Analysis on the development trend of China's silica industry in 2022
1. Product structure upgrade
At present, the domestic market for precipitated silica has a situation of oversupply of low-end products and oversupply of high-end products. Due to the low technical content of silicon dioxide in low-end (for shoemaking, bicycle tire and motorcycle tire), the requirements for production equipment and manufacturing process are not high, so most domestic small and medium-sized silicon dioxide manufacturers can achieve production, resulting in an overall oversupply of silicon dioxide in low-end (for shoemaking, bicycle tire and motorcycle tire) in China, while highly dispersed silicon dioxide due to complex production technology, There are few domestic enterprises with sufficient strength for mass production due to high requirements for production equipment. With the adjustment of the consumption structure of the silicon dioxide industry, the market demand for low-end silicon dioxide (for shoes, bicycle tires, and motorcycle tires) will continue to decline, the production enterprises with low technology content and small scale will be eliminated, and the market sales of highly dispersed silicon dioxide manufacturers with strong research and development capabilities and leading products will further expand. So as to optimize and upgrade the product structure in the silica industry.
2. Specialized production trend
The production of silica by precipitation method needs to go through multiple processes such as precipitation, filtration and drying, and is formed by chemical reaction precipitation of sodium silicate and an inorganic acid (usually sulfuric acid). The control of reaction during the production of silica by precipitation method has high requirements. Many factors, such as the quality of raw materials, concentration of each component, temperature, reaction time, PH value, stirring speed, etc., will affect the specific surface area, structure, dispersion of silica and the concentration of silanol groups. Each variable requires accurate control and adjustment.
Professional special non-standard core production equipment is also required to meet the requirements of the above production processes. In particular, high-grade silicon dioxide products used for tires, toothpaste, coatings, etc. require long-term theoretical and practical experience to achieve stable production, which has high requirements for the enterprise's research and development capabilities and talent reserves. With the release of China's Green Tire Technical Specifications, the continuous improvement of downstream customers' requirements for product quality and the continuous strengthening of national environmental protection policies, more and more downstream customers will need high-quality silica, which will further strengthen the professional production trend of the silica industry.
3. The trend of stricter environmental protection standards
Silicon dioxide belongs to the chemical industry, with very high environmental requirements. At present, China's laws and regulations on environmental protection include the Environmental Protection Law, the Clean Production Law, the Water Pollution Prevention Law, and the Energy Conservation Law. The enforcement of relevant laws on environmental protection and energy conservation is becoming stronger and stronger. However, chemical enterprises are easy to be strictly investigated by relevant policies due to their own characteristics of high energy consumption and heavy pollution discharge. There are many and difficult procedures for enterprise projects to pass the approval or environmental assessment. Many enterprises in this industry use coal for production. As the regulatory requirements for desulfurization and denitrification become stricter, the original emission standards will be further improved.
4. The trend of large-scale and full industrial chain
Traditional silicon dioxide production enterprises inevitably bear the risk of price fluctuation of raw materials, while large-scale silicon dioxide production enterprises with a full industrial chain layout can have a stronger bargaining power when the price of raw materials fluctuates, reduce the impact of price fluctuation of raw materials on production costs, effectively ensure the quality and continuous supply of raw materials, and thus have a strong anti risk ability and competitive advantage.