my country’s demand for adiponitrile relies on imports. There is huge room for development of the butadiene cyanide hydrogenation to adiponitrile process.

There are three main preparation methods for adiponitrile: adipic acid amination, acrylonitrile electrolysis, and butadiene cyanide hydrogenation. Among them, the hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to adiponitrile has the advantages of easy availability of raw materials, low energy consumption, low cost, short process flow, large-scale production, high yield, high product quality, and low environmental pollution. It is currently the world’s most advanced method. The most advanced adiponitrile production technology is the development direction of my country’s adiponitrile industry technology.

The hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to produce adiponitrile uses a mixture of zero-valent nickel and phosphorus-containing ligands as catalysts, butadiene as raw material, and an addition reaction with hydrocyanic acid to prepare the product. According to the “2022-2026 Butadiene Cyanide Hydrogenation to Adiponitrile Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report” released by the Industrial Research Center shows that the hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to adiponitrile is technically difficult, especially in terms of catalyst selection and recycling, and the initial investment cost is high. Globally, only INVISTA and BASF have large-scale Mass production capacity, among which INVISTA is the world’s largest producer of adiponitrile.

For a long time, my country’s production capacity of adiponitrile has been weak, and its demand has basically relied on imports. However, the global supply of adiponitrile is limited. The price of imported adiponitrile is high and the quantity is small, which cannot meet the domestic market demand. Against the background of my country’s increasingly stringent environmental protection policies and the continuous upgrading of technology in the chemical industry, the hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to adiponitrile has become an important direction for the development of my country’s adiponitrile industry.

From a downstream perspective, adiponitrile is an important raw material for manufacturing nylon 66. Nylon 66 has excellent comprehensive properties and can be widely used in textile, machinery, instrumentation, automobiles, rail transit, electronic and electrical industries, etc. my country’s Shenma, Huafeng and other companies have large-scale mass production capabilities of nylon 66, but due to insufficient supply of adiponitrile, the industry’s operating rate is low. It is expected that by 2025, my country’s demand for adiponitrile will reach about 1.35 million tons, and the need for independent production of adiponitrile is extremely urgent.

From an upstream perspective, the development of refining and chemical integration in my country’s petrochemical industry has become a trend, and butadiene production capacity continues to increase. Since 2019, production capacity has entered the new construction or production period. Since 2020, the growth rate of my country’s butadiene production capacity has accelerated. In 2018, my country’s butadiene production capacity was about 3.8 million tons, and it is expected to reach about 6.4 million tons by the end of 2022, which will provide sufficient raw materials for the development of the hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to adiponitrile process.

Industry analysts said that at present, there are companies in my country that have production capacity for hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to produce adiponitrile. In August 2019, Tianchen Qixiang’s industrial base with an annual output of 1 million tons of nylon new materials officially started construction, including an adiponitrile production unit with an annual output of 500,000 tons, which uses self-developed butadiene cyanide hydrogenation to produce adiponitrile. Technology, in May 2020, the installation groundbreaking ceremony was held for this project. This is my country’s first project using hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to produce adiponitrile. It breaks the foreign technology monopoly and is expected to promote the continued expansion of my country’s production capacity of hydrogenation of butadiene cyanide to produce adiponitrile.