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.
