1. Basic overview of the industry:
Non-ionic cellulose ethers include HPMC, HEC, MHEC, MC, HPC, etc., and are mostly used as film-forming agents, binders, dispersants, water-retaining agents, thickeners, emulsifiers and stabilizers, etc., is widely used in many fields such as coatings, building materials, daily chemical products, oil and gas exploration, medicine, food, textiles, papermaking, etc., among which the largest amount is in the fields of coatings and building materials.
Ionic cellulose ethers are mainly CMC and its modified product PAC. Compared with non-ionic cellulose ethers, ionic cellulose ethers have poorer temperature resistance, salt resistance and stability, and their performance is greatly affected by the outside world. And it is easy to react with Ca2+ contained in some coatings and building materials to produce precipitation, so it is less used in the field of building materials and coatings. However, because of its good water solubility, thickening, bonding, film formation, moisture retention and dispersion stability, coupled with mature production technology and relatively low production cost, it is mainly used in detergents, oil and gas exploration and Food additives and other fields.
2. Industry development history:
① Development history of non-ionic cellulose ether industry: In 1905, the etherification of cellulose was realized for the first time in the world, using dimethyl sulfate and alkali-swelled cellulose for methylation. Nonionic cellulose ethers were patented by Lilienfeld in 1912, and Dreyfus (1914) and Leuchs (1920) obtained water-soluble and oil-soluble cellulose ethers, respectively. Hubert made HEC in 1920. In the early 1920s, carboxymethylcellulose was commercialized in Germany. From 1937 to 1938, the United States realized the industrial production of MC and HEC. After 1945, the production of cellulose ether expanded rapidly in Western Europe, the United States and Japan. After nearly a hundred years of development, non-ionic cellulose ether has become a chemical raw material commonly used in the world.
There is still a certain gap between developing countries and developed countries in terms of the production process level and product application fields of non-ionic cellulose ethers. In terms of production technology, developed countries such as Europe, North America, and Japan have relatively mature technology and technology, and mainly produce high-end application products such as coatings, food, and medicine; developing countries have a large demand for CMC and HPMC, and the technology is difficult the production of cellulose ether products with relatively low requirements is the main production, and the field of building materials is the main consumer market.
In terms of application fields, developed countries such as Europe and the United States have formed a relatively complete and mature industrial chain for their cellulose ether products due to factors such as early start and strong R&D strength, and the downstream applications cover many fields of the national economy; while developing countries Due to the short development time of the cellulose ether industry, the scope of application is smaller than that of developed countries. However, with the gradual improvement of the economic development level of developing countries, the industrial chain tends to be perfected, and the scope of application continues to expand.
②HEC industry development history: HEC is an important hydroxyalkyl cellulose and a water-soluble cellulose ether with a large production volume in the world.
The use of liquid ethylene oxide as etherification agent to prepare HEC has created a new process for the production of cellulose ether. The relevant core technology and production capacity are mainly concentrated in large chemical manufacturers in Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. HEC in my country was first developed in 1977 by Wuxi Chemical Research Institute and Harbin Chemical No. product. However, due to factors such as relatively backward technology and poor product quality stability, it failed to form effective competition with international manufacturers. In recent years, domestic manufacturers such as Yin Ying New Materials have gradually broken through technical barriers, optimized production processes, formed mass production capabilities for stable quality products, and were included in the scope of procurement by downstream manufacturers, continuously promoting the process of domestic substitution.
3. Main performance indicators and preparation process of non-ionic cellulose ether:
(1) Main performance indicators of non-ionic cellulose ether: the main performance indicators of non-ionic cellulose ether products are degree of substitution and viscosity, etc.
(2) Non-ionic cellulose ether preparation technology: In the production process of cellulose ether, both the raw cellulose and the initially formed cellulose ether are in a mixed multiphase state. Due to the stirring method, material ratio and raw material form, etc. Theoretically speaking, the cellulose ethers obtained by heterogeneous reactions are all inhomogeneous, and there are differences in the position, quantity and product purity of ether groups, that is, the obtained cellulose ethers are on different cellulose macromolecular chains, The number and distribution of substitutions on different glucose ring groups on the same cellulose macromolecule and C (2), C (3) and C(6) on each cellulose ring group are different. How to solve the problem of uneven substitution is the key to process control in the production process of cellulose ether.
To sum up, raw material treatment, alkalization, etherification, refining washing and other processes in the production process of non-ionic cellulose ether all have high requirements for preparation technology, process control and production equipment; at the same time, mass production of high-quality products require rich experience and efficient production organization capabilities.
4. Analysis of market application status:
At present, HEC products are mainly used in the fields of coatings, daily chemicals and environmental protection, but such products themselves can also be used in many other fields such as food, medicine, oil and gas exploration; MHEC products are mainly used in the field of building materials.
(1) Coating field:
Coating additives are the most important application of HEC products. Compared with other non-ionic cellulose ethers, HEC has obvious advantages as a coating additive: First, HEC has good storage stability, which can effectively improve the blocking attack of biological enzymes on glucose units to maintain viscosity stability, Ensure that the coating will not appear delamination after a period of storage; second, HEC has good solubility, HEC can be dissolved in hot or cold water, and has a certain hydration delay time when dissolved in cold water, and will not cause gel clustering , Good dispersibility and solubility; Third, HEC has good color development and good miscibility with most colorants, so that the prepared paint has good color consistency and stability.
(2) Construction materials field:
Although HEC can meet the requirements of cellulose ether additives in the field of building materials, because of its high preparation cost, and the relatively low requirements for product properties and workability of mortar and putty compared with coatings, ordinary building materials often choose HPMC or MHEC as the main cellulose ether additives. Compared with HPMC, the chemical structure of MHEC has more hydrophilic groups, so it is more stable at high temperature, that is, it has good thermal stability. In addition, compared with building material grade HPMC, it has a relatively high gel temperature, and its water retention and adhesion are stronger when used in high temperature environments.
(3) Daily chemical field:
The cellulose ethers commonly used in daily chemicals are CMC and HEC. Compared with CMC, HEC has certain advantages in cohesiveness, solvent resistance and stability. For example, CMC can be used as adhesive for ordinary daily chemical products without special functional additive formula. However, anionic CMC is sensitive to high-concentration ions, which will reduce the adhesive performance of CMC, and the use of CMC in special functional daily chemical products is limited. Using HEC as the binder enhances the performance of the binder against high-concentration ions, greatly improves the storage stability of daily chemical products and prolongs the storage time.
(4) Environmental protection field:
At present, HEC products are mainly used in adhesives and other fields of honeycomb ceramic carrier products. The honeycomb ceramic carrier is mainly used in the exhaust after-treatment system of internal combustion engines such as automobiles and ships, and plays the role of exhaust gas treatment to meet emission standards.
5. Current market status at home and abroad:
(1) Overview of the global nonionic cellulose ether market:
From the perspective of global production capacity distribution, 43% of the total global cellulose ether production in 2018 came from Asia (China accounted for 79% of Asian production), Western Europe accounted for 36%, and North America accounted for 8%. From the perspective of global demand for cellulose ether, the global consumption of cellulose ether in 2018 is about 1.1 million tons. From 2018 to 2023, the consumption of cellulose ether will grow at an average annual rate of 2.9%.
Nearly half of the total global cellulose ether consumption is ionic cellulose (represented by CMC), which is mainly used in detergents, oilfield additives and food additives; about one-third is non-ionic methyl cellulose and its derivatives substances (represented by HPMC), and the remaining one-sixth is hydroxyethyl cellulose and its derivatives and other cellulose ethers. The growth in demand for non-ionic cellulose ethers is mainly driven by applications in the fields of building materials, coatings, food, medicine, and daily chemicals. From the perspective of the regional distribution of the consumer market, the Asian market is the fastest growing market. From 2014 to 2019, the compound annual growth rate of demand for cellulose ether in Asia reached 8.24%. Among them, the main demand in Asia comes from China, accounting for 23% of the overall global demand.
(2) Overview of the domestic non-ionic cellulose ether market:
In China, ionic cellulose ethers represented by CMC developed earlier, forming a relatively mature production process and a large production capacity. According to IHS data, Chinese manufacturers have occupied nearly half of the global production capacity of basic CMC products. The development of non-ionic cellulose ether started relatively late in my country, but the development speed is fast.
After years of development, China’s non-ionic cellulose ether market has made great progress. In 2021, the designed production capacity of building material-grade HPMC will reach 117,600 tons, the output will be 104,300 tons, and the sales volume will be 97,500 tons. Large industrial scale and localization advantages have basically realized domestic substitution. However, for HEC products, due to the late start of R&D and production in my country, the complex production process and relatively high technical barriers, the current production capacity, production and sales volume of HEC domestic products are relatively small. However, in recent years, as domestic enterprises continue to increase investment in research and development, improve the level of technology and actively develop downstream customers, production and sales have grown rapidly. According to the data from the China Cellulose Industry Association, in 2021, major domestic enterprises HEC (included in industry association statistics, all-purpose) have a designed production capacity of 19,000 tons, an output of 17,300 tons, and a sales volume of 16,800 tons. Among them, production capacity increased by 72.73% year-on-year compared with 2020, output increased by 43.41% year-on-year, and sales volume increased by 40.60% year-on-year.
As an additive, the sales volume of HEC is highly affected by the demand of the downstream market. As the most important application field of HEC, the coating industry has a strong positive correlation with the HEC industry in terms of output and market distribution. From the perspective of market distribution, the coatings industry market is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai in East China, Guangdong in South China, the southeast coast, and Sichuan in Southwest China. Among them, the coating production in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Fujian accounted for about 32%, and that in South China and Guangdong accounted for about 20%. 5 above. The market for HEC products is also mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Guangdong and Fujian. HEC is currently mainly used in architectural coatings, but it is suitable for all kinds of water-based coatings in terms of its product attributes.
In 2021, the total annual output of China’s coatings is expected to be about 25.82 million tons, and the output of architectural coatings and industrial coatings will be 7.51 million tons and 18.31 million tons respectively6. Water-based coatings currently account for about 90% of architectural coatings, and about accounting for 25%, it is estimated that my country’s water-based paint production in 2021 will be about 11.3365 million tons. Theoretically, the amount of HEC added to water-based paints is 0.1% to 0.5%, calculated on an average of 0.3%, assuming that all water-based paints use HEC as an additive, the national demand for paint-grade HEC is about 34,000 tons. Based on the total global coating production of 97.6 million tons in 2020 (of which architectural coatings account for 58.20% and industrial coatings account for 41.80%), the global demand for coating grade HEC is estimated to be about 184,000 tons.
To sum up, at present, the market share of coating grade HEC of domestic manufacturers in China is still low, and the domestic market share is mainly occupied by international manufacturers represented by Ashland of the United States, and there is a large space for domestic substitution. With the improvement of domestic HEC product quality and the expansion of production capacity, it will further compete with international manufacturers in the downstream field represented by coatings. Domestic substitution and international market competition will become the main development trend of this industry in a certain period of time in the future.