Opportunity to understand new downstream materials

Depth! Opportunities to understand new materials downstream of acrylic acid

depth! Opportunities to understand new downstream materials of acrylic acid

July 22, 2019

acrylic acid is one of the key downstream products of propylene, and the annual consumption of propylene accounts for about 4% of the total domestic consumption of propylene. Acrylic acid is mainly used in the synthesis of various acrylates, followed by the production of acrylate. General acrylates mainly include methyl acrylate (MA), ethyl acrylate (EA), butyl acrylate (BA), 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA) and other coatings. Acrylates are mainly used as polymeric monomers in the production of coatings and adhesives, and are also widely used in ink, textile, plastic additives and other fields. Acrylate (mainly sodium salt) homopolymer or copolymer has various properties such as water absorption, water retention, condensation, dispersion, thickening and bonding due to different composition and degree of polymerization. It is widely used in sanitary materials, rural water conservation, water treatment, oil mining, coatings, inks, textiles, printing and dyeing, papermaking, tanning, food processing and other fields

in the future, the following new materials in the downstream of acrylic acid can be focused:

1 high performance acrylate lotion

compared with traditional solvent based coatings, water-based coatings have the advantages of low price, safe use, saving resources and energy, reducing environmental pollution and public hazards, and have become the main direction of the current development of the coating industry. Waterborne acrylate resin (acrylate lotion) is a non polluting product with the fastest development and the most varieties among the resins used in coatings. Acrylate lotion commonly used in waterborne coatings includes hydroxyl acrylate lotion, self crosslinking acrylate lotion, epoxy modified acrylate lotion, Alkyd Modified Acrylate lotion, fluoroacrylate lotion and other products

in the future, the focus of acrylate lotion research is to develop high-performance acrylate lotion products, replace solvent based products in a broader field, and develop lightweight lined modified acrylate lotion with functions and Fire clothing and carbon dioxide absorption masks. At present, the research on acrylate lotion used in coatings is vigorously carried out at home and abroad, and the performance of lotion is gradually improving. With the introduction of environmental protection regulations and the general trend of energy conservation in various countries, the application of acrylate lotion in coatings will have a broader development prospect

2 special acrylate (monomer)

radiation will increase pollution of land resources due to excessive accumulation. Radiation curing (also known as UV curing) technology takes special acrylate as the main raw material, and uses UV or electron beam as the initiator to polymerize acrylate. Compared with the conventional polymerization method, this method does not need chemical initiator, polymerizes at room temperature without heating, saves initiator and energy, and some specific processes require this polymerization method. In recent years, the radiation curing industry in China has developed extremely rapidly, and its development speed is much faster than that of the United States, Europe and Japan. The rapid development of the radiation curing industry has greatly driven the growth of the demand for special acrylate. In addition to being widely used in traditional coating production, radiation curing technology is also applied in emerging fields such as lithography and 3D printing. Special acrylates (monomers) can be divided into monofunctional acrylates (including high alkyl, special groups, special structures) and multifunctional acrylates (including bifunctional, trifunctional, etc.). At present, more than 100 kinds of special acrylates have been synthesized in the world, with an annual output of about 200000 tons, which is only about 5% of the output of general acrylates. However, its structure can contain ester groups with different carbon chain lengths and amino, hydroxyl, cyano, sulfonic acid, epoxy, furanyl, etc., so it is endowed with various functions

3 super absorbent resin (SAP)

super absorbent polymer (SAP) is a low crosslinking hydrophilic polymer compound with loose complex structure. It is neither soluble in water nor soluble in organic solvents. It has the ability to absorb hundreds or even thousands of times its own weight of water, and has fast water absorption rate and good water retention performance. It is difficult to separate water even under pressure. Because sap has the characteristics of good water absorption, moderate price and good safety, it has been widely used in infant diapers, women's hygiene products, adult incontinence products and other disposable hygiene products. Sodium acrylate is generally used as a cross-linked polymer monomer in these fields. Foreign SAP capacity is highly concentrated, and the industry development is relatively healthy. The average operating rate of the industry in 2018 is higher than 75%, but the overcapacity of the domestic SAP industry is relatively serious. In 2018, the capacity was about 1.3 million tons/year, but the average operating rate of the industry was only about 50%. The sap consumption per unit of newborn population and the sap consumption per unit of elderly population in China are far lower than those in Japan, Europe and the United States, and the growth space is more than 100%. However, at present, the application penetration rate of domestic sanitary products is low, and the market has not been fully opened, making the total domestic SAP consumption still at a relatively low level. With the increasing investment and attention of the state in the construction of ecological environment, the research, development and production of water retaining agent products in China have reached a climax, and the market of sap in the field of agriculture, forestry and water conservation has gradually opened up. In addition, as a concrete admixture, SAP can effectively reduce the shrinkage of concrete, which has become one of the current research hotspots and is expected to be used on a large scale in the future. It is worth noting that from the perspective of supply level, domestic SAP production technology and product quality still have great room for improvement

4 acrylate rubber (ACM)

acm is an elastomer obtained by copolymerization with acrylate as the main monomer. Its main chain is saturated carbon chain and its side group is polar ester group. ACM has excellent heat resistance, aging resistance, oil resistance, ozone resistance, UV resistance and other properties. Its mechanical properties and processing properties are better than fluororubber and silicone rubber, and its heat resistance, aging resistance and oil resistance are better than nitrile rubber. ACM is widely used in various high-temperature and oil resistant environments, and has become a sealing material that has been emphatically developed and promoted by the automotive industry in recent years, especially for high-temperature oil seals, crankshafts, valve stems, cylinder gaskets, hydraulic oil pipelines, etc. used in automobiles. At present, almost all domestic demand depends on imports. Compared with the huge demand, the domestic ACM production scale is small, the equipment is simple, the stability is poor, and the variety is few, which is far from meeting the needs of the development of the automotive industry for ACM. ACM used by most seal products factories in China mainly depends on imports, with an annual import volume of more than 4000 tons and an import price of 60000 ~ 70000 yuan. At present, the production cost of ACM is no more than 30000 yuan, and the profit space is relatively large

5 acrylonitrile styrene acrylate copolymer (ASA or AAS)

asa and ABS have similar structures. Because ASA uses acrylate rubber without unsaturated double bond instead of ABS pressure roller, it acts on polybutadiene rubber with unsaturated double bond on the test piece. Therefore, it can resist degradation, aging and fading caused by ultraviolet radiation, It can also resist oxidation in the atmosphere, and then decomposition or discoloration caused by high temperature in the processing process has a strong guarantee, which greatly improves the aging resistance and weather resistance of the material. The main application fields of ASA resin include synthetic resin tiles, electronic and electrical housing materials, automotive exterior decoration materials, outdoor building materials, etc. Domestic ASA resin manufacturers are mainly foreign-funded enterprises, and a few enterprises can produce ASA resin, but the production capacity is relatively small, the product quality is unstable, and a large amount of demand depends on imports

6 ethylene acrylic copolymer

ethylene acrylic copolymer has good low temperature performance and softness, excellent bending cracking resistance and environmental stress cracking resistance, and great elasticity. Ethylene acrylic copolymer can replace ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) in some application fields. At present, the annual consumption of EVA in China is about 1.5 million tons and the import volume is about 1million tons. Compared with EVA, EAA has higher thermal stability and belongs to non corrosive products, which can adapt to a wider range of processing conditions. The main application fields of ethylene acrylic copolymer include high-voltage cable shielding, hose, packaging materials, adhesives, low-temperature sealing rings, household appliance parts, and can also be blended with olefin polymers or engineering plastics to improve its low softness, environmental stress cracking resistance and impact resistance. Ethylene ethyl acrylate (EEA) is the most widely used ethylene acrylic copolymer. EEA is a soft thermoplastic with lower crystallinity than PE. Generally, it contains ethyl acrylate (EA)%. The density and softness of the copolymer increased with the increase of EA content. EEA has good low temperature performance and softness, good thermal stability in processing, good compatibility with fillers, excellent bending cracking resistance and environmental stress cracking resistance, and great elasticity. Crosslinking EEA with organic peroxide can improve heat resistance, creep resistance and solvent resistance

7 vinyl chloride acrylate copolymer

vinyl chloride acrylate copolymer is a copolymer resin with excellent comprehensive properties. Compared with ordinary PVC resin, vinyl chloride acrylate copolymer has excellent characteristics such as good impact performance and easy processing. According to the different copolymerization methods and copolymer structures of vinyl chloride and acrylate, the vinyl chloride acrylic copolymer produced in China at present mainly includes vinyl chloride acrylate random copolymer and vinyl chloride acrylate graft copolymer. Vinyl chloride acrylate random copolymers are mostly produced by suspension polymerization. With the increase of acrylate content in the copolymer, the porosity, plasticizer absorption, glass transition temperature of copolymer particles decrease, and the impact strength increases. Vinyl chloride acrylate graft copolymers are mostly prepared by preparing core-shell acrylate latex (ACR), and the impact resistant PVC resin can be prepared by adding the lotion directly to the vinyl chloride suspension polymerization system for in-situ polymerization. In addition, ACR impact modifier can also be added in the processing of high-quality carbon steel 35, 45, 50pvc, which is often used for shafts, to make copolymer materials. The representative product is acrylic copolymer polyvinyl chloride (agr), which is mainly used as water supply pipe. It has the reputation of "plastic steel pipe", and has excellent impact resistance, compression resistance and seismic resistance. At present, domestic water supply pipes are still mainly steel, with a small amount of PE pipes and PVC pipes, while agr pipes are used as urban water supply pipes and water supply pipes in buildings, which are more hygienic than metal materials, and more stable and reliable than PE pipes and PVC pipes. They have long service life, low temperature resistance and impact resistance, and will have a good development prospect in the process of residents' consumption and quality of life upgrading