In the high-end material sectors of medical devices and municipal engineering, there has long been a "dual dependence" — precision medical catheters rely on imported polymer materials, while natural gas transmission pipelines predominantly use metal pipes. This reliance not only drives up costs but also poses hidden risks to supply chain security. Sinopec's independently developed polybutene-1 (PB-1) material is rewriting this landscape with breakthrough performance and cost advantages: medical catheters made from it have passed the internationally authoritative ISO 10993 biocompatibility tests, with prices 30% lower than similar imported products; in numerous domestic "natural gas municipal pipeline" projects, it has successfully replaced metal pipes, achieving a material innovation of "plastic replacing steel."

Medical Field: Breaking Through from "Technological Bottlenecks" to "Equivalent Substitution"

Medical catheters, the "lifelines" of interventional therapy, infusion, and blood transfusion, have extremely strict requirements for material biocompatibility. They must pass 12 indicators in the ISO 10993 series tests (including cytotoxicity, skin sensitization, and hemocompatibility) to ensure no adverse reactions when in contact with human tissues. For a long time, high-end domestic medical catheter materials have been monopolized by international brands such as Germany's Basell and Japan's Mitsui, with not only high prices (imported raw materials exceeding 80,000 yuan per ton) but also long delivery cycles of up to 30 days, restricting the upgrading of domestic medical devices.

Sinopec's PB-1 has broken this situation through targeted research and development. The R&D team optimized the molecular structure for medical scenarios, achieving an extract cell survival rate of 98% (far exceeding the 70% threshold specified in ISO 10993) and a hemolysis rate of <0.5%, fully meeting the strict requirements for Class III medical devices. In 2023, the material obtained approval from the National Medical Products Administration and was officially applied to high-end products such as central venous catheters and hemodialysis tubes.

Clinical application data shows: A Grade III-A hospital using infusion catheters made from Sinopec's PB-1 reported a 12% reduction in patients' phlebitis incidence (from 8.5% to 7.5%) compared with imported catheters, thanks to the material's low friction coefficient (0.08, versus 0.1 for imported products). In long-term indwelling catheters (such as PICC lines), its anti-bending performance reduced catheter fracture rates by 20%, extending service life to 180 days, on par with imported products.

The cost advantage is even more significant. A medical device enterprise calculated that after adopting Sinopec's PB-1, raw material costs decreased from 82,000 yuan per ton to 57,000 yuan (a 30.5% reduction), saving 25 million yuan annually for a production line with an annual capacity of 10 million sets. Meanwhile, the domestic supply chain shortened the delivery cycle to 7 days, increasing the response speed to emergency orders by 4 times, demonstrating strong supply chain resilience during public health emergencies such as the pandemic.

Natural Gas Municipal Pipelines: A Performance Revolution of "Plastic Replacing Steel"

In the field of natural gas transmission, traditional spiral welded steel pipes have three major drawbacks: heavy weight (28kg per meter for DN200 pipes), requiring heavy machinery for installation, and susceptibility to corrosion (service life of approximately 20 years). Sinopec's PB-1 pipes, with their combined advantages of "high strength + flexibility + corrosion resistance," have become an ideal alternative material.

Key performance indicators validate its suitability:

· Pressure resistance: Passing the GB/T 6111-2018 test, it can withstand a pressure of PN1.6MPa at 95℃C (equivalent to the requirements for natural gas main pipelines with a transmission pressure of 1.0MPa), with a burst pressure of 6.4MPa, twice the design pressure of steel pipes;

· Corrosion resistance: In soil environments with pH 3-11, its service life reaches 50 years, far exceeding the 20-year lifespan of steel pipes, and no anti-corrosion coating is needed;

· Construction efficiency: Weighing only 1/8 of steel pipes of the same specification (3.5kg per meter for DN200), it can be transported manually, and the trenchless laying speed is tripled (150 meters per day versus 50 meters for steel pipes).

Sinopec's PB-1 pipes have been widely used in major projects such as the supporting branches of the "West-to-East Gas Pipeline" project and the municipal pipe network in Xiong'an New Area. Typical cases:

· In a natural gas medium-pressure pipe network renovation project in Zhengzhou, DN315 PB-1 pipes replaced the original steel pipes, reducing the project cost per kilometer by 18% (from 4.2 million yuan to 3.44 million yuan) and shortening the construction period from 45 days to 12 days, minimizing traffic disruption;

· In the coastal area of Qianhai New Area, Shenzhen, traditional steel pipes showed rust after 3 years in the high-salt-fog environment, while PB-1 pipes remained corrosion-free after 5 years of operation, reducing maintenance costs by 60%.

Material innovation has also solved the "last mile" problem of steel pipes. In the natural gas renovation of old residential communities, the flexibility of PB-1 enables "wall penetration and corner turning" without elbow fittings, saving 80 yuan per node and reducing leakage risk points (by 30% fewer interfaces).

Technical Foundation for Substitution Capability: Independent Innovation System

These substitution breakthroughs in high-end fields stem from Sinopec PB-1's complete technological innovation chain. In the development of medical-grade products, molecular chain end modification technology is used to reduce small molecule precipitation (total migration <5mg/dm², far below the 10mg/dm² limit in GB 4806.7); for natural gas pipelines, a "PB-1 + glass fiber" composite reinforcement technology has been developed, increasing ring stiffness to 8kN/m² to meet the requirements of buried pressure resistance.

As the core achievement of China's first 3,000-ton/year high isotactic polybutene-1 industrial demonstration plant, its production process is completely independently controllable, with 28 invention patents forming a technical barrier. Compared with imported materials, it not only meets all performance indicators but also can be custom-developed for domestic scenarios — such as the low-temperature resistant PB-1 developed for plateau natural gas pipelines (-30℃C impact strength retention rate >90%), filling the gap in the international market.