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This blog contains exhaustive information on maleic anhydride, as well as its market drivers, key players, production process, and pricing trends.

Maleic Anhydride: Definition

Maleic Anhydride is a highly reactive chemical intermediate with applications in practically every branch of industrial chemistry.

Maleic acid's cyclic Anhydride is a cyclic dicarboxylic anhydride. It acts similarly to an allergy.

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Its melting and flash points are 113°F and 218°F, respectively, and its boiling point is 202°C. It has a molecular mass of 98.06 g/mol. Its density is 1.48 g/ml.

It dissolves easily in water. It has an unpleasant scent that is uncomfortable, suffocating, and disagreeable.

Market Drivers

Maleic anhydride is primarily used to make unsaturated polyester resin, as well as coatings, pharmaceutics, agricultural goods, surfactants, and plastic additives.

It is also used to make resins and plastics, petroleum additives, epoxy curing agents, hair sprays, agricultural and industrial chemicals, paper sizing, water treatment chemicals, artificial sweeteners, flavour enhancers, pharmaceuticals, and copolymers.

Production Process

• From Butane via Partial Oxidation:

Butane is reacted with oxygen in a fluid-bed reactor in the presence of the catalyst vanadium phosphate, and the maleic anhydride from the reactor effluent is separated using a solvent-based recovery system, resulting in the production of maleic anhydride.

• From Benzene

Benzene is reacted with oxygen in a fixed-bed reactor in the presence of catalysts, vanadium pentoxide, and molybdenum trioxide, and then maleic anhydride is extracted from the reactor effluent via an aqueous-based recovery system, yielding maleic anhydride.

Key Players

• Lanxess AG: Lanxess AG (Lanxess) is a specialty chemical manufacturer that develops, manufactures, and sells chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals, and polymers. Construction, automotive, agrochemicals, medicines, aromas, flavours, electrical, tyre chemicals, electronics, leather processing, and water treatment are just a few of the industries that use these items.
• Huntsman Company: The company employs science and inventiveness to develop breakthroughs that are critical to millions of people's daily lives. Its goal is to use innovation to create a foundation for a wide range of consumer and industrial products that improve people's lives.
• MOL Group: The business is a global, integrated oil and gas firm with headquarters in Budapest, Hungary. It operates in more than thirty countries and has a thriving multinational workforce of 25,000 employees.
• Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd: Acrylic acid, ethylene oxide, ethanolamine, maleic anhydride, and De-NOx catalyst are some of the chemicals and catalysts that Nippon Shokubai Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells. Additionally, they provide super water-absorbing resins, catalysts for automobiles, unsaturated polyester resins, catalysts for decomposition and processes, resins for coating materials, organic and inorganic particles, etc.

Maleic Anhydride Price Trend and Forecast

North America

Maleic anhydride market prices in the US have recently been declining, supported by erratic benzene prices on the domestic market. Later, because of the COVID shutdown limits put in place in China, import activity was constrained and the demand picture remained subdued.

Despite the strong rate of the dollar, there were fewer new orders because the rate of inflation was on a higher scale. Additionally, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen union members voted against following government regulations and opposed negotiations with US government officials.

Storm Elliot ultimately caused destruction in some areas of the region, affecting operating rates and end-user industry demand (butanediol and coating regulating the overall Maleic Anhydride production).

APAC

The major exporting nation (China) was constrained by COVID rules, which also hampered the supply-demand chain, therefore the overall dynamics of the malic anhydride market in the Asia-Pacific region remained on the weaker side.

Maleic Anhydride's ultimate pricing in the local market was determined by the decline in feedstock (benzene) prices on the domestic market. Holidays such as the Chinese national holidays and the Christmas break momentarily slowed down production along with the demand for the good.

The benzene-producing facility of China's CNOOC Daxie Petrochemical, which is located in Zhejiang, has been shut down for repair. The area market's coating and butanediol-producing businesses continued to have a weak demand for maleic anhydride.

Europe

Because providers were receiving fewer inquiries about the commodity in Europe, the market prices for maleic anhydride at this time showed strong sentiments. Despite benzene feedstock prices from exporting nations (South Korea) steadily declining, the overall price of maleic anhydride remained stable.

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In light of the high rate of inflation and the high cost of energy, the operational and demand prospects had decreased. Later, there was a little increase in prices as a result of the purchasing index indicating a slight improvement in regional market conditions and business sentiment in the eurozone.

In the end, the availability of stockpiles to meet regional demand and declining freight costs resulted in a small decrease in the price of maleic anhydride.