Competition in the Acrylic Industry Becomes Fiercer   

By Yu Chunmei, CNPC Engineering & Design Company   

From the early 1990s to 2004, the production of acrylic acid and acrylates in China had almost been monopolized by Sinopec Beijing Dongfang Petrochemical Company, the Calcium Carbide Plant of PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company and Sinopec Shanghai Gaoqiao Petrochemical Company. From 2005, acrylic plants of BASF-YPC Co Ltd and Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co Ltd were subsequently put into production. Now, China has eleven acrylic acid and acrylate producers. The competition in this industry now has intensified significantly.
   As of the end of 2009, China had a total crude acrylic acid capacity of 1.12 million t/a, a high-purity acrylic acid capacity of 214 000 t/a and an acrylates capacity of 1.28 million t/a, including an ethyl/methyl acrylate capacity of 320 000 t/a and a butyl/octyl acrylate capacity of 960 000 t/a. In 2009, China produced 836 000 tons of esterifization-grade acrylic acid, 140 000 tons of high-purity acrylic acid, 120 000 tons of polymerization-grade acrylic acid and Chinese companies produced 849 000 tons of acrylates, including 71 000 tons of methyl acrylate, 94 000 tons of ethyl acrylate, 627 000 tons of butyl acrylate and 54 000 tons of ethylhexyl acrylate.
   Due to the rapid expansion of domestic acrylic acid and acrylate capacity since 2005 and the 2008 international financial crisis, China's acrylic acid industry once fell into plight. Since the second half of 2009, pulled by China's economic recovery and the rapid development of downstream sectors, the situation has gradually improved.
   So far, several new and expanded acrylic acid units are under construction in China. For example, CNOOC's acrylic acid and acrylates unit at Daya Bay, Huizhou will be completed and put into operation in 2011. It is designed to annually produce 140 000 tons of crude acrylic acid (including 40 000 tons of commodity common-grade acrylic acid) and 160 000 tons of acrylates. Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co Ltd plans to build a 320 000 t/a crude acrylic acid plant in Taixing, Jiangsu province. Zhejiang Satellite Acrylic Manufacturing Co Ltd is building a 60 000 t/a crude acrylic acid unit and plans to put it into operation in 2010. This company also plans to expand its crude acrylic acid capacity by 60 000 t/a, butyl acrylate by 100 000 t/a unit and methyl acrylate by a 40 000 t/a. Shanghai Huayi Acrylic Acid Co Ltd is building a 20 000 t/a ethylhexyl acrylate unit and a 40 000 t/a methyl acrylate unit, scheduling for startup in 2010. If these projects are all put into production on schedule, it will certainly intensify the competition in the Chinese acrylic market. In addition, a number of other new acrylic acid projects have been shelved due to the short supply of raw materials such as propylene, butanol and octanol.
   From 2001 to 2004, China consumed about 200 000 tons of acrylic acid annually, and its self-sufficiency rate of acrylates was 55% to 59%. The production and consumption of acrylic acid and acrylates grew steadily in China during this period. After 2005, its consumption of acrylic acid and acrylates has grown rapidly. In 2009, China apparently consumed 870 000 tons of acrylic acid, and the average annual growth rate of consumption reached 25.3% between 2005 and 2009. In 2009, China's apparent consumption of acrylates reached 933 000 tons, and its annual average growth rate reached 13.1% during 2005 to 2009.
   In recent years, China's capacity of acrylic acid and acrylates has constantly been growing, so the tight supply situation of acrylic acid and acrylates has been greatly eased here. While the import volume of acrylic acid and acrylates declined, their export volume surged.
   In China, acrylic acid is mainly used for the production of general-purpose acrylates, which accounts for 65.6% of the total consumption. In recent years, because the demand for super absorbent polymers (SAP) grows rapidly, it has become a new force driving up the consumption growth of acrylic acid. In addition, acrylic acid is also used for the production of special-purpose acrylic acid and detergents.
   In 2009, China had a general-purpose acrylates capacity of 1.28 million t/a, a general-purpose acrylates output of 849 000 tons, which consumed 570 000 tons of esterization-grade acrylic acid. In recent years, with the rapid growth of homopolymers or copolymers of acrylic acid and its salts, especially the rapid growth of demand for SAP in China, more acrylic acid has been used for the production of high-purity acrylic acid, and the proportion of acrylic acid used for the production of acrylates has decreased slightly. At present, butyl acrylate accounts for a major share of China's general-purpose acrylate output. Butyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate consume 400 000 tons and 70 000 tons of esterization-grade acrylic acid a year in China, respectively.
   In recent years, the constant product update of traditional industries such as coatings, inks, adhesives and textiles, the rapid development of the electronic, information technology and communications industries and the enforcement of increasingly strict environmental policies have provided a broad market for specialty acrylates. Specialty acrylates are important raw materials for the production of radiation curable products, high solid-content coatings and powder coatings. China now has more than 30 specialty acrylate manufacturers, which have a total capacity of about 100 000 t/a. The majority of them purchase acrylic acid from the market to produce specialty acrylates. In 2009, China produced about 80 000 tons of various specialty acrylates in total, which consumed about 40 000 tons of acrylic acid, accounting for 4.6% of China's total acrylic acid consumption.
   SAP is a new type of functional polymer material. It has excellent water-absorbing and water-preserving performances. SAP has a huge market potential in China. The demand for SAP grew at a double-digit rate in China every year. SAP has become the fastest growing field among the downstream fields of acrylic acid. High-purity acrylic acid is the main raw material for the production of SAP. With the growth of SAP production in China, the demand for high-purity acrylic acid increases. In 2009, China had a SAP capacity of 175 000 t/a, produced about 120 000 tons of SAP and consumed about 90 000 tons of high-purity acrylic acid.
   Compared to other countries, China's output of polyacrylic acid (including polymers of salts of acrylic acid) detergent builders is still very small. At present, China has a polyacrylic acid detergent builders capacity of about 10 000 t/a and an annual output of about 5 000 tons. In 2009, the production of polyacrylic acid detergent builders in China consumed about 10 000 tons of acrylic acid.
   In China, polymerization-grade acrylic acid is mainly used for the production of water-soluble polymers such as poly sodium acrylate, polyacrylamide and acrylic acid copolymers, which are mainly used as flocculants, emulsifiers, scale dispersants, pigment dispersants, thickeners and oil additives. They are now used in industrial and urban sewage treatment, industrial cycling water treatment, pigments, oil exploitation, textiles, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In 2009, these areas consumed 120 000 tons of acrylic acid in China.
   Coatings and adhesives are still the main forces to drive up the demand for acrylates.
   In 2009, the most important application areas of acrylates were coatings and adhesives, which consumed about 700 000 tons of acrylates, accounting for 75% of the total consumption of acrylates.
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