N-butanol, also known as 1-butanol and butanol, is a kind of alcohol, each molecule has four carbon atoms, and there are three isomers, which are isobutanol, sec-butanol and tert-butanol.
It is a colorless liquid with alcohol smell at normal temperature, with a boiling point of 117.7°C, a density (20°C) of 0.8109g/cm3, a freezing point of -89.0°C, a flash point of 36-38°C, and a spontaneous ignition point of 689F. The solubility of water in n-butanol is 20.1% (weight), and it is miscible with ethanol, ether and other organic solvents.
N-butanol is mainly used to make n-butyl plasticizers of phthalic acid, aliphatic dibasic acid and phosphoric acid. They are widely used in various plastics and rubber products, and are also used in the production of butyraldehyde and butyric acid in organic synthesis. , butylamine and butyl lactate etc. raw materials. It is also an extractant for oils, drugs (such as antibiotics, hormones and vitamins) and spices, an additive for alkyd resin coatings, etc., and can also be used as a solvent for organic dyes and printing inks, and a dewaxing agent. It can also be used to prepare food flavors such as banana, cream, whiskey and cheese.
Due to the differences in the development levels of the global chemical engineering and process industries, their product structures are also different. Therefore, the consumption structure of downstream products of n-butanol is also different in each region. In my country, n-butanol is mainly used in the fields of chemistry and medicine, among which the chemical industry is mainly used to produce butyl acrylate (BA), butyl acetate and dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which together account for about 10% of the total consumption of n-butanol. The amount is more than 90%. In the pharmaceutical industry, n-butanol is mainly used in the production of drugs such as antibiotics and vitamins.
From 2023 to 2026, n-butanol will usher in a new round of production expansion cycle. Since the construction of coal gasification equipment is limited by carbon emissions, if natural gas is used to make synthetic gas, the production cost will increase, and the increase in cost will not provide a competitive advantage. From the demand side, as the price of n-butanol falls, the domestic demand and export of downstream butyl esters are expected to improve, and the supply and demand of n-butanol will be rebalanced at that time.
