China has achieved large-scale production of polyolefin elastomers (POE), a high-end material, at the Dushanzi Petrochemical Company in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the parent company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), said on Monday.
POE is a high-end material with unique properties, combining the processability of plastics with the high elasticity of rubber. It is a core raw material for strategic emerging industries such as photovoltaics.
Chinese technicians began developing key POE technologies in 2015 and transformed lab achievements into industrial production in 2024. In 2025, Dushanzi Petrochemical produced a cumulative total of 58,000 tons of POE, completing the entire technology and process chain.
"Our POE has a light transmittance of over 90 percent, so the photovoltaic films made from it can maximize the power generation efficiency of photovoltaic modules. Its excellent weather resistance and water vapor barrier properties can effectively protect the internal circuitry of the modules, extending the lifespan of photovoltaic panels from 25 years to over 30 years," said Fan Guofeng, deputy general manager of Dushanzi Petrochemical Company.
China has long relied on imports for POE, with import dependence once exceeding 95 percent. The latest breakthroughs made in the industrial production technology of the POE gas-phase polymerization process fill the technological gap. Compared with mainstream international technologies, this independently developed new process is greener and reduces overall energy consumption by about 40 percent.
"Through the gas-phase process, we produce POE products with no solvent emissions, low volatile content, and minimal odor, meeting green and low-carbon requirements," said Wang Jinzhao, deputy manager of the company's No. 2 POE division.
Currently, complete sets of technologies and processes for POE production are being rapidly promoted, gradually forming an industrial cluster effect. CNPC estimates that by the end of 2026, China's POE production capacity will exceed 300,000 tons.
China achieves large scale production of POE in Xinjiang
The death toll from a landslide in Cisarua, West Bandung Regency, West Java, rose to 34 on Monday as Indonesian rescue teams were stepping up their efforts to search for dozens of people still believed to be trapped under thick mud and debris.
According to the disaster management agency in West Bandung, more than 300 rescue personnel have been currently deployed in the disaster area, including teams from West Java's emergency services, the military and the police.
Additional rescuers have also been dispatched from neighboring provinces to support the search operations.
"With the increase in the number of rescue and search personnel today, we hope the rescue efforts can go deeper and become more effective. Meanwhile, the national search and rescue agency has dispatched additional teams from Yogyakarta, while rescuers from Central Java have also joined the operation," said Asep Sehabudin, head of the West Bandung disaster management agency.
Family members of the victims and local volunteers have also joined forces in the rescue and search efforts, hoping to assist the authorities in any way they can.
Villager Asep Heri said he had lost four relatives, his uncle and aunt, as well as their children, in the disaster. He was among the volunteers trying to find his daughter.
"I will continue searching until my child is found. No matter the circumstances, I will stay here and keep searching. The bodies of my uncle and aunt have already been found and buried," he said.
Local volunteers said the disaster had gravely affected nearby communities.
"My school is just about two kilometers from the landslide site. Several students and their family members, as well as the relatives of school staff, were among those killed. Helping in the rescue is what we, as volunteers, must do," said a volunteer named Muhamad Yunus Bahtiar.
The landslide on Saturday was triggered by heavy rainfall over two consecutive nights, which saturated steep slopes in the mountainous Cisarua area. Torrents of earth, rocks and uprooted trees swept through residential areas, plantations and forest land.
Indonesia frequently suffers from floods and landslides during the rainy season, which typically lasts from October to March.
Landslide death toll from Indonesia's West Java rises to 26 amid intensified search operations
