Hydroxyethyl methacrylate, commonly abbreviated as HEMA in English with the chemical formula C₆H₁₀O₃, is an organic chemical. Hydroxyethyl methacrylate appears as a colorless and transparent liquid, soluble in water and some organic solvents, and prone to polymerization. It is produced by the reaction of ethylene oxide and methacrylic acid as raw materials, and is an organic polymeric monomer containing bifunctional groups in its molecule, as well as one of the special esters of methacrylic acid.
Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) has a wide range of downstream applications. HEMA is easy to polymerize, and its polymer has good biocompatibility, so it can be used as a medical polymer material to manufacture products such as contact lenses, artificial corneas, dental materials, and orthopedic materials. In the chemical industry, HEMA can be applied in the fields of resin, coating, and rubber modification to produce modified acrylic resins, two-component coatings, high-end automotive paints, synthetic fiber adhesives and other products. HEMA is one of the most researched products with the highest market value among special methacrylic acid esters.
Globally, Japan, Germany, the United States, and China are the major producers of HEMA. Relatively speaking, Japanese enterprises such as Mitsubishi Chemical have strong production capacity for high-end HEMA and occupy a leading position in the global market. Followed by German and American enterprises, such as Evonik and Dow Chemical, which also have strong production capacity for high-end HEMA. HEMA has high technical barriers. The number of domestic production enterprises in China is small, and their production capacity is mainly concentrated in the mid-to-low-end fields. The demand in the high-end market mainly relies on imports.
In 2018, the newly built 170,000-ton/year ethylene oxide derivative project of Wanhua Chemical in China included a HEMA production capacity of 20,000 tons/year, mainly used for the production of high-end products. In August 2020, the main HEMA equipment in this project achieved mechanical completion. When it enters the production period in the future, the overall competitiveness of China’s HEMA industry will be improved, and the self-sufficiency rate of high-end products will be increased.
According to the “2021-2025 In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate (HEMA) Industry” released by Xinshijie Industrial Research Center, the demand for HEMA in China is growing rapidly, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9% from 2014 to 2019, which has driven the continuous growth of China’s HEMA output, with a CAGR of 13.8% from 2014 to 2019. Approximately 18% of China’s HEMA demand relies on imports, and the market supply is less than demand. Moreover, the competitive pattern is relatively stable, so the HEMA industry has strong profitability.
Industry analysts pointed out that HEMA is widely used in the medical and chemical industries. Especially with the rapid development of industries such as high-end medical materials and high-end coatings, the market demand for high-end HEMA is becoming increasingly strong, and the industry has broad development prospects in the future. China is one of the major global producers of HEMA, but at this stage, the products produced are mainly mid-to-low-end, and it does not yet have the capacity for mass production of high-end products. If the high-end products produced by Wanhua Chemical’s newly built HEMA equipment can be recognized by the market, its development momentum will be strong in the future.