Melamine Sector Suffers Overcapacity
Year:2018 ISSUE:11
COLUMN:ORGANICS
Click:298    DateTime:Jun.08,2018

By Zhao Jingshu, China National Chemical Information Center

Rapid growth of excess capacity
In 2010, the effective production capacity of melamine in China was 1.05 million t/a, and it increased to 1.70 million t/a in 2017, with an average annual growth rate of about 8%. In 2017, the output of melamine was 980 kt, the operating rate was 57.6%, and consumption was about 700 kt. The industry needed to alleviate overcapacity by export. At present, there are more than 20 melamine production enterprises in China, situated mainly in places rich with coal and natural gas resources, such as Sichuan, Shandong, Henan, Xinjiang and so on. In China, melamine is produced mainly by nitrogen fertilizer enterprises, which also operate plants for synthetic ammonia, urea, ammonium chloride, ammonium bicarbonate and so on.
Flexible performance & wide range of applications
   Melamine is used mainly to prepare melamine formaldehyde resin by condensation of melamine and formaldehyde. The manufacture of melamine formaldehyde resin consumes about 90% of melamine output. In addition, melamine can be used as a raw material for hexamethylol melamine, flame retardant and so on.
   The main applications of melamine in China are in processing wood, molding plastic and the manufacture of surface coatings. Geographically, consumption is concentrated in developed light-industry areas such as Guangdong, southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
   1. Plate processing
   In the plate processing industry, melamine is used to produce melamine impregnated (film) paper by using melamine formaldehyde glue, and melamine impregnated paper is adhered to the surface of particleboard, moistureproof board, medium density fiberboard, plywood, woodworking board, multilayer board or other hard fiberboard. It is used to decorate middle and high grade buildings and transport facilities, and to make cupboards, furniture and reinforced laminated flooring.
   In addition to the main laminated board used for decoration, some domestic enterprises also produce fiberglass laminated board impregnated with MF resin, used mainly as insulating material.
   In 2017, about 450 kt of melamine was consumed in plate processing.
   2. Molding plastic
   Melamine molding plastic is a new type of plastic that is lightweight, nontoxic and durable, with beautiful appearance. It is widely used in the manufacture of tableware, sanitary ware, mah-jong tiles and electrical appliance surfaces.
   In 2017, the consumption of melamine used in molding plastics was about 130 kt.
   3. Wood adhesive
   The advantages of melamine resin adhesive are strong adhesion, high thermal stability, fast curing at low temperatures, high hardness and excellent wear resistance. It also maintains color and luster at high temperatures and has strong resistance to chemical contamination.
   In addition, urea formaldehyde resin (UF) can be modified with melamine. And the problems of urea formaldehyde resin such as poor water resistance, short storage period and high free-formaldehyde content can be reduced. Melamine urea formaldehyde resin can be used in all kinds of wood-based panels.
   In 2017, the consumption of melamine in making wood adhesives was about 70 kt.
   4. Surface coating
   Melamine formaldehyde or urea formaldehyde resin, sodium carbonate, alkaline fluorosilicate, alkaline silicate and melamine phosphate can be blended to form an expansion fire retardant coating. Fire-retardant melamine phosphate is often used as a base coat. Melamine phosphate does not cause corrosion or affect corrosion resistance.
   In 2017, about 10 kt of melamine was used in surface coatings in China .
   5. other areas
  1) Paper wetting strength agent
   MF resin is a wet-strength agent widely used in the paper industry to produce high-grade paper such as wrinkle resistant, shrinkage resistant, non rotting banknotes and military maps.
   2) Water-reducing agent for concrete
   The water reducing agent of the melamine series has obvious benefits of water reduction, strengthening (especially early strength), improving the durability of concrete after hardening, without air absorption, and without forming a large number of bubbles in the concrete. It is widely adaptable to cement varieties, highly compatible with other admixtures, without waste gas or waste water in the production process.
   3) Melamine foamed plastic
   Melamine foamed plastic is a soft thermosetting foam made of alkaline melamine formaldehyde resin through a special microwave foaming process, with a high opening pore rate of more than 99%. As a chemical material with low density, flame retardance and sound absorption, melamine foamed plastic is very important in civil, industrial, construction, transport, aviation, military, daily chemical, electronic and other applications, especially when used to meet environmental requirements, such as flame retardance, high temperature tolerance and low-frequency noise absorption. It has great prospects for development.
   4) Melamine fiber
   Melamine fiber is a high performance flame retardant fiber with a three dimensional network cross-linking structure made of MF resin by a special spinning process. It has excellent properties such as high flame resistance, high stability and very low fiber thermal conductivity. It is widely used. It can be used as a fire safety fabric in public transport, clothing for fire fighting, protective clothing in chemical smelting industry, etc. In industrial filtration, MF fiber fabric can be exposed to acid environments for a long time, and used in high temperature environments. It is one of the few chemical fibers that resists wear and tear. It has broad application prospects. In addition, MF resin is a fiber reinforced material with high tensile and high shear strength, which can be used for industrial flooring, automobile manufacturing, boat construction, such as the sandwiched structure of ship decks and hulls.
   In 2017, consumption of melamine in other Chinese fields amounted to about 1 000 tons.
Expansion of market capacity and development of applications
   In addition to the traditional decorative boards, melamine tableware, coatings, textile finishing agents and other applications, the market for melamine will be further expanded in fields such as water reducing agent for high efficiency cement, flame retardant, foamed plastic and synthetic fiber.
   Chinese melamine capacity is already overbuilt, and several projects still to be built. If all of these projects are completed and put into production, China’s melamine capacity will likely exceed 2 million t/a by 2022, making overcapacity more serious.
  If the melamine industry wants better financial performance in the future, the production enterprises must increase technological innovation, join in the research, development and production of downstream products, develop new advanced deep-processed products, extend the industrial chain and stimulate the consumption in emerging fields.