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.