The methanol industry structure may reshape

It is understood that at present, China's methanol downstream emerging applications such as methanol fuel, methanol to olefins and other industries have developed rapidly, especially large-scale equipment for methanol to olefins has entered commercial operation. According to analysis, the development of these new products will reshape the methanol industry.

Under the background of the continuous surplus of methanol market, it is more important to actively promote the upgrade of industrial structure and increase technological innovation. “With the upgrading of the methanol industry, the contradiction between methanol supply and demand will also be alleviated to a certain extent.” Rui De** Sun Desheng said that the process adopted for methanol to olefins is about 3 tons of methanol to produce 1 ton of olefins. In the case of relative shortage of olefins in the country, methanol to olefins can not only effectively relieve the excess capacity of methanol, but also can meet the domestic olefin demand, and it can be said to be of double benefit.

During the investigation, the reporter learned that the production capacity of methanol-to-olefins projects in the northwestern region, including Ordos and Yulin, is about 2 million tons, and methanol consumption is about 6 million tons. Xu Tao, a researcher at the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, believes that this will, to a certain extent, ease the current situation of the oversupply of methanol in the northwest region, and will also provide some positive boost to the methanol spot market.

According to a person in charge of a methanol company in Yulin, the model for methanol-to-olefin production in the local area is not the same as that used in the methanol-to-olefins project of the Ningbo Qianyuan methanol plant in East China. At present, the methanol-to-olefins projects in the northwestern region are mostly integrated devices. Both Shenhua Baotou and Shenhua Ning Coal are methanol-matching devices for olefin plants. “The cost of outsourcing methanol in East China is high, and in the future, the olefins in northwest China will have a price advantage in east China.”

It is understood that relative to the low added value of methanol, the industrial added value of methanol to olefins is much higher, which will be conducive to the overall upgrading of the methanol industry in the northwest.

"Methanol to olefins not only has a certain impact on the methanol industry, but also affects the development of the olefin industry." Analyst Jia Qiu-yi said that the current domestic PE production capacity is still relatively tight, and methanol-to-olefins will be to some extent Ease domestic PE supply shortage.

It is understood that methanol-to-olefins plants generally have other supporting devices that can produce PX, ethylene glycol, butadiene and many other varieties, which will also bring certain impact on PTA and OTHER PRODUCTS in the chemical industry chain. Xu Tao believes that in the long-term, methanol to olefins will be beneficial to the methanol industry, but it will also have a negative impact on PE, PTA and other chemical species.