Propane market demand is vast, and the industry needs to continue to upgrade in the direction of high-end products in the future

Propane refers to a type of organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CH2CH3. It appears as a colorless gas, is highly flammable, is slightly soluble in water, and is soluble in ethanol and ether. Propane is an important raw material in industry and is widely used in liquefied petroleum gas, cracked ethylene, propane dehydrogenation, mixed nitro compounds, refrigerants and other fields. At the same time, propane is also an important organic intermediate in the chemical industry and is used in propane oxide, acrylonitrile, Methyl chloride, acetic acid, polyurethane foam and other fields have broad application space.

There are three main categories of propane production methods, namely using natural gas as raw material to generate propane through cracking and catalytic cracking; using petroleum as raw material to separate propane through distillation, cracking, adsorption, concentration and other links; using liquefied petroleum gas as raw material through Extract propane through condensation, adsorption, separation and other steps. Among them, the extraction of propane from liquefied petroleum gas as raw material is the main method for producing high-purity propane.

Propane has a wide range of applications. In recent years, against the background of rapid development in its application fields, the global and domestic propane markets have been growing steadily. According to the “Propane Industry Market Status and Investment Prospects Forecast Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center, global propane sales in 2021 The market size has reached 80.69 billion US dollars; the domestic propane market size in 2021 will be approximately 189.53 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%, accounting for 32% of the total global propane market size.

The main companies that have a presence in the domestic propane market include Binhua Group, Zhongtai Chemical, Satellite Petrochemical, Baichuan Co., Ltd., Haiyue Energy, Huatai Co., Ltd., Qixiang Tengda, Baofeng Energy, Chengzhi Co., Ltd., etc. At present, there are many companies in the domestic propane market, but the domestic propane preparation method is still based on the separation of petroleum raw materials. The products are low-end products with large sulfur content and low purity; high-purity and high-end propane products are still the main products. Relying on imports, the domestic market has a low degree of localization.

In recent years, my country’s propane imports have shown continued growth. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, my country’s propane imports in September 2022 were 2.044 million tons, a month-on-month increase of 28.2%, and the average import price was US$704.0/ton. In the first half of 2022, affected by the fluctuating rise in international crude oil prices, domestic propane prices continued to rise, and the overall profit margin of the industry continued to increase. The industry development prospects are good.

Industry analysts said that as an important industrial raw material and chemical organic intermediate, propane has a wide range of downstream applications and market demand The space is relatively broad and the industry development prospects are good. However, currently domestic propane products are low-end products with low added value and low purity, and high-purity propane still relies on imports. Therefore, in the future, local propane companies will need to continue to introduce advanced technologies and improve production technology levels, thereby promoting the continuous improvement of high-end propane self-sufficiency rates and laying a good foundation for the high-end development of the domestic propane industry.