By Shen Guiying, China National Chemical Information Center
Fine chemical products are widely used in many industrial fields (e.g. automobiles, chemicals, construction, electronics, textile printing and dyeing and food processing) and multiple end-consumption areas such as daily-use chemicals and cleaning agents. The fine chemical industry is closely related to national economy, national defense and people's livelihood. In the process of development, researchers have been exploring the classification of fine chemical products.
In the first half of the 1980s, scientists researched fine chemical products in terms of definition, scope, etc. Xie Lanjing compared fine chemical products with heavy chemical products, and listed 11 characteristics of the former in 1981. After studying definition and scope of fine chemical products in European and American countries, and Japan, Yu Li and Yu Maozhang from previous Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of the Ministry of Chemical Industry provided references for China to classify fine chemical products.
China issued Interim Provisions on Classification of Fine Chemical Products (Provisions) in 1986, classifying fine chemical products into 11 categories of pesticides, dyes, coatings (including paint and ink), pigments, reagents and high-purity materials, chemicals used for information (e.g. sensitive and magnetic materials), food and feed additives, adhesives, catalysts and various auxiliaries, pharmaceutical and daily-use chemicals, and functional polymer materials (e.g. functional films).
Catalysts and various auxiliaries involved 20 varieties: 1) catalysts (used in refining, petrochemicals, etc.); 2) printing and dyeing auxiliaries (e.g. softening agents, levelling agents, etc.); 3) plastic additives (plasticizers, stabilizers, etc.); 4) rubber additives (accelerants, anti-aging agents, etc.); 5) water treatment agents (water quality stabilizers, corrosion inhibitors, etc.); 6) oiling agents for fiber treatment (used in polyester filament yarn, chinlon, etc.); 7) organic extractants (pyrrolidone series, aliphatic hydrocarbon series, etc.); 8) high-molecular polymer additives (initiators, polymerization inhibitors, etc.); 9) surfactants (excluding household detergents); 10) leather auxiliaries (synthetic tanning agents, coating agents, etc.); 11) pesticide auxiliaries (emulgators, synergists, etc.); 12) chemicals used in oil fields (demulsifiers, anti-collapse agents for well drilling, etc.); 13) additives for concrete (water reducing agents, waterproof agents, etc.); 14) auxiliaries for machinery and metallurgy (antirust agents, cleaning agents, etc.); 15) oil product additives (aseismic additives for gasoline, transformer oil additives, etc.); 16) carbon black, reinforcing agents for rubber products (pigment carbon black, acetylene carbon black, etc.); 17) adsorbents (aluminium nitride series, silicon dioxide series, etc.); 18) chemicals used in electronic industry (excluding high-purity substances like photoresists, adulterants and MOS reagents, and high-purity gases); 19) paper additives (brightening agents, reinforcing agents, etc.); 20) other auxiliaries (glass mildew preventives, latex coagulants, etc.).
Later, fine chemical products were divided into traditional products (e.g. pesticides, coatings, etc.) and emerging products (feed additives, water treatment chemicals, etc.) in China. Classification policies vary in different countries. Given the development of the times, categories of fine chemical products have been changing. Hence the need for China to update the Provisions, which has been implemented for more than 30 years.
