Since this year, the domestic market price of n-propanol has been rising rapidly. Especially in the third quarter, the market price of n-propanol has risen to 12,500 yuan (ton price, the same below), setting a new high in recent years. According to statistics from Chemical Industry Online (www.chemsino.com), as of now, the average price in East China has been consolidating at a high level of around 11,800 yuan, an increase of 1,350 yuan, or 13%, from 10,450 yuan at the beginning of the year. The main reason for the increase is the surge in isopropyl alcohol caused by public health incidents. Downstream users mostly use n-propanol as a solvent instead of isopropyl alcohol, causing its price to rise.
N-propanol is a chemical product with a wide range of uses. Domestic n-propanol is mainly used to produce n-propyl acetate, and the demand in this field accounts for about 65%. n-propyl acetate is widely used in food packaging production and as a printing ink solvent for food packaging. n-propyl acetate is also an important component of the electrolyte for new energy vehicle lithium batteries. As a solvent, n-propanol has not yet been developed on a large scale in China. The proportion of n-propanol used directly as a solvent is only about 15%. In the United States, the demand for n-propanol directly used as a solvent is relatively high. In recent years, driven by the development of downstream coatings, spray paints, inks, adhesives and other industries, as well as the tightening of national environmental protection policies, the consumption of low-toxic n-propanol has continued to grow.
In terms of production technology, there are currently three main production methods for n-propanol: ethylene oxo synthesis, allyl alcohol hydrogenation, and isopropyl alcohol recovery. Each of the three production technologies has its own advantages and disadvantages. The ethylene oxo synthesis method is currently the most advanced production technology for the production of n-propanol in the world and is also the current mainstream production technology in the world. The other two methods are essentially by-products from other main products. It produces n-propanol, so its production capacity is small and not suitable for large-scale industrial promotion.
There are few domestic n-propanol production companies. As of 2019, the domestic n-propanol production capacity is about 140,000 tons. Among them, Nanjing Nuo New Materials and Nanjing Rongxin Chemical adopt the ethylene oxo synthesis production process, with a production capacity of 10 10,000 tons and 20,000 tons. The n-propanol products of these two companies are in a monopoly state in the country. In August this year, Ningbo Juhua New Materials Co., Ltd. put into operation a 50,000-ton ethylene hydroformylation unit to produce n-propanol. Since it is currently operating at low load, it will have little impact on the market.
Due to insufficient domestic production capacity, n-propanol still maintains a strong dependence on foreign countries. The performance indicators of n-propanol products in the United States, Germany and Taiwan are relatively good, and the prices of imported products are often lower than those of domestic companies due to the advantages of large-scale production. As the import volume of n-propanol increases, it has put great pressure on the development of local production enterprises in China. In September this year, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement to implement temporary countervailing measures in the form of temporary countervailing duty deposits on imported n-propanol originating in the United States starting from September 9, 2020. With the support of policies, domestic The market price of n-propanol remains high and firm.
At present, with the implementation of anti-dumping policies, it is conducive to the healthy development of the domestic n-propanol market. At the same time, n-propanol has obvious application advantages. In the future, as the environmental protection requirements of the coating industry continue to increase, n-propanol is expected to replace n-butanol, isopropyl alcohol, and acetate have become important solvents in the coating field, and the domestic n-propanol market has promising prospects.
