The chemical industry is known for its high complexity and diversity, which also leads to relatively low information transparency in China’s chemical industry, especially at the end of the industrial chain, which is often unknown. In fact, many sub industries in China’s chemical industry are breeding their own “invisible champions”. Today, we will review the less well-known ‘industry leaders’ in China’s chemical industry from an industry perspective.

1.China’s largest C4 deep processing enterprise: Qixiang Tengda

 Qixiang Tengda is a giant in China’s C4 deep processing field. The company has four sets of butanone units, with a total production capacity of up to 260000 tons/year, which is more than twice the production capacity of Anhui Zhonghuifa New Materials Co., Ltd.’s 120000 tons/year unit. In addition, Qixiang Tengda also has an annual production of 150000 tons of n-butene butadiene unit, a 200000 ton C4 alkylation unit, and a 200000 ton annual production of n-butane maleic anhydride unit. Its main business is deep processing using C4 as raw material.

C4 deep processing is an industry that comprehensively utilizes C4 olefins or alkanes as raw materials for downstream industrial chain development. This field determines the future direction of the industry, mainly involving products such as butanone, butadiene, alkylated oil, sec-butyl acetate, MTBE, etc. Qixiang Tengda is the largest C4 deep processing enterprise in China, and its butanone products have significant influence and pricing power in the industry.

In addition, Qixiang Tengda actively expands the C3 industry chain, involving products such as epoxy propane, PDH, and acrylonitrile, and has jointly built China’s first butadiene adipic nitrile plant with Tianchen.

2. China’s largest fluorine chemical production enterprise: Dongyue Chemical

Dongyue Fluorosilicon Technology Group Co., Ltd., abbreviated as Dongyue Group, is headquartered in Zibo, Shandong and is one of the largest fluorine material manufacturing enterprises in China. Dongyue Group has established a first-class fluorine silicon material industrial park worldwide, with a complete fluorine, silicon, membrane, hydrogen industry chain and industrial cluster. The company’s main business areas include the research and development and production of new environmentally friendly refrigerants, fluorinated polymer materials, organic silicon materials, chlor alkali ion membranes, and hydrogen fuel proton exchange membranes.

Dongyue Group has five subsidiaries, namely Shandong Dongyue Chemical Co., Ltd., Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd., Shandong Dongyue Fluorosilicon Materials Co., Ltd., Shandong Dongyue Organic Silicon Materials Co., Ltd., and Shandong Huaxia Shenzhou New Materials Co., Ltd. These five subsidiaries cover the production and manufacturing of fluorine materials and related products.

Shandong Dongyue Chemical Co., Ltd. mainly produces various fluorinated chemicals such as secondary chloromethane, difluoromethane, difluoroethane, tetrafluoroethane, pentafluoroethane, and difluoroethane. Shandong Dongyue Polymer Materials Co., Ltd. focuses on the production of PTFE, pentafluoroethane, hexafluoropropylene, heptafluoropropane, octafluorocyclobutane, fluorine release agent, perfluoropolyether, water-based rich and noble high nano fouling resin and other products, covering a variety of product types and models.

3. China’s largest salt chemical production enterprise: Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical

Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical is one of the largest salt chemical production enterprises in China. The company has a PVC production capacity of 1.72 million tons/year, making it one of the largest production enterprises in China. It also has a caustic soda production capacity of 1.47 million tons/year, making it one of the largest caustic soda production enterprises in China.

The main products of Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical include polyvinyl chloride resin (PVC), ionic membrane caustic soda, viscose fibers, viscose yarns, etc. The company’s industrial chain covers multiple fields and is currently actively expanding its upstream raw material production model. It is one of the important chemical production enterprises in Xinjiang region.

4. China’s largest PDH production enterprise: Donghua Energy

Donghua Energy is one of the largest PDH (Propylene Dehydrogenation) production enterprises in China. The company has three production bases nationwide, namely Donghua Energy Ningbo Fuji Petrochemical 660000 tons/year device, Donghua Energy Phase II 660000 tons/year device, and Donghua Energy Zhangjiagang Petrochemical 600000 tons/year device, with a total PDH production capacity of 1.92 million tons/year.

PDH is a process of dehydrogenating propane to produce propylene, and its production capacity is also equivalent to the maximum production capacity of propylene. Therefore, Donghua Energy’s propylene production capacity has also reached 1.92 million tons/year. In addition, Donghua Energy has also built a 2 million ton/year plant in Maoming, with plans to put it into operation in 2026, as well as a Phase II PDH plant in Zhangjiagang, with an annual output of 600000 tons. If these two devices are all completed, Donghua Energy’s PDH production capacity will reach 4.52 million tons/year, consistently ranking among the largest in China’s PDH industry.

5. China’s largest refining enterprise: Zhejiang Petrochemical

Zhejiang Petrochemical is one of the largest local oil refining enterprises in China. The company has two sets of primary processing units, with a total production capacity of 40 million tons/year, and is equipped with a catalytic cracking unit of 8.4 million tons/year and a reforming unit of 16 million tons/year. It is one of the largest local refining enterprises in China with a single set of refining and the largest supporting scale of the industrial chain. Zhejiang Petrochemical has formed multiple integrated chemical projects with its huge refining capacity, and the industrial chain is very complete.

In addition, the largest single unit refining capacity enterprise in China is Zhenhai Refining and Chemical, with an annual production capacity of 27 million tons/year for its primary processing unit, including 6.2 million tons/year delayed coking unit and 7 million tons/year catalytic cracking unit. The downstream industry chain of the company is very refined.

6. The enterprise with the highest precision chemical industry rate in China: Wanhua Chemical

Wanhua Chemical is one of the enterprises with the highest precision chemical industry rate among Chinese chemical enterprises. Its foundation is polyurethane, which extends to hundreds of chemical and new material products and has achieved extensive development throughout the entire industry chain. The upstream includes PDH and LPG cracking devices, while the downstream extends to the final market of polymer materials.

Wanhua Chemical has a PDH unit with an annual output of 750000 tons and a LPG cracking unit with an annual output of 1 million tons to ensure the supply of raw materials. Its representative products include TPU, MDI, polyurethane, isocyanate series, polyethylene, and polypropylene, and are constantly building new projects, such as carbonate series, pure dimethylamine series, high carbon alcohol series, etc., continuously expanding the breadth and depth of the industrial chain.

7. China’s largest fertilizer production enterprise: Guizhou Phosphating

In the fertilizer industry, Guizhou phosphating can be regarded as one of the largest related production enterprises in China. This enterprise covers mining and mineral processing, special fertilizers, high-end phosphates, phosphorus batteries and other products, with an annual production capacity of 2.4 million tons of diammonium phosphate, making it one of the largest fertilizer production enterprises in China.

It should be noted that Hubei Xiangyun Group is leading in the production capacity of monoammonium phosphate, with an annual production capacity of 2.2 million tons.

8. China’s largest fine phosphorus chemical production enterprise: Xingfa Group

Xingfa Group is the largest fine phosphorus chemical production enterprise in China, established in 1994 and headquartered in Hubei. It has multiple production bases, such as Guizhou Xingfa, Inner Mongolia Xingfa, Xinjiang Xingfa, etc.

Xingfa Group is the largest phosphorus chemical production base in central China and one of the world’s largest producers of sodium hexametaphosphate. At present, the enterprise has various products such as industrial grade, food grade, toothpaste grade, feed grade, etc., including an annual production capacity of 250000 tons of sodium tripolyphosphate, 100000 tons of yellow phosphorus, 66000 tons of sodium hexametaphosphate, 20000 tons of dimethyl sulfoxide, 10000 tons of sodium hypophosphate, 10000 tons of phosphorus disulfide, and 10000 tons of sodium acid pyrophosphate.

9. China’s largest polyester production enterprise: Zhejiang Hengyi Group

According to data from the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, in the 2022 ranking of China’s polyester production, Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd. ranks first and is the largest polyester production enterprise in China, with Tongkun Group Co., Ltd. ranking second.

According to relevant data, subsidiaries of Zhejiang Hengyi Group include Hainan Yisheng, which has a polyester bottle chip device with an annual production capacity of up to 2 million tons/year, and Haining Hengyi New Materials Co., Ltd., which has a polyester filament device with an annual production capacity of 1.5 million tons/year.

10. China’s largest chemical fiber production enterprise: Tongkun Group

According to data released by the China Chemical Fiber Industry Association, the largest enterprise in China’s chemical fiber production in 2022 is Tongkun Group, which ranks first among Chinese chemical fiber production enterprises and is also the world’s largest polyester filament production enterprise, while Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd. ranks second.

Tongkun Group has a polyester filament production capacity of about 10.5 million tons/year. Its main products include six series of POY, FDY, DTY, IT, medium strong filament, and composite filament, with a total of more than 1000 different varieties. It is known as the “Wal Mart of polyester filament” and widely used in clothing, home textiles and other fields.