当Ziegler-N HDPE开始商业化atta discovered the catalyst system that allowed the manufacture Polyethylene at lower pressures and temperatures, thereby permitting a polymer with fewer short chains. The introduction of the gas phase process by Union Carbide Corporation heralded a decade of new technology developments throughout the 1970�s, which saw the introduction of a number of solution, slurry and gas phase processes. In this period of rapid new developments, there were new bimodal technology introductions, which resulted in improvement of existing technologies, such as Basell�s Hostalen and Mitsui�s CX high density processes. The 1990�s saw the introduction of competing new bimodal technologies including Borealis� BORSTAR, Basell�s SPHERILENE, and Mitsui�s EVOLUE processes, as well as metallocene/single-site catalysts (for LLDPE production). The most recent development since 2000 has been the commercialization of Univation�s bimodal UNIPOL process, producing bimodal HDPE in one reactor.

A small number of technologies dominate the HDPE market. Four technologies (Chevron Phillips, UNIPOL, Mitsui, and Hostalen) accounted for 70% of installed capacity in 2005. With the addition of three more technologies (Solvay, gas phase INNOVENE, and Equistar-Maruzen), 85% of the global capacity is accounted for. The slurry loop and Ziegler slurry processes continue to dominate HDPE production, accounting for 68% of installed capacity. Gas phase plants that predominantly produce HDPE account for an additional 25% of capacity.

HDPE的主要开发推力是高性能膜，压力管和较小程度的吹塑应用的双峰等级。压力管生产商现在正在追求PE125的下一个压力等级标准，其中许多生产商在PE100类别中建立了良好的生产商。当前，大多数商业双峰HDPE都是在多种反应器构型中产生的，尤其是双反应器工艺，这对于树脂结构的剪裁非常最佳。双峰产品的趋势越来越多，在没有机械强度的情况下，更好的加工性结合，允许下调，产品曲线或厚度的减少。对于膜，可以用较小的聚合物制成同一区域，而对于压力管，壁厚会减少壁厚可降低原材料的要求并使管道更灵活。但是，常规的单极印度银行将保持大量市场份额。基于单峰材料的真正性能优势，预计Bimodal HDPE将在市场上保持一定的价格溢价。
Since the early 1990�s, metallocene/single-site catalyst developments have dominated advances in polyethylene technology, mainly for LLDPE applications. While traditional HDPE applications are not expected to see significant metallocene penetration in the short-term, there are metallocene-based advances in HDPE. The introduction of dual-site catalysts for the production of single reactor bimodal HDPE may become a significant metallocene application, as dual-site catalyst research has typically focused on at least one metallocene component in the catalyst system.

The following are the most prevalent technologies for bimodal PE

	Unipol Prodigy
	Innovene pes
	Spherilene c
	Borstar
	Hostalen
	Chevron Phillips
	埃索尔·玛鲁岑
	Mitsui CX

以下技术提供了常规的单峰HDPE

	Unipol
	球形
	Innovene PEg
	Chevron Phillips
	Advance Sclairtech

Global demand for HDPE in 2005 was 28.2 mln tons and has reached almost 31 mln tons in 2006. Eastern/Central Europe, South America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa will have growth rates higher than the global average, with Asia Pacific having the highest growth in terms of volume.

HDPE demand by end use applications shows that blow moulding is the largest end use, accounting for 28% of total demand. Film represents the next largest segment with 26% market share. Other significant end uses are injection moulding at 19% and pipe and conduit 13%. This pattern is not expected to change significantly in the near future. HDPE global capacity in 2006 was about 32 mln tpa, with 5.5% growth in capacities projected in the next 5 years. To meet this speculative demand growth, capacity additions will be required to address the supply/demand issues. HDPE production capacity profile will change significantly over the forecast period. North America and Western Europe are forecast to lose share in the global market, while Asia Pacific and the Middle East will increase their shares.