my country’s propionic acid production is gradually increasing, and antiseptic and antifungal agents are the main application areas

Propionic acid, also known as oleic acid, belongs to one of the subcategories of fatty acids. It is a short-chain saturated fatty acid. It mostly appears as a colorless oily liquid with a pungent odor under normal temperature and pressure. It has a strong Corrosive, soluble in ethanol, ether, chloroform, water and other liquids. At this stage, the propionic acid preparation process has been basically mature and can be roughly divided into acrylonitrile method, acetic acid homologation method, vinyl hydroxyl synthesis method (Repa method), ethanol hydroxylation method, propionaldehyde oxidation method, etc. Among them, the propionaldehyde oxidation method has the advantages of high conversion rate and low by-product output, and has become the main method for producing propionic acid. With the gradual advancement of production technology, the ethylene hydroxyl synthesis method may become the mainstream production process of propionic acid in the future due to its advantages of low raw material cost, simple operation, and higher conversion rate.

As an important chemical raw material, propionic acid is mostly used to produce polyester resins, solvents and other products. It can also be used directly as antiseptic and antifungal agents, food flavors, plasticizers, pesticide intermediates, and cosmetic raw materials. It is used in textiles, pesticides, It is widely used in food processing, medicine, chemical synthesis, agriculture, spices, cosmetics, plastics and other fields. Among them, antiseptic and antifungal agents have become the largest application field of propionic acid, accounting for 58.5%; followed by pesticide intermediates, accounting for 21.2% of the market.

According to the “Research Report on the Market Status of the Propionic Acid Industry in 2023” released by the Industrial Research Center, in recent years, my country’s economic level has gradually Growth, food processing, textile, medicine, chemical industry and other fields are developing rapidly, and the demand for propionic acid is gradually increasing. Coupled with my country’s increasingly strict environmental protection requirements, propionic acid, as a green and environmentally friendly raw material, has gradually replaced some more polluting materials, and market demand has further increased. With the gradual progress of science and technology in our country, the preparation process of propionic acid has been gradually improved, the production efficiency has been continuously improved, and the output has increased. In 2022, my country’s propionic acid production will be 82,100 tons, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%.

From the perspective of import and export, due to insufficient production capacity of propionic acid in my country in the early days, there was a large gap between market demand and production, and large quantities of propionic acid needed to be imported from abroad. However, as my country’s large-scale propionic acid production units are gradually put into operation, propionic acid production continues to grow, imports gradually decrease, and exports increase. According to data released by the General Administration of Customs, in 2022, my country’s propionic acid import volume will be 16,700 tons, a decrease of 2,200 tons compared with 2021, a year-on-year decrease of 11.6%; the export volume will be 20,300 tons, an increase of 0.34% compared with 2021 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 20.1%.

Industry analysts said that due to the technical difficulty of propionic acid production and high industry barriers, the number of companies is relatively small. Large-scale propionic acid companies mainly include BASF, Wei Chemical, Shilong Industrial, Xuchen Chemical, Orient, Tosoh Chemical, Luxi Chemical, Yukang Chemical, etc. As the production capacity structure gradually upgrades and market competition becomes more intense, the propionic acid market concentration is expected to increase in the future.