Share information on the development and market situation of specialized PVC resins in your company

Many companies in the industry are doing this, but they keep it a secret. Those that have been active in this field and achieved results include Shanghai Chlor-Alkali and Tianhua; previously, Yibin Tianyuan was also active in this area, followed by Tianye, Jinlu, and Shenghua.

I visited Meike Chemical during the May Day holiday. That company produces BDO (1,4-butanediol) using the Reppe process, also known as the alkyne-aldehyde method, which involves acetylene and formaldehyde. BDO can be utilized in the PVC industry; it has a wide range of applications and high profit margins. Not many companies are currently producing it, and Yingtai in Ningxia is also working on this project. Yingtai’s main business is PVC, and although they are now starting to produce BDO, not much is known about this. Those who are familiar with it are welcome to share their insights

What is the strategy behind the development of these enterprises? I hope you can be more detailed

Everyone wants to get into the BDO business now, especially in the PVC industry. However, most of the existing manufacturers in this sector are currently expanding their production capacity; therefore, it’s very likely that BDO will become the next PVC product to face a situation of supply exceeding demand, which will soon lead to difficulties for those involved in this industry

BDO is currently showing a relatively high increase, of over 40 percent; I believe this is due to the significant rise in the price of butadiene during the first quarter. In fact, the by-product propargaldehyde in the BDO production process is the truly valuable substance, with a market price that is two orders of magnitude higher than its cost.

The production capacity of special resins for chlor-alkali industry is limited; it is mainly carried out by a few 13.5-cubic-meter reactors that remained after the relocation and renovation of Shanghai Tianyuan. The annual total production capacity is a little over 20,000 tons. But it is said that production capacity is far from sufficient to meet demand. Tianhua’s chloroacetic resin also performs well, achieving an annual production volume of 50,000 to 60,000 tons. For these special resins, I believe the most suitable tank sizes for production are 13.5 cubic meters and 30 cubic meters. 70 cubic meters already seems large. Furthermore, the companies that are truly best at producing specialty resins are Hangdianhua and Wuxi Honghui (formerly Wuxi Dianhua). Hangdianhua allocates one-third of its production capacity to the manufacture of resins with high polymerization degrees and matting properties; it also has a production line for emulsion-polymerized chloroether resins with a capacity of 5,000 tons per year. In addition, it produces chloropropyl emulsion coatings. Honghui is even more advanced in this regard – it no longer produces conventional PVC at all. The new plant’s polymerization capacity of 120,000 tons is used solely to produce chloroacetic acid by the suspension method, as well as modified hydroxylated chloroacetic acid and other similar products. In particular, some special types of chloroacetic acids, such as trichloroacetic acid and hydroxylated chloroacetic acids, have prices ranging from 55 to 60 yuan per kilogram for products from Dow and BASF – which is almost several hundred percent higher than the cost of production.

There are actually many things that can be made from acetylene, and I believe that the excess capacity for calcium carbide production as well as the excess acetylene production capacity (mainly that from PVC plants) will find a way to be utilized.

How did no one think of using calcium carbide as fuel for engines? Then the market is very large.