(Yicai Global) March 31 -- Satellite Chemical’s shares jumped after the company became the first in China to mass-produce 1-Octene, an important chemical material.

After gaining by as much as 5.5 percent mid-morning, Satellite Chemical [SHE: 002648] closed up 3.3 percent at CNY16.0 (USD2.33) a share today.

The firm’s subsidiary, Lianyungang Petrochemical, has already begun mass production of 1-Octene at its alpha olefin industrial experiment facility, and the compound it is making has the same quality as imported samples, the chemical producer announced late yesterday.

The facility was finished at the end of last year and has a designed capacity of 700 tons of 1-Octene and 300 tons of 1-Hexene a year, the Jiaxing-based firm said.

1-Hexene made by the facility also meets the country’s industrial standards, the company added.

Poly(ethylene-1-octene), usually referred to as POE, is a widely used copolymer formed by the polymerization of ethylene and 1-Octene. It offers the properties of plastic and rubber and is used in various industrial applications. China has to import 1-Octene, which has greatly restricted the country’s capacity to produce POE.

Satellite Chemical said at the end of December 2021 that it would invest CNY15 billion (USD2.2 billion) to build petrochemical plants in Lianyungang, including facilities to produce 100,000 tons of alpha olefin a year as well as POE.

The success of the alpha olefin industrial experiment facility has enabled Satellite Chemical to make toward becoming a technology firm producing low-carbon new chemical materials, it said.

Editor: Tom Litting