1、 Overview of Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is an important chemical raw material, chemical formula is H2O2. Pure hydrogen peroxide is a light blue viscous liquid, which can be miscible with water in any proportion. It is a strong oxidant. The aqueous solution is commonly known as hydrogen peroxide, which is a colorless transparent liquid. The production methods of hydrogen peroxide mainly include electrolysis method, anthraquinone method, isopropanol method, oxygen cathode reduction method and hydrogen oxygen direct method. Anthraquinone method is the main method for hydrogen peroxide production, which is adopted by more than 99% of hydrogen peroxide plants in China.
Hydrogen peroxide can be divided into electronic grade, food grade and industrial grade according to its concentration and application field. Electronic grade hydrogen peroxide is an indispensable chemical reagent for the production of electronic integrated circuits. It is the stripping photoresist step after the silicon wafer cleaning and etching at the front end of the semiconductor process are completed. The refining methods of electronic hydrogen peroxide include distillation, ion exchange and membrane separation. The preparation methods of industrial hydrogen peroxide include electrolysis, secondary alcohol oxidation and alkyl anthraquinone. Anthraquinone process is the most important method to produce hydrogen peroxide in industry. Its process is that alkyl anthraquinone (such as 2-ethyl anthraquinone) and organic solvent are mixed into a working solution, H2 is introduced under the conditions of pressure 0.3MPa, temperature 55~65 ° C and catalyst (such as target). After hydrogenation reduction, hydrogen peroxide aqueous solution with a mass fraction of 20%~30% is prepared through subsequent extraction, regeneration, refining and concentration.
2、 Policy sorting of wet electronic chemicals
Electronic hydrogen peroxide belongs to wet electronic chemicals with high technical barriers. Due to the increasingly prominent importance of wet electronic chemicals in the electronic industry, China fully encourages the development of the wet electronic chemicals industry in terms of policies. In recent ten years, wet electronic chemical industry has become an important independent branch and new growth point of China's chemical industry. China regards the electronic chemical industry as one of the strategic priorities of chemical industry development and an important part of the development of new materials industry.
3、 Hydrogen peroxide industry chain
From the perspective of the industrial chain, the main upstream raw materials of hydrogen peroxide are alkyl anthraquinone, hydrogen, air and phosphoric ACID. The downstream uses are wide, mainly for medical, military and industrial purposes.
From the perspective of downstream demand structure, hydrogen peroxide downstream industries mainly include caprolactam, paper making, textile printing and dyeing, Sewage Treatment, chemical synthesis and chemical smelting of epoxidized soybean oil, propylene oxide, thiourea dioxide, sodium percarbonate, etc. Among them, caprolactam consumption accounts for 35% hydrogen peroxide, paper industry consumption accounts for 22%, textile printing and dyeing consumption accounts for 11%, sewage treatment consumption accounts for 13%, sodium percarbonate consumption accounts for 5%, propylene oxide consumption accounts for 4%, epoxidized soybean and thiourea dioxide consumption accounts for 2% and 1% respectively, food, medicine and chemical smelting consumption accounts for 7%.
Caprolactam is the downstream of the largest application of hydrogen peroxide. From the perspective of the caprolactam industry, China has become the world's largest producer. According to statistics, China's caprolactam output will reach 3.71 million tons in 2021, with a year-on-year growth of 13%. From 2005 to this year, the compound growth rate will exceed 20%.
4、 Analysis on the current situation of hydrogen peroxide industry
1. Supply and demand
From the perspective of supply and demand of hydrogen peroxide industry, hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant has the advantages of reducing pollution and cost in the fields of electronics, food, etc., so the market potential is huge. In recent years, the production and apparent consumption of hydrogen peroxide in China have kept rising steadily. According to statistics, the output of hydrogen peroxide industry in China will reach 12.35 million tons and the apparent consumption will be 12.4 million tons in 2021.
2. Market segment - electronic hydrogen peroxide
Electronic hydrogen peroxide, also known as high-purity industrial hydrogen peroxide. It is mainly used as cleaning agent, etchant and photoresist remover for semiconductor silicon wafer, as well as for the preparation of advanced insulating layer, the removal of inorganic impurities in electroplating solution, the treatment of copper, copper alloy, gallium and germanium in the electronic industry, and the etching and cleaning of solar silicon wafer. From the perspective of industrial output, in 2021, China's production of high-purity electronic hydrogen peroxide will be 94400 tons, with a year-on-year growth of 32.0%.
In the composition of global electronic hydrogen peroxide consumption in 2020, the demand for ordinary batteries, solar cells and other fields will account for 58%, the demand for semiconductors, integrated circuits and other fields will account for 20%, the demand for flat panel displays, LED and other fields will account for 15%, and the demand for high-precision circuits and other fields will account for 7%.
3. Import and export
At present, the production capacity, output and consumption of hydrogen peroxide in China are the first in the world, but on the whole, the supply is still in short supply. The import volume of hydrogen peroxide in China is always greater than the export volume, and a large part of the imported hydrogen peroxide is of high quality, especially all kinds of electronic grade hydrogen peroxide with high specifications, high concentration hydrogen peroxide for reagents, high grade hydrogen peroxide for special purposes, ultra pure and special specifications. Specifically, according to Chinese customs data, the hydrogen peroxide industry in China will import 57800 tons and export 9000 tons in 2021.
4. Market price trend
From the perspective of market price, the production capacity of hydrogen peroxide industry in China is unevenly distributed. In some regions, the supply and demand of hydrogen peroxide is unbalanced, and the transportation cost is high. As a result, the price of hydrogen peroxide in various regions is quite different, with Sichuan having the highest price. The average price in 2022 will be close to 1300 yuan/ton, but the price in Shandong will be lower than 800 yuan/ton.
5、 Competition pattern of hydrogen peroxide industry
From the perspective of the industrial competition pattern, hydrogen peroxide has a certain sales radius (300~500km) due to its unstable chemical properties and explosive particularity, resulting in decentralized capacity, low capacity concentration and fierce competition in the hydrogen peroxide industry. At present, the production capacity of hydrogen peroxide industry in China is about 19.28 million tons, of which 76% is distributed in East and Central China.
6、 Future development trend of hydrogen peroxide industry
1. In recent years, China's electronic industry has developed rapidly. With the transfer of semiconductor industry to China, the demand for electronic chemicals for cleaning and etching large integrated circuits and semiconductors has also increased rapidly, driving the rapid development of high-purity electronic hydrogen peroxide in China. In the fields of electronics and food, hydrogen peroxide, as an oxidant, has the advantages of reducing pollution and cost, and has a huge market potential.
2. And with the rapid development of China's electronic industry, the demand for electronic chemicals used for cleaning and etching large integrated circuits, LCDs and semiconductors has also increased rapidly. Benefiting from the rapid increase in the use of the original application field and the continuous expansion of the scope of new application fields, it is expected that the production and demand capacity of hydrogen peroxide at home and abroad will continue to grow in the next few years.
3. The production capacity, output and consumption of hydrogen peroxide in China are the first in the world, but on the whole, the supply is still in short supply. The import of hydrogen peroxide in China is more than the export all the year round, and a large part of the imported hydrogen peroxide is of high quality, especially various high specification electronic grade hydrogen peroxide, high concentration hydrogen peroxide for reagents, high grade hydrogen peroxide for special purposes, ultra pure and special specification hydrogen peroxide, etc, The import substitution of domestic high-end products will accelerate in the future.
