Isopentane has high economic value and can be used as an additive to improve the octane number of gasoline, a solvent for catalyst in polyethylene production and an important raw material for the production of isoprene and isopentanol.
In terms of isopentane production, North America, Western Europe and Japan are the main isopentane producing countries in the global market, with a large number of relevant production enterprises, such as Amoco, Eastman and piccolo in the United States, Mitsui petrochemicals, ryon and Fuji in Japan, and ICI and Hercules in Europe. As developed countries have the first mover advantage of technology, they are relatively mature in the production of C5 fine chemicals and occupy a leading position in the global C5 fine chemical market.
The main isopentane production enterprises in China are distributed in East China, Northeast China and Northwest China. Among them, isopentane production enterprises in East China are distributed in Dongying City, Shandong Province. The most important enterprise is Junyuan Petroleum Group and who is also the largest manufacturer of pentanes in China.
In 2022, the market scale of isopentane in China was 835 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 7.9%; In 2021, the market scale of isopentane in China was 666 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 8.9%; In 2020, the market scale of isopentane in China was 930 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 9.4%; In 2020, China’s isopentane market reached 906 million yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 9.1%; In the first half of 2021, China’s isopentane market reached 496 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.4%.