Dicyclopentadiene Has Great Development Potential

By Zhao Yuzhong  

Constant demand growth

The global capacity of dicyclopentadiene was around 480 thousand
t/a in 2005. Major producers include Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobile,
Shell and Texmark.
    China has abundant dicyclopentadiene resources. They are
mainly from byproduct C5 cut in the ethylene production and light
benzene cut in coal coking. The output of ethylene in China was
8.765 million tons in 2006 and the output of byproduct C5 cut
was around 1.40 million tons. China is one of the largest coke
producers in the world. The output of coke in China was around
280 million tons in 2006, an increase of 20.5% over 2005. C5 cut
from the ethylene cracking is however mostly used as fuel and
only a small amount is used to produce dicyclopentadiene. The
total capacity of dicyclopentadiene in China has reached 72
thousand t/a today. The output was 45 thousand tons in 2006, the
total consumption was 53 thousand tons and the market gap was
8 thousand tons.
   With the rapid development of unsaturated polyester resin and
petroleum resin sectors, dicyclopentadiene in China has a supply
deficit and a rising price in recent years. The price of the crude
variety with a purity of 85% was RMB2 800-3 200 per ton and the
price of the variety with a high purity of over 96% was RMB8 000-8
500 per ton in 2001. The price of the crude variety with a purity
of 85% increased to RMB6 000-6 500 per ton and the price of the
variety with a high purity of over 96% increased to RMB9 500-12
000 per ton in 2005. The average price of dicyclopentadiene
reached RMB9 600 per ton in June 2006.
    In foreign countries dicyclopentadiene is mainly used to
produce transparent hydrocarbon resins with a high saturation
degree and the consumption in this sector accounts for around
59% of the total. The production of unsaturated polyester comes
next and the consumption in this sector accounts for around 19%.
In China dicyclopentadiene is mainly used in unsaturated resin,
ethylene-propylene rubber and petroleum resin sectors. With the
development of downstream sectors, the demand for
dicyclopentadiene will increase constantly. It is expected that
the total demand for dicyclopentadiene in China will reach 70
thousand tons in 2010.

Future supply/demand balance

Sinopec Group and CNPC own 95% of the total ethylene units and
C5 resources. The comprehensive utilization of C5 has already
received great attention of these two companies. With the
increasing utilization rate of C5 in the chemical production,
the supply and demand for dicyclopentadiene in China tend to be
balanced in future.
   In spite of rich dicyclopentadiene resources, the inadequate
ability for their utilization has not only caused a waste of
resources but also restricted the development of other
application sectors.
  The technology for the dicyclopentadiene production in China
is outdated. Problems in continuous production, large-scale
production and product serialization have become bottlenecks.
It is therefore a matter of the first importance to develop new
equipment and new technologies for the dicyclopentadiene
production.
   Dicyclopentadiene producers using C5 cut as raw material
should be located close to ethylene units. In this way the raw
material pipeline transmission can be facilitated, the
environmental pollution and combustion/explosion risks can be
minimized, the production cost can be reduced and the
large-scale production can be achieved. Coking companies should
strengthen the recycle of coke oven gas to reduce environmental
pollution, avoid resources waste and improve economic
performance.

     Major Dicyclopentadiene Producers in China in 2006      
(t/a)
Producer                                             
    Capacity
Nanjing Petrochemical Co.                                20
000
Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co.                              20
000
Daqing Huake (Group) Co.                                  10
000
Liaoning Haicheng Liqi Carbon Co.                          5
000
Shanghai Jinsen Hydrocarbon Resins Co.                     4
000
Ningbo Tianli Petrochemical Co.                            3
500
CNPC Liaoyang Petrochemical Fiber Co.                      3
000
Hangzhou Yangli Petrochemical Co.                          3
000
Shanghai Shengzelin Chemical Science & Technology Co.      2
000
Source: CNCIC