Inventory of new methanol production facilities in the next two years

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Inventory of new methanol production facilities in the next two years Author/Source: Date: 2016-04-20 Clicks: 13 According to statistics, China’s total methanol production capacity reached around 78 million tons per year in 2015. Due to declining profitability in this industry, the actual increase in production capacity that year was only 1.4 million tons; thus, the growth rate of domestic methanol production capacity slowed down significantly, with some projects being postponed to 2016. http://img.yf116.cn/image/img/20160420/931313429199.jpg The additional methanol production capacity scheduled to come online in China during 2016–2017 is around 13.22 million tons. Coal-based methanol accounts for about 82% of the total new production capacity, with the northwestern region accounting for around 60%; the rest is mainly concentrated in East China and North China. Among all the newly added facilities, most companies have associated olefin plants, and the development along the industrial chain will become a trend. If all the planned new production capacities are put into operation as scheduled over the next two years, China’s effective methanol production capacity is expected to reach around 88 million tons by then, with regions such as the Northwest remaining the main areas for capacity expansion in the country. The olefin industry is set to experience rapid growth over the next two to three years. With the development of new downstream applications, China’s methanol production capacity is likely to continue increasing. However, factors such as excess methanol production capacity in the country, unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, and environmental constraints may slow down the growth rate of China’s methanol production capacity.