical significance, so it did not attract attention and promotion. Until 1980, Professor Kaminsky of Hamburg University in Germany found that the co-catalyst of bis(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium chloride (CPZrCl) and methylaluminoxane (MAO) could be used to polymerize ethylene in toluene solution. The catalyst activity was as high as 106g-PE/g-Zr, and the reaction rate was comparable to that of enzyme reaction. MAO is a highly oligomeric methylaluminoxane synthesized by dimethylaluminum and water under conditions other than polymerization system. Professor Kaminsky's discovery has injected vitality into the research of metallocene catalysts, attracted many companies to participate in development and research, and made considerable progress.
In 1991, Exxon Corporation of the United States first realized the use of metallocene catalysts for industrial production of polyolefins and produced the first batch of metallocene polyethylene (mPE), whose trade name is "Exact".
ExxonMobil Chemical Company recently launched a new metallocene polyethylene (mPE) product - EnableTM MPE, saying that the product helps manufacturers maintain excellent film properties while strengthening the extrusion processing performance of the film. ExxonMobil believes its superior performance leads to more stable production operations, higher film line output, simplified film raw material formulations and thinning of film thickness.
This single and unique resin, Enable mPE, combines film processing performance with the excellent physical properties of high alpha olefins for a range of flexible packaging film applications, including shrink wrap film, pallet shrink wrap film, hand-cast wrap film, agricultural greenhouse film, medium and heavy-duty packaging bags and composite packaging film.
"This new product creates excellent film performance and brings additional benefits to processors in the form of simplified formulations, reduced extrusion energy consumption, increased film line output, more sustainable flexible packaging film solutions and diversified applications," said David McConville, global market development manager for polyethylene at ExxonMobil Chemical. "These benefits also include the replacement of complex LLDPE blends and the possibility of significant film thinning for LDPE-based blends. ¡±
Enable mPE has an extremely wide and stable operating window on both LLDPE and LDPE equipment and can be extruded at lower melt temperatures. This feature brings reduced extrusion energy consumption to efficiency-seeking manufacturers, enabling better bubble stability and stable and worry-free production operations; the product can provide faster film processing speeds, thereby increasing the capacity of film production lines. When replacing LLDPE-based blends, Enable mPE can increase production by up to 20%, thereby increasing the revenue of film manufacturers and delaying future investments in new equipment.
This new The product is a single resin solution designed to replace blended formulations. It simplifies raw material procurement plans and reduces storage costs by reducing the number of resin varieties. At the same time, it also helps to reduce the extremely costly blending errors caused by complex blending formulas, thereby reducing film waste. It is reported that this new product can usually exceed the mechanical performance requirements of films with LLDPE as the main formula. It can also significantly improve the toughness of films with LDPE as the main formula, making it possible to reduce film thinning by up to 20%, and also broaden the scope of use of LDPE equipment. "Enable mPE is designed as a complement to Exceed TM mPE. Both have excellent film thinning potential, which can reduce film weight, storage costs and operating capital requirements, thereby providing sustainable development benefits and reducing environmental impact.
The diversity provided by mPE can be applied to a wide range of flexible packaging film applications, including: (1) shrink packaging films for bottled water, beverages, canned goods, hand sanitizers, detergents, health products and skin care products; (2) pallet packaging for bulk goods; (3) multi-layer hand-wound packaging films; (4) agricultural greenhouse films; (5) medium and heavy packaging bags; and (6) various composite flexible packaging films for food and non-food products.
Among metallocene polyolefins, mPE has the fastest development and is more mature. The main varieties are linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and very low-density polyethylene (VLDPE). There are two series of mPE, one is the film grade with packaging as the main target, and the other is the plastomer with octene-1 as the comonomer, called POP (Polyolefine Plastmer). MPE film grades have a lower melting point and a distinct melting zone, and are significantly superior to traditional polyethylene in terms of toughness, transparency, hot viscosity, heat sealing temperature, and low odor. They can be used to produce heavy-duty packaging bags, metal trash bin liners, food packaging, stretch films, etc.
Currently, the consumption of metallocene linear low-density polyethylene accounts for about 15% of the total consumption of linear low-density polyethylene, and it is expected that this proportion will reach 22% by 2010. According to statistics, the annual output of metallocene polyethylene in the world is about 15 million tons, of which products used in the field of food packaging account for about 36% of the total consumption, non-food packaging accounts for about 47%, and other aspects (pharmaceuticals, automobiles, and construction, etc.) account for about 17%. Polyethylene has the largest output, the fastest development, and the most active variety development among synthetic resins. Whether polyethylene can achieve high performance depends largely on the performance of the catalyst. Metallocene catalysts have excellent catalytic copolymerization ability. They can make most copolymers copolymerize with ethylene, and can catalyze the polymerization of polar monomers, which is difficult to achieve using traditional catalysts. In terms of cycloolefin polymerization, traditional catalysts can only perform ring-opening polymerization, while metallocene catalysts can perform double bond addition polymerization.
Because many developed countries have adopted metallocene linear low-density polyethylene to replace conventional linear low-density polyethylene, the average annual consumption growth rate of metallocene linear low-density polyethylene will be higher than that of linear low-density polyethylene in the future, reaching 15%. Nearly half of the growth in the production of linear low-density polyethylene in developed countries in the future will come from metallocene linear low-density polyethylene. It is expected that the demand for metallocene linear low-density polyethylene in the US market will increase to 1.34 million tons in 2009.
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