Great Market Potential of Hydrazine Hydrate

By Shi Yuying   

  Stable consumption growth worldwide

Hydrazine hydrate is an organic chemical raw material with
extensive applications. The world's capacity to produce
hydrazine hydrate has reached more than 200 thousand t/a today
(based on 100% hydrazine content). The capacity is divided
nearly equally between Europe, Asia and America (35%, 34% and
30%, respectively), with only 1% in other regions. Major
producers include Olin of the United States, Bayer of Germany,
Ato of France and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical of Japan.
    The worldwide market demand for hydrazine hydrate is 80 to
90 thousand tons a year. Consumption is roughly 32% for
pesticides, 33% for foaming agents, 20% for water treatment
agents and 15% for others. Demand will grow steadily in future,
with demand in advanced countries declining while demand in
developing countries, Asian countries in particular, growing
rapidly.

Urgent need to improve production technology in China

The hydrazine hydrate sector in China has developed steadily in
recent years. The output of hydrazine hydrate in China was 26
thousand tons in 2006, an increase of 13% over the previous year
and the apparent consumption was 27.2 thousand tons, an increase
of 12.5%. Consumption of hydrazine hydrate in China is 40% for
pesticides, 33% for foaming agents, 14% for water treatment
agents and 13% for others. The hydrazine hydrate capacity of
China is relatively low and still cannot meet the domestic market
demand.
   There are more than 20 hydrazine hydrate producers in China
today including Sichuan Yibin Tianyuan Co., Ltd., Zhuhua Group,
Shanghai Xiangyang Chemical Plant, Beijing Chemical Plant and
Juhua Group Corporation. The 80% hydrazine hydrate capacity in
Sichuan Yibin Tianyuan Co., Ltd. is 5 thousand t/a, and the
company plans to expand the capacity to 10 thousand t/a. Zhuhua
Group owns a capacity of 5 thousand t/a 80% hydrazine hydrate.
To further increase market shares, the company plans to expand
the capacity of its hydrazine hydrate unit to 10 thousand t/a.
Besides, the company owns the new process for freezing alkali
removal and continuous evaporation salt removal developed by the
company itself. Defects in the urea-process intermittent
production are removed and the continuous production is achieved.
The 12 thousand t/a hydrazine hydrate production base jointly
funded by Lanxess of Germany and Weifang Yaxing Chemical Co.,
Ltd. was started in Weifang of Shandong province in July 2006.
It is one of the biggest concentrated hydrazine hydrate
production bases in China. Qinghai Liming Chemical Plant, Puyang
Zhongyuan Chemical Group Co., Ltd., Yantai municipal government
of Shandong province and Jiangxi provincial government all plan
to construct hydrazine hydrate projects with a capacity of over
5 thousand t/a.
    China's constantly increasing consumption of pesticides,
pharmaceuticals, plastics and dyestuffs in recent years has led
to rapid growth in the demand for hydrazine hydrate.
   Japan, Korea, the United States and France have relatively
big capacity for making hydrazine hydrate. As the demand in these
countries is limited, there is a strong capability for export.
The demand of hydrazine hydrate in China is growing constantly.
China has become an important consumption market for the world.
Hydrazine hydrate produced in Japan and Korea is mainly exported
to the Chinese market. The United States and France also have
full confidence in the Chinese market.
   With the impact of great quantities of high-quality and
low-price imports, the hydrazine hydrate sector in China is
having a hard time in production and operation. The Ministry of
Commerce issued No. 36 Bulletin of 2005 on June 17th, 2005,
imposing an antidumping tax of 28% - 184% on the import of
hydrazine hydrate originating from Japan, Korea, the United
States and France from June 17th, 2005 for a period of 5 years.
(CCR2005, No. 19) The imported amount of hydrazine hydrate in
China was 2 149 tons in 2005, a drop of 51% from the previous
year. Owing to the rapid demand growth in the domestic market,
the imported amount of hydrazine hydrate reached 2 841 tons in
2006, an increase of 32% over the previous year.
   Hydrazine hydrate producers in China are numerous, small in
scale, low in operation and high in energy consumption,
resulting in poor economic performance. The production
technology used is mostly the urea process, the product quality
is not reliable and there is a considerable lag behind
international norms.
   Owing to the rapid development of engineering plastics,
pharmaceutical and pesticide sectors and the constant demand
growth of boiler deaeration agents, the demand for hydrazine
hydrate will still grow. It is therefore imperative to further
develop the hydrazine hydrate sector.
   The urea process will be eliminated sooner or later due to
considerations of environmental protection, product quality and
production cost. The hydrogen peroxide process has evident
advantages. China should eliminate outdated production
processes and use advanced technologies to improve product
quality.