Special Report

PRODUCT FOCUS

Maleic Anhydride: A Techno-Commercial Profile

(Part 2: Global scenario)

he total global capacity for maleic anhydride (MAN) is estimated to be in the region of
1.65-mtpa, out of which 21% is in the
US, 25% in Europe and 54% in Asia
(including Japan). China, alone, has
25.5% of the global capacity for MAN.
In the US, Huntsman and Lanxess

are the leading players, while in Europe BASF, Sasol-Huntsman, Ravena

are among the important players.
Nearly 50% of world MAN output
is used in the manufacture of unsaturated polyester resins (UPR), which are
used in a wide range of applications
such as pleasure boats, bathroom fix-

Table 1: MAN Capacity in N & S America

[Thousand tons]

Company
North America
Bartek Chemical
Flint Hills Resources
Huntsman
Lanxess
Marathon Ashland Petroleum
South America
Derivados Maleicos
Elekeiroz
TOTAL

Location
Ontario, Canada
Illinois, US
Florida, US
Texas, US
West Virginia, US
Puebla, Mexico
Brazil

Capacity
305.00
25.00
50.00
110.00
75.00
45.00
37.50
7.50
30.00
342.50

Table 2: MAN Capacity in Europe

[Thousand tons]

Company
BASF
BASF
Compania Esponala de Petroleos (CEPSA)
Cray Valley
DSM Fine Chemicals
Hungarian Oil & Gas (MOL)
Koksno Hemijski Kombinat
Novomoskovsk Orgsyntez
Orgachim JSC
Polynt
Ravena
Respol YPF
Sasol-Huntsman
Zaklady Azotowe Kedzierzyn
Total

Location
Belgium
Germany
Spain
France
Austria
Hungary
Bosnia
Russia
Bulgaria
Italy
Italy
Argentina
Germany
Poland

Capacity
115.00
3.00
12.00
15.00
36.00
20.00
10.00
12.00
1.00
36.00
65.00
18.00
60.00
8.00
411.00

Chemical Weekly January 22, 2008

PANKAJ DUTIA
pankaj@chemicalweekly.com
tures, automobiles, tanks and pipes.
However, the UPR market is affected
by general economic conditions being
tied to the construction, automobile
and marine industries.
The production of 1,4-butanediol
(BDO) also has an impact on the MAN
market. BDO is one of the worlds fastest growing chemicals used in the production of thermoplastic polyurethanes, elastane/Spandex fibres,
polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resins and many other products. However, BDO is made from a crude MAN,
which is not traded and only used for
this application.
A weaker area for MAN is lubricating oil additives, which accounts for
10% of MAN demand in the US. These
additives are used in gasoline and diesel engine crankcase oils as dispersants and corrosion inhibitors.
Changes in lubricant specifications
and more efficient engines have had a
negative effect on the demand for lubricating oil additives, giving flat
growth prospects for MAN in this application.
Table 3: MAN Capacity in Asia
[Thousand tons]

Company
India
China
Japan & other Asian
countries
Total

Capacity
23
420
454
897

201
201

Special Report
The MAN market is mature, with
application areas well-formed and
stable. In general, demand is governed
by the economic situation in the country.
The total global demand was 1.5mt in 2006-07. In the period from 2001
to 2006, the average annual market
growth rate was 2.8% in the USA;
3.5% in Western Europe; and 1.4% in
Japan.
World MAN consumption is forecast to grow at around 3% per year up
to 2010. Growth will be slower in Western Europe and the US, but higher in
central and eastern Europe, Latin
America and Asia, in particular China.
MAN growth in the US is expected
to be 2.5% per year to 2009, somewhat
below GDP growth. Demand will increase from 254,000-tons in 2005 to
281,000-tons in 2009.

In Russia, demand for MAN is

around 10,000-tons.
Despite mature MAN markets,
some new developments for MANbased products are currently under
way. Bayer, for example, has developed
iminodisuccinate, a biodegradable
chelating agent, and polyaspartic acid,
a biodegradable dispersing agent.
MAN is used in the production of
these products, which are currently
being produced in Leverkusen, Germany and marketed worldwide.
Growth in Central and South
America is expected to be higher than
North America at around 4% per year.
In Western Europe, the MAN market is mature with growth predicted
around 1.5-2.0% per year, while in Central and Eastern Europe growth is much
stronger at 4%/year. There have also
been plant closures in Europe.

Table 4: Major MAN producers in China

[Thousand tons]

Units
Tianjin Zhonghe Chemical Plant
Shanxi Taiyuan Qiaoyou Chemical Co.
Shanxi Taiming Chemical Industry Co.
Changzhou Yabang Chemical Co.
Jiangsu Jiangyin Shunfei Fine Chemical Plant
Xinjiang Tuha Oil/Gas Chemical Plant
Huaheng Chemical Plant of Shanghai Dyestuff Co.
Shandong Dongying Shengli Oilfield Petrochemical Co.
Zhejiang Fuyang Fulu Chemical Co.
Henan Kaifeng Grease Chemical Plant
Liaohe Fine Chemical Co.
Shandong Zibo Qifeng Organic Chemical Plant
Changmao Biochemical Engineering Co.
Hebei Huanghua Hongcheng Enterprise Group Chemical Plant
Jiangsu Zhongteng Chemical Co.
Lanzhou Refining & Chemical Complex Assistant Branch
Tianjin Tianma Chemical Plant
Total of above units
Total including others

Capacity
45
28
27
20
20
20
16
15
15
12
12
11
10
10
10
10
10
291
420

Source: CNCIC Chemdata

Romanias Petrom closed its 12,000tpa plant in June 2007 as part of a restructuring programme. More consolidation is expected in Europe, particularly benzene-based production. However, Russias OAO Acrylat is planning to build a 25,000-30,000-tpa plant
in 2008-09.
Capacity is also being expanded in
North America. Huntsman, which is
being bought by Hexion, is building a
45,000-tpa plant at Geismar, Louisiana,
due for start-up in late 2008 or early
2009. Canadas Bartek Chemical is expanding its 25,000-tpa plant to 35,000tpa by the end of 2007, with a further
expansion to 50,000-tpa by the end of
2009 under study.
A number of expansions and
projects are planned in Asia. China
Bluestar Harbin Petrochemical is expanding MAN capacity by 20,000-tpa
at Heilongjiang, China. Taiwans Nan
Ya Plastics is building a 40,000-tpa
plant at Mailiao, due for completion in
2008.
Scenario of MAN in China
In Asia, China is the most important MAN market. According to a report published in China Chemical
Reporter, China produced 236,000tons of MAN in 2004, while it consumed 227,000-tons in the same year.
Output reached around 280,000-tons
in 2005. Overall demand is expected to
reach 394,000-tons by 2010.
The total capacity of MAN is more
than 420,000-tpa from more than 30
production units. The 45,000-tpa unit
in the Tianjin Zhonghe Chemical Plant
is the largest.
Unlike the n-butane process basically used in developed countries,
MAN production in China is mostly
based on benzene. The scale of operaChemical Weekly January 22, 2008

202
202

Special Report
tion is small and catalysts and refining
processes are also quite different. The
average operating rate in China was
only around 61% in 2004, whereas the
average operating rate was 75% in overseas countries and as high as over 85%
in the United States and Germany.
The largest single-unit has a capacity
of 20,000-tpa and there are a number of
units with a capacity of 1,000-tpa.
The capacity for producing MAN
is concentrated mainly in the northern
region of China and the market is already saturated. East China and South
China are however the major producing areas of UPR and there is a local
supply shortage of MAN.
New capacities
Quite a few MAN units are expected
to come up and new capacities built in the
near future. The 20,000-tpa unit in
Lanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. has already started construction. Tianjin
Zhonghe Chemical Plant plans to expand
its capacity to 60,000-tpa, while the Suzhou
Synthesis Chemical Plant plans to expand
capacity to 15,000-tpa.
Furthermore, Sichuan Luzhou plans to
construct a 10,000-tpa unit, while Fujian
Quanzhou plans to construct a 60,000-tpa
unit. Nanjing Jinling Petrochemical Co.,
Ltd. also plans to construct a 60,000-tpa
unit. If these projects start production on
schedule, the capacity of MAN in China
will be more than 500,000-tpa in 2010.
Demand trends
The average growth of demand for
MAN in China was 21.2% during 2000 to
2004. The demand was around 227,000tons in 2004 and expected to reach
393,000-tons in 2010. Import quantities
increased sharply to 9,300-tons in 2000
and then saw a gradual reduction. Imports
are mainly made from Taiwan, Malaysia,
Japan and Korea.

Unsaturated polyester resin

The consumption of MAN in China
is mostly in the UPR sector. Owing to
its excellent mechanical and electrical
properties, chemical corrosion resistance and simple processing, UPR has
extensive applications. The output of
UPR in China was around 800,000-tons
in 2004, needing around 160,000-tons
of MAN. The actual output of UPR is
expected to reach around 1.4-mt in 2010
and demand for MAN in this application will be around 280,000-tons.
BDO and THF
Products processed through the
esterification and hydrogenation of
MAN, such as BDO (1,4-butanediol),
GBL (gama-butyrolactone) and THF
(tetrahydrofuran) have always been in
short supply in China. Production units
of these products have small scale operations and the technology is relatively
outdated. The demand for these products is mainly satisfied by imports.
The consumption of MAN in these
products was around 8,000-tons in 2004
and expected to reach around 20,000tons in 2010.
Coatings
MAN is used to produce alkyd resin
coatings and amino resin coatings. The
output of coatings in China was around
3.0-mt in 2004, with alkyd resin coatings and amino resin coatings accounting for a share of about 1.0-mt. Consumption of MAN in this application
was around 16,000-tons.
Alkyd resin coatings and amino
resin coatings will remain the major varieties during the Eleventh Five-year
Plan period (2006-2010). Demand for
MAN in the coatings sector is expected
to reach 29,000-tons in 2010.
Tartaric acid
Tartaric acid is mainly used as a

Chemical Weekly January 22, 2008

food souring agent. Tartaric salts are

used in mirror silvering and metal treatment, and also in leather tanning and
telecommunication appliance sectors.
Tartaric acid produced in China is
mainly for export and exports account
for more than 60% of output.
The demand of MAN in this sector
was around 10,000-tons in 2004 and expected to reach 18,000-tons in 2010.
Lubricant additives
MAN is used in the production of
lubricant additives with ash-less dispersing agents. The demand of lubricant additives in China was around
120,000-tons in 2004, of which ash-less
dispersing agents accounted for a share
of about 53,000-tons.
Consumption of MAN in this application was around 3,000-tons and expected to reach 5,000-tons in 2010.
Agrochemicals
In the pesticides sector, MAN is
mainly used to produce insecticides
including organophosphorus varieties
such as malathion and pyridaphenthion
and pyrethrin varieties such as
tetramethrin. They are all traditional
varieties without great development
space. The demand of MAN in the pesticides sector was around 4,000- tons
in 2004 and is expected to reach 6,000tons in 2010, with an average annual
growth of around 5%.
Succinic acid and anhydride
Succinic acid can be used to produce alkyd resin coatings, anthraquinone dyes, sulfanilamides, vitamin A, vitamin B and hemostatics. It
can also be used as raw material for lubricating agents, photographic chemicals and surfactants. The output of succinic acid and succinic anhydride in
China was around 3,000- tons in 2004
and the demand of MAN for its manu203

203

Special Report
Table 5: Supply and demand of MAN in China
[Thousand tons]
Output
Import
Export
Consumption

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

102
1.5
0.2
103.3

102
9.3
0.2
111.1

140
8.8
0.4
148.4

174
5.6
0.5
179.1

208
5.2
4.3
208.9

236
5.1
11.4
229.7

Source: CNCIC Chemdata

Table 6: Consumption pattern of MAN in China

[Tons]

End-use segments
UPR
BDO & THF
Coatings
Tartaric acid
Lubricant additives
Agrochemicals
Succinic acid & anhydride
Other uses
Total

Consumption
2004

2010

160,000
8,000
16,000
10,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
21,000
227,000

280,000
20,000
29,000
18,000
5,000
6,000
6,000
30,000
394,000

facture was around 5,000-tons. The average annual demand growth of MAN
in this sector is expected to be around
3.5% from 2005 to 2010 and the demand
will reach around 6,000-tons in 2010.
Other uses
MAN can also be used to produce
tetrahydrophthalic anhydride, modified rosin and chemical assistants.
Consumption in these sectors was
around 21,000-tons in 2004 and expected to reach 30,000-tons in 2010.
Demand of MAN in China will
therefore reach around 394,000-tons in
2010. As the capacity of domestic
MAN units will be in serious surplus,
competition in the marketplace will be
fiercer in the next few years.
[Concluded]

Chemical Weekly January 22, 2008

204
204