On September 12, Xingchuan New Materials announced via its official WeChat account that its world-first 10,000-tonne-per-year industrial plant for hyperbranched polyolefin elastomer (H-POE) had achieved a successful one-shot start-up, with the first batch of on-specification products rolling off the line. This marks a landmark engineering milestone in the development of China’s high-end polyolefin industry, and it brings renewed industry focus to how an original technology route can advance toward continuous, stable, and replicable large-scale production.
도겐 extends its warmest congratulations to Xingchuan New Materials. It is worth noting that DODGEN was honored to provide the complete process technology solution for the polymer devolatilization unit of this plant. Taking this opportunity — and focusing on devolatilization as a key unit operation — we share our practical experience and reflections on the industrialization of new materials.
Click to watch the video introduction of the DODGEN Falling-Strip Devolatilizer.
Mastering the Core Devolatilization Technology: Building the Foundation for Continuous, Stable Operation
For solution-process polyolefins, the completion of polymerization does not mean the product is finished. The polymer solution or melt may still contain solvents, unreacted monomers, and other low-molecular-weight components. The devolatilization unit must simultaneously achieve clean removal, stable separation, and a controllable thermal history, under multiple constraints including high viscosity, limited heat transfer, a narrow temperature window, and continuous operation. Devolatilization performance has a direct bearing on residual control, preservation of molecular structure, downstream pelletizing, and batch-to-batch consistency — and a profound impact on plant energy consumption and overall operating economics.
The real challenge in POE, EPOE, and H-POE projects lies not in selecting a single piece of devolatilization equipment, but in the ability to coordinate and verify — within a single process chain — the material properties, polymerization solvent, volatile composition, melt rheology, vacuum load, solvent recovery, and the pelletizing interface. Any unclear boundary at one stage may, after scale-up, evolve into systemic problems such as residual fluctuations, localized overheating, coking and blockage, vacuum instability, or mismatch with downstream pelletizing.
A Deep, Systematic Devolatilization Pathway: Building the DSXL Core Equipment Platform
Over the years, DODGEN has focused on the mixing, heat transfer, separation, and process intensification of high-viscosity polymers, developing the DSXL polymer devolatilization technology and its associated engineering capabilities. The DODGEN DSXL devolatilization unit has been recognized as a Shanghai High-tech Achievement Transformation Project.
Based on material characteristics and target specifications, DSXL flexibly combines high-efficiency heat transfer for high-viscosity fluids, static mixing, uniform melt distribution, and single- or multi-stage gradient flash/vacuum devolatilization, enabling volatiles to be removed efficiently along short diffusion paths and under a controllable thermal history. Static mixing and proper distribution continuously renew the interface and reduce dead zones, while high-efficiency heat transfer and a low-shear design effectively mitigate the risks of localized overheating and unnecessary degradation.
A Track Record That Is Open and Traceable: Industrial Practice That Stands the Test
Supported by a solid technical foundation, DODGEN has delivered devolatilization system solutions for multiple POE projects, covering applications from pilot plants of several hundred tonnes per year up to industrial-scale plants of ten thousand tonnes per year, and has won the bid for PetroChina’s key devolatilization and heat-exchange system. On May 21, 2026, DODGEN officially signed an agreement with Yuneng New Materials (Shaanxi) to supply the devolatilization system for the 100,000-tonne-per-year POE unit of its epoxy resin integrated project, Phase I, for the removal of volatile impurities such as heptane solvent and ethylene.
From Pilot to Industrial Scale: Building a Full-Chain Service System
Material system evaluation — Systematic characterization of the polymer, solvent/monomer, volatile composition, viscosity and rheological behavior, and thermal stability window.
Process and flowsheet simulation — Precise verification of the number of flash/vacuum devolatilization stages, residence time, thermal load, vacuum load, and the routing of the volatile phase.
Core equipment design — Integrated design of DSXL high-efficiency heat exchange, static mixing, uniform distribution, the devolatilization chamber, and condensate recovery.
System integration — Devolatilization, solvent recovery, waste-heat utilization, vacuum system, melt transfer, and the pelletizing interface are verified within a unified process boundary.
Engineering delivery — Full-cycle services, including process package, core equipment fabrication, plant integration, start-up support, and operational optimization, scoped according to project stage; the specific scope is governed by the contract and project documentation.
Deeper Project Collaboration: Advancing the Industrialization of High-End Polyolefins Together
If you are planning a POE, H-POE, EPOE, or other high-viscosity polymer project, we sincerely welcome an in-depth discussion with the DODGEN technical team. To make the first technical engagement more productive, we recommend preparing the following information in advance: the material and solvent or monomer composition, capacity and mode of operation, viscosity or rheological range, target residual specifications, temperature and pressure windows, existing equipment interfaces, and any bench- or pilot-scale data. 도겐 will use this information to conduct a preliminary assessment of the devolatilization route, stage configuration, heat-transfer and distribution approach, and the vacuum and solvent recovery schemes.
Polymer devolatilization is never the “final piece of equipment selection” — it is a systems engineering effort that determines product quality and plant economics. DODGEN looks forward to working hand in hand with industry peers, around POE and H-POE devolatilization, solvent recovery, and process intensification for high-viscosity fluids, offering one-on-one professional technical assessments and jointly supporting the steady, long-term growth of China’s high-end polyolefin industry.
