China's Acrylic Acid Production & Consumption
Year:2015 ISSUE:16
COLUMN:ORGANICS
Click:273 DateTime:Aug.20,2015
China's Acrylic Acid Production & Consumption
By Chen Liqiang, China National Chemical Economic and Technical Development Centre
1. Production
Acrylic acid capacity and production have both been on the rise in China in recent years. Last year, 730 kt/a of new capacity was commissioned, including 320 kt/a of Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd., 190 kt/a of BASF-YPC, 80 kt/a of Wan Chio Petrochemical (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd., 80kt/a of HongXin Chemical and 60 kt/a of Fujian Binhai Chemical Co., Ltd. There were 16 acrylic acid producers at the end of 2014, with a combined capacity of 2.668 million t/a, the total output was 1.915 million tons and the operation rate was 71.8%. From 2009 to 2014, the average annual growth rate of acrylic acid capacity and output was 18.6% and 18.0%, respectively. China’s production of acrylic acid from 2009 to 2014 is shown in Figure 1.
Table 1 China’s acrylic acid producers, 2014
Producer Capacity (kt/a) Startup date Site
Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co., Ltd. 525 Oct. 2007 (205 kt/a) Yancheng, Jiangsu
End of 2012 (320 kt/a) Taixing, Jiangsu
Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd. 480 2011 (160 kt/a) Jiaxing, Zhejiang
Sept. 2014 (320 kt/a) Pinghu, Zhejiang
BASF-YPC Company Limited 350 Jun. 2005 (160 kt/a) Nanjing, Jiangsu
Apr. 2014 (190 kt/a)
Shanghai Huayi Acrylic Acid Co., Ltd. 230 - Shanghai
Formosa Acrylic Ester (Ningbo) Company Limited 160 Oct. 2006 Ningbo, Zhejiang
Jiangsu Sanmu Group Corporation 140 Jun. 2012 Taizhou, Jiangsu
CNOOC Energy Technology & Services Limited, Petrochemical Branch Company 140 Sep. 2012 Huizhou, Guangdong
Shandong Kaitai Petrochemical Co., Ltd. 110 Nov. 2013 Zibo, Shandong
Beijing Eastern Petrochemical Co., Ltd. 80 May 1984 Beijing
Shenyang Paraffin Chemical Co., Ltd. 80 Oct. 2006 Shenyang, Liaoning
PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical Company 80 Jun. 2008 Lanzhou, Gansu
Yem Chio Group Wan Chio Petrochemical (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd. 80 Jun. 2014 Nantong, Jiangsu
Shandong Hongxin Chemical Co., Ltd. 80 Jun. 2014 Zibo, Shandong
Fujian Binhai Chemical Co., Ltd. 60 Aug. 2014 Putian, Fujian
Shandong Zhenghe Group Company Limited 40 Oct. 2007 Guangrao, Shandong
PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Company 33 Jan. 1993 Jilin, Jilin
Total 2 668 - -
Among China’s leading acrylic acid production enterprises are Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co., Ltd. (525 kt/a), Zhejiang Satellite Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (480 kt/a), BASF-YPC Company Limited (350 kt/a), Shanghai Huayi Acrylic Acid Co., Ltd. (230 kt/a), and Formosa Acrylic Ester (Ningbo) Company Limited (160 kt/a). The details are shown in Table 1.
For the future, China still has several acrylic acid projects proposed by firms including Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co., Ltd., Formosa Acrylic Ester (Ningbo) Company Limited, Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd., Shandong Hongxin Chemical Co.,Ltd., adding a total of 700 kt/a new capacity. China’s overall capacity is expected to reach 3.368 million t/a in 2019, and output will increase to 2.358 million tons by then if operating rates average 70%. So the growth rates of capacity and output will be 4.8% and 4.3%, respectively, from 2014 to 2019. Acrylic acid projects proposed are listed in Table 2.
Table 2 China’s proposed acrylic acid projects
Company Capacity (kt/a) Planned on-stream date Site
Jiangsu Jurong Chemical Co., Ltd. 160 Jan. 2015 Taixing, Jiangsu
Formosa Acrylic Ester (Ningbo) Company Limited 160 Proposed Ningbo, Zhejiang
Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. 300 2015 Yantai, Shandong
Shandong Hongxin Chemical Co., Ltd. (phase II) 80 Proposed Zibo, Shandong
Total 700 - -
Table 3 Supply and demand of China’s acrylic acid, 2009-2014
Year Capacity (kt/a) Output (kt) Import (kt) Export (kt) Apparent consumption (kt)
2009 1 138 837 55 21 871
2010 1 138 1 028 51 56 1 023
2011 1 258 1 165 49 41 1 173
2012 1 858 1 362 53 69 1 346
2013 1 938 1 527 48 133 1 442
2014 2 668 1 915 (E) 40 (E) 70 (E) 1885 (E)
YoY growth, 2009-2014 (%) 18.6 18.0 - - 16.7
2. Consumption
Last year, China consumed 1.885 million tons of acrylic acid. China’s biggest use of acrylic acid is the manufacture of acrylates like methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, butyl acrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, which requires about 60% of total consumption. The fastest growing downstream product is super absorbent polymers (SAP), accounting for about 20% of total consumption. The manufacture of water treatment agents from acrylic acid takes 4.5% of the total. Acrylic acid washing assistants are good substitutes for sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), making them account for 7.5% of the total consumption. The manufacture of special acrylic products with high added value is one of the growth areas of acrylic acid consumption, presently consuming 5.5% of the total. China’s annual consumption of acrylic acid is expected to increase to 2.3 million tons by 2019, growing at 4.0% annually from 2014 to 2019. The supply/demand balance of recent years is presented in Table 3.