Silicone materials are not only an important part of the new materials industry of the country's strategic emerging industries, but also an indispensable supporting material for other strategic emerging industries.
As the application field continues to expand, the huge demand potential makes silicone one of the hottest chemical materials at present.
The largest proportion of domestic silicone consumption is in the fields of construction, electronic appliances, electricity and new energy, medical and personal care. Among them, the construction field is currently the most important terminal scenario for silicone applications, accounting for about 30%.
In addition to the continued growth in demand for silicone materials in traditional industries, the development of energy-saving and environmental protection industries such as photovoltaics and new energy, ultra-high voltage and ultra-high voltage power grid construction, smart wearable materials, 3D printing and 5G and other emerging industries have provided new demand growth points for silicone.
Overview of silicone
Silicon is a general term for silicon organic compounds, which are synthesized and hydrolyzed by metal silicon and methyl chloride.
The first step in synthesizing silicone is to generate methylchlorosilane, and then monomethyltrichlorosilane, dimethyldichlorosilane and trichlorosilane can be obtained through synthetic hydrolysis. Among them, dimethyldichlorosilane is the most important monomer variety of silicone, and its main downstream is silicone rubber and silicone oil.
At present, the silicone production capacity mentioned in China generally refers to the production capacity of methylchlorosilane, while the current production statistics are all the production of dimethylsiloxane.
Silicone industry chain
The silicone industry chain is mainly divided into four links: silicone raw materials, silicone monomers, silicone intermediates and silicone deep-processing products. Among them, there are fewer raw material, monomer and intermediate production enterprises, while there are many products in the downstream deep processing link, and the production capacity is more dispersed.
Silicone raw materials
In the silicone production process, raw materials account for a large proportion. Silicone raw materials are industrial silicon powder, which is prepared by reducing quartz with coke in an electric arc furnace in industry.
The production of industrial silicon consumes a large amount of silicon ore and energy, and it pollutes the environment greatly. Therefore, a stable and high-quality source of industrial silicon raw materials has become the basic guarantee for silicone production.
Silicone monomers and intermediates
The domestic supply of silicone monomers and intermediates accounts for more than 50% of the world, making it the world's largest supplier of silicone monomers and intermediates. Due to the unstable state of silicone monomers, companies generally synthesize monomers into intermediates such as DMC (dimethylsiloxane) or D4 for sale.
There are fewer varieties and specifications of silicone monomers and intermediates.
Dimethyldichlorosilane is the most widely used silicone monomer, accounting for more than 90% of the total monomer.
Deep processing of silicone
Deep processing products of silicone mostly exist in the molecular form of RnSiX(4-n). The stable physical and chemical properties of the silicon chain and the variability of the functional groups give silicone deep processing products rich usage functions. The main products are silicone rubber and silicone oil, accounting for 66% and 21% respectively.
At present, the silicone deep processing industry is still in a stage of rapid development, and the industry is relatively fragmented. There are more than 3,000 silicone companies in the downstream deep processing link alone.
Overseas silicone companies lack cost advantages in producing silicone monomers compared with Chinese companies. Most overseas silicone leading companies focus on developing downstream deep processing products and extending the industrial chain.
my country's incentive policies for the silicone industry have gradually shifted from monomer production to deep processing of silicone products, development of new silicone products, expansion of new application fields, and improvement of comprehensive utilization levels.
Silicone downstream products have higher product added value and market application prospects. At present, there is still a lot of room for development in the consumption of silicone in my country and foreign emerging silicone markets.