Explosive growth in lithium battery production and sales has driven rapid growth in battery-level DMC market demand

DMC, dimethyl carbonate, is an important industrial raw material and organic intermediate. It has the characteristics of green environmental protection, good solubility, large surface tension, high evaporation temperature, and fast evaporation rate. It is widely used in battery electrolyte, polycarbonate, and developing applications. It is widely used in liquids, coatings and other fields. According to different application fields, DMC can be divided into industrial-grade DMC and battery-grade DMC.

Battery-grade DMC is an important organic solvent for lithium battery electrolytes. In recent years, driven by the rapid development of the domestic new energy automobile industry, the lithium battery market has ushered in a period of explosive demand, which has led to rapid growth in battery-grade DMC market demand and continuous increase in output. . According to data from the China Automobile Association, domestic new energy vehicle production and sales in 2021 will reach 3.545 million and 3.521 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 1.6 times; according to data from the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, my country’s power battery production and sales in 2021 will reach 219.7GWh and 186.0GWh, a year-on-year increase of 163.4% and 182.3% respectively.

In this context, according to the “China Dimethyl Carbonate Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that the total domestic DMC production capacity will reach 1.612 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 38.3%. Among them, industrial-grade DMC still accounts for the largest category of domestic DMC production capacity, accounting for 89%. Battery-grade DMC is an important component of lithium battery electrolyte, and its purity and quality have an important impact on the normal performance of lithium batteries. The current purity requirements for battery-grade DMC need to be 99.99% and above. Therefore, the technical barriers to battery-grade DMC production are relatively high, the number of companies with mass production capabilities is still relatively small, and domestic production capacity is still relatively small. In 2021, domestic battery-grade DMC production capacity will be only is 177,000 tons.

As of the end of 2021, the main domestic companies with the capacity to mass produce battery-level DMC include Shida Shenghua, Aoke, Shandong Haike, and China Salt Red Sifang. Among them, Shi Dashenghua is the leading company in the domestic battery-grade DMC market, and its market share in 2021 has exceeded 60%. In addition, driven by the continued growth in demand, many domestic companies have entered the battery-grade DMC market. The main companies include Hualu Hengsheng, Satellite Chemical, Yulin Chemical, Hengli Petrochemical, etc. In the future, as local companies accelerate their entry into the market, the domestic battery-grade DMC market will DMC production capacity is expected to grow rapidly, and the industry has huge potential for future development.

Industry analysts said that my country’s lithium battery industry is currently in a stage of rapid development, and the country will vigorously support the development of the new energy vehicle industry in the future. Against this background, the rapid development trend of the lithium battery industry will continue. In this context, battery-grade DMC is an important raw material in the upstream of the lithium battery industry chain, and its market demand will grow rapidly. However, the current domestic battery-level DMC production capacity does not match the rapidly growing demand. Companies with mass production capabilities will need to continue to expand production in the future, and the industry still has huge room for growth.