Recently, Beouyi Technology, a leading domestic high-end polyolefin solution provider, strategically introduced shareholders such as Jinshi Investment, Guotai Junan Innovation Investment, DICE Investment, Hidden Hill Capital, and Xiangtou Fund, successfully completing its Series B financing. The raised funds will primarily be used for research and development as well as project construction.

Beiouyi Technology was founded in July 2023 as China's first new materials company to achieve the domestic substitution of polyolefin elastomers (POE), breaking the foreign technological blockade in the POE field. In July 2024, Beiouyi (Shandong) New Materials Co., Ltd. completed the final acceptance of its 30,000-ton annual special polyolefin and supporting project. The project commenced construction in April 2022, was completed on December 9, 2023, and began trial operations on February 10, 2024. The plant area covers 10,181.5 square meters, with an actual total investment of 610.745 million yuan and an actual environmental protection investment of 5.5 million yuan.

Polyolefin elastomer (POE) mainly refers to the random copolymer elastomers of ethylene and alpha-olefins (such as 1-butene, 1-hexene, 1-octene, etc.). It has excellent weather resistance and chemical resistance, as well as good transparency and flexibility. It is compatible with polyolefins, combining the high elasticity of rubber with the easy processing of plastics.

Early on, POE was primarily used in the automotive sector, where the industry's market size remained relatively stable. With ongoing advancements in POE material research, POE began to be widely applied as a photovoltaic film material in the solar energy sector, further driving the growth in demand for POE. As China only achieved industrial production of POE in recent years, the actual production capacity has been insufficient, leading to a rapid increase in imports. By 2024, the import volume reached 910,000 tons, a 6% year-on-year increase.

The upstream of the POE industry chain mainly consists of ethylene and α-olefins (such as 1-butene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene). These two raw materials are used to synthesize POE under the action of metallocene catalysts. In addition to the POE polymerization process and catalysts, the industrial production of α-olefins is also one of the main factors limiting domestic POE production capacity.

The current production technology mainly relies on Dow's Insite solution polymerization process and ExxonMobil's Exxpol high-pressure polymerization technology. Compared to high-pressure polymerization, the Insite solution polymerization process simplifies many steps, including the cooling and washing of catalyst residues, solvent extraction, and product drying. This method is employed by major production companies such as Dow, Mitsui Chemicals, LG Chem, Sabic, and SK. In the future, this process will continue to dominate POE production. However, solution polymerization must be conducted at higher temperatures (at least 120°C), which places higher demands on the catalysts.

The world's leading POE manufacturers include Dow, ExxonMobil, Mitsui Chemicals, SK, LG Chem, SABIC, etc. Currently, China's enterprises with POE research, development, and production capabilities include Wanhua Chemical, Satellite Chemical, Tianjin Petrochemical, Oriental Shenghong, Maoming Petrochemical, and a few other companies. Beioyi and Wanhua have taken the lead in achieving industrial production. In terms of planned capacity, Wanhua Chemical, Dingji De, and Zhejiang Petrochemical each have a planned POE capacity of 400,000 tons per year, while Oriental Shenghong, Satellite Chemical, Tianjin Petrochemical, Huisen New Materials, and Chengzhi Co., Ltd. each have a planned POE capacity of 100,000 tons or more. Future production capacity will be gradually released.