China is the world's largest producer and supplier of AC (Azodicarbonamide) foaming agent, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons, accounting for approximately 50% of the world's total production capacity. The actual annual production exceeds 110,000 tons. However, Gong Liucheng, deputy director of the Plastics Additives Special Committee of the China Engineering Plastics Association, recently pointed out at the 2007 conference on the production and application of plastics additives at the Nanchang Technical Institute that China is the world’s largest producer of AC foaming agents. However, it is far from being a powerful country. There is still a long way to go from a big country to a powerful country. To some point, this saying is also same to hydrazine hydrate, ferric chloride anhydrous, 2-aminophenol, PVC, and other chemicals in China.
AC foaming agent is widely used in the foaming of PVC, PE, PP, EVA, PS, ABS and other resins and rubber products. It is the world's largest chemical foaming agent. Due to its high quality and low price, wide application range, and good physical and chemical properties, no chemical foaming agents that can compete with it have been found. China's foaming agent production is mainly AC foaming agent. The actual domestic annual demand is 80,000 to 90,000 tons. The consumption structure is: PVC accounts for 40%, PE accounts for 35%, PP accounts for 12%, and rubber accounts for 5%. Others accounted for 8%; there are more than 30 manufacturers, and backbone enterprises mainly include Jiangxi Dhua Chemical Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Sopro Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Ningxia Summer Sheng Industrial Co., Ltd., Fujian Longyan Longhua Group Co., Ltd.; 24,000 tons, mainly exported to Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, Russia and other places.
Although the export volume of AC foaming agent in China is relatively large, it is mainly exported as raw powder and the profit is very low. There is a big gap between the domestic product technology level and the quality compared with foreign countries: The production of ketone-nitrogen or hydrogen peroxide is widely used in foreign countries, but China still adopts the urea method that is facing elimination, waste of resources and serious environmental pollution; domestic production process The rate is low, and the "three wastes" emissions are large and difficult to control; most enterprises can only produce raw powders and cannot produce modified products with high profits. This makes China's AC foaming agent industry has always been in the low end of the global market competition.
At present, the actual situation in the domestic AC foaming agent industry is that, on the one hand, the production capacity continues to expand, and on the other hand, competition continues to intensify, directly affecting the continuous decline in sales prices, and sales prices in some regions have dropped to 13,000 yuan/ton. Since December, although the backbone production enterprises have increased the export prices of their products and the selling price has reached more than US$2,000/ton, they are still more than US$700 less than the import prices from abroad. The competition is mainly in the aspect of low-end products, and the lucrative modification In the field of AC foaming agents, there are few domestic companies involved. The modified AC foaming agent process has basically no "three wastes" and low investment, and the added value of modified products has been greatly improved. At present, hundreds of varieties have been developed abroad, such as Japan's PVC modified AC brand has nearly 20, and There are still new varieties coming out.
Gong Liucheng and other industry experts suggested that, in the meantime, in the course of improving the production process of AC foaming agents in the last few years, we must strengthen the research and development of AC blowing agent new varieties, specialization, and modification, and at the same time strengthen the comprehensive utilization and the “three wastes” treatment. Gong Liucheng stated that China's AC foaming agent industry faces both great challenges and good opportunities for development. If it can effectively improve its raw material route, improve its technological level, accelerate the development and application of product modification, and improve the overall level of the industry, The advantages become quality and variety advantages. China's AC foaming agent industry still has a good development prospect.
