Although the capacity and output of ethylene glycol in China are growing rapidly, it still can't meet the growing market demand of domestic polyester, and it needs to be imported in large quantities every year, and the import volume is increasing year by year. At present, China's ethylene glycol products are mainly used to produce polyester, antifreeze, adhesive, paint solvent, cold-resistant lubricant, surfactant and polyester polyol. Among them, polyester is the main consumption field of ethylene glycol in China, accounting for about 94.0% of the total domestic consumption, and about 6.0% is used in antifreeze, adhesive, paint solvent, cold-resistant lubricating oil, surfactant and polyester polyol. In recent years, the production of polyester (including polyester fiber, polyester resin and film) in China has developed rapidly. In 20 10 year, the polyester output will reach about190,000 tons, and the demand for ethylene glycol will reach about 6.65 million tons. Coupled with the consumption of antifreeze, it is expected that the total demand for ethylene glycol in China will continue to grow at a high speed.
Although several sets of ethylene glycol production plants will be completed and put into operation in China in the near future. For example, Yangzi Petrochemical Company plans to build a set of 65,438+800,000 tons/year ethylene glycol production equipment by the end of 2007, Liaoyang Petrochemical Fiber Company plans to expand the existing ethylene glycol production capacity to 200,000 tons/year by the end of 2007, and Maoming Petrochemical Company plans to build a new set of 1 10,000 tons/year production equipment in 2008. Sichuan ethylene plans to build a 360,000-ton/year production facility. Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company plans to build a 650,000-ton/year ethylene production facility in 2009, Tianjin Ethylene Company plans to build a 420,000-ton/year ethylene production facility in 2009, Changchun Tianyu Bioengineering Company plans to build a 6.5438+10,000-ton ethylene production facility, and Anhui Fengyuan Suzhou Biochemical Company plans to build a 6.5438+080-ton ethylene production facility for starch raw materials such as corn and cassava. It is predicted that the total ethylene glycol production capacity in China will reach about 2.68 million tons in 2008 and 4.2 million tons in 20 10, but there is still a big gap compared with the demand. Even if the plant is running at full capacity, it can't meet the actual domestic production demand and still needs to be imported in large quantities, so ethylene glycol has a good development prospect in China.
In this situation, domestic enterprises not only consider using advanced technology to tap the potential of existing ethylene glycol production devices, but also consider expanding the production scale of the devices and increasing the output; It is unrealistic to simply rely on the introduction of foreign advanced technology to build several large-scale ethylene glycol production plants with a production scale of more than 300,000 tons/year, trying to fundamentally alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand of ethylene glycol in China. Developing multi-source raw materials and new technologies with independent intellectual property rights is the only way to enhance the competitiveness of China's ethylene glycol at home and abroad. Always bear in mind the resource structure of more coal, less oil and less gas in China, and this is the significance of vigorously developing coal chemical industry and biochemical industry instead of petrochemical industry. At the same time, strengthen the application and development of ethylene glycol in non-polyester field, gradually change the single use of products, resolve future market risks, and promote the healthy and stable development of ethylene glycol industry in China.