Caustic soda has a wide range of application fields and its production capacity is gradually growing.

Caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, caustic soda, etc., has the chemical formula NaOH and is one of the subdivided products of inorganic compounds. Caustic soda is extremely corrosive and alkaline, and is often used to produce precipitants, acid neutralizers, masking agents, peeling agents, detergents, precipitation masking agents, color developers, saponification agents and other products. There are relatively many types of caustic soda in my country. According to different product forms, it can be roughly divided into liquid alkali and solid alkali.

At present, my country’s caustic soda preparation technology has been basically mature and can be roughly divided into ion membrane method, diaphragm method, etc. Among them, the ion membrane method has the advantages of low energy consumption, high production efficiency, high product purity, and low pollution, and has become the mainstream production process in the industry.

From the perspective of downstream applications, alumina has a wide range of applications. With its advantages of wear resistance and high hardness, it is mostly used as an abrasive to grind glass, ceramics, metals and other materials. In addition, alumina can also be used as a catalyst to promote chemical reactions and is widely used in printing and dyeing, chemical fiber, textile, alumina, chemical industry, medicine, water treatment, papermaking, food processing and other fields. Among them, alumina has become the field with the largest consumption of caustic soda, with a market share of 31.72%; followed by the chemical industry, with a market share of 16.31%; and third in the papermaking field, with a market share of 11.92%.

As my country’s industrialization gradually deepens, the market demand for alumina, as an important industrial raw material, is gradually increasing. Therefore, my country’s alumina companies continue to expand their production scale and their output gradually increases. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, my country’s alumina production will be 81.862 million tons in 2022, an increase of 5.60% from 2021. As an important raw material for the production of alumina, caustic soda’s market has gradually expanded.

According to the “China Caustic Soda Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, in Driven by downstream market demand, my country’s caustic soda production capacity has gradually increased. According to data released by the China Chlor-Alkali Industry Association, from 2016 to 2022, my country’s caustic soda production capacity increased from 39.45 million tons to 46.58 million tons, with an average annual compound growth rate of 2.81%.

From the perspective of production capacity distribution, my country’s caustic soda production capacity is mainly distributed in northwest, north, east, southwestern, central and other regions. Among them, East China has become the region with the largest caustic soda production capacity, accounting for 50.01%; followed by North China, accounting for 17.24%; ranking third is Northwest China, accounting for 14.13%.

Industry analysts said that at this stage, my country’s larger caustic soda companies mainly include Chlor-Alkali Chemical, Ersan Construction, Zhongtai Chemical , Dagu Chemical Industry, Beiyuan Group, Red Sifang Group, Gulf Group, etc. Among them, Zhongtai Chemical has the largest market share, accounting for 3.57%, and has gradually become the leading company in the industry. As China’s production capacity structure gradually upgrades, some companies with backward production technologies are gradually eliminated, and market concentration is expected to increase.