Skip to content
SENTAI

Manufacturing

Built to hold a specification.

Automated etherification, solvent washing and in-process control — so every batch lands inside its specification.

[01]Capacity

15,000 tonnes a year.

Two dedicated production systems: cellulose ethers (CMC and PAC) and starch ethers (CMS).

CMC & PAC

0t/yr

CMS

0t/yr

  • CMC & PAC 67 %
  • CMS 33 %

From cellulose to certificate

Eight controlled steps.

Every lot follows the same documented route — from cotton-linter pulp to a released, labelled and traceable bag.

  1. 01
    Laboratory technician holding up a glass jar packed with white fibrous material

    Raw cellulose

    Refined cotton linter and wood pulp (starch for CMS) are sampled on arrival for α-cellulose, moisture and viscosity before release to production.

    IQC · α-cellulose · DP

  2. 02
    Blue kneader reactors with yellow drive guards in the Sentai CMC plant

    Alkalisation

    Cellulose is activated with sodium hydroxide in a solvent medium to form alkali cellulose — temperature and NaOH ratio set the reactivity.

    NaOH ratio · T · time

  3. 03
    Blue horizontal kneaders with green gear drives, yellow access stairs and steel platforms inside the CMC production hall

    Etherification

    Monochloroacetic acid reacts with alkali cellulose in kneaders under automated control; dosage and profile fix the degree of substitution (DS).

    DS 0.4 → 1.2+

  4. 04
    Production hall with a horizontal decanter centrifuge, a blue mixing vessel, overhead piping and yellow safety railings

    Washing & neutralising

    For refined grades the crude product is washed with aqueous alcohol and centrifuged to strip NaCl and sodium glycolate — the step that delivers ≥ 99.5 % purity.

    NaCl ≤ 0.5 % · purity ≥ 99.5 %

  5. 05
    Dryer, cyclone separator and mill on the steel platform of the drying section

    Drying & solvent recovery

    Rake dryers bring moisture below specification while solvent is condensed and recovered for reuse.

    Moisture ≤ 8–10 %

  6. 06
    Rotary sieve, cyclone and bagging station in the milling and packing hall

    Milling, sieving, blending

    Powder is milled to particle-size targets, sieved and homogenised; instant grades receive Sentai's surface treatment here.

    ≥ 85 % < 75 µm (battery)

  7. 07
    Technician's hand at a rotational viscometer measuring a sample in a beaker, with lidded sample jars in the foreground

    QC release

    Each batch is tested for viscosity, DS, purity, pH, moisture and chloride — plus gel count, heavy metals or microbiology where the grade requires — and released with a COA.

    COA per lot

  8. 08
    Forklift loading palletised bags into a white Maersk container on a trailer outside the plant building

    Packing & export

    25 kg PE-lined bags or jumbo bags, palletised and stretch-wrapped, with lot labels that trace back to the batch record.

    20′ ≈ 17–20 t · 40′HQ ≈ 25–28 t

Plant photos

Inside the Xiangtan plant.

Production equipment, laboratory, warehouse and container loading — photos published by Sentai.

Aerial view of the Sentai plant site: production halls with grey and blue roofs, the office building, a red-roofed block, the yard and parked cars
Aerial view of the Sentai plant1 / 9
Flakes of refined cellulose in a laboratory beaker

[03]Raw materials

  • Refined cotton linter

    High α-cellulose, high-DP feedstock for high-viscosity and battery grades.

  • Wood pulp

    Dissolving-grade pulp for low- and medium-viscosity grades.

  • Starch

    Feedstock for the dedicated CMS line.

  • NaOH & monochloroacetic acid

    Alkalising and etherifying reagents from qualified chlor-alkali and chloroacetic suppliers.

[04]Environment & safety

National pollutant-discharge permit, ISO 14001, solvent recovery and effluent treatment.

[05]Custom grades & OEM

Your window, our reactor.

Need a viscosity, DS or particle size that isn't listed? Custom grades and OEM packaging — sample in 2–3 weeks, production lot in 20–30 days.

Talk to an Engineer Quality
Request a Quote