Trillium Renewable Chemicals (" Trillium "), a startup company, announced the opening of INEOS Nitriles' Green Lake (Green Lake) facility in Port Lavaca, Texas. The establishment of the world's first demonstration plant to convert plant glycerin to acrylonitrile - "Project Falcon" (" Falcon Project ") - is expected to begin operations in early 2025 and continue until early 2026.
Following A $10.6 million Series A funding round in December 2022 and a $2.5 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Advanced Manufacturing in June 2022, Trillium built a pilot plant to successfully produce acrylonitrile from glycerin. Trillium's bio-based acrylonitrile has a lower carbon footprint and less environmental impact than standard acrylonitrile based on the Sohio propylene process.
INEOS Nitriles is a business unit of the INEOS Group focused on the production and research and development of acrylonitrile and related chemicals and is one of the world's largest producers of acrylonitrile. Its Green Lake plant is the largest acrylonitrile production plant in the United States, with advanced production facilities and extensive production experience.
Trillium's milestone in establishing a demonstration plant for bio-based acrylonitrile production is an important step in bringing its technology to market and producing sustainable bio-based acrylonitrile at scale.
Acrylonitrile supply will remain in excess
Acrylonitrile is an important raw material for the production of acrylic fiber, and it is also a raw material and intermediate for the production of many chemical products such as ABS/SAN, adiponitrile, acrylamide, nitrile rubber, etc. The material is mainly used in many downstream industries such as toys, auto parts, aviation parts, medical supplies and clothing. Ineos is the world's largest acrylonitrile producer and the only one with operations in Europe, the United States and Asia. Currently more than 90% of the world's acrylonitrile is produced using Ineos technology.
As of December 2023, a total of 17 acrylonitrile units are in operation in China. Among them, three units of Jihua Jieyang, CNOOC Oriental Petrochemical and Sierbang Phase 4 were put into operation in 2023, and the annual capacity was increased by 590,000 tons/year in 2023. According to the statistics of planned installations under construction, the total production capacity of acrylonitrile in China in 2023 will be 4.399,000 tons/year, and there will still be 3.26 million tons/year of new production capacity planned during 2024-2027, and the total domestic acrylonitrile production capacity is expected to reach 7.659 million tons/year by 2027. Taking into account the possible shutdown of some smaller and older devices, it is comprehensively expected that China's acrylonitrile production capacity will reach about 7 million tons/year in 2027, and the acrylonitrile industry will be in a state of oversupply for a long time in the future.
ABS is still the main growth point
From the perspective of demand structure, the downstream consumption of acrylonitrile is still concentrated in the three major areas of ABS, acrylic fiber and acrylamide, which account for more than 80% of the total consumption of acrylonitrile. In addition, it is also used in nitrile latex, nitrile rubber, polymer polyols and carbon fiber industries.
Although the key downstream acrylic fiber is affected by the extrusion of alternative products and technical constraints, the growth of demand for acrylonitrile is limited, but with the industry policy and the demand of new energy vehicles, home appliances and other consumer terminals, ABS resin has become the most important growth point to drive the demand for acrylonitrile. In 2023, with the production of Zhejiang Petrochemical, Jihua Jieyang, Ningbo Taihua and IneOS Benzenling, the proportion of demand further increased to 41.0%; The acrylic fiber industry is constrained by the squeeze of substitutes and the cost and development of its own technology, and the consumption shrinks, and the proportion of its consumption shrinks to 20% in 2023. Acrylamide is mainly used as polyacrylamide, its use is concentrated in oilfield exploitation, water treatment and paper industry, in recent years with the rise in demand in the field of water treatment, the proportion of acrylamide consumption has remained at about 20% level.
In the later stage, ABS will still be the largest engine of acrylonitrile consumption, thanks to industry policies and new energy vehicles and other areas of demand to promote, coupled with the stimulation of high profits in the industry in previous years, the ABS industry has also attracted many capital to enter. In the next 2 to 3 years, the ABS industry will maintain its growth momentum, with more than 5 million tons/year of new production capacity planned, but the short-term effect on acrylonitrile lifting is not obvious; Other acrylonitrile downstream industries are also difficult to have breakthrough growth, and the expansion rate of the acrylonitrile industry does not match.
The commercial production of bio-based acrylonitrile is further advanced
Traditional acrylonitrile production mainly relies on petroleum-based raw materials, and its production process not only consumes a lot of fossil energy, but also is accompanied by serious environmental pollution problems.
With the increasing attention of the world to environmental protection and sustainable development, bio-based chemicals, as a new kind of green and environmentally friendly materials, will play an increasingly important role in future industrial production.
Compared with traditional petroleum-based acrylonitrile, bio-based acrylonitrile has a lower carbon footprint and a smaller environmental impact, and is one of the important directions to achieve green chemistry and sustainable development.
On May 1, INEOS Nitriles launched the first bio-derived acrylonitrile production line. The new product will be sold under the Invireo™ brand and will be available in June 2023. This bio-based acrylonitrile is made from bio-propylene and is capable of replacing fossil fuel resources, providing a more environmentally friendly and sustainable alternative to existing acrylonitrile.
As the "Project Falcon" demonstration plant continues to optimize the production process, improve product quality, and reduce production costs, the commercial production of bio-based acrylonitrile will be further advanced.
