In recent years, the public and investors have paid much attention to the technological innovation industries that have been described as "stuck necks." However, in a wider range of fields, numerous Chinese companies are silently working hard on research and development, transforming scientific research results into industrial applications, gradually replacing imported products, and reaching the forefront of global niche industries.

Humidity management is a niche sector that receives little attention but significantly impacts the improvement of product processes across various industries. In China, the research and development of polymer materials science is rapidly advancing, and it has become a global leader in terms of technology research and development and industrialization.

Shanghai Hengyuan Polymer Materials Co., Ltd. is a domestic company specializing in the research and development of humidity control materials. Founded in 2002 and relying on the Department of Polymer Science of Fudan University for its technology, this entrepreneurial company, under the leadership of its founder Shen Yuehua, has forged a path combining industry, academia, and research for scientific researchers.

From desiccants to two-way humidity control materials, Hengyuan's products are widely used in three major fields. 

Any product in any industry that requires packaging or storage in a microenvironment has certain humidity requirements. Shen Yuehua stated that in addition to common desiccants, Hengyuan's innovation focuses on humidity control products that can both absorb and release moisture.

Currently, most industries focus on moisture prevention, most commonly used in food, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and container transportation. These require moisture prevention during packaging and transportation. However, with the increasing demands of some industries, precise requirements for humidity ranges are emerging.

Shen Yuehua stated that many niche industries have a strong need for humidity control, and Hengyuan's two-way humidity control products are used in many fields: cultural relics, 4G/5G base stations, new energy vehicle charging piles, tobacco, laboratories, and manufacturing. During the 2010 World Expo, Hengyuan provided humidity protection for the bronze ware in the China Pavilion and the oil paintings in the Mexico Pavilion. "Previously, these were all imported products, but after research and development, from the Eleventh Five-Year Plan to the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, domestic humidity control products began to be gradually used in the display cabinets and warehouses of cultural relics."

Hengyuan's products can also provide better solutions for the condensation problem in base stations. Temperature differences cause condensation to form inside the metal boxes, and a large amount of condensation can damage electrical equipment and create safety hazards. The current common solution is to use heating to prevent condensation.

After using Hengyuan's polymer humidity control sheets, moisture is absorbed at low temperatures and slowly released into the air at high temperatures. It does not require electric heating, which meets the urgent need to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

This picture illustrates the principle of two - way humidity - regulating materials. When the environment is humid, the materials absorb moisture

(as shown by the green arrows from the environment to the materials), and when the environment is dry,

the materials release moisture (as shown by the yellow arrows from the materials to the environment).

Hengyuan began developing products for base stations in 2017, and they have entered the standardized product production stage. "5G base stations consume more energy and have larger temperature differences, so humidity control has become a standard configuration in 5G."

The same demand exists for electrical cabinets and new energy vehicle charging piles. Excessive humidity can cause condensation, leading to tripping or even major accidents such as leakage. This increases the demand for desiccants or humidity control materials, and the differences between desiccants and humidity control agents become apparent.

"Desiccants are not easy to release humidity and mainly absorb moisture in one direction, while humidity control materials can not only achieve precise humidity values but also easily achieve two-way humidity regulation of moisture absorption and release in air with certain temperature or humidity. This is why desiccants cannot replace humidity control agents."

Another vast market comes from the legalization of cannabis products in European and American countries. Cannabis products require very precise humidity control, as some components within cannabis change with humidity changes. In this industry, different forms of two-way humidity control materials are needed from farm production, storage, to finished product processing.

Replacing imports with domestic products: Hengyuan's advantages

In the past, both domestic cultural relics industries and foreign tobacco industries used overseas brands, but Hengyuan's scientific research results demonstrate the competitiveness of domestic products.

Taking the cultural relics industry as an example, in the past, Japanese Artsorb and German Prosorb products were granular silica gel products that needed to be packaged in a bag or box, which would look out of place in a display cabinet. Hengyuan's humidity control sheets are in the form of paper sheets, do not take up extra space, and can be hidden in the display cabinet partitions.

Secondly, there is the cost-effectiveness. Although cultural relics are invaluable, the large-scale use of foreign products would result in huge cost inputs, and replacing imports with domestic products allows museums to save a significant amount of budget.

In terms of environmental protection, Hengyuan's products are based on plant fibers and are environmentally friendly and biodegradable, causing no pollution to the environment. Foreign products are mainly silica gel materials, and the silica dioxide cannot be degraded after use, which also burdens the environment.

In the application scenario of cultural relics warehouses, Hengyuan has even made humidity control products in the form of tiles, which are affixed to the walls or ceilings.

In the past, warehouse humidity control was mainly done by Japanese brands. As a veteran in the industry for 40 years, Japan was the first to use humidity control building materials to reduce warehouse energy consumption and keep the humidity fluctuation range of cultural relics small.

However, it is undeniable that, according to the warehouse standards of Japanese museums, not only are the construction requirements for humidity control panels strict, but the airtightness of the warehouse itself is also very high. However, old warehouses in Chinese museums usually do not have such good airtightness. In this case, the moisture capacity of Japanese humidity control panels is relatively low and does not achieve the ideal effect. The advantages of Hengyuan's products are highlighted here, with not only a large moisture capacity but also simple construction requirements, making them more suitable for the current conditions of Chinese museum warehouses.

Shen Yuehua stated that for humidity control materials, the most important performance is moisture capacity. Japanese products are composed of natural inorganic substances, so their moisture absorption and release capacity is very limited. Hengyuan's products add functional composite materials to the natural porous structure, increasing the moisture capacity to nearly four times that of natural materials. Of course, Shen Yuehua also stated that for porous substrate materials of the same material, the moisture capacity should be controlled within a certain range, not the higher the better, mainly depending on the water-locking ability of the porous structure. Therefore, the combination of functional composite materials and substrates is also Shen Yuehua's core patented technology.

At the same time, in terms of performance, Hengyuan humidity control materials, due to the addition of functional composite materials, have a fast moisture absorption and release speed. Whether it is the initial "pre-adjustment" or the "dynamic equilibrium" process, Hengyuan products respond to humidity much faster than Japanese products, quickly adjusting the humidity in the warehouse to the target value.

"Japanese natural mineral materials require air conditioning for pre-adjustment. For example, if the warehouse needs to reach 50% humidity, air conditioning must first be installed and run for 7 days, after which the air conditioning can be intermittently paused to maintain the humidity within a certain range. This balance is only broken if the door is opened or there is air exchange. However, Hengyuan's products themselves can provide precise humidity, and coupled with the fast moisture absorption and release speed, under the premise that the temperature and humidity in the warehouse meet the standards, the air conditioning operating time is greatly shortened, saving museums a lot of electricity costs."

Finally, in terms of construction and installation, Hengyuan materials are "adapted to local conditions."

Shen Yuehua said that Hengyuan customizes different products for different scenarios. "We are a relatively vertically segmented industry, so the professional requirements are stronger, and the products for different application scenarios are also different, and the benchmark products are also different."

In the museum display cases, Hengyuan provides paper-like humidity-regulating products that can be placed in the display case drawers, while in the warehouse, the humidity-regulating products can be affixed like tiles.

As Hengyuan's humidity-regulating products became increasingly known in the market, in 2015, overseas merchants found Shen Yuehua online and requested customized precise humidity-regulating formulas for the preservation of cigars and cannabis, thus opening up the overseas market for Hengyuan.

However, humidity-regulating materials are quite different in the cultural relic and tobacco industries, and new markets mean new challenges. Cultural relics require that humidity-regulating materials should not have volatile ions, so non-ionic composite formulas must be used; while tobacco, although it has the same humidity requirements, requires high moisture capacity and fast humidity response, so ionic composite formulas are preferred. Therefore, the selection of composite formulas based on market applications is also one of Shen Yuehua's core patented technologies.

In the cannabis industry, after harvesting the cannabis flowers, growers first dry them and then place them in a relatively sealed bag or other container for humidity regulation. Currently, the products used are all bagged liquid humidifiers, such as Boveda and Boost, which have two pain points: 1) No matter how many packs are placed, the contact area with the cannabis flowers is limited, resulting in poor humidity uniformity, which affects the quality of the cannabis flowers. 2) The safety hazard of liquid leakage; once leakage occurs, it will contaminate the tobacco products, causing losses to the growers.

Therefore, Hengyuan designed a partition in the bag for storing cannabis, allowing the entire inner wall of the bag to be filled with precisely humidity-regulating paper, which is not only very safe but also achieves a very good humidity regulation effect in such a flexible bag.

Shen Yuehua said that after Hengyuan thoroughly researched the humidity regulation mechanism, every time it is applied to a new industry, it will choose the most suitable formula according to customer needs. "Our technological achievements lie in the research of the humidity regulation mechanism of various substances, and then different humidity regulation mechanisms can be combined to meet different needs, that is, functional composite materials are used to formulate various humidity formulas to achieve precise humidity. The composite materials include inorganic and polymer materials."

From being unrecognized to having over 300 enterprise users, humidity regulation will become a future rigid demand.

Hengyuan has developed for more than 20 years, and Shen Yuehua has been on the road of research and development. In the first ten years, Shen Yuehua focused on fiber desiccants, but for the desiccant industry using silica gel, calcium chloride, and mineral soil as materials, paper-like desiccants were difficult to be accepted.

"At the beginning, many people didn't accept it, saying: How can paper be a desiccant?" Shen Yuehua laughed, "At that time, there happened to be a niche area, the blood glucose test strips in biological reagents, which had very small packaging. However, traditional granular desiccants would make the packaging very large, and Hengyuan's paper-like desiccants can be cut to any size. It was this slight difference in form that made the biological reagent sector one of Hengyuan's main markets."

Shen Yuehua frankly admitted that he did less in market development and proactive sales. Currently, humidity-regulating products are the second decade of entrepreneurship. This time, humidity management has become a rigid demand in many industries.

With the improvement of quality standards in product packaging in various industries, enterprises have gradually realized that packaging is not enough to be only moisture-proof, but also needs to control the humidity range, it cannot be too dry or too humid. Therefore, the increase in market demand is the main reason why Hengyuan has the opportunity to grow rapidly.

Hengyuan has never stopped in research and development, and the market has gradually begun to release demand. "20 years ago, talking about biodegradability, the market might not understand, but today, biodegradable humidity-regulating materials have become a rigid demand in many industries."

Shen Yuehua said that the value innovation of Hengyuan's products has brought direct and indirect cost reduction and efficiency improvement to customers, which is the main reason for customers' continued cooperation over the years.

“We have served an art warehouse, and one of the services they provide to customers is to store collections on their behalf. If the warehouse needs to meet the temperature and humidity standards 24 hours a day, it previously required 24-hour air conditioning. However, through Hengyuan's warehouse building materials, the energy-saving effect can be achieved through a cyclical mode of only turning on the air conditioning for 4 hours a day, and both humidity and temperature meet the standards."

Hengyuan's products are easy to install, the material price is slightly lower than imported products, and the service experience is excellent, making it a substitute product chosen by many museums and art galleries in the industry. "Japanese warehouse building materials are expensive, and museums don't use them much, but the air conditioning usage rate is very high. By using our products, the air conditioning start-up frequency can be reduced, thus achieving energy saving and cost reduction."

The next innovation, a leap in cognition.

It is reported that Hengyuan is also building a service-oriented intelligent humidity management system. For scenarios such as warehouses, laboratories, and manufacturing workshops, IoT technology is used to detect humidity, real-time monitoring, warning, and control in the cloud, thus continuously improving intelligence and energy efficiency.

Shen Yuehua revealed that Hengyuan's intelligent system allows customers to see data intuitively anytime and anywhere. The intelligent temperature and humidity service system will be more widely used in industrial warehouses and factories. With the upgrading of the manufacturing industry, the demand for temperature and humidity control in workshops is increasing, and in the future, intelligent management systems for industrial workshops, warehouses, and laboratories will have more applications. For the intelligent management platform, Hengyuan charges service fees according to the SaaS model.

Currently, Hengyuan has more than 300 enterprise customers. Shen Yuehua told Lieyun that as dehumidification products become a rigid demand in various industries, the demand has been growing at a double-digit rate year by year. However, at present, more than 90% of dehumidification products are still mainly traditional granular silica gel and calcium chloride, and although the competition is fierce, the application market of thousands of suppliers is very scattered. Similarly, for the management of "humidity", Hengyuan's humidity-regulating products can be said to be an upgrade of dehumidification products. The difference between dehumidification and humidity regulation is a single word, reflecting the difference in cognition.

In Shen Yuehua's view, dehumidification and humidity regulation are different stages of product demand for humidity, and the future industry trend will definitely be a larger proportion of two-way humidity regulation.

Let China's humidity-regulating brand go global; Hengyuan will use practice to pave a path of industry-academia-research cooperation.

In the research and development process, Shen Yuehua always starts from the actual application scenarios of the industry, based on the research of different humidity regulation mechanisms, and proposes various "cross-border" combined solutions, including various combinations of formulas, adsorption substrates, packaging materials, and processes. In Shen Yuehua's view, since the start-up, he has been leading the team to overcome various industry application problems.

In 2008, Shen Yuehua applied for the 863 project "Research and industrialization of new biodegradable fiber humidity-regulating materials", Hengyuan Polymer became a production, education, and research base of Fudan University, and developed the first-generation product.

During the collaboration with scientific research institutions for the second-generation formula upgrade, Shen Yuehua also obtained a doctorate in chemical engineering. At the same time, she sent the company's key employees for further education. In her opinion, this is the industry-academia-research path unique to Hengyuan.

In 2010, Shen Yuehua launched the first-generation humidity control material in the cultural relic preservation field, which served as an import substitute for Japanese and German products. As a scientific research achievement, it was used in the protection of bronze ware in the China Pavilion and oil paintings in the Mexico Pavilion at the 2010 World Expo.

The humidity control building materials, whose project was established in 2015, replaced Japanese products. Now, there is an opportunity to participate in the formulation of industry standards and enter more museum warehouse construction or renovation projects.

As a scientific researcher starting a business, Shen Yuehua is fortunate. In 2019, Hengyuan and Fudan Zhangjiang Research Institute jointly established the Humidity Control Materials Joint Research Center. At the same time, cooperating institutions can also use Hengyuan's mature production and application chain to transform scientific and technological achievements into industrial applications. Shen Yuehua stated that research and development has always been carried out through industry-academia-research cooperation with external resources; sales currently have a core team of 9 people.

From research and development to commercialization, Shen Yuehua feels that Hengyuan is ready.

Hengyuan's factory, located in the Chongming Fusheng Development Zone, covers a total area of more than 7,000 square meters across three floors, integrating research, development, and production.

According to Lieyun.com, Hengyuan's factory site's 5S and visualization reflect the management level of lean production. Shen Yuehua stated that this equipment is independently researched and customized, not a complete assembly line, but exists as independent processes. Through combination, various products are produced, thus belonging to "flexible production technology." Of course, such a process requires higher demands on workshop employees. Basically, all employees are "multi-skilled workers." Before taking up their posts, they will be trained in each process. Currently, there are 28 workers.

Shen Yuehua stated that Hengyuan's vision is to become a world-leading humidity management expert and to lead the world with Chinese brands. It also wants to prove that even without a large amount of start-up capital, scientific researchers can also find a path to industrialization.

Shen Yuehua hopes that in the future, Hengyuan's materials can be combined with intelligent collection terminals to achieve linkage with various power systems.