The hottest methyl isobutyl ketone ushers in devel

Methyl isobutyl ketone ushers in development opportunities

methyl isobutyl ketone ushers in development opportunities

December 31, 2004

methyl isobutyl ketone, abbreviated as MIBK, is a relatively scarce fine petrochemical intermediate in China at present, and is irreplaceable in many application fields. With the progress of multi-functional and efficient catalyst technology, acetone one-step hydrogenation has been successfully developed. The process is compact and easy to scale production. At the same time, Chinese food is characterized by high temperature, multi oil and multi acid, which has become the most important process route for MIBK industrialization at present

in 2003, the global production capacity of MIBK was about three dynamic load testing machines: including impact testing machines, fatigue testing machines and impact Brinell and shore durometers, with an annual output of about 280000 tons. Production and consumption were mainly concentrated in industrialized countries and regions, of which the United States, Western Europe and Japan accounted for about 70% of the total production capacity. In addition, Mexico, Taiwan, China and South Korea have relatively large-scale devices. In 2003, the world consumption of MIBK was about 280000 tons. The largest consumption was the United States, accounting for 25% of the world's total consumption, followed by Western Europe and Japan, accounting for 23% and 14% respectively. In terms of the consumption composition of MIBK, the situation in the United States, Western Europe and Japan is basically the same, in which the largest use is as a solvent, followed by rubber antioxidant, alkyne surfactant, adhesive and ink. In western developed countries and regions, MIBK is an organic chemical product with relatively mature consumption, and the consumption structure and quantity will basically maintain the current level. The demand for MIBK in Asia, especially in China and South Korea, will show a rapid growth momentum, mainly driven by the rapid demand for high-quality and efficient rubber antioxidant 4020 and high solid coating, Therefore, the production and consumption of MIBK will gradually shift to Asia, especially Chinese Mainland

although the demand for MIBK in China has increased year by year, due to the fact that we have not been able to master the large-scale advanced acetone one-step synthesis technology, coupled with the mature foreign MIBK market, which has an impact on domestic products, at present, there is no real MIBK industrialization device in China, and the market demand is all dependent on imports. However, with the rapid growth of the demand in our market and the successful development of 10000 tons/year acetone one-step synthesis technology in China, Therefore, China's MIBK ushers in a rare opportunity for production and development

market demand increases rapidly

MIBK in China is mainly used as coating solvent, synthetic rubber antioxidant 4020, pharmaceutical and pesticide solvent, lubricating oil dewaxing agent, etc. the domestic consumption of MIBK in 2003 was 31500 tons, an increase of 58% over 20100 tons in 2002. The consumption in 2004 will reach more than 35000. According to the production demand forecast of downstream products, the domestic demand for MIBK in 2005 will reach a new high

① paint solvent: MIBK, as a paint solvent, can increase the smoothness and gloss of the paint film, and can be used as resin paint, cellulose paint, chlorinated rubber paint and varnish. These paints are widely used in wire and cable, tape, automobile, ship, aerospace, home decoration and other fields. Because of their high solubility, MIBK shows great advantages in the current popular high solid paint. With the continuous strengthening of environmental protection requirements and awareness in China, the demand for high-end coatings is increasing. In recent years, China's coating industry has developed rapidly and become the world's largest coating manufacturer. Many foreign famous coating manufacturers have established factories in China by means of sole proprietorship or joint venture. These large quantities of high-grade coatings have been put into production and use, which has greatly increased the consumption of MIBK in coatings. At present, the proportion of MIBK as solvent in domestic coatings is far lower than the average level of developed countries and regions. It is estimated that the coating industry will need 18000 tons of MIBK in 2005

② rubber antioxidant 4020: MIBK and p-aminodiphenylamine are hydrogenated and condensed to produce rubber antioxidant 4020. Antioxidant 4020 is currently the world's leading antioxidant variety. It is an irreplaceable antioxidant for radial tires, accounting for about 55% of the total consumption of antioxidant. In 2003, the production capacity of antioxidant 4020 was about 12000 tons/year, the output was about 10000 tons, and the consumption of MIBK was about 5000 tons

in recent years, China's automobile and tire industry has developed rapidly. In 2003, China's output reached 187.85 million, of which 68.87 million were radial tires, an increase of 16.43% and 39.39% respectively compared with 2002, making China the second largest producer of tires in the world. According to the prediction data of the Rubber Association, China's new production capacity of all steel radial tires was about 25million from 2004 to 2005. The explosive growth of radial tires requires a lot of high efficiency The low toxic rubber antioxidant is matched, and the current internationally used rubber antioxidant is antioxidant 4020. At present, four domestic enterprises plan to expand large-scale antioxidant 4020 devices, and many enterprises have completed preliminary preparations. It is expected that the production capacity of rubber antioxidant 4020 in China will surge to 50000 tons/year in 2005, and about 20000 tons of MIBK will be required at an operating rate of 80%

③ other fields: in addition to the above two major markets, domestic MIBK consumption is also used as extractants and diluents for a variety of pesticides and medicines, such as drugs 8, functional accessories of experimental machines and experimental instruments and equipment related to experimental machines, penicillin synthesis, pesticide heterocyclic diketone chemical extraction, diluents for n-acylamide herbicides, and in the experiment or extraction of a variety of biochemical drugs, MIBK is preferred as extractant. Moreover, China is rich in plant resources, and the development of extracting medicine and pesticides from plant resources is in the ascendant; As a rare metal extractant, MIBK is used as a beneficiation agent for non-ferrous metal smelting. It can extract rare metals from metals, recover precious metal uranium from the waste discharged from nuclear reactors, separate plutonium from uranium, niobium from tantalum, and zirconium from hafnium. MIBK has certain advantages as a solvent for extracting rare metals, and some aspects are even irreplaceable. As a lubricant dewaxing agent, MIBK can be used to replace butanone used previously as the oil dewaxing agent in refineries, which can save cooling capacity, reduce solvent consumption, improve the production capacity of the unit, reduce production costs and improve yield. MIBK can also be used to produce refined paraffin and microcrystalline paraffin. In the field of organic synthesis, MIBK can also synthesize methyl isobutyl alcohol, a variety of alkylated amino ether surfactants, polymer initiator azodiisoheptanitrile, epoxy resin curing agent bis-n, N - (methyl butyl methylidene) diethylenetriamine, drug 4-methylvaleric acid compounds, etc. at present, the output of these products is small, but these fields are industries that need to be developed urgently in China, and the market potential and space are large, It is estimated that other aspects will consume about 8000 tons of MIBK in 2005

based on the above, it is estimated that the consumption of MIBK in China will reach 46000 tons/year in 2005. Therefore, the domestic MIBK market will grow explosively again in 2005, providing a huge market space for the development of domestic MIBK

the synthesis technology is becoming more and more mature

China has studied the one-step synthesis of MIBK from acetone for more than ten years, the key of which is the development and preparation of multifunctional catalysts, which have the functions of condensation, dehydration and selective hydrogenation. At present, major foreign production enterprises have their own distinctive high-efficiency and multifunctional one-step synthesis catalysts for acetone, and Fushun Petrochemical Research Institute Jinling Petrochemical Research Institute and other units have also successively developed multifunctional catalysts for acetone one-step synthesis. During this period, Jinling Petrochemical fertilizer plant used the self-developed acetone one-step technology to build a 2000 ton/year unit. Subsequently, many domestic research institutions continued to strengthen the research on acetone one-step synthesis technology. In 2003, PetroChina Jihua research and test plant finally successfully developed the 15000 ton/year acetone one-step synthesis MIBK industrial production technology, After being appraised by experts from CNPC, the construction of a 15000 T/a MIBK industrial production plant was started in 2003 and is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of 2004. The successful development of MIBK synthesis technology of 10000 tons/year of Jihua company has provided technical guarantee for the development of MIBK in China, and also provided negotiation price for the large-scale MIBK enterprises that have been planning to introduce foreign technology for many years

development suggestions

even if PetroChina Jilin chemical company produces 15000 tons of MIBK on schedule and fully meets the standard, according to the forecast data, the domestic market demand for MIBK in 2005 was about 46000 tons, and the domestic market gap was still more than 30000 tons. Therefore, domestic enterprises still have room to build MIBK market. In view of the current situation of domestic production, synthetic technology development and market demand, the following suggestions are made for the development of China's MIBK industry

although the domestic MIBK technology of 10000 tons/year has been successfully developed and the domestic market demand potential is huge, due to the difficulty of its synthesis technology and the shortage of raw material acetone supply, the acetone price has been running high for more than a year. At the same time, the domestic MIBK technology successfully developed in the past can not compete with the acetone route in the production cost, Therefore, production enterprises should not blindly build small and medium-sized acetone one-step devices because of the pollution generated by express vehicles and the huge market space, let alone plan to build a production device for dehydrogenation of isopropanol to prepare MIBK

as the consumption growth rate of MIBK in developed countries and regions continues to slow down, although many well-known manufacturers are optimistic about China's potential market in the future in recent years, due to their excess domestic production capacity and the inability to see when the Chinese market will start rapidly, they take a wait-and-see attitude towards the construction of production plants with local joint capital or sole proprietorship in China. Recently, the demand for MIBK in China has increased rapidly, In addition, the demand of some countries in the surrounding Southeast Asia and South Asia also shows a rapid growth momentum. Some famous foreign MIBK production companies may break the tacit understanding that they only sell products in China before, and have the intention to cooperate in the construction of devices in China, which deserves the special attention of some domestic enterprises with raw materials or downstream products. In particular, Jihua successfully developed the technology of one-step synthesis of MIBK with 10000 tons/grade acetone, which will provide options for the domestic plan to build large-scale MIBK and negotiate with foreign investors to a certain extent. Therefore, it can be said that the construction of MIBK devices in China has taken a great turn and ushered in a rare development opportunity. Relevant domestic enterprises must seize the opportunity to vigorously develop the production of MIBK industry. At present, a more reasonable approach is that relevant departments should actively contact and negotiate with major foreign MIBK production enterprises, adopt flexible cooperation methods, introduce foreign advanced technology, and build large-scale MIBK production devices, Its plant construction should be in the eastern coastal areas where the production of coatings and rubber antioxidant is relatively concentrated, especially in East China. The scale of plant construction should start at 10000 tons/year, which can effectively avoid investment risks and obtain better economic benefits

once the large-scale MIBK production device is successfully introduced in China, it is necessary to speed up the application research in fields other than coatings and rubber antioxidant products, so as to promote the progress and upgrading of China's related industries on the one hand, and ensure the steady growth of China's MIBK consumption on the other hand. Due to the increasing demand for MIBK in the surrounding areas of China, especially in some countries in Southeast Asia, once the large-scale devices are successfully constructed, it is necessary to speed up the development of the markets in the surrounding countries and expand the international market to ensure the healthy, stable and sustainable development of China's MIBK industry