The development of China's diacetate fiber tow industry has mainly gone through three stages. In the initial stage of the 1980s, at the beginning of reform and opening up, China's tobacco industry developed rapidly, the proportion of filter cigarette production increased day by day, and the demand for cigarette filter materials, especially diacetate fiber tow, increased sharply. However, at that time, China did not have the production capacity of diacetate fiber tow and was completely dependent on imports. After the establishment of China National Tobacco Corporation in 1982, it began to actively seek the production technology of diacetate fiber tow. In 1987, China National Tobacco Corporation and Celanese Corporation of the United States jointly established Nantong Acetate Fiber Co., Ltd. (Nanxian Company), marking the beginning of China's localized production of diacetate fiber tow. In 1989, Nantong Acetate Fiber Co., Ltd. successfully produced the first domestically produced diacetate fiber tow, filling the gap in domestic production.
In the development and growth stage of the 1990s, with the continuous growth of the domestic tobacco market and the increase in consumer demand for filter cigarettes, the demand for diacetate fiber tow increased further. In 1993, China National Tobacco Corporation further strengthened its foreign cooperation and established Kunming Acetate Co., Ltd. and Zhuhai Acetate Co., Ltd. in joint ventures with relevant enterprises, expanding the production scale of diacetate fiber tow. During this period, the production technology of domestic diacetate fiber tow gradually matured and the product quality steadily improved.
From 2000 to the present, the stage of technological innovation and independent development, after entering the new century, China's tobacco industry began to focus on technological innovation and industrial upgrading, and put forward higher requirements for the performance and quality of diacetate fiber tow. After 2000, domestic diacetate fiber tow production enterprises increased their investment in tow variety diversification, low-denier tow production and new processes. In 2002, domestic tow successfully achieved diversification of specifications and varieties and serialization and personalization of production. In 2005, the high-density acetate fiber production technology independently developed by Nantong Acetate Co., Ltd. won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award, marking that China's diacetate fiber tow production technology has reached the international advanced level. In recent years, domestic diacetate fiber tow manufacturers have also developed various specifications of tow products according to market demand, such as 5.3Y28000, 5.1Y22000, 7.3Y36000, 6.0Y54000, etc., to meet the needs of different cigarette companies. At the same time, domestic companies are also actively expanding overseas markets to improve their international competitiveness.
Industry chain
The upstream of the diacetate fiber tow industry chain includes raw materials and production equipment, among which raw materials include acetic acid, cellulose, plasticizers, stabilizers, catalysts, etc., and production equipment includes acetification equipment, dissolution equipment, spinning equipment, stretching equipment, post-processing equipment, testing equipment, etc. The midstream of the industry chain is the production and manufacturing link of diacetate fiber tow. The downstream of the industry chain includes the tobacco industry, textile industry, pharmaceutical industry, etc.
