Recently, the online approval and supervision platform for investment projects in Shandong Province showed that Wanhua Chemical′s annual production of 30,000 tons of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) project has been registered.

Methyl isobutyl ketone, also known as 4-methyl-2-pentanone, abbreviated as MIBK, is a colorless and transparent liquid that is volatile and has a camphor like odor. It can be used as an excellent chemical intermediate and a medium boiling point organic solvent.

As the world′s largest consumer of MIBK, China is a net importer of MIBK. The domestic MIBK industry has been suppressed by foreign markets for a long time, especially South Korea, Japan, and South Africa, which have dumped MIBK converted from acetone, a byproduct of phenolic ketone plants, into China, causing significant pressure on China′s MIBK industry. Therefore, in November 2017, the Ministry of Commerce of the People′s Republic of China imposed a preliminary anti-dumping ruling on MIBK from the aforementioned three countries and collected a deposit.

MIBK can be used as a solvent for coatings, inks, adhesives, dewaxing agents for lubricants, and rubber anti-aging agents for tires. Among them, its main downstream application is the rubber anti-aging agent 4020 produced by hydrogenation condensation with p-aminodiphenylamine.

Antioxidant 4020 is currently an internationally recognized high-efficiency and low toxicity rubber antioxidant, with its demand growth depending on the development of the automotive and tire industries. In recent years, with the explosive development of the domestic new energy vehicle industry, the demand for MIBK in the market has also increased accordingly.

In addition, MIBK, as a coating solvent, has shown great advantages in reducing the emissions of volatile organic compounds, especially in the application fields of wood paint, construction paint, and special automotive and piano paint, where it can be hardly replaced in the short term. However, with the continuous improvement of environmental protection requirements and the strengthening of environmental awareness in various regions, environmentally friendly coatings represented by water-based coatings may further seize market share in the future.