Huizheng Information, Mitsubishi Chemical announced a restructuring and accelerated transformation, and the organizational structure change mainly involves the MMA business. Effective April 1, Mitsubishi Chemical's "Polymers & Compounds MMA" will be renamed "MMA & Derivatives," and some of Mitsubishi Chemical's original polymers and compounds business will be transferred to the "Specialty Materials" business and "Basic Materials."
Earlier, Mitsubishi Chemical's foreign CEO Jean-Marc Gilson pointed out at a briefing that rising energy costs will promote the consolidation of Japan's chemical industry. A significant portion of capital expenditures for petrochemicals and commodities will be related to sustainability and the energy transition. It is unlikely that cash flow will flow back from specialty products to commodities. High-performance products are the areas where Mitsubishi Chemical and Japanese chemical companies have the greatest opportunity.
In May 2023, Mitsubishi Chemical hopes to complete the spin-off of its petrochemical businesses through a possible merger and joint venture, and eventually exit those businesses. In the future, Mitsubishi Chemical will position electronics, health and life sciences as a strategic priority while further enhancing its competitiveness in functional materials such as chemicals, polymers, films, and molding materials.
It is reported that Mitsubishi Chemical America plans to build a methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant in Louisiana. The plant, called MCA Geismar Site, is planned to be built in the parish of Ascension Island, and will have an annual production capacity of 350,000 tons using the alpha process technology of Lucite, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical. If this method of preparation through ethylene as raw material is promoted, then they will create a new end-use for ethylene, especially with large-scale petrochemical ethylene plants for integrated production, which has more raw material advantages. In addition to this, the site will include a carbon monoxide (CO) plant, a methanol plant and a *** plant.
The world's major MMA manufacturers include Mitsubishi Chemical, Rohm, Dow, Sumitomo, etc., among which Mitsubishi Chemical has become the absolute leader in MMA production with a production capacity of 1.5 million tons and a proportion of 25%. Mitsubishi Chemical has 2 sets of MMA units in China, 180,000 tons of Mitsubishi Chemical (Shanghai) ACH method plant and 90,000 tons of Mitsubishi Chemical (Huizhou) C4 method plant, with a total production capacity of 270,000 tons, accounting for 11% of the country's total production capacity.
At present, the mainstream production processes of MMA in China are acetone cyananide alcohol method (ACH method) and isobutylene oxidation method (C4 method), and the traditional route of producing MMA with propylene, propyne or acetone as raw materials (ACH method) is still the most important production process of MMA in China. Due to the relatively simple process, and the mature technology after years of development, coupled with the rapid development of acrylonitrile production capacity in China in recent years, the amount of by-product hydrocyanic acid has increased, which provides sufficient raw material guarantee for the production of ACH MMA, so it has developed rapidly.
In 2024, both the supply and demand of MMA will maintain rapid growth
According to incomplete statistics, in 2024, China's MMA plans to add 300,000 tons of production capacity, namely Chongqing Yixiang, Yingke Chemical, Panjin Sanli, Chongqing Yixiang, Panjin Sanli is expected to be put into operation in the second and third quarters, and the specific production time of Yingke Chemical is to be determined.
In China, PMMA is the largest downstream industry of MMA, accounting for 57%, acrylic emulsion and coating industry accounting for 18%, and plastic processing aids accounting for 22%. In 2024, there are still many sets of devices planned to be put into operation in the domestic PMMA industry, such as Shandong Qiheng 140,000-ton unit and Chongqing Shuangxiang PMMA particle 150,000-ton unit planned to be put into operation in the first quarter, and the Xinpu Chemical MS unit has been put into commissioning in January. ACR also has plans to expand its capacity, and there are also new production capacity for acrylic resins and emulsions, and the demand for MMA is expected to continue to grow in 2024 compared with 2023.
In 2023, the production capacity growth rate of China's MMA industry will be 1023%, and the growth rate will remain above 10% in 2024, and with the expansion of downstream industries, the consumption of MMA will further increaseAt present, China's MMA self-sufficiency rate has reached 104%.With the growth of the first volume, in addition to meeting the domestic trade link, some of them are also exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.