Caprolactam production in my country has grown steadily and the ammoxime method has become an important production method

Caprolactam is an important organic chemical raw material. It is mainly used to polymerize to produce PA6 chips, accounting for 93% of downstream applications. A small amount is used to produce pharmaceutical intermediates. Caprolactam is first polymerized into PA6 slices, which can be further processed into nylon fibers, engineering plastics, plastic films, etc. Among them, nylon filament is the most important downstream application of caprolactam, accounting for 55% of all applications, followed by engineering plastics, accounting for 21 %. With the rapid development of my country’s engineering plastics and nylon industries, the demand for caprolactam continues to increase.

At present, the main production methods of caprolactam are the ammoxime method and the HPO method. Compared with the HPO method, the ammoxime method has a shorter process flow, less equipment, simple process, and greatly reduced equipment investment costs. In addition, the ammonia oxime method only uses one catalyst, while the HPO method requires the use of expensive precious metal catalysts in multiple steps, resulting in high catalyst costs. The ammonia oxime process has replaced the HPO process as the main process, accounting for 70% of the total production capacity in terms of caprolactam production capacity.

According to the “China Lactam Industry Application Market Demand and Development Opportunities Research Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, In 2020, domestic nylon production capacity will exceed 6.1 million tons/year, of which PA6 production capacity is 5.4 million tons/year and output is 3.66 million tons. The rapid growth of overall production capacity and output has driven the continued growth of caprolactam demand. Since 2010, as Chinese companies have gradually achieved technological breakthroughs, domestic caprolactam production has increased rapidly from 500,000 tons in 2010 to 3.55 million tons in 2020.

my country’s caprolactam production capacity has benefited from the expansion of downstream PA6 production capacity and continues to grow. Currently, the PA6 production capacity under construction in China is 900,000 tons, and it is expected to be fully put into production in 2022-2023. The demand for caprolactam will increase accordingly. In 2021, my country’s caprolactam production capacity will be 5.3 million tons, with a production capacity under construction of 3.5 million tons, and it is expected to be fully put into production in 2023.

my country’s caprolactam is mainly imported, and the export volume is much smaller than the import volume. The larger increase in 2020 is mainly due to the rebound in total demand in the post-epidemic period. Overall, the fluctuations in domestic caprolactam imports have decreased in the past five years, and domestic dependence on caprolactam imports has declined. Imports in 2021 will only be 110,000 tons. In terms of import sources, my country’s caprolactam is mainly imported from Russia and Belgium, of which Russia accounts for more than 55%.

Industrial analysts people said that caprolactam is mainly used in the production of PA6, and my country’s PA6 production capacity still has plans to expand, driving the demand for caprolactam to continue to rise. With the increase in domestic caprolactam production capacity, it has been able to meet downstream demand. In the past five years, import volume fluctuations have decreased, and localization has basically been achieved. In terms of production, with the continuous improvement of production technology, the ammoxime process has gradually become the main production process.