Alkyl benzene is dodecyl benzene, also known as normal dodecyl benzene, straight chain alkyl benzene, in the industry mainly uses α-olefin, orthostructural olefin, isomeric olefin and other long chain olefin, and benzene as the main raw materials, under the action of acid catalyst condensation made. Alkyl benzene is colorless and transparent liquid with aromatic odor, non-flammable and insoluble in water. It can dissolve petroleum hydrocarbons, and can be sulfonated, acylated and pyrolyzed. Alkyl benzene is one of the important raw materials for the production of surfactants.

Alkyl benzene can be used in surfactants, spices, papermaking and other industries, among which surfactants are the main application market, accounting for 94.8%. Alkyl benzene can produce alkyl benzene sulfonate, subproduct Alkyl benzene sulfonate is an important surfactant product, is the main raw material for the production of synthetic detergents. Alkyl benzene has been widely used in the global synthetic detergents industry since the 1960s because of its mature production process, low production cost, high environmental safety and good application performance.

According to the “Research Report on China Alkyl Benzene Industry Market Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects (2020-2024)” released by SinoCivic Industry Research Center, China’s alkyl benzene industry only started to develop in the 1980s, which started late but made rapid progress. At present, China is one of the major producers of alkyl benzene in the world. Since 2015, under the circumstance of stricter environmental protection policies and upgrading of consumption concept, China’s synthetic detergents have gradually developed towards the direction of low energy consumption, no pollution, high functionality and high safety. The backward production capacity has been withdrawn, and the overall production has begun to decline, leading to the decline in China’s alkylbenzene market demand and the subsequent decrease in industrial production.

In 2019, the total output of alkylbenzene enterprises included in the statistics of Surfactant Professional Committee of China Detergent Products Industry Association was 679,900 tons, an increase of -4.56% over the previous year, and the total sales volume was 642,500 tons, an increase of -5.53% over the previous year. The production and sales of alkyl benzene in China showed a downward trend. Fushun Petrochemical Detergent Chemical Plant is the largest alkyl benzene producer in China, and its production and sales accounted for 27.3% and 29.2% respectively in 2019. Nanjing jinling petrochemical alkyl benzene plant followed, production and sales accounted for 21.6% and 22.5%, respectively.

Alkyl benzene industry rapid expansion in China, the market oversupply phenomenon is obvious, as synthetic detergent production decline, alkyl benzene falling demand, alkyl benzene industry overcapacity phenomenon is increasingly prominent, and in our country and alkyl benzene new capacity, such as Inner Mongolia coal AnDeLi device in 2019 entered the production stage, the derivatives of alkyl benzene, under this background, the alkyl benzene the pressure increasing competition in the industry in our country. In the future, China’s powerful alkylbenzene enterprises need to expand their business to overseas markets to relieve inventory pressure and ensure revenue capacity.

Since 2019, the international crude oil price has been kept at a low level. Olefin, the raw material for alkylbenzene production, is made from petroleum cracking, so the industry has less cost pressure. However, the possibility of a substantial increase in the production and sales volume of the synthetic detergent industry is small, which is not conducive to the development of the alkylbenzene industry. In the future, China’s alkylbenzene industry can expand its business to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, Africa and other regions. Strong enterprises will have more development advantages, while weak enterprises will have increasingly smaller living space, or gradually withdraw from the market.