The market scale of ε-caprolactone continues to expand, and the level of localization in my country’s market continues to improve.

ε-Caprolactone is a chemical intermediate with the chemical formula C6H10O2. It appears as a colorless oily liquid. It is insoluble in petroleum ether and easily soluble in water, ethanol and benzene. It can become a dimer or high molecular polyester when heated. It is easy to carry out ring-opening reactions under the catalysis of active hydrogen, carboxylic acid, amine, alcohol, hydrogen halide, nitric acid and other compounds. ε-Caprolactone can be widely used in the preparation of polycaprolactone (PLC, also known as polyε-caprolactone), polycaprolactone polyol, polycaprolactone polyurethane, adhesives, elastomers, coatings, etc. Market development The space is wider.

Among them, polycaprolactone is the main application scenario of ε-caprolactone. Polycaprolactone is a type of organic polymer with excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. It can be widely used in medicine, 3D printing, degradable plastics, nanofiber spinning, plasticizers and other fields. Driven by the rapid development of downstream applications, the market demand for polycaprolactone and its raw material ε-caprolactone has continued to increase and its scale has continued to expand. According to the“2023-2028 ε-Caprolactone Industry Market In-depth Research and Investment Prospect Forecast Analysis Report” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that the domestic ε-caprolactone market size in 2022 will be approximately 170 million yuan.

From the production side, there are various production methods for ε-caprolactone, including cyclohexanone oxidation synthesis method, 1,6-hexanediol liquid phase catalytic dehydrogenation method, 6-hydroxycaproic acid intramolecular condensation method, etc. Among them, the cyclohexanone oxidation synthesis method is currently the main method for industrial production of ε-caprolactone. It refers to a method that uses cyclohexanone, peroxyacid or hydrogen peroxide as raw materials, and an oxidation reaction occurs under the action of a catalyst to generate ε-caprolactone. .

Since the production of ε-caprolactone requires high quality and purity of raw materials, and there are technical difficulties such as safety control and purification and aggregation in the production process, my country’s ε-caprolactone market demand has been dependent on imports for a long time. Restricting the development of polycaprolactone and related industries. Germany’s BASF, Japan’s Daicel, and Sweden’s Perstorp are the world’s major suppliers of ε-caprolactone, accounting for more than 95% of the market.

In order to break the monopoly of international companies and start the localization process of the domestic ε-caprolactone market, Chinese companies and related research institutions continue to increase research and development efforts. Against this background, Hunan Juren Chemical New Material Technology built a 2000t/a ε-caprolactone production line in 2016, becoming the first domestic enterprise to achieve large-scale mass production of ε-caprolactone.

Since then, many domestic companies have built or are building ε-caprolactone production lines. For example, Anhui Zhuorun New Environmental Protection Materials has built an ε-caprolactone production line with an annual production capacity of 390t/a, and Hunan Juren Chemical has built an ε-caprolactone annual production line. A production line with a capacity of 5,000t/a, Shandong Jilu Caprolactone’s 1,000t/aε-caprolactone project under construction, Henan Zhongyuan Dahua’s 2,000t/aε-caprolactone project under construction, etc. Industry analysts said that in the future, as local enterprises continue to upgrade their technology and the research and development process continues to accelerate, my country’s ε -The level of domestic production of caprolactone is expected to continue to improve, and the industry has huge development potential.