There are increasing reports of new domestic downstream projects for producing ethanol from acetic acid going into operation

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There are increasing reports of new downstream projects for producing ethanol from acetic acid in China. Author/Source: Date: 2016-06-29 Clicks: 30. In recent years, most downstream products derived from acetic acid have faced overcapacity issues, with frequent announcements of the elimination of outdated production capacities, especially in traditional areas such as chloroacetic acid and acetates. Currently, the production of ethanol from acetic acid represents a new downstream application, and there are ongoing reports of new projects in this area. 　　Recently, news of the commissioning of new facilities in the acetic acid industry has been emerging one after another: Henan Shunda’s 200,000-ton/year acetic acid hydrogenation plant is set to start operating in early June; Tangshan Zhongrong Technology’s 100,000-ton/year acetic acid hydrogenation plant is planned to begin operations at the end of August; Ningbo Daxie Huatai Shengfu’s 100,000-ton/year sec-butyl acetate plant is scheduled to go into operation in July; Inner Mongolia Mengwei’s 200,000-ton/year vinyl acetate plant is planned to start production in October; and Inner Mongolia Shuangxin’s 100,000-ton/year vinyl acetate plant is also scheduled to begin operations in October. 　　The above news seems to provide significant support for the future acetic acid market, and it represents good news given the current situation of oversupply. Upon closer inspection, most of the downstream products of acetic acid have been facing overcapacity in recent years, with frequent reports of the elimination of outdated production capacities. This is especially true for traditional downstream products such as chloroacetic acid and acetates. Currently, the use of acetic acid to produce ethanol represents an emerging downstream application, and there are increasing reports of new plants being built for this purpose. 　　An acetic acid to ethanol production facility: For glacial acetic acid, the conversion of acetic acid into ethanol represents a new downstream application area with potential for future development. Currently, there are continuous reports regarding ethanol production facilities using acetic acid. Since the commissioning of Selenis’ 275,000 tons per year plant in 2013, the total production capacity has increased to 760,000 tons per year. In the production of ethanol from acetic acid, the proportion of acetic acid used is 1.2; therefore, this process requires a large amount of glacial acetic acid. Especially given the current oversupply of glacial acetic acid, industry players are paying particular attention to the development of acetic acid-based ethanol production facilities. 　　Operation status of new vinyl acetate diacetate plants In the past few years, domestic vinyl acetate plants have undergone restructuring and reorganization, with outdated production capacities being phased out. The vinyl acetate market saw a boom in 2014, as the shutdown of two production facilities in Europe at the end of 2013, along with routine maintenance activities at facilities in the United States during the third quarter, led to a significant drop in the supply of vinyl acetate from abroad. The domestic market took this opportunity to open up export channels. As a result, the domestic vinyl acetate industry ended its embarrassing situation of having almost no exports. 　　Changes in domestic vinyl acetate exports With export support, sales of domestic vinyl acetate have improved significantly. Compared to other downstream products of acetic acid, vinyl acetate can be considered a better product. The profit from product production also belongs to the high-profit category within the industrial chain. Data shows that in the first half of 2016, the average profit for calcium carbide production plants was around 500 yuan per ton. The average profit for ethylene-based production facilities is also around 400 yuan per ton. Driven by these profit incentives, news has come that new production facilities have been put into operation at Inner Mongolia Shuangxin and Inner Mongolia Mengwei. 　　Sec-butyl acetate production facility: In 2014, the domestic sec-butyl acetate industry underwent a process of consolidation; out of more than a dozen companies operating in this field, only 3-4 continued to be in operation, but at reduced capacity. Therefore, the market for sec-butyl acetate is not optimistic. 　　Entering 2016, the market for sec-butyl acetate continued to perform poorly. However, during the traditional off-season, market prices remain relatively stable compared to butyl esters, thanks to export demand from manufacturers. However, without the support of the oil market, sec-butyl acetate will find it difficult to maintain the success it achieved in 2012. Under these circumstances, putting the 100,000-ton/year plant at Ningbo Daxie Huatai Shengfu into operation was not a wise decision. 　　Overall, there are not many new developments in the downstream segment of the acetic acid industry chain. In an era where most products suffer from overcapacity, acetic acid is no exception; although the industry is actively seeking solutions, the results have not been satisfactory. In addition, new downstream applications such as acetated wood and acetate filaments also need to be developed urgently.