Introduction
Cellulose ether is a polymer compound with ether structure made of natural cellulose, which has a good market prospect in the future, especially in high-end applications (medicine, high-end coatings, etc.) and has a broad space for development. At present, under the guidance of the national strategy of becoming a strong country in science and technology and a manufacturing power, China's cellulose ether enterprises have gradually improved their comprehensive competitiveness in the international market by improving the layout of the domestic upstream and downstream industrial chains.
Basic information about the industry
Definition and use of cellulose ether
As a polymer compound, cellulose ether has a wide range of applications, and can be used as a water retention agent, emulsifier, dispersant, thickener, binder, etc. in building materials, oil exploitation, food, medicine, daily chemical and other fields. Domestic cellulose ether is mainly based on building materials grade products, supplemented by pharmaceutical grade and food grade products. With the development of the biopharmaceutical industry and the progress of production technology, the market development potential of pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether is huge.
Cellulose ethers can be divided into non-ionic cellulose ethers and ionic cellulose ethers according to different ionizations.
Ionic cellulose ethers refer to molecules containing positive charges, which can form hydrogen bonds with anions or protons, and have strong hydrophilicity.
Non-ionic cellulose ethers refer to molecules that do not contain a positive charge, they cannot form hydrogen bonds with anions or protons, and have strong hydrophobicity. As a result, nonionic cellulose cannot form a gel in water, but they have excellent heat retention, tolerance, clarity, and acid resistance. These properties make non-ionic cellulose widely used in industry, such as emulsifiers, antioxidants, preservatives, antibacterial agents, anti-aging agents, gelling agents, suspending agents, antifreeze agents, baking aids, foaming agents, flavor enhancers, preservatives, color retaining agents, anticoagulants and anticoagulants.
At present, ionic cellulose ether is the mainstream product in the market, accounting for about 60%;However, due to the high added value of non-ionic cellulose ether products, it is better than ionic in terms of temperature resistance and salt resistance, and the market development prospect is good.
Upstream and downstream industrial chain of cellulose ether
The upstream raw materials of cellulose ether are mainly refined cotton, cotton pulp and wood pulp, which are alkalized to obtain cellulose, and then added to propylene oxide and chloromethane for etherification to obtain cellulose ether. Downstream applications involve building materials, coatings, pharmaceuticals, food additives, etc.
Among them, refined cotton, cotton pulp and wood pulp account for 40%-50% of the total procurement of raw materials, and other chemical raw materials such as chloromethane, propylene oxide and liquid alkali account for no more than 30% of the total procurement of raw materials.
The mainstream product of cellulose ether
Definition of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), also known as hypromellose, made of non-ionic cellulose ether, is in the form of white or off-white fibrous or granular powderOdorless. It is almost insoluble in absolute ethanol, ether and acetone, and swells into a clear or slightly turbid colloidal solution in cold water. It has better performance in thickening, emulsifying, film forming, colloidal protection, moisture retention, adhesion, anti-allergization, etc.
Uses of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose
Construction industry: as a water retention agent and retarder for cement mortar, the mortar has pumpability. In plaster, plaster, putty powder or other building materials as a binder, improve spreadability and extend the service time. It is used as a pasting tile, marble, plastic decoration, pasting reinforcing agent, and can also reduce the amount of cement. The water-retaining properties make the slurry not crack due to drying too quickly after application, and enhance the strength after hardening.
Ceramic manufacturing industry: widely used as a binder in the manufacture of ceramic products.
Coatings industry: In the coating industry, as a thickener, dispersant and stabilizer, it has good compatibility in water or organic solvents. as a paint stripper.
Ink printing: as a thickener, dispersant and stabilizer in the ink industry, it has good miscibility in water or organic solvents.
Plastics: molding release agents, softeners, lubricants, etc.
Polyvinyl chloride: used as a dispersant in the production of polyvinyl chloride, it is the main auxiliary for the preparation of PVC by suspension polymerization.
Pharmaceutical industry: coating materials;Membrane;Rate-controlled polymer materials for extended-release formulations;Stabilizer;Suspension;Tablet binders;Cinkifiers.
Others: It is also widely used in leather, paper products industry, fruit and vegetable preservation and textile industry.
In recent years, the application of HPMC in the pharmaceutical industry has received great attention, and its good biocompatibility, strong load capacity and mechanical properties make it stand out among many cellulose derivatives and are made into various forms for drug delivery and encapsulation. HPMC's high water solubility, non-toxicity, and excellent biocompatibility also make it favored in the direction of cell culture and tissue engineering.
Process flow and technical characteristics of cellulose ether
Process flow
Refined cotton crushing, alkali, feeding, alkalizing, etherification, solvent ** and washing, centrifugal separation, drying, crushing, mixing, finished product packaging.
Technical features:
Industrially developed countries such as Europe, the United States and Japan have a long history of producing and applying cellulose ethers, with advanced production technology and are in a leading position in the application and development of cellulose ethers. The technical indicators of some products of major domestic enterprises have reached the standards of similar products of internationally renowned enterprises, but there is still a certain gap between the level of R&D technology and the international advanced level.
At present, the mainstream production processes of cellulose ether include gas phase method and liquid phase method. Well-known enterprises in developed countries mostly use the gas phase production process, while domestic enterprises mostly use the liquid phase production process. The gas phase method has the advantages of short reaction time, large production capacity, no solvent, low cost and energy consumption, but the adjustability and flexibility of the production line are inferior to that of the liquid phase methodThe reaction uniformity, line adjustability and flexibility of the liquid phase method are better than those of the gas phase method, but the cost and energy consumption are relatively high.
Environment & Needs
Policy environment
The country's promotion of new building materials such as energy-saving and environmentally friendly building materials is conducive to increasing the demand for building materials-grade cellulose ether in the domestic market: according to the "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-term Objectives for 2035" and the "14th Five-Year Plan" for Building Energy Conservation and Green Building Development and the "14th Five-Year Plan" for the Development of Raw Materials Industry issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments and other policy documents, the state attaches importance to the promotion of energy-saving and environmentally friendly building materials and ready-mixed mortar and other new building materials, emphasizing the construction of low-carbon cities and the development of circular economy. As a high-performance admixture, building material grade cellulose ether can improve the water retention and viscosity of building materials, and has energy-saving and environmental protection effects, which is in line with the development direction of the above-mentioned national industrial policy.
The pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether industry is in line with the development direction of the national industrial policy: according to the implementation plan of the "major new drug creation" major scientific and technological project (hereinafter referred to as the new drug special) deliberated and approved by the executive meeting, as well as the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" of the new drug special project reviewed and approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the national government and the Ministry of Finance, the key technologies for the development of new pharmaceutical excipients are included in the research topic, focusing on the establishment of improving the performance of drugs, providing special functions, New technologies and methods for the research and development of new pharmaceutical excipients such as ensuring drug safety and efficacy, promoting the research and development of relevant innovative preparations or drug release systems, and focusing on the research of pharmaceutical excipients such as sustained-release materials, rapid disintegration materials and immediate-release materials. Pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether and HPMC vegetable capsules, as pharmaceutical preparations and new excipients, are in line with the national industrial development direction.
Downstream demand
According to statistics, the domestic cellulose ether downstream building materials accounted for 33%, the petroleum field accounted for 16%, the food field accounted for 15%, the pharmaceutical field accounted for 8%, and other fields accounted for 28%.
Apparent consumption
According to statistics, the apparent consumption of cellulose ether in China decreased slightly from 2019 to 2021, reaching 57 in 202180,000 tons, down 462%, driven by downstream demand in the future, the apparent consumption of cellulose ether in China will increase year by year, and is expected to reach 64 by 202440,000 tons.
Market & Competition
Leading enterprises at home and abroad
A leading domestic enterprise
In addition to several enterprises with more than 10,000 tons, there are many small production enterprises of cellulose ether in the 1,000-ton level, and the supply of domestic cellulose ether industry is relatively scattered, and the ordinary type of building materials grade cellulose ether is the mainstay, and the product homogenization competition is serious.
In the field of high-end pharmaceutical and food-grade cellulose ethers, it is mainly supplied by Shandong Head, Huzhou Zhanwang, Shandong Ruitai, Shandong Everbright, Sunward Pharmaceutical, Meixinjia Zhongwei Pharmaceutical and other enterprises.
Shandong HeadOpen up the upstream and downstream industrial chain of cellulose ether, involving building materials, medicine and food, energy mining, daily chemical washing, paper and textiles. It is estimated that by 2025, the production capacity of Shandong Head cellulose ether will reach 1050,000 tons per year, is expected to become the world's leading cellulose ether supplier.
Hainan Tiansheng: The large-scale horizontal reactor is used to produce cellulose ether, and the automatic control of the DCS system in the whole process is realized, involving chemical industry and building materials.
Shandong Yiteng: The main production of building materials grade, food grade, pharmaceutical grade, daily chemical grade and other types of cellulose ether series products.
Huzhou outlook: A leading pharmaceutical manufacturer with a full line of solid pharmaceutical excipients, mainly pharmaceutical excipients, supplemented by APIs and food additives.
Leading foreign enterprises
Multinational companies such as Dow of the United States, Shin-Etsu of Japan, Ashland of the United States, and Lotte of South Korea are currently the world's largest cellulose ether production enterprises.
Dow, USAIn 2007, Dow acquired the cellulose ether business of Bayer in Germany.
Shin-Etsu, JapanWith an annual production capacity of 100,000 tons of non-ionic cellulose ether, in 2003, it acquired Clariant's factory in Germany, which ranks among the top cellulose ethers in the world, and mainly focuses on mid-to-high-end pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ethers.
Competitive landscape in the market
From the perspective of international competition, China's cellulose ether enterprises have gradually improved their market share, product competitiveness and comprehensive technical service capabilities in recent years, and the gap with enterprises in developed countries such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea is narrowing day by day.
From the perspective of domestic competition, the concentration of cellulose ether industry is constantly improving. On the one hand, large enterprises continue to extend to high value-added application fields, and at the same time pay attention to improving their own production efficiency and scale level, product quality is better, and customer relationships are more stable. With the intensification of domestic competition in low-end products, small enterprises may not be able to transmit cost pressure to the downstream in a timely manner due to competition, and production profits are more likely to be compressed. On the other hand, with the tightening of national environmental protection policies and the increase of law enforcement, high-standard environmental protection technologies and measures have increased the production costs of enterprises and formed a higher capital threshold. Small companies with insufficient financial strength and low investment in environmental protection are likely to reduce production or shut down because they cannot meet environmental regulatory requirements. As a result, the resources of the domestic cellulose ether industry will further gather to large enterprises with comprehensive advantages such as technology, qualifications, capital, talents, and scale, and the industry will present a competitive pattern of Evergrande and Hengqiang.
Future Trends
Market characteristics
The supply of the domestic cellulose ether industry is relatively scattered, and the building materials grade cellulose ether is the mainstay, and the product homogeneity competition is serious. Due to the large scale of investment in the field of construction engineering, various types of construction projects are scattered, there are many types, and the construction progress is different, and building materials grade cellulose ether has the characteristics of wide range of use, large market demand, and scattered customers.
From the perspective of import and export unit price, the average unit price of imported cellulose ether is significantly higher than that of export, mainly because the imported cellulose ether is mostly cellulose ether for high-end applications, and the added value of products is higher.
The production technology of pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether is difficult, and the added value of the product is high. Taking pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether for pharmaceutical sustained-release preparations as an example, the core technology has been controlled by well-known foreign enterprises for a long time, and only a few domestic companies have mastered its production capacity.
The development trend of the building materials market
Thanks to the improvement of China's urbanization level, the rapid development of the building materials industry, the continuous improvement of the level of construction mechanization, and the increasing environmental protection requirements of consumers for building materials, which has driven the demand for non-ionic cellulose ether in the field of building materials. The "Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development" proposes to promote the construction of traditional infrastructure and new infrastructure in a coordinated manner, and create a modern infrastructure system that is systematic, efficient and practical, intelligent, green, safe and reliable.
In addition, on February 14, 2020, the twelfth meeting of the Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform pointed out that "new infrastructure" is the direction of China's infrastructure construction in the future, and the meeting proposed that "infrastructure is an important support for economic and social development, and it is necessary to coordinate the development of stock and incremental, traditional and new infrastructure as the guide of overall optimization and synergy and integration, so as to create an intensive, efficient, economical, intelligent, green, safe and reliable modern infrastructure system". The implementation of "new infrastructure" is conducive to China's urbanization construction in the direction of intelligence and science and technology, and is conducive to increasing the domestic demand for building materials-grade cellulose ether.
Pharmaceutical-grade market development trends
The pharmaceutical auxiliary materials market is developing rapidly and with high quality
The rapid and high-quality development of the pharmaceutical auxiliary materials market has driven the growth of demand for pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ethers. On the one hand, with the improvement of the per capita income level of domestic residents, the aging of the population is intensifying, and the development of China's pharmaceutical market is showing a steady upward trend, driven by the diversification of drugs and the growing demand for drugs. On the other hand, domestic policy changes have driven the pharmaceutical auxiliary materials industry to high-quality development. From 2020 to 2025, the scale of China's pharmaceutical auxiliary materials industry will maintain an annual growth rate of about 7%, and it is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2025.
Pharmaceutical-grade HPMC has great market demand potential
Pharmaceutical-grade HPMC is the main raw material for the production of HPMC vegetable capsules, and the market demand potential is large. Vegetable capsules have the advantages of safety and hygiene, wide applicability, no risk of cross-linking reaction, and high stability. In 2020, the global vegetable capsule market size was about 11$8.4 billion and is expected to reach $15 by 2026$8.5 billion.
Pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether will be a key raw material for sustained-release formulations
Pharmaceutical-grade cellulose ether is one of the key raw materials for the production of pharmaceutical sustained-release preparations. Sustained-release formulations are widely used in drug production in developed countries.
Industry advice
Industry Risks & Alerts
Technology: Quality control technology is an important technical barrier in the cellulose ether industry. In particular, pharmaceutical production requires a high degree of consistency in the quality of cellulose ethers from batch to batch. Enterprises need to master the production process of large-scale production of pharmaceutical and food-grade cellulose ether with stable quality (especially the special cellulose ether for sustained and controlled release), and also need a certain amount of R&D investment or experience accumulation after a period of experience accumulation, and the technical threshold is significantly higher than that of the production of building materials-grade cellulose ether.
Talents: In the production and application field of cellulose ether, there are high requirements for the quality and technical level of professional and technical personnel, operators and management personnel, and relevant personnel need to have many years of rich experience in application, production, research and development and on-site operation, and the core technical personnel and operators need to maintain a relatively stable team. It is difficult for most new entrants to obtain professionals with R&D and mastery of core technologies in a short period of time, and there are barriers to professional talents.
The fluctuation of raw materials tests the cost control ability of cellulose ether enterprises;Ensuring the stability of product quality and improving the level of product application technology is the development direction of improving the profitability of enterprises.
At present, the domestic environmental protection policy is becoming more and more stringent, and strict requirements are put forward for the environmental protection technology and investment of cellulose ether production, which increases the production cost of enterprises and forms a high environmental protection barrier. Cellulose ether production enterprises with backward environmental protection technology and serious pollution will face the situation of being eliminated. High-end customers have higher environmental protection requirements for cellulose ether production enterprises, and it will be more and more difficult for enterprises that do not meet environmental protection standards to obtain the qualification to supply to high-end customers.