Meltblown cloth is the key material for filtering in masks. It is called the "heart" of masks. In addition to blocking large dust particles, it can also absorb fine dust, bacteria and virus droplets through the static charge on the surface. live.

For a long time, the meltblown cloth market has been tepid, and the capacity of meltblown cloth is not high. According to the data of the China Industrial Textile Industry Association Spunbond Nonwovens Branch, the actual output of China's meltblown nonwovens in 2018 was 53.523 million tons, while the actual output of the entire industry's spunlaid nonwovens was 3.024727 million tons. This means that the output of meltblown cloth accounted for only 1.8% of the entire industry that year.

With the outbreak, the daily output of masks has gradually increased, and the price of meltblown cloth as an important raw material has soared to nearly 20 times before the epidemic. It is understood that the current price of meltblown cloth on the market has reached 300,000 yuan a ton. Before the epidemic, the average market price of meltblown cloth was only 18,000 yuan per ton. Some mask manufacturers said that the soaring melt-blown cloth prices have approached their limit. One cloth is hard to find, coupled with the long customization cycle and high price of meltblown cloth production equipment, some enterprises producing masks are embarrassed.

Science and Technology Daily reporter logged in to the State Council client key medical prevention and control materials production supply and demand docking zone and found that despite the large-scale increase in the country's new production capacity, core raw material meltblown cloth is still the most sought-after material.

"Now everywhere, mask production lines are being used, and raw materials are being grabbed for masks. The problem now is not that the production lines are not enough, but that there is no one-to-one match between the raw materials and the mask production lines, which has intensified the tight supply of raw materials. Jin Lei, deputy director of the Chemical Development Division.

In addition to the low basic production capacity, there is a more important reason for the distressed supply of meltblown cloth, which is that the production increase cycle is too long. It is understood that the construction of a melt-blown cloth production line will cost nearly 8 million yuan, the delivery time for domestic equipment to be put into operation will be 3-4 months, and the imported equipment will be as long as 6-8 months. For some special parts, the cycle can even reach about 10 months.

In addition, there are some differences in the filtration efficiency and electrostatic adsorption force of meltblown cloth produced by different equipment, which affects the stability of product quality. Some insiders said that considering the product quality, larger factories generally choose imported production lines.

Facing the contradiction between the surge in demand and the shortage of mask raw materials, many companies have begun to join the ranks of "cross-border protection" through technology research and development.

On February 24, Sinopec announced that it would invest about 200 million yuan to build 10 meltblown cloth production lines. After the project is completed, 4 tons of N95 meltblown cloth or 6 tons of medical flat mask meltblown cloth can be produced every day. These materials can produce 1.2 million pieces of N95 masks or 6 million pieces of medical face masks.

"I have a mask machine, I have a batten machine!" Also with its own "cross-border" is China Shipbuilding Corporation. Since the announcement of the key research and development of key components of the emergency mask machine on February 26, the first batch of ultrasonic welding systems for mask machines was delivered to China Ship Eighth Hospital, Hanguang Heavy Industry and other mask machine production units on February 29.

And clothing, car companies, pharmaceutical companies, diaper factories, and even new energy companies with a certain industry crossover have also crossed the border. For example, polypropylene, the raw material of meltblown cloth, is also one of the raw materials for producing acoustic insulation cotton for automobiles, so automobile manufacturers have sufficient supplies. The aseptic workshop of pharmaceutical companies can meet the medical device production standards of masks. Data show that from January 1 to February 27, 2020, more than 30,000 new medical device companies nationwide.

The national team and the civilian forces go hand in hand, and now there is a blowout of mask production. On March 2, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that as of February 29, the daily production capacity of masks in China, including ordinary masks, medical masks, and medical N95 masks, reached 110 million, and the daily output reached 116 million, respectively on February 1. 5.2 times, 12 times.

Jinfeng