On April 21, the globally anticipated CHINAPLAS 2026 International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber Industries officially opened at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai. Across 17 themed zones and more than 390,000 square meters of exhibition space, over 5,000 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions around the world were all in place.
Grand Scene at the Venue
On the first day of the exhibition, the popularity of the DODGEN booth exceeded expectations.
Several questions were repeatedly asked of the technical staff at the booth:
·How can yield be improved in the purification process of bio-based materials?
·What is the maximum hourly throughput of the polymerization reactor?
·How can flow-field uniformity be ensured in a large-diameter mixer under high-viscosity systems?
DODGEN engineers wrote down the answers on scratch paper and worked through calculations on the spot — a scene rather uncommon at CHINAPLAS booths.
On the other side of the booth, an executive from a chemical group in Shandong spent nearly an hour in discussion with DODGEN’s technical team. The conversation ranged from the three-stage configuration of a devolatilization system for polyolefin elastomers (POE), to POE purity requirements in photovoltaic encapsulation films, and then to the technical bottlenecks in the expected expansion of domestic POE capacity over the next two years. Such in-depth discussions are only possible because DODGEN has full-chain service capabilities ranging from process solutions to project implementation, enabling it to sit down with clients and work out the economics of the process together.
DODGEN is not a stranger to these questions from customers on site; each question can be traced to practical experience documented in its project portfolio.
Related Achievements
1. Biodegradable Plastics
At this year’s CHINAPLAS, environmentally friendly and recyclable solutions were a major theme, and the density of both exhibitors and visitors in the biodegradable materials sector was noticeably higher than in previous years. For DODGEN, this was a familiar territory.
·PLGA
DODGEN’s PLGA functional polymer process technology integrates advantages in molecular structure regulation, lower processing temperatures, crystallization-rate control, and improved polymer thermal stability, significantly enhancing the overall performance of PLA and PGA. For emerging biodegradable materials such as polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA), and polyglycolic acid (PGA), DODGEN has also built up mature unit technologies and engineering project experience.
2. Bio-Based Materials
·Isosorbide
DODGEN’s complete isosorbide process technology recently passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, reaching an internationally advanced level. This achievement drew considerable attention during the technical exchange sessions at the booth.
·Lyocell Fiber
DODGEN has served two new solvent-process cellulose fiber projects in Changzhou and Shandong with a combined capacity of 300,000 tons (bio-based chemical fiber), providing DSR reactors and melt heat exchangers, thus becoming a key equipment supplier behind a product widely regarded in the industry as a representative of green fiber.
3. High-Performance Polymers
DODGEN’s booth remained highly popular in the fields of engineering plastics and specialty polymers as well.
·Polyolefin Elastomer (POE)
In recent years, the POE sector has become a focal point in polymer materials, driven by explosive demand for photovoltaic encapsulation films. Leveraging its core technology in strand devolatilization systems, DODGEN has cooperated with a number of domestic companies on 10,000-ton-scale industrial POE devolatilization projects in recent years, establishing a leading position in this niche field. As experts introduced these cases at the exhibition, many companies planning POE production capacity stopped by to inquire further. DODGEN has also accumulated engineering achievements in thermoplastic polyester elastomers (TPEE), cyclic olefin copolymers (COC), functional polyesters, and polyester polyols (raw materials for polyurethane).
4. Polymer Monomers
In the field of polymer monomers, DODGEN’s melt crystallization and distillation purification technologies for fine chemicals such as p-phenylenediamine, terephthaloyl chloride, and hydroquinone cover multiple upstream products directly related to the plastics and rubber industry, including additives, antioxidants, and crosslinking agents.
·Acrylic Acid
Acrylic acid is an important polymer monomer in the plastics and rubber industry, widely used in acrylic rubber, superabsorbent resins, and various coating materials. Over the past two years, the refined acrylic acid melt crystallization project undertaken by DODGEN for Shandong Lanwan New Materials has been successfully completed and put into operation. The core equipment has operated stably, and all performance indicators have met or exceeded design requirements. Subsequently, DODGEN also cooperated with a PetroChina subsidiary on a glacial acrylic acid crystallization project. The implementation of these two major petrochemical projects marks DODGEN’s continued penetration into the key purification links upstream of plastics and rubber raw materials.
Empowering the New Materials Era
If CHINAPLAS can be seen as an annual major examination for the plastics and rubber industry, DODGEN’s answers are written into every line of its performance record.
Since 2019, DODGEN has built up solid achievements in more than one hundred engineering projects across seven major categories of equipment — continuous flow reactors, distillation towers and internals, melt crystallizers, falling-strip devolatilizers, falling-film evaporators, gas-liquid separators, and extraction towers — as well as in process technology packages. Its clients include leading enterprises such as Anhui BBCA Group, NHU, Hengyi Petrochemical, Sateri, Shida Shinghwa, Tinci Materials, and Wanhua Chemical Group, and its business has already expanded into overseas markets.
The intense enthusiasm seen at CHINAPLAS 2026 is a reflection of the market’s strong demand for advanced processes. As the plastics and rubber industry accelerates toward a green and high-end future, DODGEN will continue to deepen its expertise in continuous-flow processes and advanced green separation technology and equipment, working together to “shape” a new materials era that is more efficient, greener, and more advanced.
