Sodium Carboxyl methyl Cellulose (Carboxyl methyl Cellulose), referred to as CMC, is a cellulose ether, carboxyl methyl derivative of cellulose, also known as cellulose gum, is the most important ionic cellulose gum. It was commercially produced in Europe in the early 1910s and was used as a colloid and binder. In 1947, it was allowed to be used as an additive in the food processing industry and has a thickening effect. The aqueous solution of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose has the functions of thickening, bonding, film formation, protective adhesive, moisture retention, emulsification and suspension, etc. The mainstream products are petroleum grade, food grade, daily chemical grade, pharmaceutical grade and battery grade CMC. Among them, battery-grade CMC is used as a binder for lithium battery electrode sheets, and its market demand has grown rapidly in recent years with the rise of the domestic new energy automobile industry.

Process technology

The production process of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose includes water medium method, low solvent method, slurry method (multiple solvent method) and so on. The key raw materials are refined cellulose, and the difference between the aqueous method and the latter two is that "there is no organic solvent such as alcohol as a reaction medium in the process of alkalization and etherification". The technical threshold of the water medium method is not high, but the purity and replacement uniformity of the products produced are not high, and can only be applied to the low-end demand field. High purity products also need to be refined, refined CMC has a high barrier - advanced equipment investment and increased process will significantly push up the cost, slurry method is a more advanced process.

Industry status

CMC commercialization has been nearly a hundred years, the process technology is very mature and there is no big breakthrough for many years, belongs to the traditional chemical products, not for the attention of large chemical enterprises, the current foreign production of CMC enterprises have Herklex (Ashland), competition Lu, Japan paper and so on. The domestic CMC industry entered the fast track of development after 1998. In particular, at the beginning of the 21st century, the demand for sodium carboxymethyl cellulose in the domestic and international markets is flourishing, and the average annual growth rate of domestic CMC consumption between 2006 and 2010 has reached 17%, which has spawned many carboxymethyl cellulose sodium production enterprises with simple processes and equipment, and there are nearly a hundred at the peak, their processes are much the same. The difference between companies is the stable supply of cheap raw materials, environmentally friendly operating costs and product quality.

From the perspective of industry entry time, enterprise entry began in 1998, continued until 2016, and reached a peak in 2014. Among them, 2001-2009 is the golden period of the development of the domestic CMC industry, new enterprises continue to be established, foreign enterprises have entered. From 2010 to 2016, the pace and number of enterprises are changing, with both an investment blank period and an investment peak in 2014. In 2016, although the domestic export volume of carboxymethyl cellulose and its salt products increased steadily, the average export price fell to a historic low. After 2017, investment in the domestic CMC industry has cooled significantly, with only two new enterprises. Their technology and products are more competitive. For example, Hebi Fangrui Chemical was established by absorbing the original DuPont Danisco (Zhangjiagang) hydrophilic colloid company's equipment and related technologies and production personnel. Fujian Meiyarui New Materials Company is only the production of battery grade cellulose ether products, for Ningde times lithium batteries to do material supporting.

conclusion

1, the capacity contraction of the domestic sodium carboxymethyl cellulose industry, objectively because of the decline in downstream demand market growth, like the domestic food industry output after 2017 into a low-speed growth period. The saturation of demand in traditional application areas will naturally lead to price competition and eliminate production capacity. The emergence of new demand will cultivate new enterprises and new production capacity, such as Fujian Meiyarui New Materials Company and Shandong Lihong Baoguan Cellulose Co., LTD., which are expanding production lines of battery-grade products. 2, the ideal model of industry development is continuous technology iteration, constantly create new needs, there is a technical gap between competitors. However, the development dilemma of the traditional industry is that the process technology has stalled, the demand growth is stable, and when more and more competitors converge at the same technical level, the homogenization competition is opened. When the technology factor cannot be iterated, other market factor iterations need to be created. 3. The iteration of other market factors, such as capital factors, labor, land and ecological environment, relies on the invisible hand of the market for too long, and needs to rely on the visible hand of policy: environmental governance; Lower export tax rebate rates; Improve product quality standards; Raise the entry threshold for new production capacity.