The application demand for alcohol ethers is strong and there are opportunities for industry development

Alcohol ethers refer to ethers containing hydroxyl groups, which are mixtures of alcohols and ethers, mainly low-carbon alcohol ethers of ethylene glycol and propylene glycol. As an oxygen-containing solvent, alcohol ether has excellent surface activity, low low-temperature viscosity and good water solubility, and is widely used in industrial fields.

According to the “2022-2027 Alcohol Ether Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report released by the Industrial Research Center, epoxy As the main raw material for alcohol ethers, ethane has overcapacity in the Chinese market and can fully meet the production demand for alcohol ethers. In recent years, my country’s alcohol ether production has maintained a steady growth trend. In 2021, my country’s alcohol ether production will exceed 1.200 million tons. Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Shanghai and Fujian are the main alcohol ether production areas in my country, and the above regions account for nearly 70.0% of my country’s total alcohol ether production. Driven by technological innovation, it is expected that my country’s alcohol ether production will exceed 1.50 million tons by 2025.

Ethylene glycol ether and propylene glycol ether are the main segmented products of the alcohol ether market. Glycol ethers are mainly divided into ethylene glycol butyl ether and ethylene glycol methyl ether. As the main raw material for coatings, ethylene glycol butyl ether has strong market demand, accounting for as high as 80.0%. In recent years, my country’s production capacity of ethylene glycol butyl ether has been continuously improved, but it is still unable to meet market demand and is highly dependent on imports. According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, my country’s imports of ethylene glycol butyl ether will reach 14,000 tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 8.3%. As the production capacity of local enterprises continues to expand, my country’s import substitution process of ethylene glycol butyl ether continues to accelerate, which will promote the rapid development of the alcohol ether industry.

Alcohol ethers are widely used in a wide range of applications, with automobiles being their largest demand end. As a clean energy source, alcohol ether fuel can replace automobile fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Under the “double carbon” goal, my country’s new energy vehicle industry has developed rapidly, driving the market demand for alcohol ether fuels to continue to grow. In 2020, the “Decision on Amending the Measures for the Parallel Management of Passenger Vehicle Enterprise Average Fuel Consumption and New Energy Vehicle Points” jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other five departments clearly included alcohol-ether fuel vehicles into the category of traditional energy passenger vehicles. This will bring impetus and support to the development of my country’s alcohol ether industry.

Alcohol ethers are a technology-intensive industry. With the implementation of national environmental protection policies and the deepening of supply-side structural reforms, China’s small and medium-sized alcohol ether production enterprises with backward production capacity have gradually been eliminated by the market, driving their industry concentration to further increase. Guanghui Energy, Jiangsu Yida Chemical, Shanxi Lanyan, etc. are the leading alcohol ether companies in my country.

Industry Analysts People said that as an important branch of the fine chemical industry, the application fields of alcohol ethers in my country are constantly expanding, including petrochemicals, textiles, and coatings. , cars, etc. As market demand is gradually released, the scale of my country’s alcohol ether industry will further expand. Overall, my country’s alcohol ether market has huge development potential, benefiting from the sufficient supply of raw materials and the rapid development of downstream industries.