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Demand for acetaldehyde worldwide has continued to decrease, primarily as
a result of less consumption for acetic acid manufacture, as the industry moves
toward the more efficient carbonylation-of-methanol process. All manufacture
of acetic acid from acetaldehyde in North America has been discontinued and
in Europe significant capacity has been permanently shut down. Acetaldehyde
use for acetic acid manufacture in Asia continues but is under pressure and
will decline because of the establishment of methanol carbonylation technology.
Demand has also significantly declined in the production of plasticizer alcohols,
which has switched completely to oxo processes. Since 1995, some 360 thousand
metric tons of acetaldehyde capacity has been shut down in Western Europe,
and Mexico has closed its acetaldehyde capacity. New acetaldehyde capacity
has been installed in China, but this is the only world area where new capacity
has been added.
Up to year-end 2000, Western Europe and China were the largest acetaldehyde-consuming
regions. With the closure of Celanese AG’s European acetaldehyde–to–acetic
acid operations, China has become the largest consumer. The demise of acetaldehyde–to–acetic
acid operations has caused a major change in the captive/merchant ratio in
North America and Europe, and merchant sales now represent the major volume.
The following pie chart shows consumption of acetaldehyde by major region:
The outlook for acetaldehyde is for continued closures of acetic acid–from–acetaldehyde
operations in those areas where that process is currently used. In North America
and Western Europe, this transition is already nearly complete. Acetaldehyde
derivatives such as synthetic pyridines, pentaerythritol and in some cases
acetate ester manufactured from acetaldehyde appear secure in North America,
but there are no apparent new significantapplications that will result in major
increased volumes of acetaldehyde. However, Europe has experienced declining
demand for acetaldehyde for the production of acetic acid, ethyl acetate and
pyridines, resulting from plant closures during the past three years. During
2006–2011,
consumption of acetaldehyde in North America is expected to decline by about
2%, and in Europe, it is likely to fall marginally. In China, gradual decline
in acetaldehyde consumption during this period will be seen because of the
introduction of an advanced carbonylation process that obviates the need for
the acetaldehyde process for the production of downstream derivatives.
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