Recently, it was reported that the price of melt-blown non-woven fabrics, the core material of masks, plummeted by about 150,000 yuan per ton in just one week. Is the news true? What is the reason for the rising price of melt-blown non-woven fabrics to drop? Is meltblown fabric production capacity already overcapacity? Can meltblown cloth be purchased now? Price fluctuations and questions about production capacity have once again put meltblown cloth on the “hot search”.
The price of melt-blown cloth is on a “roller coaster”
New coronavirus pneumonia Since the outbreak, due to the surge in demand for masks, the price of meltblown cloth has risen rapidly, from 18,000 yuan/ton before the epidemic to 200,000 yuan/ton at the end of February, and doubled again to 520,000 yuan/ton in early March. 29 times. The Securities Times reported that it learned from mask companies in Zhejiang and Guangdong that the price of meltblown cloth in some areas has increased from 10,000 to 20,000 yuan/ton before the epidemic to 500,000 yuan/ton to 600,000 yuan/ton. After tons, although it can still maintain a high level, it is often priceless but not marketable. “Taking Zhejiang as an example, the transaction price on March 11 was 350,000 yuan/ton, while it was still more than 400,000 yuan a few days ago. The decrease is still obvious.” Some local companies in Shaoxing also said that the price in the past week has remained at 38 About ten thousand yuan.
Why has the price of melt-blown cloth been on a “roller coaster” in the short term? It is understood that the main reason for the skyrocketing price of melt-blown cloth is the serious imbalance between the supply and demand of melt-blown cloth. Downstream companies and individuals actively bid for purchases, coupled with the promotion of some dealers and other factors, causing the unit price to soar.
On March 10, the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a document stating that the State Administration for Market Regulation attaches great importance to the illegal behavior of driving up the price of melt-blown fabrics and will cooperate with the Ministry of Public Security to investigate and punish those who disrupt the melt-blown fabric market in accordance with the law. We must strictly control the illegal behavior of price order and resolutely cut off the illegal chain of driving up the price of meltblown cloth.
Is meltblown cloth overcapacity?
During the epidemic, many mask manufacturers suspended production due to a shortage of meltblown cloth. As melt-blown cloth production companies have gradually resumed work, capable large-scale enterprises have significantly expanded production, and the production capacity of melt-blown cloth has gradually expanded recently.
At the same time as the news of the price reduction spread, some people in the industry said that although they heard that the price had dropped, the actual situation was that meltblown cloth was still unavailable. It is too early to say that meltblown fabric production capacity is overcapacity. Although the domestic epidemic has been effectively controlled and the demand for masks has gradually slowed down, the world is in a state of shortage of masks.
According to statistics from the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association, domestic non-woven fabric production in 2018 was approximately 5.94 million tons. Among them, the proportion of melt-blown non-woven fabrics produced by the melt-blown method is 0.9%. From this, it is calculated that the output of melt-blown non-woven fabrics in my country is about 53,500 tons. These melt-blown non-woven fabrics are not only used for masks, but also for environmental protection materials, clothing materials, battery separator materials, wiping materials, etc.
Li Lingshen, president of the China Industrial Textiles Industry Association, said in an interview with CCTV News: “It is expected that by the end of March and early April, our country will be able to produce 200 tons of melt-blown nonwovens per day. Materials can produce 200 million to 250 million masks, achieving a ‘tight balance’.”
Although it is difficult to expand the production of melt-blown cloth in a short time, our country still uses the following methods Production capacity has been increased at the fastest speed: original production companies have increased production capacity through technology research and development, equipment conversion, etc.; some upstream petrochemical companies have begun to build new production lines; companies with similar industrial lines have renovated production lines to relieve pressure on raw materials.
For example, Dalian Ruiguang Nonwovens Group Co., Ltd., through secondary research and development of key melt-blown technologies and process optimization, has increased its production capacity from 4~ when it was put into production on January 28. 5 tons, increased to 80,000 to 100,000 tons.
Upstream petrochemical companies, represented by Sinopec, have begun to build new production lines, and products are currently being sold and shipped: Sinopec’s party group decided that in view of the current severe national epidemic prevention and control situation and the core of masks In view of the shortage of raw materials, we will invest approximately 200 million yuan to take advantage of our own raw material production to immediately organize supply and quickly build 10 meltblown cloth production lines at Beijing Yanshan Petrochemical and Jiangsu Yizheng Chemical Fiber.
Jiangsu Yizheng Chemical Fiber was working around the clock to urgently build the eight melt-blown cloth production lines it had previously received. With the addition of new tasks, Yizheng Chemical Fiber was building a melt-blown cloth production line. There are a total of 12 spray cloth production lines.
On March 9, the first batch of products after the new melt-blown cloth production line of Sinopec Yanshan Petrochemical was completed and put into operation, totaling 35 boxes of 1.26 tons of melt-blown cloth, was sold and shipped to alleviate the epidemic. The company is facing an urgent shortage of raw materials for masks. It is understood that the melt-blown non-woven production line put into operation by Yanshan Petrochemical has an annual design production capacity of 14,400 tons, including two melt-blown non-woven production lines and three spun-bonded fabric production lines. It can produce 4 tons of N95 melt-blown cloth or 6 tons per day. Medical flat mask meltblown cloth. These raw materials can produce 1.2 million pieces (4 tons × 300,000 pieces/ton) of N95 masks, or 6 million pieces (6 tons × 1 million pieces/ton) of medical flat masks.
Melt-blown cloth alternatives appear
At the same time, the number of alternatives The emergence of meltblown cloth is also one of the reasons affecting the price of meltblown cloth.
ChemChina’s new alternative material is called expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, which has been put into production of masks. It can be equivalent to the isolation ability of N95 or KN95 standards, and it has good breathability and can…ic.168tex.com/Upload/News/image/2020/03/25/20200325093905891003.png”>
Use melt-blown non-woven fabric or melt-blown technology to prevent/anti-virus Mask patent situation
To search for anti-virus/antibacterial mask patents of melt-blown cloth or melt-blown technology (as of February 15, 2020), use Beijing Hexiang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. In the INCOPAT global patent database, 31 sets of patents (applications) were obtained after the merger of the same family. The patent for anti-virus/antibacterial masks with melt-blown cloth or melt-blown technology was first seen in the domestic applicant Nantong Institute of Technology, and applied in 1997. The anti-bacterial mask core is ultra-fine The fiber mesh layer is melt-blown and attached to the surface of the activated carbon fiber felt block. During the melt-blown process, the ultrafine fibers and the ultrafine fibers and the activated carbon fibers self-bond and condense to form a uniform mesh, and the activated carbon fibers are not easy to fall off. This patent Subsequently, the rights were terminated due to non-payment of annual fees.
The following focuses on the analysis of patents that were subsequently authorized and are still valid. Among them, Japan Unicharm Co., Ltd. in 2006 -In 2010, more anti-/anti-viral mask patent layouts related to melt-blown fabrics were carried out. Unicharm’s two patents in China were applied for in 2007 and 2010 respectively, and both patents were filed in Japan, Europe, the United States and other regions. Layout. The mask in patent 101534905B contains silver ion antibacterial polyolefin fiber sheets and dry non-woven fabrics. The mask in patent CN102548439B includes a first fiber layer of polyolefin fibers containing inorganic antibacterial agents, and a second fiber layer of melt-blown non-woven fabric. Fiber layer and the third fiber layer. The company achieves the anti/anti-viral function of the mask by comprehensively using inorganic antibacterial agents and melt-blown non-woven fabrics.
Hong Kong Innoly Technology Co., Ltd. also owns many valid patents related to melt-blown cloth masks through transfers and applications. In 2010, it received China CN102448550B and US patent US9963611B2 transferred by Filligan Co., Ltd., both of which are related to polypropylene materials. A complete protective mask coated with citric acid, polyvinyl alcohol and non-ionic surfactants, which can also include bactericidal, fungicidal or virucidal reagents. In addition, Innoly also applied for European patent EP2435139B1 at the same time as the assigned patent. , involving a four-layer protective mask. The first, second and fourth layers are made of spunbond non-woven polypropylene fiber. The first layer contains citric acid, the second layer contains copper acetate and zinc acetate composition, and the third layer is melt-blown polypropylene. Fiber.
In addition, after 2010, domestic companies have made concentrated patent applications in melt-blown cloth masks. It can be seen that as demand expands, domestic companies have made more efforts in melt-blown cloth mask technology. It also has independent intellectual property rights products. For example, the anti-bacterial mask patent CN104055247B of Yueyang Weier Composite Materials Technology Co., Ltd. uses polymer ultra-thin sub-nanofiltration composite membrane as the intermediate filter element. The middle layer of the mask of Anshan Hansheng Technology Co., Ltd. is made of ultra-fine polypropylene fiber melt-blown material, and the outer surface is also equipped with a supercritical nanoscale photocatalyst coating to achieve anti-/anti-virus effects. The anti/anti-virus masks of Guangzhou Byfer Air Purification Materials Co., Ltd. adopt a four-layer design of spunbond fiber layer, melt-blown fiber layer, nanofiber layer and second spunbond fiber layer.
Taken together, in recent years, my country’s textile companies have developed patent technologies related to melt-blown non-woven fabrics and melt-blown cloth masks. There are innovations in everything. The epidemic has boosted the market demand for meltblown non-woven fabrics, and the company’s related technology research and development is also expected to achieve new developments. </p
