At the 2024 SMM 19th Lead and Zinc Conference and Lead and Zinc Technology Innovation Forum - Zinc-based Materials Forum hosted by SMM, Chen Zhiqiang, chairman of Hunan Xinweiling Metal New Material Technology Co., Ltd., shared the current situation of the zinc powder industry and looked forward to its future.
Overview of zinc powder industry
Zinc powder product introduction
The chemical name of zinc powder products is metal zinc powder, which is a special form of zinc metal, with a gray appearance and a crystal structure of regular spherical, irregular shape and irregular scale due to different production processes. Insoluble in water, soluble in acids and alkalis, with strong reducibility.
Types and characteristics of zinc powder products
Application fields and quality requirements of zinc powder products
The application fields of zinc powder products are mainly divided into the field of anticorrosive coatings, chemical and pharmaceutical fields, non-ferrous metal metallurgy fields, battery fields and other fields.
Market size of zinc powder products
Analysis of zinc powder industry chain
Industrial chain map
The upstream of the industrial chain of the zinc powder industry is the raw material supplier, the middle of the industrial chain is the zinc powder production enterprise, and the downstream of the industrial chain is the end user who buys and uses zinc powder products.
Upstream analysis
The raw materials of zinc powder are mainly zinc ingots, zinc oxide, zinc baked sand, zinc-containing waste, etc. The cost of raw materials accounts for more than 80%, and the price of raw materials is greatly affected by supply and demand, production capacity, futures, macroeconomic and policy control, showing great fluctuations.
Midstream analysis
The concentration of the zinc powder industry is relatively high, and the number of participating market entities is about 100.
The top 10 manufacturers of zinc powder by distillation occupy more than 80% of the market share in China, of which more than 70% of the output is used in the coating industry; the atomization method of zinc powder for smelting is mainly produced by medium and large smelters with a production capacity of more than 100,000 tons/year of zinc ingots, and there are only about 5 manufacturers of zinc powder by atomization method for batteries; the production of zinc powder by electric thermal reduction method is limited by the national industrial policy, the number of production enterprises is limited and the production capacity is small, and the total number of existing enterprises in production is about 10.
The production of flake zinc powder is still in the growth stage, the production technology needs to be broken through, the number of production enterprises does not exceed 10, and the production capacity is very low; the number of enterprises that process and produce zinc powder with galvanized by-products or other waste materials containing metal zinc powder as raw materials accounts for a relatively large number, and it is the main supplier of zinc smelters that have not built their own zinc powder production lines.
Downstream analysis
The downstream of the zinc powder industry mainly comes from anticorrosive coatings, powder galvanizing, pharmaceutical chemicals, non-ferrous metallurgy and other industries, which are affected by various factors such as macroeconomy, policies and regulations, technological innovation, and consumption habits.
Zinc powder by distillation
Distillation zinc powder has the highest demand in the coating industry, accounting for about 70% of the total demand of the distillation zinc powder market, followed by the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, accounting for about 20%, and powder galvanizing and other industries accounting for about 10%.
Zinc powder by electrothermal reduction
Electrothermal reduction zinc powder is almost exclusively used in the wet zinc smelting industry, due to the large safety risk, the production process and equipment are listed as restricted and eliminated industrial projects, and its living space will become smaller and smaller.
Flake zinc powder
The main application areas of flake zinc powder are Dacromet coating solution and zinc-aluminum coating industry, which is used for the coating of high-end small parts and components of aircraft, high-speed rail, automobiles, home appliances and electronic components. At present, the flake zinc powder market is mainly occupied by foreign companies, and there is still a certain gap between the development and production level of domestic flake zinc powder and the international level, and the space for import substitution is large.
Zinc powder by atomization
Atomized zinc powder is mainly used in the wet zinc smelting industry and the alkaline manganese battery industry, among which, most of the atomized zinc powder required by the wet zinc smelting industry is produced and used by medium and large zinc smelting enterprises, and the market space of non-self-produced and self-used atomized zinc powder is gradually compressed. The atomized zinc powder required by the alkaline manganese battery industry must have special electrochemical properties, and at present, only a few zinc powder manufacturers with corresponding core technologies can meet the supply demand. In view of the strengthening of environmental protection policies, safety production management and the growth of application demand, the market size of atomized zinc powder has certain growth potential.
Recovery method zinc powder
The most important application field of recovery zinc powder is the wet zinc smelting industry, in addition to the zinc smelting enterprises that use atomization zinc powder and electrothermal reduction zinc powder, the majority of the zinc smelting enterprises used in the production process are recovery zinc powder, different zinc smelting enterprises have different quality requirements for recovery zinc powder, and some enterprises do not even formulate specific quality standards, only to judge whether there is an adverse impact on the production process. However, due to the fact that the raw materials used in the recycling method of zinc powder are mainly by-products or wastes such as galvanized waste residue generated by other industries, its low market price still has a great demand attraction for small and medium-sized zinc smelting enterprises.
Zinc powder industry analysis
Prospect of the development trend of zinc powder industry
1. The state's management of safety and environmental protection continues to become stricter, and the implementation of policies and regulations continues to strengthen, forcing enterprises in the zinc powder industry to produce and operate legally and compliantly, and the market entities that cannot meet the legal compliance conditions will gradually decrease, and the industry concentration will continue to increase.
2. The homogenization of products in the domestic zinc powder industry is serious, and the market competition is fierce, forcing enterprises to pay attention to technological innovation, improve product quality and performance, and reduce production costs and energy consumption; the state encourages the development of ultra-fine and high-activity zinc powder industry and the research and development of advanced smelting technology and equipment, which is conducive to the construction of intelligent factories in the zinc powder industry, the upgrading of production equipment and the optimization of process technology. Therefore, it will promote the R&D investment and technological progress and upgrading of the overall industry.
3. The development of high-prosperity industries such as infrastructure construction, shipbuilding, wind power, energy storage, water conservancy engineering, marine engineering, etc., as well as the promotion of national environmental protection policies, will make the demand for industrial anticorrosive coatings continue to grow, thereby driving the continuous and stable growth of the market size of distillation zinc powder suitable for the field of coatings.
4. Because the zinc flakes of burned plates, waste zinc of zinc flakes of stripping flakes, and zinc particles in smelting scum can be used as raw materials, and the costs of procurement and transportation can be saved to ensure the quality and stability of zinc powder products, wet zinc smelting enterprises with larger production capacity tend to build their own atomization zinc powder production lines. Therefore, the market size of self-produced and self-used atomized zinc powder will continue to grow, and the market size of non-self-produced and self-used atomized zinc powder will be restricted.
5. The submerged thermal electric furnace used in the production of electric thermal reduction zinc powder is listed as restricted and eliminated process equipment; the safety risks of explosion, gas poisoning, spontaneous combustion and other phenomena in the production, storage and transportation of electric thermal reduction zinc powder are relatively large; in the process of wet zinc smelting, the purification and impurity removal effect of electric thermal reduction zinc powder (such as Co, Cd) is inferior to that of atomized zinc powder, and the amount of purified slag produced is greater than that of atomized zinc powder. Therefore, the production capacity and market size of zinc powder by electric thermal reduction method will gradually decrease.
6. For small and medium-sized hydro-zinc smelting enterprises, the zinc powder required in the production process can only be purchased, and the recycled zinc powder with a wide range of sources and low price is still the main choice. The production capacity of small and medium-sized hydro-zinc smelting enterprises is small, but the number is large, which will support the market size of recycled zinc powder to continue to maintain a steady increase.
7. Flake zinc powder is used in automobiles, high-speed rail, aircraft, aerospace, wind power photovoltaic, The application demand in the supporting fields of energy storage and other industries will continue to grow, especially the demand for high-performance anticorrosive coatings for energy storage battery container shells will create opportunities for flake zinc powder to replace spherical zinc powder, the high-end market of flake zinc powder is monopolized by foreign leading enterprises, and the quality of domestic flake zinc powder is still far from the international advanced level, but the main domestic production enterprises continue to promote the technological upgrading and product innovation of flake zinc powder, which will accelerate the process of localization and substitution of flake zinc powder.
conclusion
1. Zinc powder metal is naturally irreplaceable because of its excellent anti-corrosion performance, reduction reaction performance and cost-effective application cost, and the zinc powder industry is an industry full of vitality and potential.
2. Ultra-fine and high-activity zinc powder and flake zinc powder belong to the strategic emerging industries encouraged by the state, and their demand will continue to grow, and zinc powder enterprises that focus on technological innovation and R&D investment can achieve sustainable development.
3. With the continuous strengthening of national environmental protection and safety policies and regulations, the pressure of industrial upgrading and transformation is becoming more and more obvious, low-end backward production capacity will continue to be cleared, and the leading enterprises in the industry will further consolidate their leading position in the overall growth process of the industry, expand their market share, and the industry concentration will continue to increase.