The downstream demand for sodium hydroxide is large and the industry will develop in a green and sustainable direction

Sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda, caustic soda, and fire soda, has the chemical formula NaOH. It is an inorganic compound that is extremely corrosive and highly alkaline. Sodium hydroxide can be divided into two types: liquid alkali and solid alkali. The current domestic sodium hydroxide production process is mainly the ion membrane method.

The main raw material in the upstream of the sodium hydroxide industry chain is raw salt, with Zhongtai Chemical and Lubei Chemical as the main raw material suppliers; the midstream is the production of products; the downstream is widely used in medicine, food processing, papermaking, chemical industry, printing and dyeing and other fields, and can be used Used in making precipitants, detergents, developers, acid neutralizers, precipitation masking agents, etc.

According to the “Sodium Hydroxide Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, hydrogen Sodium oxide downstream products cover almost all areas of national clothing, food, housing and transportation, and are an important part of the national economy. In recent years, with the continuous development of the national economy, the demand for sodium hydroxide has continued to grow, driving its production to continue to increase. In 2022, my country’s caustic soda output will be close to 40 million tons, a year-on-year increase of approximately 1.5%.

From the perspective of production capacity distribution, the current sodium hydroxide production capacity in East China accounts for nearly 50%, ranking first, followed by North China, which accounts for about 17% of the production capacity, and the northwest region, which accounts for about 14% of the production capacity, ranks third. , Central China, South China, Southwest and other regions have a smaller share of production capacity, all below 10%.

Since the threshold for the sodium hydroxide industry is not high and the market demand is large, driven by market dividends, more and more companies have entered the sodium hydroxide market. At present, the concentration of the sodium hydroxide industry in my country is not high, and there are many small and medium-sized enterprises. , the industry competition is fierce. In 2022, there will be more than 160 sodium hydroxide production companies in my country. The main companies include Anhui Huasu Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Ordos Resources Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Zhenyang Development Co., Ltd., Shenyang Chemical Co., Ltd., Shanghai Caustic Soda Chemical Co., Ltd., Inner Mongolia Junzheng Energy and Chemical Industry Group Co., Ltd., etc.

Under the guidance of national policies, the sodium hydroxide industry will develop in a green and sustainable direction. In February 2021, the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Establishment and Improvement of a Green, Low-Carbon Circular Development Economic System”, proposing to promote industrial green upgrading and accelerate the implementation of industrial green upgrades in steel, petrochemicals, chemicals, nonferrous metals, building materials, textiles, papermaking, leather and other industries. Green transformation, comprehensively promote clean production, implement mandatory clean production audits in industries with “double super and double high energy consumption” in accordance with the law, improve the identification methods of “loose and polluting” enterprises, and implement measures such as closure, consolidation and relocation, rectification and improvement, etc. . As the country’s environmental protection efforts continue to improve, the integration of the sodium hydroxide industry intensifies, and backward production capacity will gradually be eliminated by the market.

Industry analysts said that with the continuous development of my country’s economy and the continuous improvement of national consumption levels, sodium hydroxide serves as an important basic chemical raw material First, market demand will continue to grow and it has good development prospects. In the context of the continuous strengthening of national environmental protection supervision, sodium hydroxide production companies need to continuously improve production technology and production efficiency, update production equipment, reduce pollution emissions, and promote industry transformation and upgrading.