Epichlorohydrin Rubber Demand Increases Rapidly

By Li He

Epichlorohydrin rubber is also called chlorohydrin rubber. It has excellent comprehensive properties such as oil resistance, high and low-temperature resistance, chemical stability, abrasion and tear resistance and small air permeability. It has already been used in sealing parts for refrigerating compressors, expansion joints and sealing parts for large oil transmission pipelines and sealing materials for automobiles, planes and ships.     1. Production statusGoodrich of the United States took the lead and achieved the commercial production of epichlorohydrin rubber in 1965. Japan, the former Soviet Union, Britain and Germany also conducted research and production in later years. There are large commercial production units in the United States and Japan today. CNPC Jinzhou Petrochemical Company, the former Jinzhou Sixth Petroleum Plant, developed homo-polymerized epichlorohydrin rubber in 1967 and several types can be produced in China today.    There are 2 epichlorohydrin rubber producers in China today with a total capacity of around 4 000 t/a. The capacity in Hebei Lixing Special Rubber Co., Ltd. is 3 000 t/a and the output is more than 1 500 tons. The capacity in Wuhan Youji Industrial Co., Ltd. is 1 000 t/a and the output is around 100 tons.     2. Stable demand increaseThe consumption of epichlorohydrin rubber in China was around 2 000 tons in 2004, the total output was around 1 600 tons and the export amount was around 200 tons. Import was mostly made from Zeon and Daiso of Japan. With the impact from production process and raw material availability, the price of epichlorohydrin rubber has been kept at a high level and the development is somewhat affected. The price of China's products is RMB35 000 - 45 000 per ton and the price of imported products is as high as RMB80 000 per ton today.    Epichlorohydrin rubber in China is mainly used in the automobile sealing sector. According to the projection made by China Automobile Industry Association, the total demand of epichlorohydrin rubber in the automobile industry will be around 3 200 tons in 2010. When other application sectors are considered, the demand of epichlorohydrin rubber in China's market will increase rapidly in the next few years.    The time starting the research of epichlorohydrin rubber in China was almost the same as the advanced countries like the United States and Japan, but the development speed in China is low. The single-unit capacity has reached 10 000 t/a in foreign countries, but China is still in a small-scale stage with a capacity of several thousand tons a year. There is also a considerable deficit in production process and product quality.   In terms of techno-economics, the high production cost, great consumption, high product price, narrow application scope and limited market have combined to restrict the rapid development of the epichlorohydrin rubber sector. Focus in future should therefore be laid on the application research of epichlorohydrin rubber to reduce the production cost and expand the application scope.