my country’s ammonium bifluoride output continues to grow and industry concentration is low

Ammonium bifluoride, also known as acidic ammonium fluoride and ammonium bifluoride, has the chemical formula NH4HF2 and is an inorganic compound. Ammonium bifluoride appears as white or colorless transparent orthorhombic crystals, has a strong pungent odor, is easily soluble in water, and is slightly soluble in ethanol. Ammonium bifluoride is extremely corrosive and can dissolve glass. It is commonly used as a metal beryllium solvent, glass etching agent, and silicon steel plate surface treatment agent.

The main raw materials of ammonium bifluoride are liquid ammonia and hydrofluoric acid. As a segmented product of the fluorine chemical industry, my country’s hydrofluoric acid production continues to increase. In 2021, my country’s hydrofluoric acid production reached 2.361 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. At present, my country’s hydrofluoric acid production capacity is mainly concentrated in Fujian, Jiangxi, Inner Mongolia and other places. The main production companies include Juhua Co., Ltd., Xingfa Group, Yili Clean Energy, etc. In recent years, my country’s ammonium bifluoride industry has developed rapidly, benefiting from sufficient supply of raw materials and strong downstream demand. According to the “2022-2027 China Ammonium Hydrogen Fluoride Industry Market Status Comprehensive Research and Investment Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center, 2021 my country’s ammonium bifluoride output reached 207,000 tons in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 12.4%.

The production methods of ammonium bifluoride include gas phase method, liquid phase method and sublimation method. The gas phase method refers to cooling the hydrofluoric acid with ice, passing in an appropriate amount of ammonia gas, and obtaining ammonium bifluoride through suction filtration. According to different reaction materials, the liquid phase method can be divided into ammonium bicarbonate ammoniated fluorosilicic acid method, ammoniation method and neutralization method. The sublimation method refers to mixing ammonium chloride and sodium fluoride according to a certain proportion, followed by cold water cooling, heating, sublimation and other processes to produce ammonium bifluoride.

Ammonium bifluoride has a wide range of applications, including antiseptics, organic synthetic fluorinants, disinfectants, glass etching agents, etc. Etched glass refers to glass products that use glass etching agents to produce various patterns or patterns on the surface. With the rapid economic development and the acceleration of infrastructure construction, etched glass has been widely used in the field of architectural decoration due to its advantages such as sound insulation, anti-glare, heat insulation, and aesthetics. Glass etchant is an important raw material for etching glass production, and ammonium bifluoride is the main component of glass etchant. Against this background, the scale of my country’s ammonium bifluoride market continues to expand. In 2021, my country’s ammonium bifluoride market size will reach 1.65 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%.

Driven by market demand, my country’s ammonium bifluoride production capacity continues to expand. In 2021, my country’s ammonium bifluoride production capacity will reach 215,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 11.9%. Hebei Xiongwei Chemical, Shaowu Huaxin Chemical, Changshu Donghuan Chemical, Zibo Feiyuan Chemical, Shandong Dongyue Chemical, Jiaozuo Polyfluoropoly Chemical, etc. are the main ammonium bifluoride manufacturers in my country. Among them, Huaxin Chemical’s production capacity ranks first in my country’s ammonium bifluoride industry.

Industry analysts said that driven by the rapid development of the fluorine chemical industry, ammonium bifluoride has broad market prospects. Benefiting from sufficient supply of raw materials and strong downstream demand, my country’s ammonium bifluoride production continues to increase. At present, there are a large number of ammonium bifluoride companies in my country and the industry concentration is low. Local companies urgently need to accelerate the layout of the industrial structure and improve their core competitiveness.