Where does HPMC come from?

Recently many HPMC enthusiasts often ask me, ‘Where does HPMC come from?’, this is a very professional question, in order to get to the bottom of the facts, I looked up a lot of information, and deliberately collated some insights to share.
We can consider from the perspective of raw materials, suppliers and countries, after all, the starting point of the question is different, we will receive many similar questions.

Which raw materials can provide HPMC?

Natural cellulose comes from chemical modification, and its raw materials mainly include lignin, cellulose and starch.
Among them, lignin is a natural organic compound mainly found in wood and cotton, which is one of the important raw materials for manufacturing HPMC.
Cellulose, on the other hand, is the main component of plant cell walls and is also one of the important raw materials for manufacturing HPMC.
Starch, on the other hand, is a natural polysaccharide that can be chemically converted into the raw material for HPMC.

In addition to the above raw materials, there are some other chemicals that can also be used to manufacture HPMC, such as chloroacetic acid, formaldehyde, methacrylic acid and so on. Although these chemicals are not natural raw materials, they play an important role in the manufacture of HPMC.

How is HPMC manufactured?

1. The raw material is pre-treated to extract cellulose from plant material, then the cellulose is etherified with propylene oxide and chloromethane. The product is also neutralised and washed to further remove impurities. The washed HPMC slurry is thickened and then moisture is removed by spray drying or other drying methods to obtain dry HPMC powder, and finally the powder is sieved to obtain the desired particle size.
2. The whole production process is subject to strict quality control, including testing the viscosity, purity and appearance of HPMC to ensure that the product meets the standard.

Which suppliers can provide HPMC?

There can be many suppliers who can provide HPMC, and some foreign trade companies can also act as HPMC suppliers, but there are not many real HMPC suppliers with manufacturing research and development and production and sales as a whole, whose products can play a significant role in practical applications.

Take MelaColl ™ as an example, this is a well-known HPMC service provider, headquartered in Dallas, USA, and has invested and built factories in China for R&D, production and sales of HPMC and other speciality chemical compositions. At the same time, it integrates Chinese R&D resources: after building a plant in China, the US company can use local R&D resources to develop new products in cooperation with Chinese research institutes and universities to meet the local market demand for HPMC with specific properties.

HPMC from which countries?

HPMC mainly comes from the United States, China, Germany, Japan and other countries. The United States is the main producer of HPMC. HMPC producers in the United States occupy an important position in the global market, and they not only provide high-quality HMPC products, but also devote themselves to research and development and innovation to meet the needs of different industries.

China is also an important producer of HMPC. Chinese companies are developing rapidly, and they continue to improve the competitiveness of their products through technological innovation and quality control.
In addition Germany Japan and other countries about production and supply, these countries producers also have a high level of technology and quality to meet the needs of different industries.
It can be seen that ‘Where does HPMC come from?’, this question should be considered from various aspects, only in this way we can deeply know and understand HMPC.