Thread Content
The current status of China’s sulfuric acid industry: Driven by the demand for acids in China’s fertilizer and chemical industries, China’s sulfuric acid industry has developed rapidly. There are over 600 companies engaged in sulfuric acid production in China; these companies are generally small in scale, consume large amounts of raw materials and auxiliary materials, and their production processes, equipment, as well as environmental protection technologies are relatively backward. The production routes for sulfuric acid include acid production from sulfides, acid production from flue gas, acid production from pyrite, and acid production from gypsum. Before 2000, sulfuric acid production in China mainly relied on pyrite as the primary raw material, with sulfur accounting for less than 30% of the input used in sulfuric acid production; abroad, sulfur was essentially the main raw material used for this purpose. Compared to acid production from pyrite, sulfur-based acid production has certain advantages in terms of environmental protection, production costs, and operational procedures. In recent years, the sulfur-based and flue gas-based acid production industries in our country have developed rapidly, with their share increasing year by year. In 2007, China’s sulfuric acid production reached 57 million tons, a 13% increase year-on-year, ranking first in the world. Of this, 26.23 million tons were produced from sulfur, accounting for 46% of the total sulfuric acid production, with a year-on-year increase of 17.5% ； 17.05 million tons of sulfuric acid were produced from pyrite, accounting for about 30% of the total sulfuric acid production, with a year-on-year increase of 7.0% ； Sulfuric acid produced from flue gas amounted to 13.21 million tons, accounting for about 23% of the total sulfuric acid production, with a year-on-year increase of 13.6% ； 520,000 tons of acid were produced from other raw materials. The declining proportion of the sulfuric acid production process using pyrite is mainly due to the shortage of domestic pyrite resources, whereas the rapid development of the acid production process using flue gas is driven by the fast growth of China’s non-ferrous metals industry and environmental protection policies. In 2007, six provinces in China had a sulfuric acid production volume of over 3 million tons, namely Yunnan, Hubei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Guizhou, and Sichuan. The production in the East China region accounted for 30% of the country’s total output, while the South China region and Chongqing accounted for 17%. The details are shown in the table below: Table 3.1 Regional distribution of sulfuric acid production in China in 2007. Unit: million tons. Province, Total sulfuric acid production, Sulfur-based sulfuric acid production, Flue gas-based sulfuric acid production capacity, Pyrite-based sulfuric acid production capacity: Yunnan: 882, 589, 193, 96; Hubei: 674, 365, 60, 246; Shandong: 525, 307, 95, 121; Jiangsu: 485, 375, 75, 30; Guizhou: 443, 401, 20, 20; Sichuan: 336, 115, 65, 152. Gansu: 167; Anhui: 152; Jiangxi: 118; Guangxi: 100; Guangdong: 135. At present, only 10 companies in China have a production volume of over 1 million tons, accounting for 30% of the country’s total output. China’s largest sulfuric acid producer is Yuntianhua International Chemical Co., Ltd., with an annual production capacity of 4.83 million tons. China’s largest single sulfur-based sulfuric acid production facility is Shuangshi Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. in Zhangjiagang, with an output of 1.04 million tons. China’s largest single-unit flue gas-based sulfuric acid production facility is owned by Jiangxi Copper Corporation, with an output of 1.18 million tons. China’s largest single-unit pyrite-based sulfuric acid production facility is Guangxi Luzhai Fertilizer Co., Ltd., with an output of 430,000 tons. The top 10 sulfuric acid producers in China are listed in the table below: Table 3.2 Top 10 Sulfuric Acid Producers in China and Their Production Volumes. Sequence Number, Company Name, Production Volume in 2007 (10,000 tons), Notes: 1. Yuntianhua – 483 tons; all produced from sulfur. 2. Jiangxi Copper Group – 164 tons; 1.18 million tons produced from flue gas, and 460,000 tons produced from pyrite. 3. Tongling Nonferrous Metals – 151 tons; all produced from flue gas. 4. Hubei Yangfeng – 146 tons; 1.4 million tons produced from sulfur. 5. Hubei Yihua – 144 tons; 960,000 tons produced from sulfur, and 470,000 tons produced from pyrite. 6. Guizhou Kailin – 134 tons; all produced from sulfur. 7. Sinochem Fuling – 128 tons; 1.2 million tons produced from sulfur. 8. Shuangshi Zhangjiagang – 126 tons; all produced from sulfur. 9. Jinchuan Group – 115 tons; all produced from flue gas. 10. Guizhou Hongfu – 105 tons; 880,000 tons produced from sulfur. Total: 1,696 tons, accounting for 29.75% of the country’s total production. Import, export, and consumption of sulfuric acid and sulfur in China: 1. Overview of the sulfuric acid market: With the rapid development of China’s sulfuric acid industry, imports of this substance are low and on a downward trend. In 2007, China imported 1.96 million tons of sulfuric acid, a decrease of 9.2% compared to the previous year; 62% of this came from South Korea and 38% from Japan. According to statistics, the vast majority of sulfuric acid imported into our country is used in the production of fertilizers. In 2007, China’s apparent consumption of sulfuric acid was 58.96 million tons, an increase of 12% on a year-on-year basis. As production also increased by the same amount, China’s self-sufficiency rate in sulfuric acid was 96.68%, leaving little room for growth in the domestic market. Affected by raw material prices and external market conditions, the price of sulfuric acid saw a steady, slight increase in the first half of 2007. In the second half of the year, when many expected a decline in its price, sulfuric acid remained remarkably strong, continuing to reach new highs. In 2008, it further rose, reaching 2,000 yuan per ton. Entering the second half of 2008, sulfuric acid prices finally began to decline, with the extent of this decline increasing over time. By October, domestic sulfuric acid prices had dropped to 1,300 yuan per ton, and due to weak market demand, there was still room for further declines. 2. Overview of the sulfur market: As China’s sulfur-based acid production industry continues to expand, the country’s imports of sulfur have been increasing steadily. In 2007, China imported 9.65 million tons of sulfur, a 9.5% increase compared to the previous year; this amount accounted for one-third of the world’s total sulfur trade. 36.8% of China’s imported sulfur comes from North America (29% from Canada and 7.8% from the United States), 33.3% from West Asia (the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc.), 15.8% from Northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.), and 11.7% from the Soviet region (Russia, Kazakhstan, etc.). At present, China’s sulfur production mainly comes from the refining of high-sulfur crude oil imported from coastal areas to recover sulfur, as well as from the desulfurization of natural gas; a smaller portion comes from chemical desulfurization processes. In 2007, China’s total sulfur production was only 1.2 million tons. In 2007, China’s total sulfur consumption was 22.06 million tons, an increase of 9.4% compared to the previous year. Of this, 10.85 million tons was sulfur consumed directly, 5.86 million tons came from pyrite converted to sulfur, 4.54 million tons came from flue gases from non-ferrous metal smelting, 630,000 tons came from imported sulfuric acid, and 180,000 tons came from other sources. Imported sulfur accounts for 89% of the total sulfur supply, and more than 50% of the minerals used in non-ferrous metals are imported. Together with imported sulfuric acid, China’s imports of sulfur-based resources in 2007 exceeded 12.65 million tons, accounting for nearly 60% of the country’s total sulfur consumption. This shows that China is facing a shortage of sulfur resources, and this scarcity constitutes a bottleneck for China’s fertilizer and chemical industries. After more than a year of rapid increases, the sulfur market saw its price rise from less than 1,000 yuan per ton to 6,000 yuan per ton by May this year. After June 2008, things took a dramatic turn, with domestic and international markets moving in different directions: after reaching over 6,000 yuan per ton, the domestic market finally stopped rising and started to decline, with a sharp drop occurring starting in July ； In contrast, the international market continued to rise above $800 per ton, reaching a peak of $860 per ton, before starting to decline at the end of August. Against the backdrop of skyrocketing sulfur prices in the second half of 2007, there was an even more drastic drop in the second half of 2008; within just 3 months from June to September, sulfur prices dropped back to their levels at the beginning of 2007.