Alcohol ether esters have good application prospects and broad room for industry development

Alcohol ether ester refers to the liquid solvent generated by the esterification reaction of alcohol ether products and acetic acid. Alcohol ether esters appear as colorless and transparent liquids and have the advantages of strong solubility, low toxicity, fast evaporation, and strong coupling properties. There are many types of alcohol ether esters, among which propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PMA) and ethylene glycol ether acetate (CAC) are the most widely used subdivided products.

The upstream of the alcohol ether ester industry chain supplies raw materials, including propylene oxide (PO), ethylene oxide (EO), acetic acid and petroleum. Acetic acid is an important raw material for the production of alcohol ether esters and plays a decisive role in its chemical properties. my country is the world’s largest producer of acetic acid. In recent years, my country’s acetic acid production has continued to increase. In 2021, my country’s acetic acid production reached 8.125 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%. Jiangsu, Shandong and Henan are the main producing areas of acetic acid in my country, and the above three provinces account for nearly 60.0% of the country’s total output. Benefiting from sufficient supply of raw materials, my country’s alcohol ether ester production has maintained steady growth.

The downstream areas of the alcohol ether ester industry chain are application areas, including printed circuit boards (PCB), daily chemicals, building materials, antifreeze and pesticides. As a raw material for aqueous cleaning agents for printed circuit boards, alcohol ether esters can completely remove residual high-temperature oxides, flux, grease and other harmful substances on the surface of printed circuit boards, greatly improving the cleaning effect. In 2021, my country’s printed circuit board market size will reach US$43.56 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%. Driven by market demand, the scale of my country’s alcohol ether ester industry continues to expand.

The production of alcohol ether esters requires the use of ethoxylation technology, which requires extremely high reactor requirements. Currently, three types of ethoxylation reactors are widely used in my country, including circulating spray reactors, loop reactors and vertical inverted bottle reactors. The vertical inverted bottle-shaped reactor has the advantages of lightweight, low pollution, low energy consumption, and convenient operation. It is an ethoxylation reactor independently developed by my country. With continuous breakthroughs in R&D and production technology, my country’s alcohol ether ester industry has gradually broken the technology monopoly of leading overseas companies, and the localization rate of products has continued to increase.

According to the “2022 Alcohol Ether Ester Industry Investment Feasibility Analysis Report released by the Industrial Research Center, in terms of market segments, Propylene glycol methyl ether acetate (PMA) occupies a large share of my country’s alcohol ether ester market. Under the guidance of national policies, the threshold of my country’s propylene glycol methyl ether acetate industry continues to increase, driving its product quality to increase significantly in line with market demand. In 2021, my country’s propylene glycol methyl ether acetate market size exceeded 3.0 billion yuan.

Industry analysts personnel said that with the rapid economic development and the continuous technological breakthroughs of production companies, the market demand for alcohol ether esters in my country will gradually be released. The process of replacing domestically produced products will continue to accelerate. Benefiting from the sufficient supply of raw materials, my country’s alcohol ether ester production has achieved steady growth. Propylene glycol methyl ether acetate, as the main product of alcohol ether ester, is widely used as a water-based cleaning agent for printed circuit boards. Driven by market segments, the alcohol ether ester industry will gain broad development space.