Behind the large purchase order of 12.8 billion, more than one million tons of production capacity will be added in the future. The localization of this "stuck neck" raw material is solved

Recently, China Pingmei Shenma Group signed a purchase agreement worth 12.
7984 billion yuan with a US company, and plans to continue to purchase nylon 66 intermediate adiponitrile in the next five years
.
Following Huafon Group's major breakthrough in developing and innovating the process route of adipic acid-based adiponitrile in 2019, many domestic companies have announced to accelerate their deployment in the field of adiponitrile
.
Although the prospect of localization is promising, the industry needs to continue to make efforts to realize the large-scale and stable supply of domestically produced products
.

Raw material "stuck neck" causes low self-sufficiency rate of nylon 66

In the field of engineering plastics, nylon 66 is used in automobiles, electrical and electronics, and industrial machinery, accounting for 45%, 16%, and 11%, respectively
.
Modified nylon 66 is mainly used in the production of auto parts
.
With the recovery of the automobile market and the trend of lightweight automobiles, engineering plastics used in the automobile industry will become the main driving force for the demand for nylon 66
.
　　

Huaan Securities believes that the total national demand for nylon 66 will be about 1.
32 million tons in 2025, and the average annual compound growth rate from 2021 to 2025 will be 25%; The compound annual growth rate is 17%
.

Table 1 Production capacity and product 10,000 tons/year of 8 major domestic PA66 polymerization manufacturers

For a long time, China's nylon 66 self-sufficiency rate has been low, mainly because the core raw material adiponitrile technology has not achieved breakthroughs
.
Before 2019, no domestic enterprise was able to produce adiponitrile.
Adiponitrile has long relied on imports and has always been controlled by foreign multinational companies, which severely restricted and affected the development of the nylon industry and product competitiveness
.

Table 2 Global adiponitrile production enterprises and production capacity of 10,000 tons / year

In 2018, the start-up load of foreign adiponitrile plants directly caused the domino effect of the domestic adiponitrile-hexanediamine-PA66 product chain
.
During this period, major international manufacturers issued price increase letters for many times, and BASF, Celanese, DuPont and other polymer manufacturers issued a total of 14 price increase letters
.

Huafeng takes the lead, and the localization of high-end "chips" is fully sprinting

Adiponitrile is the key raw material for the production of nylon 66, and it can be described as a high-end "chip" that is safe and independently controllable in China's nylon 66 industry chain
.
Represented by Huafon Group, Chinese production enterprises have achieved zero breakthroughs in the past two years, and more than one million tons of projects under construction and planned in the next 3 to 5 years are planned to be put into operation, thus gradually breaking the "stuck" encountered by Chinese nylon 66 materials.
neck" problem
.
Last week, in the announcement of the 2021 China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation Science and Technology Award to be awarded projects, the team led by Chen Enzhi, vice president of Huafeng Group and general manager of Chongqing Huafeng Chemical Co.
, Ltd.
, joined Chongqing Huafeng Polyamide Co.
, Ltd.
, Chongqing Huafeng The "Development and Industrialization of Key Technologies for the Production of Adiponitrile and Nylon 66 Whole Industry Chain" completed by Feng New Materials Research Institute Co.
, Ltd.
, Huafeng Group Co.
, Ltd.
and other units won the 2021 China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Science and Technology Award—— The first prize of scientific and technological progress
.

In July 2019, Huafon built the first industrialized 50,000-ton/year adiponitrile production unit in China.
This is the first domestic industrial production project of adiponitrile, and it is also the first adiponitrile researched and developed by the nation's own technology.
Nitrile production project
.
For the first time in China, it has opened up and built a complete industrial chain from benzene to adipic acid, to adiponitrile and hexamethylene diamine, and then to nylon 66
.

Over the years, although a number of domestic chemical companies have continuously devoted themselves to the technical research of adiponitrile, due to the long production process of adiponitrile, the complex catalyst system and the high technical barriers, some companies have built adiponitrile in the past few years.
However, due to factors such as high cost and explosion accidents, the project was in trouble and terminated
.
Huafon Group's "14th Five-Year" development plan shows that after the successful industrialization of the Huafon Chongqing Base with an annual output of 50,000 tons of adiponitrile in 2019, another adiponitrile plant with an annual output of 50,000 tons has been commissioned this year.
The second phase of the 100,000-ton/year adiponitrile plant under construction is expected to be put into operation next year, and the third-phase 100,000-ton/year adiponitrile plant is already under intensive design and is expected to be put into operation in 2023
.
That is to say, by the end of 2023, Huafon will build an adiponitrile plant with an annual output of 300,000 tons
.

Pingmei Shenma has carried out joint scientific and technological research with many domestic research institutes and institutes, and finally completed the technical research on the industrial production of dinitrile, obtained the independent intellectual property rights of the industrial production of adiponitrile, and adopted the internationally advanced Direct hydrocyanation of diene to synthesize adiponitrile production technology to reduce energy consumption, reduce pollution and improve efficiency
.
In the same period, Henan Shenma Aidian Chemical Co.
, Ltd.
with a registered capital of 300 million yuan was also officially registered and established, marking the key link of the independent production of adiponitrile in the nylon industry chain of Shenma.
The new company is fully owned by Shenma.
Invested in the construction of a 200,000-ton/year (Phase 1 50,000-ton/year) adiponitrile project using the international advanced technology of direct hydrocyanation of butadiene to synthesize adiponitrile
.
The total investment of the project is 1.
19 billion yuan, and it is expected to be put into operation in 2022
.

In addition, Tianchen Qixiang, a joint venture between China Chemical and Qixiang Tengda, invested 10.
5 billion yuan to build a 1 million tons/year nylon 66 industrial chain project, including 200,000 tons/year adiponitrile production capacity, which is expected to be put into production by the end of 2021; The dinitrile giant INVISTA plans to invest 7 billion yuan to start the construction of an adiponitrile production base with an annual output of 400,000 tons in Shanghai, which is expected to be put into operation in 2022
.

Table 3 Chinese adiponitrile production enterprises and production capacity of 10,000 tons / year

After the industrialization of adiponitrile in China, its production scale will be further expanded, the cost will be further reduced, and it will bring more import substitution space for PA66, further open up the application space of PA66, and the domestic PA66 industry may usher in a period of rapid development
.
According to industry estimates, the demand for adiponitrile and PA66 is expected to double in the next 2 to 3 years.
In the next 5 to 10 years, adiponitrile will reach a certain marginal production cost, and the demand for PA66 is expected to reach 4 million tons.
China may become the world's largest Adiponitrile-PA66 Market
.