Air Separation Equipment Is Promising

The air separation equipment utilizes the different physical properties of the components in the air, and uses deep freezing, pressure swing adsorption, membrane separation and other methods to liquefy and rectify the air.

The upstream of the air separation equipment manufacturing industry is mainly raw materials and parts, including steel, aluminum, air compressors, superchargers, adsorption tanks, screw machines, molecular sieves, packing, etc. Among them, molecular sieve and adsorption membrane are unique parts of the air separation equipment manufacturing industry, adsorption tank and oil filter are customized parts, and the rest are general mechanical equipment parts. On the whole, product updates and technological upgrades in the upstream industry can promote the technological development of the air separation equipment manufacturing industry to a certain extent; while the development of the upstream industry is relatively mature and the market competition is relatively sufficient, the demand for this industry can be stabilized and sufficient Supply. Therefore, the air separation equipment manufacturing industry will benefit from the development of the upstream industry, but there is no dependence on the upstream industry. However, China is continuing to increase its efforts to adjust and optimize the industrial structure of the steel and aluminum industries, so the possibility of price increases is not ruled out in the future. If the price of the above-mentioned raw materials rises, the cost of the air separation equipment manufacturing industry will increase and the profit level will decrease.

Downstream Applications in the Industry-Mainly Chemical and Steel

Air separation equipment is one of the major national devices. It can separate and produce a variety of industrial gases known as "industrial blood". It is widely used in machinery, metallurgy, petrochemical, new coal chemical industry, building materials, and aerospace and medical. The field of national economy. Among them, the metallurgy and chemical industries are the two main areas of air separation equipment application.

The air separation equipment manufacturing industry was created to meet the demand for industrial gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, and argon in the metallurgical, chemical and other industries, and developed with the changes in the demand for industrial gases in the aforementioned industries. After the 1980s, on the basis of learning from foreign advanced technology, through independent research and development and cooperative development, China's air separation equipment manufacturing industry has made considerable progress, but due to a late start, the industry technology level and industry scale are still low After entering the 21st century, with the continuous rapid growth of China's economy, basic industries of the national economy such as metallurgy, petrochemical, electric power, coal chemical industry, etc. have developed rapidly, and have rapidly achieved large-scale and large-scale industrial installations. The air separation equipment is also showing a rapid large-scale trend while the demand is growing rapidly.

Downstream Development Drives the Growth of the Air Separation Equipment Market

In recent years, the Chinese government has formulated a series of industrial revitalization plans to vigorously promote the adjustment of industrial structure and the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure. This has greatly promoted the development of downstream industries such as metallurgy, coal, and electric power. In the next few years, the merger and integration of downstream industries will continue, the elimination of outdated production capacity will continue to advance, and the industrial structure will be further optimized; the coal chemical, new energy, electronics, medical, aerospace and other industries will also continue to develop rapidly.

Driven by downstream industries, the output of air separation equipment companies has rebounded. According to statistics, in 2018, the output of air separation equipment in the industry was 146 sets, which is equivalent to a total oxygen production capacity of about 2.0772 million m3/h.

In recent years, under the strong promotion of national policies on the development of emerging industries, capacity reduction, energy saving and emission reduction, new demands for air separation equipment and other gas separation equipment have been ushered in. In general, the coal chemical industry has been the mainstream of demand in recent years, but the metallurgical industry has also seen a lot of demand, mainly from the three major industries of coal chemical, petroleum refining and metallurgy. The number of large and super large air separation equipment has increased. In recent years, the number of new orders has exceeded the sum of the previous two years, especially the order for air separation equipment with a level of 80,000 m3/h or more is the highest in history. Finally, users put forward higher requirements on the technical requirements, energy consumption, reliability, and delivery cycle of air separation equipment. It is far from enough to meet the requirements of oxygen production. At the same time, compared with developed countries, China's per capita gas consumption is still at a relatively low level. In 19 years, China's per capita gas consumption was about US$16/person, far lower than the US$54/person and also lower than Western Europe's US$44/person.

At present, internationally well-known air separation equipment companies include German Linde Company, French Air Liquide and other large multinational groups. There are more than ten domestic enterprises engaged in the production of air separation equipment, which have formed a tripartite situation of Hangyang, Sichuan Air, and Kaikong. In addition, there are also a number of small and medium-sized enterprises coexisting with them. The two major foreign air separation equipment manufacturing companies, Air Liquide and Linde, have established joint ventures or wholly-owned air separation equipment manufacturing enterprises in China, which have also added new strength to the development of China's air separation equipment manufacturing industry. In recent years, domestic air separation equipment manufacturers have actively developed large-scale air separation equipment, while extending the development of the industrial gas market.

As a major basic equipment, air separation equipment is playing an increasingly important role in the national economy. In recent years, as the country develops emerging industries, energy conservation and emission reduction policies, there has also been new demand for air separation equipment and other gas separation equipment. Most companies in the gas separation equipment industry have been out of the predicament, but the gas separation equipment market has oversupply, so the situation of excess manufacturing capacity has not fundamentally changed.