Panorama of China's C4 Industry Chain Transformation in 2025: Chemical Attribute Enhancement and Capacity Structure Differentiation

Consumption structure revolution: liquefied petroleum gas chemical properties highlighted

2025, China's liquefied petroleum gas market has achieved a historic breakthrough, with total consumption exceeding 60 million tons and commodity volume exceeding 25 million tons, continuing a steady growth of about 1.5. Of more strategic significance is the fundamental change in the consumption structure: chemical consumption has accounted for more than 70%, and civil fuel consumption has dropped below 30%, marking the complete transformation of LPG from traditional fuels to chemical raw materials. PDH (propane dehydrogenation) and alkylation units became the main growth engines.

The import dependence of

continued to rise, with propane imports exceeding 28 million tons and liquefied butane imports exceeding 7.3 million tons, highlighting the structural contradiction between domestic supply and demand. Infrastructure construction is showing a blowout trend: PetroChina Yancheng Port's first LPG primary freezer has an investment of 3 billion yuan (annual turnover of 1.5 million tons), Dongying Port's LPG terminal has an investment of 2 billion yuan (annual turnover of 1 million tons), Jieyang Nanhai 50000-ton berth (annual turnover of 2.3 million tons), Huaxing Gas Reservoir (total storage capacity of 447000 cubic meters, investment of 2.3 billion yuan) and other projects have been put into production, significantly improving the unloading and storage capacity.

The new national standard issued on November 4,

(GB11174-2025, implemented on November 1, 2026) clearly divides industrial and civil LPG and vehicle LPG, strictly controls sulfur content and VOCs emissions, increases the limit of C5 + hydrocarbon components in vehicle LPG, improves arbitration inspection procedures, and promotes the industry to upgrade to high quality standards.

Capacity expansion and technological breakthrough: butane, isobutylene industry two-wheel drive

The

butane industry will add more than 5.6 million tons of new production capacity in 2025, and the total production capacity will exceed 28 million tons, a record high. Isobutane dehydrogenation unit is the new main force, refining, steam cracking project contribution to a larger increase. The proportion of butane used in chemical industry has exceeded 44% and is expected to increase to 65% in 2030, reflecting the further promotion of the strategy of "reducing oil and increasing oil.

technological innovation has become a bright spot in the industry. The first 100000-ton/year bio-butane plant in China was put into operation in Guangxi. It uses bagasse and other biomass to ferment butane and is included in the Green Technology Promotion Catalogue to enjoy the tax preference of "three exemptions and three halves. COFCO Yunnan plans 200000 tons, Jinhe Industrial Anhui layout 150000 tons, bio-based butane industry scale rapid growth. The project of "ionic liquid-mediated efficient oxidation of butane to maleic anhydride" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences was put into operation in Luoyang Refining and Chemical Industry to broaden its downstream application. The fourth generation molecular sieve pressure swing adsorption technology raises the product purity to 99.9% to meet the high-end demand.

high-purity isobutylene production capacity ushered in a concentrated release. Jinling Huntsman's 60000-ton project (purity 99.99, investment 0.8 billion yuan), Binhua Group's "Beikun Plan" 100000-ton/year high-purity isobutylene +30000-ton/year diisobutylene plant, Zhenhai Refinery's 100000-ton/year rectification plant (sulfur content <0.1ppm), and Yulong Petrochemical's 300000-ton/year MTBE cracking isobutylene plant have been put into operation one after another. In terms of technology, the adsorption capacity of the new molecular sieve was increased from 1.2mmol/g to 2.8mmol/g, the catalytic distillation dehydration process of Jinling Huntsman tert-butanol was innovated, and the first 50000-ton bio-based isobutylene pilot plant in China was put into operation in Guangxi, opening up a green and sustainable path.

Butanone steadily expands, MTBE faces transformational pressure

The

butanone industry will add more than 100000 tons of new production capacity in 2025, with a total production capacity of more than 2.1 million tons. Anhui Zhonghuifa 40000 tons/year device to fill the gap in the northern region, Qixiang Tengda to maintain the leading position in the industry. Technological innovations include: the new rare earth modified copper-based catalyst improves the synthesis efficiency by 20%, and the catalyst life is extended from 6 months to 12 months; Hubei New Blue Sky Super Gravity Equipment Strengthens Ammoximation Reaction Technology to Significantly Reduce Three Wastes Emission; Zhejiang Jinhua butanone-butanone oxime co-production process improves utilization quality; The first 50000-ton bio-based butanone plant in China has been put into operation.

MTBE industry is facing serious challenges. In 2025, the total production capacity will exceed 31 million tons, and the new production capacity will exceed 5 million tons, the highest in history. Production capacity is mainly concentrated in Shandong, Zhejiang, Liaoning and other places, but the contradiction between supply and demand is prominent, the overall operating rate is low. Ethanol gasoline has been extended to 12 provinces, the annual replacement of MTBE more than 1.2 million tons, the seven gasoline standards are also expected to reduce the amount of addition, the traditional fuel additives market space is squeezed.

In the face of

difficulties, MTBE is actively transforming to high-end applications. MTBE cracking of high purity isobutylene new catalyst to achieve industrialization, instead of the traditional sulfuric acid extraction method, the entry of the petrochemical industry green process catalog (2025 edition). Pharmaceutical grade MTBE production capacity exceeded 300000 tons, to meet the lithium battery electrolyte, high-end pharmaceutical solvent demand. Electronic-grade MTBE is rapidly upgraded to achieve import substitution in the semiconductor sector. However, it remains to be seen whether these high value-added applications can fully absorb excess capacity.

Global Supply Chain Implications and Investment Directions

In 2025, China's C4 industry chain presents three characteristics of "scale expansion, structural optimization and technological breakthrough. Key implications for overseas practitioners:

supply pattern reconstruction: LPG chemical consumption accounted for more than 70%, will continue to stimulate import demand, Asia-Pacific LPG trade flow adjustment. The significant expansion of butane and isobutylene production capacity and China's shift from a net importer to self-sufficiency could impact traditional suppliers such as Japan and South Korea.

technology spillover effect: bio-based technology in the field of butane, isobutylene, butyl ketone breakthrough, showing China's determination to green transformation of chemical industry. High purification technology (99.99% isobutylene, 99.9% butane) reached the international advanced level, special rubber, pharmaceutical intermediates and other high-end applications of import substitution accelerated.

market opportunity differentiation: MTBE overcapacity background, pharmaceutical grade, electronic grade and other high-end market growth rapidly, overseas enterprises can pay attention to technical cooperation and high-end product export opportunities. The infrastructure investment boom (more than 4.8 million tons of new terminal turnover capacity during the year) has boosted China's LPG unloading capacity, benefiting global LPG exporters.

suggest that overseas practitioners pay attention to: China's LPG import demand growth and terminal layout, high-purity isobutylene/butane export competitiveness, bio-based technology commercialization process, MTBE high-end application market development, new energy policy on the substitution effect of traditional chemicals. In the capacity expansion cycle, differentiation, high-end, green is the core competitiveness of the C4 industry chain.