Overview
Silicates, commonly known as “sodium alkali”, also known as soluble water glass, is a water-soluble metal silicate material composed of alkali metal oxides and silica. The water glass commonly used in construction engineering is an aqueous solution of sodium silicate, and its chemical formula is Na2O·nSiO2. Water glass is divided into a sodium water glass and potassium water glass.
Sodium water glass is mainly used in civil engineering, and potassium water glass can also be used when engineering technical requirements are high. High-quality pure water glass is a colorless and transparent viscous liquid, soluble in water, and pale yellow or blue-gray when it contains impurities. It was used in Detergent-making, Silicas of toothpaste, Zeolites, Molecular Sieve, Catalyst, and personal care products, but it doesn’t include natural zeolite for soil amendment.
Silicate Classification
- Sodium silicates are sodium water glass aqueous solution Na2O.nSiO2
- Potassium silicates are potassium water glass aqueous solution K2O.nSiO2
Silicate Industrial Chains
The upstream raw materials of water glass are mainly quartz sand, soda ash (dry method), caustic soda (wet method), etc. The downstream applications are mainly silica industry, daily chemical industry, etc.
Market Supply and Demand
Inorganic silicide has an early development history and is an important part of the inorganic salt industry. It is also an indispensable industry in China’s basic chemical raw material industry and plays an important role in the national economy. Inorganic silicides refer to silica-containing compounds synthesized chemically with quartz sand as the main raw material. There are many varieties, and the production process and equipment are also very different.
Sodium silicate is the leading product in inorganic silicides and the most upstream product in the industrial chain. It is mainly produced from quartz sand and soda ash or caustic soda. As a basic inorganic chemical raw material, sodium silicate is reacted with sulfuric acid and caustic soda to obtain downstream products such as precipitated silica, silica gel, silica sol, and sodium metasilicate.
According to statistics, China’s water glass output in 2012 was 2.547 million tons. In 2020, China’s water glass production will increase to 4.792 million tons, and in 2021, the output will be about 5.0249 million tons. The demand for glass reached 4.7299 million tons and is expected to reach 4.9701 million tons in 2022. The 2012-2022 China silicates market size statistics and forecast are as below:
With the wider application of the water glass industry, the industry will achieve better development in the future. In 2012, the scale of China’s water glass market was 2.431 billion yuan. In 2020, the scale of China’s water glass market will increase to 6.511 billion yuan. It is estimated that the market size of China’s water glass industry is expected to reach 7.601 billion yuan in 2022. This report analyzes all market demand and the increased rate of Chinese silicates from 2012 to 2022
Price Trend
The market demand of the industry is highly related to the economic trend. In the process of production, the cost of raw materials is relatively high. In recent years, with the environmental protection policy factors, the production cost has risen significantly, and the overall market price of the industry has shown a relatively obvious upward trend. Affected by the epidemic in 2021, the prices of bulk commodities will generally rise. The prices of raw materials for energy and water glass will increase sharply.
At the same time, affected by the shortage of domestic electricity and environmental protection policies, the product supply capacity of the upstream industry is limited, which greatly promotes the price increase in the industry of sodium silicates. With the expansion of production and sales in the industry and the intensification of market competition, it is expected that the domestic market price of the industry will gradually fall and stable in the future.