Favorable Prospects in the MIBK Market   

By Xie Dan and Qiu Xinzheng, Shandong Hualu Hengsheng Chemical Co Ltd
Liu Haiyan, Shandong Dezhou Kaiyuan Co-Generation Co Ltd

According to SRI Consulting, the world's total capacity for making methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) was 501 500 t/a in 2009 and consumption was 402 200 tons. China accounted for 18.7% of the world total consumption, the United States accounting for 17.9% and Western Europe 17.1%. Statistics show that the average annual growth of MIBK consumption in Asia has surpassed 10% in recent years. With the rapidly increasing demand for making rubber antioxidant 4020 with superior quality and high effect and for making coatings with high solid content, both the production and the consumption of MIBK already have shifted to Asia and especially mainland China.
   China's MIBK capacity was 84 000 t/a in 2009, made up of five units in four companies. All these units use the acetone single-step process. PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co Ltd constructed two units in 2005 and 2007 respectively, mainly supplying the markets in northeastern and northern China. Other three factories are all located in eastern China, serving the consumers in eastern and southern regions.
   Consumption of MIBK in China has been brisk, and both the capacity and the output have increased and the self-sufficiency rate has kept going up in recent years. The average annual growth of MIBK consumption in China reached 15.5% between 2005 and 2009. The output and the consumption of MIBK were 47 600 tons and 75 200 tons respectively in 2009, an increase of 58.1% and 17.5% over the previous year.
   In China, MIBK is mainly used in the production of rubber antioxidant 4020, or as a solvent for coatings. It is also used as extracting agent and diluting agent for various pesticides and medicines, extracting agent for rare metals, dewaxing agent for lube oils and also in the synthesis of surfactants.
   Rubber antioxidant 4020 is a leading variety of antioxidant for radial tires. China is the second biggest tire producer in the world. Owing to the explosive growth of radial tires, great quantities of antioxidants with high effect and low toxicity are needed. Because of its excellent properties, antioxidant 4020 has become the rubber antioxidant with the greatest consumption in tire production worldwide. With the constant maturing of the production process of antioxidant 4020 and the further increase in the self-sufficiency rate of raw material MIBK, the production of antioxidant 4020 in China has developed rapidly, making China the most important supplier and consumer of antioxidant 4020 in the world. The consumption of MIBK in the production of antioxidant 4020 in China was 36 000 tons in 2009, accounting for 47.9% of the total. Shandong province is the biggest producer of antioxidant 4020 in China. Shandong Sinorgchem Co Ltd is one of the major rubber assistant producers in the world. Shandong Carlyle Sinorgchem Co Ltd, a joint venture of Shandong Sinorgchem Co Ltd with the Carlyle Group of USA, is now preparing to construct a 60 000 t/a antioxidant 4020 project. The completion of the project will further expand the demand for MIBK in China.
   China produced 7.5544 million tons of coatings in 2009, an increase of 14.1% over the previous year. The consumption of MIBK in the coating sector was 31 200 tons in 2009, accounting for 41.5% of the total. The development of the coatings sector has expanded the demand for MIBK. Compared with developed countries and regions, however, the proportion of coatings with MIBK as solvent is still quite low in China. It is expected that MIBK will have a bright market prospect in China as a solvent for coatings in the next few years.
   MIBK can also synthesize various surfactants. MIBK can be used as extracting agent and diluting agent in the synthesis of penicillin, the chemical extraction of heterocyclic diketene insecticides and as diluting agent for anilide herbicides. MIBK can be used as a dressing agent for the smelting of nonferrous metals and can extract rare metals from metals and recover precious metals from nuclear reactor scrap. MIBK can be used as oil dewaxing agent in refineries to replace butanol to save cold, reduce solvent consumption, increase capacity, cut down production cost and increase yield. MIBK can also synthesize methyl isobutyl alcohol, various alkylated aminoether surfactants, polymer initiator azobisiosheptonitrile and 4-methylvaleric acid compounds. China's consumption of MIBK in these sectors was around 8 thousand tons in 2009. Although the demand for MIBK in these products is still relatively low today, the market is growing and has a quite big potential for development.
   With the constant expansion of applications in sectors such as solvents of coatings, rubber antioxidant and rare metal extraction and the backing from the brisk demand of other downstream sectors, the growth of MIBK consumption in China is expected to stay around 10% in the next three years.

Production and consumption of MIBK in China between 2005 and 2009
  (thousand tons)
Year    Production    Import    Export    Consumption    Growth    
2005    3.9     38.7    0.4     42.2    -    
2006    8.0     44.9    0.1     52.8    25.1%
2007    17.8    46.7    0.06    64.4    22.0%
2008    30.1    34.0    0.05    64.0    -0.6%
2009    47.6    27.8    0.2     75.2    17.5%
Source: CNCIC