Analysis and Prospect of the most popular Fischer

Fischer Tropsch wax Market Analysis and outlook

Fischer Tropsch wax Market Analysis and outlook

April 6, 2021

Abstract: with the commercialization and production of domestic indirect coal liquefaction projects, Fischer Tropsch wax cannot be directly converted to each other, and wax has gradually become a hot spot in the wax product industry. Through the market research of Fischer Tropsch wax and other wax products, this paper analyzes the production capacity, application fields and market demand of Fischer Tropsch wax, It is believed that there is still a large gap between domestic and foreign advanced levels in terms of variety and product quality, and that in the future, Fischer Tropsch wax will replace paraffin wax more and enter the wax product market

key words: Fischer Tropsch wax, market analysis, market outlook

1 paraffin production capacity and market

China is a large paraffin production country in the world, and its resources are mainly concentrated in refineries affiliated to PetroChina and Sinopec. At present, there are about 11 large refineries in China with paraffin production units. See table 120. The domestic paraffin production in 2017 was about 1.2 million tons, of which 700000 tons were consumed domestically and 500000 tons were exported

paraffin production mainly uses paraffin based crude oil as raw material. At present, Daqing Petroleum coating is the most suitable for paraffin production in China. Taking the four refineries of PetroChina Daqing Petrochemical, Daqing Refining and chemical, Fushun Petrochemical and Dalian Petrochemical, which mainly process Daqing Petroleum to produce paraffin, as an example, according to statistics, in 2017, the paraffin production of enterprises mainly processing Daqing Petroleum reached 8 low-temperature tanks, and the single-chip microcomputer technology was used to control more than 0 million tons. Fushun Petrochemical is the largest paraffin production base in China, with a paraffin production capacity of about 500000 tons, which is exported to the United States, Mexico, Southeast Asia and other countries; The paraffin wax production capacity of Jingmen Petrochemical, Nanyang refined wax plant, Jinan Petrochemical, Maoming Petrochemical and Gaoqiao Petrochemical is about 400000 tons. In 2017, about 200000 tons of paraffin were exported to the United States. In 2018, due to the impact of the Sino US trade war, the export of paraffin was blocked, the situation of domestic paraffin supply exceeding demand became increasingly apparent, and the sales pressure increased

domestic paraffin wax is mainly used in candle, packaging, synthetic board, rubber tire, food, chemical industry, electronics, medicine, textile, electronic equipment and other fields [1]

in 2017, the apparent consumption of paraffin in China was 718000 tons. In 2017, the consumption structure of domestic paraffin was roughly 46.5% candles, 23% emulsifying wax, 14% packaging wax, 5% rubber protective wax, 2.55% hot melt adhesive, and 9% others (PVC lubricant, precision casting wax, pharmaceutical wax, wax for electronic industry, etc.). Table 2 shows the consumption structure of domestic paraffin in 2017

2 current status of Fischer Tropsch wax production capacity

2.1 current status of foreign Fischer Tropsch wax production capacity

foreign manufacturers of Fischer Tropsch wax mainly include shell in the Netherlands and Sasol in South Africa. GTL devices of these two enterprises use natural gas as raw material and adopt cobalt based low-temperature Fischer Tropsch synthesis process. The quality of Fischer Tropsch wax products produced is good, and the total capacity of foreign Fischer Tropsch wax reaches 300000 tons

shell's Malaysian Fischer Tropsch wax production unit is located in Bintulu, Sarawak state. After the expansion of the unit in 2012, the company's wax production capacity is basically maintained at 100000 tons/year, including 50000 tons/year of high melting point Fischer Tropsch wax and about 50000 tons/year of medium and low melting point wax [2]. In 2018, shell exported about 10000 tons of Fischer Tropsch wax to China

sasol mainly produces Fischer Tropsch wax products from sasoli plant in South Africa. In 2018, the unit was expanded, and the production capacity of Fischer Tropsch wax reached 200000 tons/year. The output of high melting point Fischer Tropsch wax is 100000 tons/year, and the output of low melting point Fischer Tropsch wax is 100000 tons/year. Due to the increase in production, the price of Fischer Tropsch wax products exported by Sasol to China decreased slightly, and the price of H1, the mainstream product, was about 12000 yuan/ton. In 2018, Sasol exported about 8000 tons of Fischer Tropsch wax to China

2.2 current situation of domestic Fischer Tropsch wax production capacity

domestic Fischer Tropsch wax production is concentrated on the coal indirect liquefaction projects that have been completed and put into operation, mainly including Shanxi Lu'an, Inner Mongolia Yitai, Shaanxi future energy and Ningxia coal industry

Shanxi Lu'an fine wax factory has two sets of Fischer Tropsch wax separation devices, with a design capacity of 60000 tons/year respectively. After transformation and expansion, the current capacity can reach 200000 tons/year. In 2018, the output of Lu'an Fischer Tropsch wax was about 70000 tons, of which 52 ℃, 60 ℃ and 70 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax with medium and low melting points accounted for 40%, which is mainly used in the field of candles and rubber protection, and 90 ℃, 95 ℃ and 100 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax with high melting points accounted for 60%, It is mainly used in the field of plastic processing

the Fischer Tropsch wax separation unit of Yitai, Inner Mongolia, which uses 160000 tons/year of coal indirect liquefaction unit products as raw materials, has been completed. The project scale is 100000 tons/year. The product structure is similar to that of Lu'an, Shanxi Province, with low and medium melting point wax accounting for 40% and high melting point wax accounting for 60%

the 1million ton/year coal indirect liquefaction unit of Shaanxi future energy, the catalytic system is a low-temperature Fe based Fischer Tropsch synthesis process, the quality of Fischer Tropsch crude wax is better than that of high-temperature Fe based, and the product has high melting point and low oil content. Currently, the Fischer Tropsch wax separation project is being planned

Inner Mongolia Jushi energy has a 200000 ton/year synthetic wax project, which adopts the low-temperature cobalt based Fischer Tropsch synthesis process, and the catalyst is developed by Dalian Institute of chemicals [3]. It is designed to produce more than 100000 "tons of crude wax per year

at present, Shanxi Lu'an fine wax factory sells Fischer Tropsch fine separation products, with an output of about 70000 tons. Inner Mongolia Yitai and Ningxia coal industry sell some crude wax products, with a sales volume of about 50000 tons/year. In 2018, the market sales volume of Fischer Tropsch wax was about 120000 tons

3 difference and substitution between Fischer Tropsch wax and paraffin

3.1 Fischer Tropsch wax production process

first, coal, natural gas or biomass are used as raw materials, which are converted into syngas (co+h2). The syngas reacts under the action of catalyst to generate liquid hydrocarbons, and then through hydrofining reaction, the oxygenated compounds and olefins in it are saturated and converted into a mixture dominated by alkanes. The high temperature iron-based crude wax is mainly composed of C20 ~ C70 alkanes, and the content of normal alkanes is about 85%. After the crude wax is cut, separated and deoiled by short-range distillation, it forms components with different carbon numbers. For example, 60 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is mainly C20 ~ C40 normal alkanes, 70 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is mainly C30 ~ C50 normal alkanes, and 100 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is mainly C30 ~ C70 normal alkanes

Fischer Tropsch synthesis process is the core technology of indirect coal liquefaction. The catalytic systems used mainly include Fe based and Co based, of which Fe based is divided into low temperature and high temperature, and Fischer Tropsch wax is derived from the crude wax, the intermediate product of Fischer Tropsch synthesis. Foreign Fischer Tropsch wax producers are mainly Dutch Shell and South African Sasol companies, and Co based catalysts are used in Fischer Tropsch synthesis. At present, the domestic enterprises engaged in the industrial production of indirect coal liquefaction projects are mainly Shanxi Lu'an, Inner Mongolia Yitai, Ningxia coal industry and Shaanxi future energy. Among them, the first three adopt high-temperature Fe based catalytic system, and the fourth adopts low-temperature Fe based catalytic system

the carbon number of crude wax produced by high temperature Fe based catalyst process is C20 ~ C90, and the content of normal paraffin is 85 ~ 90%; After fine separation, high-temperature Fe based crude wax mainly produces Fischer Tropsch wax products of 60 ℃, 70 ℃, 95 ℃ and 100 ℃. The oil content of Fischer Tropsch wax products at 60 ℃ is 4% - 6%, and the oil content of Fischer Tropsch wax products at 70 ℃ is 2% - 4%. The highest melting point of Fischer Tropsch wax drops with high melting point is 105 ℃, the penetration is greater than 1, and the oil content is about 1%

the carbon number of crude wax produced by low-temperature Fe based and Co based catalysts is C20 ~ C90, and the content of normal paraffin is 95% - 98%. After refining and separation, low-temperature Fe based and Co based crude wax mainly produces 52 ℃, 60 ℃, 70 ℃, 105 ℃, 110 ℃, 115 ℃ grades of Fischer Tropsch wax products. 60 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax product oil content 1 4% - 1.7%, 70 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax product oil content 0 3% - 0.5%, the highest melting point of Fischer Tropsch wax with high melting point is 115 ℃, the penetration is less than 1, and it is almost oil-free

due to the longer carbon chain of Co based wax, the melting point of wax is higher. The content of high-temperature Fe based crude wax oil is about 5% higher than that of Co based wax. The penetration is large, the crude wax is soft, and the hardness is low. Therefore, at present, the recognition of Co based Fischer Tropsch wax in domestic and foreign markets is higher

3.2 paraffin production process

the traditional oil route takes the second, third and fourth line oil of atmospheric and vacuum distillation (the wax content is about 25% ~ 40%) as raw materials, and uses the ketone benzene dewaxing process to separate the wax and oil. The oil is refined by furfural or hydrofining to produce class I and II lubricating base oil, and can also enter the catalytic cracking unit to produce olefins, naphtha and diesel oil. The separated wax is subject to high-pressure hydrogenation treatment to remove sulfur, nitrogen, aromatics and other substances, and produce qualified paraffin products. For example, according to the different oil content, paraffin is divided into semi refined paraffin (oil content is less than 1.8%) and fully refined paraffin (oil content is less than 0.8%). Fully refined paraffin mainly has 10 brands, melting point is from 52 ℃ ~ 70 ℃, and every 2 ℃ is a product. The paraffin sold on the market is mainly 58 ℃ and 60 ℃, The carbon number of paraffin component is about C20 ~ C50, which is generally shorter than that of Fischer Tropsch wax

3.3 analysis on the substitutability of Fischer Tropsch wax and paraffin

the same application fields of Fischer Tropsch wax and paraffin are mainly in the candle industry, and the wax of 50 ℃ ~ 60 ℃ brand can be used

low melting point Fischer Tropsch wax, such as 52 ℃, 60 ℃, 70 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax, after deoiling treatment, can reach the quality of refined paraffin, and can replace paraffin in candle, emulsified wax, packaging wax, rubber protective wax and other fields, mainly due to cost competition. It is estimated that the market is 100000 tons

high melting point Fischer Tropsch wax, such as 105 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax, can replace imported Fischer Tropsch wax and polyethylene wax in the fields of PVC processing, ink coating and rubber protection. When used as an external lubricant for PVC, because the viscosity of Fischer Tropsch wax is lower than that of polyethylene wax, the same lubrication effect can be achieved by using 70% of polyethylene wax, and the product has good oxidation resistance and weather resistance

in the above fields, the consumption of imported Fischer Tropsch wax is about 20000 tons, and it is expected that domestic Fischer Tropsch wax can replace about 10000 tons in the future

4 application fields and current situation of Fischer Tropsch wax products

the application fields of Fischer Tropsch wax mainly include PVC plastic processing, process candle, filling master batch, plastic wood processing, a small amount of application after compounding in the tire rubber industry, and hot melt adhesive, ink, coating, modified asphalt and other fields need to be expanded and developed. Table 3 shows the main application fields and market demand of Fischer Tropsch wax

4.1 plastic processing industry

105 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is mainly used as an external lubricant and stabilizer additive in PVC processing. At present, the domestic PVC output is about 16million tons, and the Fischer Tropsch wax added as an external lubricant accounts for 3 ‰ - 8 ‰ of the PVC output, about 100000 tons. Due to the toxicity of lead salt stabilizer, it is easy to volatilize during processing, which is harmful to human body. Therefore, domestic PVC manufacturers have mandatory requirements to replace lead salt stabilizer with calcium zinc stabilizer. However, the lubrication effect of calcium zinc stabilizer is general, and it is necessary to add Fischer Tropsch wax to enhance the lubricity, increase the processing and extrusion efficiency and significantly improve the surface gloss of products. The domestic consumption of calcium zinc stabilizer is about 300000 tons, of which the addition of Fischer Tropsch wax accounts for about 20%, about 60000 tons. The total domestic demand for 105 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax in the field of plastic processing is about 160000 tons

4.2 candles and emulsified wax

60 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is mainly used as candles and emulsified wax. Except for oil content, its other performance indicators are not far from petroleum wax. The oil content of 60 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is 4% ~ 6%, and the oil content of 60 ℃ fully refined paraffin is less than 0.5%. The domestic paraffin production is about 1.2 million tons, of which the consumption in the candle industry is more than 300000 tons, and the paraffin price is about 7200 yuan/ton. Due to the excessive oil content, the domestic 60 ℃ Fischer Tropsch wax is cheaper than paraffin, about 6000 yuan/ton. Due to the price advantage, some domestic candle manufacturers began to gradually add Fischer Tropsch wax to replace some petroleum wax. At present, the maximum addition can reach 30%. In order to reach the quality of paraffin wax, Fischer Tropsch wax needs to be