Cumin: A Great Deal of Expansion Plans

Cumin is an important organic chemical raw material. It is mainly used in the production of phenol and acetone. Other applications include diluting agent for paints, varnishes and enamels, component for some petroleum solutions and component for aviation fuels with high octane number. Besides, it can also be used to produce polymerization/oxidation catalysts, acetophenone, α-methyl styrene and peroxides.

Sustained capacity expansion in the world

Owing to the constant increase in the global demand of phenol and acetone, the capacity of cumin in the world has expanded constantly. The total capacity of cumin in the world was 11.460 million tons in 2004 and increased to 12.221 million tons in 2005 with a growth of 6.64% over 2004. Sunoco of the United States is the largest cumin producer in the world and the capacity has reached 828 thousand t/a, accounting for around 6.78% of the world total. Shell Chemical of the United States is the second largest cumin producer and the capacity is 725 thousand t/a, accounting for around 5.93% of the world total. Polimeri Europa of Italy and Dow Benelux of the Netherlands follow behind and their capacity is 700 thousand t/a respectively, accounting for around 5.73% of the world total respectively.

    The cumin production has been shifted from North America and Europe to the whole world. The rapid economic growth in Asia-Pacific region has led to a drastic expansion in cumin capacity. It is expected that the total capacity of cumin in the world will reach around 12.6 million tons in 2006 and around 14.5 million tons in 2010.
    Around 97% of cumin in the world is used as raw material for the phenol and acetone production. The demand of cumin is therefore determined by the market of phenol and its derivatives bisphenol A, phenolic resin, salicylic acid and nonyl phenol. The total consumption of cumin in the world was 10.249 million tons in 2004, the output was 10.278 million tons, the import amount was 310 thousand tons and the export amount was 339 thousand tons. The United States and Japan are the largest cumin exporters and their export amount accounts respectively for around 56.64% and 43.07% of the world total. Korea and Taiwan province are the largest cumin importers in the world and their import amount accounts respectively for around 32.58% and 21.29% of the world total. The United States is the largest cumin consumer in the world and its consumption has reached 3.568 million tons, accounting for around 34.81% of the world total. Western Europe is the second largest cumin consumer and its consumption is 3.024 million tons, accounting for around 29.50% of the world total. It is expected that the consumption of cumin in the world will increase at an average annual rate of around 4.6% from 2004 to 2009 and reach around 12.876 million tons in 2009 and around 13.055 million tons in 2011. The consumption in Asian countries and regions (except Japan) will have the most rapid increase and the average annual growth will reach around 12.5%. South and Central America will be the second and the average annual growth will be around 4.6%.

Capacity increased rapidly in China

China started the cumin production in the 1960s. Six phenol/acetone units using the cumin process were constructed in China at the beginning of 2004 and the total capacity of cumin reached 296 thousand t/a. The 200 thousand t/a phenol/acetone unit constructed by Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co., Ltd. in Shanghai Caojin Chemical Industry Park started production at the end of 2004 and the capacity of cumin was 167 thousand t/a. BlueStar Harbin Huayu Co., Ltd. expanded its cumin capacity from 24 thousand t/a to 43 thousand t/a in December 2005. The total capacity of cumin in China therefore already reached 482 thousand t/a at the end of 2005. Most of cumin units in China use UOP technology. Major producers include Sinopec Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (with a capacity of 134 thousand t/a), Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (with a capacity of 242 thousand t/a), CNPC Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (with a capacity of 63 thousand t/a) and BlueStar Harbin Huayu Co., Ltd. (with a capacity of 43 thousand t/a). Sinopec Gaoqiao Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is the largest cumin producer in China today and its capacity accounts for around 50.21% of the national total.
    The output of cumin in China (excluding Taiwan province) was around 280 thousand tons in 2004, and the apparent consumption was around 570 thousand tons. The import amount of phenol was 280 thousand tons, the net import amount of bisphenol A was 182.5 thousand tons and the net import amount of phenolic resin was 119.5 thousand tons. Almost all cumin produced in China is used to produce phenol and acetone. Cumin is also an intermediate product in phenol/acetone units. The demand of cumin in downstream product bisphenol A will have a drastic increase. The demand of cumin in downstream product salicylic acid will increase stably. There will also be some demand in phenolic resin and nonyl phenol. It is therefore expected that the total demand of cumin in China will reach around 1.30 million tons in 2008.
    To meet the increasing demand in the phenol/acetone production in China, many companies are planning to construct new cumin units or expand existing cumin units. Most of these companies will also construct or expand phenol/acetone units. Such projects mainly include the 201 thousand t/a expansion project in Sinopec Beijing Yanhua Petrochemical Co., Ltd., the 34 thousand t/a new unit in Sinopec Fujian Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd., the 78 thousand t/a new unit in Sinopec Maoming Petrochemical Co., Ltd., the 67 thousand t/a new unit in CNPC Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd., the 167 thousand t/a new unit in BlueStar Shenyang Chemical Co., Ltd., the 104 thousand t/a new unit in BlueStar Nantong Chemical Co., Ltd., the 104 thousand t/a new unit constructed by Kingboard Chemical of Hong Kong in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, the 167 thousand t/a new unit constructed by Kingboard Chemical of Hong Kong in Huizhou, Guangdong province, the 67 thousand t/a new unit in Hebei Cangzhou Chemical Co., Ltd. and the 41 thousand t/a new unit in Xinjiang Organic Chemical Co., Ltd. It is expected that the total capacity of cumin in China will reach around 1.38 million t/a in 2008 and the demand in the phenol/acetone production can basically be satisfied at that time.
    Since the start of using the zeolite catalyst process in the cumin commercial production in the 1990s, traditional cumin production processes in the world have been gradually replaced by the new clean process with molecular sieve as catalyst. China has also made great progress in this respect. Commercial cumin units using zeolite catalyst developed by China itself with intellectual property right have started production and all techno-economic indexes have reached the level of the units using technology introduced from abroad.