2.25 million tons of propylene oxide and 4.68 million tons of styrene will be added this year
Successful commissioning of ethylbenzene unit in POSM unit of Tianjin Bohua "two chemical" relocation and reconstruction project
Recently, a successful test run of the ethylbenzene (EB) unit of the propylene oxide/styrene (POSM) plant in Tianjin Bohua's relocation and transformation project was carried out by Tianchen Company. The plant operated smoothly and produced qualified products, ethylbenzene, which laid the foundation for the downstream unit to start production, and is one step closer to the full production of the project.
As an important part of the relocation industrial chain of "two chemicals", the POSM unit produces 200,000 tons of propylene oxide and 450,000 tons of styrene monomer annually, and the products are widely used in the fields of fine chemicals and polymer materials; among them, the ethylbenzene unit adopts patented technology. Compared with traditional technology, it has outstanding advantages such as high product yield, smooth operation control, low energy consumption and environmental friendliness.
The market for POSM devices is vast
The upstream raw materials of the POSM plant are mainly ethylene, propylene and benzene produced by the integrated refining and chemical project, and then the propylene oxide and styrene monomers are produced by co-oxidation.
PO is an important organic chemical raw material, and it is currently the top three propylene derivatives in the market. Its largest use is to synthesize polyether polyols, and then react with TDI/MDI to further synthesize polyurethane polymer materials, which are widely used in upholstered furniture, automobiles, refrigerators, building insulation materials and waterproof coatings. At present, China is already the world's largest polyurethane consumption center. It is expected that the growth rate of polyether polyol consumption will be on par with the development level of our country's GDP in the future, and the market space is large. In addition, propylene oxide can also be used in surfactants, lubricants and other industries, and can also absorb carbon dioxide to make degradable plastics (PPC).
Styrene is also an important raw material for synthesizing polymer materials, mainly used in the production of EPS/PS, ABS/SAN, styrene-butadiene rubber/styrene-butadiene latex, unsaturated polyester resins and other products. It is widely used in the automotive, home appliances, medicine, pesticides, dyes and textile industries downstream.
Propylene oxide: 2.25 million tons/year will be added during the year
Before 2020, the supply and demand of propylene oxide industry in our country showed a state of less than demand, and it belonged to the raw material intermediates with high profit return in chemical products, which attracted the favor of a large number of investors. In 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, resulting in the delay of new production capacity. In 2021, as the first year of centralized expansion of domestic propylene oxide, it witnessed the transition of supply and demand pattern from tight balance to loose balance.
The new capacity projects with high potential for domestic propylene oxide production in 2022 are shown in the table below. According to the monitoring of Longzhong Information, ideally, a total of 2.245 million tons/year of new capacity will be added in 2022. Although individual storage delays may be possible, such a number of capacity releases will face greater challenges in 2022 as the second year of the centralized expansion period.
| Expected new domestic propylene oxide plants in 2022 |
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Source: Longzhong Information subscribed account
Styrene: 4.68 million tons/year will be added during the year
In recent years, the growth rate of global styrene production capacity outside China has continued to slow down. By the end of 2021, the total global styrene production capacity was close to 39.80 million tons/year; China's total styrene production capacity was 15.239 million tons/year, an increase of 26.90% compared with 3.23 million tons/year in 2020, making it the world's largest styrene production capacity country, accounting for 38% of the global total production capacity.
At present, our country has become the country with the fastest growth in styrene consumption in the world. The styrene industry in our country has entered a period of rapid growth and is gradually saturated with supply, or even oversupply. Since 2020, our country's styrene production capacity has expanded rapidly. In 2021, our country has further realized the new release of styrene production capacity: in the first quarter, Anhui Jiaxi 350,000 tons/year, Sinochem Quanzhou 450,000 tons/year and CNOOC Shell Phase II 700,000 tons/year; in the second quarter, Sinochem Hongrun 120,000 tons/year and Ningbo Huatai Shengfu 450,000 tons/year; in the third quarter, Gulei Petrochemical 600,000 tons/year, and in the fourth quarter, Yantai Wanhua 650,000 tons/year new plant put into operation; in addition, Shandong Yuhuang and Ningbo Keyuan respectively expanded capacity 50,000 tons/year and Baling Petrochemical expanded capacity 10,000 tons/year, Changzhou Donghao 200,000 tons/year styrene plant was permanently shut down after parking around September 25.
2020-2021 is the two years of concentrated production capacity in the domestic styrene market, and this trend will continue to extend to 2022. Even if the downstream new production capacity media buy pacing gradually accelerates from the second half of 2021, it still cannot keep up with the expansion speed of styrene production capacity. In 2022, the domestic styrene supply side will further deepen the pressure on the market, and related production enterprises are facing increasingly severe competition for survival.
Market participants predict that our country will have a large surplus of styrene supply by mid-2022, which may be the inevitable beginning of our country's transition from a styrene importer to an exporter.
Source: China Tianchen, ICIS, Longzhong Information subscribed account, Jinlianchuang Chemical, Zhuochuang Information, China Chemical Information Weekly.
