During the year, 2.25 million tons of propylene oxide and 4.68 million tons of styrene will be added!

On April 10, the ethylene benzene (EB) unit of the propylene oxide/styrene (POSM) unit of the Tianjin Bohua chemical and chemical relocation and renovation project, which was contracted by Tianchen Company, was successfully put into operation.
The unit ran smoothly and produced qualified products.
Ethylbenzene has laid the foundation for the start-up of the downstream unit, and is one step closer to the full production of the project
.

As an important part of the relocation industry chain of "two industrializations", the POSM unit has an annual output of 200,000 tons of propylene oxide and co-produces 450,000 tons of styrene monomer.
The products are widely used in the fields of fine chemicals and polymer materials; among which the ethylbenzene unit Compared with the traditional technology, the adopted patented technology has outstanding advantages such as high product yield, stable operation control, low energy consumption and environmental friendliness
.

POSM device products have a broad market space

The upstream raw materials of the POSM unit are mainly ethylene, propylene and benzene produced by the refining and chemical integration project, and then propylene oxide and styrene monomers are produced by the co-oxidation method
.

Figure 1.
Block diagram of POSM process flow (taking homogeneous molybdenum-based epoxidation catalyst as an example)

PO is an important organic chemical raw material, and is currently the top three propylene derivatives in the market
.
Its biggest use is to synthesize polyether polyol, and then react with TDI/MDI to further synthesize polyurethane polymer materials, which are widely used in upholstered furniture, automobiles, refrigerator freezers, 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 the same as China's GDP development level in the future, and the market space is large
.
In addition, propylene oxide can also be used in industries such as surfactants and lubricants, and can also absorb carbon dioxide to make degradable plastics (PPC)
.

Figure 2 Schematic diagram of propylene oxide industry chain

Source: Huajing Industry Research Institute

Styrene is also an important raw material for synthetic polymer materials.
It is mainly used in the production of EPS/PS, ABS/SAN, styrene-butadiene rubber/styrene-butadiene latex, unsaturated polyester resin and other products.
It is widely used in automobiles, home appliances, medicine, and pesticides downstream.
, dyes and textile industries
.

Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the styrene industry chain

Source: Yide Futures

Propylene oxide: 2.
25 million tons/year capacity will be added during the year

Before 2020, the supply and demand of China's propylene oxide industry is in a state of less than demand, which is a raw material intermediate with a high profit rate of return among chemical products, which has attracted the favor of a large number of investors
.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia in 2020 resulted in a delay in the commissioning of new production capacity.
In 2021, as the first year of intensive expansion of domestic propylene oxide, it has witnessed the transition from a tight balance to a loose balance in the supply and demand pattern
.

The following table shows the newly added capacity projects with high possibility of domestic propylene oxide production in 2022
.
According to the monitoring of Longzhong Information, under ideal conditions, a total of 2.
245 million tons/year of new production capacity will be added in 2022.
Although there may be some delays, such a large amount of production capacity will be released.
2022 will be the second year of the concentrated capacity expansion period.
The market will face greater challenges
.

Expectation of new domestic propylene oxide units in 2022

Source: Longzhong Information Subscription Number

Styrene: 4.
68 million tons/year capacity will be added during the year

In recent years, the growth rate of global styrene production capacity excluding China has continued to slow down
.
As of the end of 2021, the total global styrene production capacity is close to 39.
8 million tons/year; China's total styrene production capacity is 15.
239 million tons/year, an increase of 3.
23 million tons/year compared with 2020, an increase of 26.
90%, making it the world's largest benzene Ethylene production country, accounting for 38% of the total global production capacity
.

At present, China has become the country with the fastest growth in styrene consumption in the world.
China's styrene industry has entered a period of rapid growth, and is gradually becoming saturated with supply, and even gradually excessive
.
Since 2020, China's styrene production capacity has expanded rapidly
.
In 2021, China's styrene will further realize the new release of production capacity: Anhui Jiaxi 350,000 tons/year in the first quarter, Sinochem Quanzhou 450,000 tons/year and CNOOC Shell Phase II 700,000 tons/year; Sinochem Hong Kong in the second quarter Run 120,000 tons/year and Ningbo Huatai Shengfu 450,000 tons/year; Gulei Petrochemical 600,000 tons/year in the third quarter, and Yantai Wanhua 650,000 tons/year new plant in the fourth quarter; Yuan expanded its capacity by 50,000 tons/year and Baling Petrochemical by 10,000 tons/year respectively, and Changzhou Donghao’s 200,000-ton/year styrene plant was permanently shut down around September 25
.

2020-2021 is the two years when the production capacity of the domestic styrene market is concentrated, and this trend will continue to extend to 2022
.
Even if the new downstream production capacity has gradually accelerated since the second half of 2021, it still cannot keep up with the expansion of styrene production capacity
.
In 2022, the pressure on the domestic styrene supply side on the market will be further deepened, and relevant production enterprises are facing increasingly severe competition for survival
.

Changes in domestic styrene production capacity at the end of each year from 2019 to 2022 (E) 10,000 tons/year

Source: ICIS

The commissioning of some domestic styrene plants in 2022

Source: ICIS ICIS

Market participants predict that by the middle of 2022, there will be a large surplus of styrene in China, which may be the inevitable beginning of China's transition from a styrene importer to an exporter
.