Driven by technological innovation, my country’s high-carbon alcohol localization process continues to accelerate

High-carbon alcohol, also known as higher alkanol, higher fatty alcohol, and high-carbon fatty alcohol, is a saturated monohydric alcohol containing waxy solids with more than twelve carbon atoms. High-carbon alcohol appears as white waxy solid, powder or scaly crystals with no special smell. It is soluble in most organic solvents such as ether, methanol and acetone, but is insoluble in water. High-carbon alcohols have relatively stable chemical properties and have the advantages of acid and alkali resistance, resistance to oxidation, and light resistance. They are the basic raw materials for a variety of fine chemicals.

The main raw materials of high-carbon alcohols include synthetic oils and natural oils. Synthetic oils are made of organic compounds such as propylene, liquid paraffin, n-alkanes, and long-chain α-olefins. As an important raw material for high-carbon alcohol synthetic oils, ethylene’s output continues to rise. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s cumulative ethylene production in 2021 will be 28.257 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.3%. Natural oils were widely used in the early stages of industry development, mainly using animal and vegetable oils as raw materials, including lard, palm oil, coconut oil, etc.

According to the “2022-2027 High-carbon Alcohol Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestion Report released by the Industrial Research Center, high-carbon alcohol industry The technical routes for preparing carbon alcohols are divided into two types: synthetic oil routes and natural oil routes. The synthetic oil routes are mainly n-alkane oxidation, Ziegler method, paraffin oxidation and oxo synthesis; the natural oil routes are fatty acid hydrogenation, sodium reduction, fatty acid methyl ester hydrogenation and direct oil hydrogenation. Lord. Since the raw material production capacity of the natural oil route is low and cannot meet production needs, large-scale production has not yet been achieved. Currently, major high-carbon alcohol production companies mostly choose the synthetic oil route.

High-carbon alcohols are used in a wide range of applications, including surfactants, medicine, plastics, textiles, papermaking, leather, etc. Surfactants are the largest demand end of high-carbon alcohols, accounting for 50.0% of the demand. According to statistics from the China Laundering Association Table Committee, my country’s surfactant output reached 3.885 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%. Benefiting from the rapid development of downstream industries, my country’s high-carbon alcohol market continues to expand.

Compared with overseas developed countries, there is still a certain gap between my country’s high-carbon alcohol production technology and overseas brands have long occupied a monopoly in my country’s market. Liaoning Huaxing Group Chemical Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Inuo New Materials Co., Ltd., and Sichuan Xipu Chemical Co., Ltd. are the main manufacturers of high-carbon alcohols in my country. In 2021, Inner Mongolia Inno New Materials used advanced olefin hydroformylation technology to achieve large-scale production of high-carbon alcohols.

Industry analysts said that as an important raw material for surfactants, the market demand for high-carbon alcohols is increasingly strong. my country’s high-carbon alcohol industry started late. Due to technical barriers, the output of high-carbon alcohol is low, unable to meet application needs, and it is highly dependent on imports. As local companies continue to innovate in production technology, the localization process of high-carbon alcohols in my country will continue to accelerate.