A good grasp of the MTBE market would lead to a better understanding of the methanol market, as changes in prices of methanol, one of the major feedstocks for MTBE, affect the MTBE production.
In China, MTBE ranked as the second largest traditional downstream consumer of methanol, next only to formaldehyde.
The country’s methanol production capacity was estimated to hit a record-high 45-mil-mt/yr by the end of 2010, amid operation of many natural gas-to-methanol units, oven gas-to-methanol units and coal-to-methanol units at home.
The capacity expansion required additional consumption outlets, as demands from other traditional downstream sectors like formaldehyde, ethylic acid and pesticide production stood still at present. As for methanol application in alcohol ether fuels production and methanol-to-olefins, the outlook remained misty and demand remained unsubstantial.
Surging domestic MTBE production capacity was expected to underpin the country’s consumption of methanol. According to C1’s survey, MTBE production capacity would top 6-mil-mt/yr in China by the end of 2010. This was estimated to generate 2-mil mt of methanol demand per year, namely 10%-15% of the country’s annual methanol output. China produced 10-mil mt of methanol in 2009, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.
Meanwhile, as a major feedstock for high-purity isobutylene, MTBE also had indirect impact on Methyl methacrylate (MMA) market. MTBE as blendstock could only bring thin margins for refineries, so it would be essential for domestic refineries to explore new MTBE applications, like in MMA production via isobutylene oxidation.
MMA production via acetone cyanohydrin (ACH), accounted for 80% of the world’s total MMA production capacity. Production via Isobutylene and via ethylene took up merely 15% and 5%, respectively. US and Europe adopted ACH method in MMA production. Japan used the isobutylene oxidation method, which was considered highly potential for its low costs, light pollution and high efficiency.
As demand for MMA rose from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) production, leather treatment and lubricant additive, domestic MMA production capacity also increased. Currently, companies such as Evonik Degussa Corporation, Huizhou MMA Co Ltd, PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical and Lucite International (China) Chemical Industry Co Ltd produced 40% of China’s MMA, all via isobutylene oxidation method.
Due to the closer link between MTBE and MMA markets, a thorough mastery of the MTBE market helped to better understand the MMA market.
