Capacity of methyldiethoxyphosphine, key intermediate of glufosinate, being expanded quietly in China

Date:08-09-2022

According to Phillips McDougall and KLEFFMANN , global sales of glufosinate rose from $450 million in 2012 to $1.050 billion in 2020, becoming the fastest growing non-selective herbicide. These figures showed that the future glufosinate market will benefit from the following:

 

-  Continued worldwide prohibition or restriction of paraquat.

-  Growing resistance to glyphosate.

-  Continued promotion and penetration of glufosinate-tolerant GM crops， Especially China’s industrialization process for planting GM crops in an orderly manner.

 

Since China banned paraquat in 2016, Chinese manufacturers have begun to actively undertake glufosinate production. Currently, many production facilities are in the planning stage or under construction. A report published by GF Securities in 2020 showed that market players misunderstood the supply-side of glufosinate, but in recent years, the production capacity of glufosinate has been rising. It added that while 2018-2019 witnessed the start of new centralized productions of glufosinate, most of the new production capacity was for methyldiethoxyphosphine, which is the intermediate of glufosinate, whilst the new capacity of the intermediate, methyldiethoxyphosphine, is going slower than with glufosinate due to technical difficulties.

 

However, AgroPages learned that over the last two years, newbuilds of methyldiethoxyphosphine production facilities has been developed in parallel with newbuilds of glufosinate and L-glufosinate. Many new glufosinate and L-glufosinate facilities are being built, while newbuilds of methyldiethoxyphosphine facilities are being constructed quietly.

 

                                             

Glufosinate and L-glufosinate newbuild

 

In recent two years, more than 13 manufacturers have planned or have built glufosinate plants, totaling more than 162,000 tons on production. More than five manufacturers have planned or have built L-glufosinate plants, as shown in Table 1.

 

Table 1   Glufosinate & L-glufosinate projects under planning or construction

in China in last 2 years (incomplete statistics)

Manufacturer	Capacity   (ton)	Project   Progress
Glufosinate
Inner   Mongolia Lingsheng (Liben’s subsidiary)	50,000	2022:   Construction started
Guang’an   Lier Chemical	--------	Dec   2021: Annual 30,000-ton glufosinate TC and AS, project environmentally   approved
Anhui   Guoxing (Red Sun’s subsidiary)	20,000	Under   construction
Shandong   Yisheng	20,000	May   2022: Project construction permit granted
Fuhua   Tongda	20,000	Jul   2022: Fuhua New Material Industry Park established
Inner   Mongolia Benxing	20,000	May   2022: Project’s energy-saving program approved
Gansu   Binnong,	10,000	Sept   2021: Brought on stream successfully in one single attempt
Weifang   Xinlv	3,000	Dec   2021: Environmental completion acceptance made public for comment; project   covers 3,000-ton glufosinate TC 97% and 11,000-ton glufosinate mother liquid   50%
Veyong	5,000	To   be brought on stream at the end of the third quarter of 2022
Ningxia   Wynca	6,000	3,000-ton   Phase I to be brought on stream very soon
Changqing   (Hubei)	3,500	Construction   to kick off in 2022
Shandong   Zhongshi	4,500	Dec   2021: First environmental impact assessment made public for comment, covering   expansion from 500-ton capacity to    4,500- ton
L-glufosinate
Guang’an   Lier Chemical	40,000	April   2022: First public notification of environmental impact assessment
Jinzhou   Sancaitang (Lier Chemicals’ subsidiary)	50,000	July   2022: First public notification of environmental impact assessment
Jinzhou   Sancaitang (Lier Chemicals’ subsidiary)	10,000	April   2022: First public notification of    relocation and upgrading project
Ningxia   Yonon	50,000	Jan   2022: Environmental assessment impact made public for comment for Phase I and   Phase II, each covering 25,000-ton L-glufosinate 98% and 6,000-ton   L-glufosinate mother liquid 50%
Shandong   Yisheng	10,000	May   2022: Project construction permit granted
Sevencontinent   (Jining)	10,000	July   2021: Project construction permit granted
Weifang   Xinlv	5,500	May   2022: Approval of environmental assessment impact made public for comment

 

Newbuild of methyldiethoxyphosphine plants

 

Methyldiethoxyphosphine is an important organic chemical intermediate of pesticides, pharmaceuticals and synthetic materials, which is not only used for the synthesis of burndown herbicides, such as glufosinate, fenitrothion and organophosphorus pesticides like MAP insecticides, but it can also be used for the synthesis of flame retardant materials and building materials, as well as additives.

 

Over the last two years, 178,000 tons of methyldiethoxyphosphine capacity has either been planned or already built. Part of this capacity were launched by glufosinate or L-glufosinate manufacturers while some were launched by intermediate manufacturers. Previously, the production of methyldiethoxyphosphine was primarily centralized in Hubei Province, but it later spreads to the provinces of Shandong, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, as shown in Table 2.

 

Table 2   Methyldiethoxyphosphine projects under planning or construction

in China in last 2 years (incomplete statistics)

Manufacturer	Capacity   (ton)	Project   Progress
Shandong   Heyifeng	10,000	June   2022: Laying the foundation for the start construction
Inner   Mongolia Lingshen	50,000	March   2022: First public notification of environmental impact assessment
Ningxia   Wynca	20,000	Nov   2021: Approval of environmental impact assessment made public for comment
Shandong   Weitian	10,000	Jan   2021: Approval of environmental impact assessment made public for comment
Hubei   Darun Chemical (Benxing’s subsidiary)	20,000	June   2022: Prior public notification before submission for approval
Gansu   Binnong	9,000	Jan   2021: Environmental impact assessment report passed expert review
Honghu   Yitai Tech (Sevencontinent’s subsidiary)	30,000	2022:   Project under planning
Ningxia   Yonon	25,000	June   2021: Phase I, a 6,250-ton trial run
Liaoning   Jiajialong	3,000	May   2022: Review of environmental impact assessment made public for comment
Lier   Chemical	-------	April 2022: Review of impact assessment   made public for comment covering 5,600-ton glufosinate intermediate   production process changed from Grignard-Strecker   to Aluminum Strecker

 

Methyldiethoxyphosphine production process

 

The Aluminum-Strecker Method was adopted by some manufacturers to produce methyldiethoxyphosphine under the following process: Chloromethane, phosphorus trichloride and aluminate powder are used as raw materials to first obtain methylphosphonous dichloride, which is reacted for esterification with absolute ethyl alcohol, therefore, resulting in methyldiethoxyphosphine.

 

Manufacturers that adopted this method include Wynca, Honghu Yitai, Panshijiahengbao, Inner Mongolia Haopu, Gansu Binnong, Shandong Heyifeng and Liaoning Jiajialong.

 

Other methods: Methane, phosphorus trichloride and carbon tetrachloride are used as raw materials, being high temperature reacted to obtain phosphorus dichloride after distillation, which is then esterified with ethyl alcohol and liquid ammonia, to be rectified, thus resulting in methyldiethoxyphosphine.