China's chlor-alkali industry developed relatively late. It was not until after 1930 that a chlor-alkali plant was built in Shanghai by Shanghai Tianyuan Chemical, producing 2 tons of caustic soda daily. By the time of liberation in 1949, there were only a few chlor-alkali plants nationwide, with an annual caustic soda production of merely 15,000 tons and chlorinated products limited to a few types such as hydrochloric acid, liquid chlorine, and bleaching powder. By 1990, caustic soda production reached 3.31 million tons, second only to the United States and Japan, ranking third in the world. In 1995, caustic soda production reached 4.96 million tons, of which 562,000 tons were produced using ion exchange membrane electrolysis, accounting for 11.3% of total production. By 2000, annual caustic soda production reached 5.4 million tons, with ion membrane electrolysis production expected to reach 1.8 million tons, accounting for 33.3%.
In recent years, some new domestic enterprises have also successively invested in chlor-alkali industries, "forcing" the chlor-alkali industry to show signs of accelerating towards scale, leading to more serious structural overcapacity problems in the industry. Statistics from the Chlor-Alkali Association show that in 2010 alone, various regions across the country planned to add 4.44 million tons/year of suspended PVC production capacity, 145,000 tons/year of PVC paste resin production capacity, and 5.975 million tons/year of caustic soda production capacity. The Chlor-Alkali Association predicts that among the planned projects, only 40%-50% are expected to be completed on schedule.
Bayer: ODC technology widely used in global chlorine production
According to reports, Bayer MaterialScience has signed an agreement with Wood Engineering to build a new 20,000-ton/year chlorine production facility at its Krefeld-Uerdingen base using raw salt as the raw material. This plant will be the first to use Bayer MaterialScience's oxygen depolarized cathode (ODC) technology and will use electrolyzers supplied by Uhdenora. Wood will be responsible for the construction of the plant, which is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2011. Bayer announced this year that it would sign a series of agreements with membrane chlor-alkali producers and international licensing agencies to promote the widespread use of ODC technology. It has already signed an agreement with Wood to carry out multiple projects in Europe, and Bayer has started cooperation with China National Bluestar Group. Bayer is also negotiating cooperation with major membrane chlor-alkali producers in Japan and the United States. Bayer said that the new process consumes 30% less electricity than standard technology, which is one of the most energy-intensive processes in the chemical industry. Additionally, using the new method for chlorine production can indirectly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 10,000 tons/year.
China Chemical: Investing 2.4 billion yuan in chlor-alkali project
On April 6, China Chemical announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Chengda Engineering Company, signed an engineering general contracting contract on April 1 with Anhui Huasuo Co., Ltd. in Hefei City, Anhui Province, regarding the chlor-alkali equipment of the first phase of the 1 million ton/year PVC and supporting projects of Anhui Huasuo Co., Ltd. The total contract period is approximately 18 months, with a total contract amount of 2.4 billion yuan, accounting for about 10.4% of the company's revenue in 2008.
Tianyuan Group: Building a domestic leading chlor-alkali project
Tianyuan Group is the second largest electrostone method PVC manufacturing enterprise in China. It mainly produces and sells PVC resin, caustic soda hydrazine, electrostone, trisodium phosphate, and other series of products, with an annual production capacity of 520,000 tons of PVC, 418,000 tons of caustic soda, 820,000 tons of cement, 80,000 tons of trisodium phosphate, and 15,000 tons of hydrazine hydrate. Currently, the group's main product, caustic soda, ranks eighth in the industry, PVC resin ranks fourth in the industry, and hydrazine hydrate production has always ranked first in the industry, firmly occupying the leading position in the industry.
The greatest advantage of chlor-alkali chemical enterprises lies in their abundant coal resources, including electric coal and raw coal. The surrounding areas of Tianyuan Group have rich resources of coal, electrostone, raw salt, and hydroelectric power, allowing them to obtain stable high-quality resources, giving them a significant raw material advantage. At the same time, Tianyuan Group's fundraising will be directed towards two projects: a 400,000-ton/year PVC project and a 320,000-ton/year ion membrane caustic soda, 20,000-ton/year 80% hydrazine hydrate and supporting projects. After these projects are put into operation, the company's capacities for PVC, caustic soda, and hydrazine hydrate will reach 920,000 tons/year, 738,000 tons/year, and 40,000 tons/year respectively.
As the saying goes, the flow of the Yellow River may change in thirty years. What if the fertilizer enterprises, to avoid "gas shortages," turn to coal-to-natural gas projects? I wonder, if one day "gas shortage" turns into "gas surplus," will those companies return to being fertilizer enterprises? In fact, this is similar to the chlor-alkali project investments. Today, seeing the development prospects of chlor-alkali projects, they all want to develop chlor-alkali industries. But when chlor-alkali overcapacity occurs, will they think of changing industries again? Not only will they lose a lot of money, but they will also waste a lot of costs. Ultimately, the back-and-forth changes in enterprises are still driven by profit. If these enterprises didn't make big changes in projects but instead focused on technological innovation, the results would naturally be evident. It should be noted that while China's chlor-alkali production capacity rapidly develops and increases, technology and equipment should also develop accordingly.
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