MIBK: Supply Is Insufficient and Technology Needs Upgrading

By Dai Meixia and Liang Cheng, Sinopec Nanjing Chemical Industries Co., Ltd.

Methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) is an excellent solvent with medium boiling point and a raw material for fine chemicals. China imported 51.7 kt of MIBK in 2013, and the domestic self-sufficiency rate of MIBK was less than 70%. China’s MIBK producers had a high profit margin during 2011-2012. However, in the past two years, the price fluctuation of MIBK has been larger, and MIBK has become one of the hot products that are chased by enterprises and traders.

Domestic production developed from scratch

According to the raw materials, the industrial production of MIBK is divided into isopropanol method and acetone method, and acetone method is also divided into one-step process and three-step process. With the successful development of the multifunctional and high-efficient catalyst technology, the acetone one-step process for producing MIBK has become an industrial process route which is most frequently used. At present, the industrial production technology of MIBK in China can be acquired mainly from the Design Institute of PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd., Eastman of the United States, P&ID Co., Ltd. of South Korea, Sinopec Fushun Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals and Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals, etc.
MIBK is mainly used in five application sectors - rubber antioxidant 6PPD as the largest consumption field, solvent with medium boiling point, synthesis of pharmaceuticals and pesticides, extracting agent for rare metals and dewaxing agent for lube oils. As of the end of 2013, the global capacity to make MIBK reached 610 kt/a, and the output was around 500 kt. There are about 20 major producers outside China including Shell, Dow Chemical, Eastman, Celanese Corporation, Sasol, Solvay, Kumho P&B Chemicals, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Showa Denko and Oman Oil Company. Coatings solvent and rubber antioxidant 6PPD are major consumption sectors of MIBK in developed countries and regions, and the consumption of MIBK in the two sectors accounts for around 85% of the total.
The MIBK production in China started later than developed countries. With the successful development of 10-thousand-ton acetone one-step process for synthesis of MIBK in PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd., China’s MIBK sector entered a period of rapid development during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010). The domestic capacity to make MIBK developed from scratch, the technology became more and more mature and major production units were mostly put into operation during 2005-2009. As of the end of 2013, China’s total capacity to produce MIBK reached around 96 kt/a. Major MIBK producers in China in 2013 are listed in Table 1.
Influenced by the multiple factors, the operating rate of units in major enterprises has not been consistent in recent years. Of which, PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has maintained a relatively high operating rate, Taizhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has been in semi-shutdown state due to unstable operation of butanone unit that supplies hydrogen to MIBK units; the operation of Zhenjiang Lee Chang Yung Comprehensive Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has fluctuated greatly because of unstable hydrogen supply; the operation of unit in Ningbo Oceanking Chemical Development Co., Ltd. has been relatively stable; the operating rate of Zhejiang Xinhua Chemical Co., Ltd. has not been relatively high because its units are new.
In view of the supply gap and better economic benefit in MIBK market, at present, many domestic enterprises have planned to construct MIBK units. Guangdong Maoming Gangan Petrochemical Co., Ltd. is constructing a 30 kt/a MIBK unit, which will be completed and put into production in 2014, and its products will be mainly sold to adhesive and coatings producers in South China and Southwest China,as well as rare metal producers in Southwest China. Shandong Shida Shenghua Chemical Group has planned to build a 10 kt/a MIBK unit. At present, the preliminary research of the unit has been completed and the unit is currently in the feasibility study stage. The downstream customers are mainly rubber antioxidant enterprises in Shandong province, especially Dongying. Dongying Yimeide Chemical Co., Ltd. is planning to construct a 10 kt/a MIBK unit. At present, the unit is still in the initial stage of investigation and research, and its downstream customers are also rubber antioxidant enterprises in Dongying as well as surrounding areas.

Rapid growth of the demand

China’s capacity and output of MIBK increased rapidly during the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010), however, with the drastic development of automobile, rubber and tire industries, both capacity and output of high performance and environmental friendly p-phenylenediamine rubber antioxidant 6PPD for radial tire production have climbed drastically in recent years, stimulating and driving up the market consumption of MIBK. Impacted by the financial crisis, the domestic chemical industry was relatively slack during 2008-2013, however, China’s average annual demand growth of MIBK was around 20%, being much higher than that of most other chemical products. The growth of domestic capacity still lags behind that of the market demand and the domestic capacity has been lower than the consumption. China needs to import a considerable quantity of MIBK each year to meet the market demand, and MIBK has become one of the few fine chemical raw materials with net imports. China’s supply and demand for MIBK in recent years are shown in Table 2.

Table 1   China’s major MIBK Producers in 2013 (kt/a)

Producer    Capacity    Remarks
PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd.    30    Two 15 kt/a production lines
Zhenjiang Lee Chang Yung?Comprehensive Petrochemical Co., Ltd.    24    Startup in 2009
Zhejiang Ningbo Oceanking Chemical Development Co., Ltd.    15    Introduced technology, startup in 2008

Taizhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd.?    15    Startup in 2008
Zhejiang Xinhua Chemical Co., Ltd.    12    Startup in 2012
Total     96    


Table 2  China’s supply and demand of MIBK in recent years (kt)

Year    Output    Import volume    Export volume    Apparent consumption
2005    4.0    38.7    0.5    42.2
2006    7.9    44.9    0.1    52.7
2007    9.7    46.7    0.1    56.3
2008    20.8    34.0    0.1    54.7
2009    35.4    27.8    0.2    63.0
2010    51.6    27.2    0.1    78.7
2011    77.4    20.6    1.2    96.8
2012    91.0    26.7    -    117.7
2013    82.0    51.7    -    133.7



Due to a certain supply gap, China has imported MIBK for a long time. Before 2010, China’s imports of MIBK mainly came from the United States, Western Europe and Japan, and major suppliers were Shell, Eastman, Japan’s Mitsui Chemicals and Lee Chang Yung Chemical Crop. of Taiwan. During 2011-2012, the imports mainly came from Japan, South Africa and Taiwan. With the startup of MIBK project in Kumho Petrochemical of South Korea by the end of 2012, the supply pattern of imports changed drastically in 2013, and South Korea became China’s main import source of MIBK. China’s import volume of MIBK from South Korea accounted for around 40% of the total, and the price of imports from South Korea was lower than that from other countries and regions.
In recent years, the domestic MIBK sector not only has had a rapid growth in capacity, output and apparent consumption, but also changed drastically in the proportion of consumption mix. Of which, the consumption of MIBK in rubber antioxidant 6PPD sector accounts for over 50% of the total MIBK consumption in China. See Figure 1 for details.
During 2005-2013, the consumption proportion of MIBK in rubber antioxidant as well as chemical synthesis rose drastically from 20% to 58%. After 2009, due to the accelerated startup of domestic environmental friendly and high performance p-phenylenediamine rubber antioxidant 6PPD units, China’s apparent consumption of MIBK increased greatly. Overall, as can be seen from Figure 2, China’s consumption growth of MIBK in recent years has been basically consistent with the growth of rubber antioxidant 6PPD. Therefore, the future production and consumption of MIBK will be closely related to the development of rubber antioxidant 6PPD.

MIBK has good development prospects

Rubber antioxidant 6PPD and coatings solvent are major consumption sectors of MIBK in China, and the consumption of MIBK in these two sectors accounts for around 80% of the total.
MIBK can have hydrocondensation with amino diphenylamine to get rubber antioxidant 6PPD, which is a leading antioxidant variety worldwide and an indispensable antioxidant for radial tires. In 2013, China’s output of rubber antioxidant 6PPD reached 174 kt and ranked first of all rubber additives. Its demand growth will depend on the development of automobile and tire industries. In recent years, China’s automobile and tire industries have maintained a stable growth. In 2013, China’s output and sales of automobiles reached 22.12 million vehicles and 21.98 million vehicles, respectively, up 14.76% and 13.87% year-on-year. According to the projection made by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, China’s output and sales of automobiles will hopefully increase by 8%-10% in 2014. In 2013, China’s total output of tires reached 965.03 million pieces, up 7.18% year-on-year. Of the total, the output of radial tires was 583.756 million pieces, a year-on-year growth of 17.21%. It is expected that by 2015, China’s output of rubber antioxidant 6PPD will reach around 200 kt, consuming around 80 kt of MIBK.
As a solvent, MIBK is particularly suitable as a co-solvent for coatings like acrylic resin/alkyd resin/nitrocellulose. In addition, it is very competitive in polyurethane coatings and high solid-content coatings. According to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s total output of coatings reached 13.0335 million tons in 2013, up 3.58% year-on-year. With the adjustment of China's economic growth, the domestic output of coatings will remain a low-speed and stable growth in the next few years, so the consumption growth of MIBK in coatings sector will slow down. It is expected that in 2015, China’s consumption of MIBK in coatings sector will reach 28 -29 kt.
In addition to the two major consumption markets mentioned above, MIBK in China is also used as extracting agent and diluting agent for quite a few pesticide and pharmaceutical varieties. Of which, the extraction of biochemical drugs and botanical drugs will maintain a rapid growth. It can be used as a dressing agent for the smelting of nonferrous metals and can extract rare metals from metals and recover precious metals like uranium from nuclear reactor scrap. As a solvent, MIBK has a certain advantage in the extraction of rare earth metals and even cannot be replaced in some aspects. It can be used as oil dewaxing agent in refineries to replace butanol to save energy and reduce solvent consumption. MIBK can also be used in the production of refined paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax, and, the demand for microcrystalline wax has increased rapidly with the development of green tires in recent years. In addition, MIBK can also be used to synthesize various fine organic intermediates, of which some varieties have a good development potential. Therefore, the consumption of MIBK in these sectors will maintain a rapid growth, and it is expected that by 2015, China’s consumption of MIBK in other sectors will reach 35-38 kt.
China’s demand for MIBK will reach 143-147 kt by 2015. In spite of the startup of some domestic units being built, considering some existing small units that face the situation of being phased out and insufficient operating rate of the units caused by the unstable supply of raw materials like hydrogen, China’s output of MIBK still cannot meet the demand, and MIBK still has good market potential and development prospects.

Suggestions for China’s
MIBK development

1. Urgent need to upgrade the technology
In recent years, China’s import volume of MIBK has climbed rapidly. One reason for this is the domestic market demand and the imbalance in supply and demand. Another reason is the low competitiveness and operating rate of units caused by the domestic backward synthetic technology. It is reported that at present, to produce one ton of MIBK, the consumption of acetone, hydrogen and steam of the international advanced level is 1.26 tons, 260 Nm3 and 2.5 tons, respectively, while these figures of the technologies developed by domestic scientific research institutions is 1.44 tons, 2 800 Nm3 and 13 tons, respectively. The unit consumption index in China far lags behind that of international advanced level, so there is an urgent need to upgrade the domestic production technology, and the focus lies on the selection and preparation of bifunctional catalyst. In spite of insufficient supply in China, in the premise of no great improvement of domestic technology, players should not blindly use the existing technology to construct or expand production units.
2. Integration of upstream and downstream sectors
In the premise of the successful development of advanced production technologies, the new units should be mainly distributed in eastern coastal regions where coatings and rubber antioxidants are relatively concentrated, especially in East China near the acetone production units in order to strive to form the operation mode of upstream and downstream integration including the supply of raw materials and downstream consumption in certain regions or industrial parks.
3. Expansion of new application fields
The relevant domestic enterprises and research institutions should accelerate the application and expansion of MIBK in the sectors except rubber antioxidant and coatings, such as the extraction of botanical and biological pharmaceuticals and pesticides, to promote a steady growth of MIBK consumption and the sustainable development of the sector in China.