September 6th, 2010 17
Ethanolamine Production Expanded Rapidly
By Peter Zon g
Ethanolamine family has t hree members
- m onoet hano lamin e, di et ha nolam ine
an d t r i - et h an o l amin e.
M onoe t hanolam ine is m ainly us ed in
abs orbing acid gas es , making ant ibiot -
ics and p roducing sy nt het ic dy es t uffs ,
ethy lene amine, s urfact ant s , air refresh-
ing agent and ant i-freez ing agent s et c.
D iet hanolamine can be us ed as raw ma-
t erial in making buffers in the p harma-
ceu t ica ls in dus t ry , o r as a cr os s l ink
agent i n m aki ng p o ly u re t ha ne fo am
mat erials . It is an import ant raw mat e-
rial for maki ng gly p ho s at e w it h ID A
t echnology. T riethanolamine has ap pli-
cat ions in cut ting met als, as a neut ral-
i z i n g a ge n t o r em u ls i on age nt fo r
cosmet ics , as a cement addit ive, et c.
A t p resent , et hanolamine is p roduced
by a reaction of ethylene oxide (EO) and
ammonia in liquid p hase. In t he 1970s ,
s ome of the w orld's t op chemical com-
p anies develop ed a new t echnology in
w hich liquid ammonia w it h a content of
90% is react ed w it h et hylene oxide in a
high p res s ure react or. This t echnology
cut cost s significant ly and made a large
s cale unit pos s ible. T he older t echnol-
ogy t hat u s es et hy lene oxide t o react
w it h 20%-30% ammonia s olut ion w as
p hased out, but t oday t his old p roces s
is s t ill us ed by mos t Chines e et hanola-
mine p roducers. Et hanolamines made by
old t echnology are p oor in qualit y and
cost more. T herefore t hey cannot com-
p et e w it h the imp ort ed p roduct s , even
w i t h t he a id o f an t idu mp in g t a riff s .
(China s t art ed t o levy ant idump ing t ar-
iffs on imp ort ed ethanolamine in 2004.)
T he rap id devel op ment of EO (raw
mat erial) and glyp hosat e (demand) p ro-
duct ion in China drove domes t ic et ha-
nolamine p roducers t o exp and their ca-
p acity in recent years .
J iangsu Yiny an Sp ecialt y Chemicals
Comp any Limit ed is China's biggest p ro-
ducer of e t hanolamine. It s s ubs idiary
J iaxing J iny an Chemical Comp any Lim-
it ed now has an annual capacit y of 100
00 0 t on s , in cl udi ng 50 00 0 t on s of
diet hanolamine t hat mainly feed t he 20
000 t /a ID A -t echnique glyp hos at e pro-
duct ion unit of t he parent comp any. The
exp ansion from 10 000 t/a t o 100 000 t /
a was comp let ed in 2008.
CN G C Liaoning N ort h H uafeng Sp e-
cialt y Chemical G roup Comp any Limited
has a cap acit y of 30 000 t /a in its F us hun
s it e, Liaoning p rovince and w ill complet e
a 50 000 t / a et han olamine p rojec t in
2010. It s 200 000 t /a EO /EG p lant came
on s t ream on A p ril 25t h, 2010, and w ill
s up p ort t he new ethanolamine unit .
Fushun Jiahua Polyuret hane Comp any
Limit ed has a 20 000 t /a t ri-et hanolamine
unit in F us hun, Liaoning p rovince. It s
s ubsidiary Shanghai F ujia F ine Chemi-
cal Company Limited op erates a 50 000
t /a t riet hanolamine unit in Shanghai.
M aoming Pet ro-Chemical Shihua Co
Lt d (SZ : 000637), wit h a cap acit y of 6
000 t /a, announced on A ugust 2009 t o
exp and it s ethanolamine cap acit y by 40
000 t /a w it h an inves tment of RM B193
million. The comp any had comp let ed the
feas ibilit y s t udy and p ri mary de s ign
w ork and s igned cont ract s for purchas -
ing technology and equipment as of J une
30t h, 2009. H ow ever, t he p roject w as
delay ed due t o t he financial cris is and
t h e u nce rt a int ies in an ant idu mp i ng
case, according t o t he comp any 's fis cal
report on M arch 26t h, 2010. N ow , t he
M inis t ry of Commerce is conduct ing a
final review inves tigat ion on imp ort ed
et hanolamine, which will be comp let ed
before N ovember 14t h, 2010. N o com-
ment about t he new p roject has come
from M aoming P et ro-Chemical Shihua
Co Ltd.
J ilin Z hongxin Chemic al Com p any
Limit ed is cap able of p roducing 10 000
t /a mono-, di- and t ri-ethanolamine p er
y e ar. We nz ho u Q i ngmi ng C he mi ca l
Comp any Limit ed is capable of p roduc-
ing 5 000 t ons of tri-et hanolamine p er
y ear. J ilin J ihua N ort h Lianteng Chemi-
cal Comp any Limit ed p rod uces
di et h an ola min e a nd t r iet han ol ami ne
w it h a cap acit y of 5 000 t /a. Sinop ec
Shanghai G aoqiao Pet rochemical Corpo-
ration has a unit able t o p roduce 3 000
t ons mono-, di- and tri-et hanolamine per
y ea r. N one of t hes e fou r co mp an ies
p lans t o exp and it s capacity .
BA SF -YPC Co Lt d s tart ed t o cons truct
a new amines complex for the p roduct ion
of et hanolamines , et hy leneamines and
dimet hy let hanolamine s ince Sep t ember
28t h, 2009, which is a p art of the s econd
round of exp ans ion for the joint vent ure
in N anjing, J iangs u province (CCR2009
No.29, No.20). T he exp ans ion is s ched-
uled t o be comp let ed in 2011.
H ubei X ianlin Chemic al Com p any
Limit ed st art ed to cons truct a 40 000 t/a
ethanolamine p roject in Xiant ao of Hubei
province in July 2008 and comp leted con-
s t ruct ion in D ecember 2009. T his unit
came on st ream on M ay 18t h, 2010.
As of Augus t 2010, China's t ot al ca-
p a ci t y of e t h an ola mi ne fa mi ly w as
around 330 000 t /a, according to CCR's
s tat is t ics .
A s ource of CN P C J ilin P et rochemi-
cal Comp any disclos ed t hat China's et ha-
nolamine cons ump t ion mix in 2009 was
31% for s urfactants , 26% for p es t icides
and medicines , 12% for p olyuret hane,
7% for gas purificat ion, 5% for rubber
additives , 5% in t he textile indus t ry , 4%
for met al cleaning and 10% for ot hers .
D riven by it s us e in t he exp anded
gly phos ate p roduction, diet hanolamine's
s hare of t he overall market for t he three
et hanolamines exceeds 50% (by t onnage).
Chi na's import and export of
ethanol amine (t ho usand t on s)
Year Import Export
2005 86.8 0.28
2006 93.8 0.24
2007 114.3 0.22
2008 125.7 0.37
2009 152.1 0.91
Source: CNCIC n