Hydroxyethyl cellulose (hereinafter referred to as hydroxyethyl cellulose) is an important hydroxyalkyl cellulose, which was successfully prepared by Hubert in 1920. It is also a kind of water-soluble cellulose ether with large production worldwide, and it is an important cellulose ether with the largest and rapid development after CMC and HPMC. Hydroxyethyl cellulose is a non-ionic water-soluble polymer made from cotton (or wood pulp) through a series of chemical processing. It is a white, odorless and tasteless powdery or granular solid substance.

World production capacity and demand situation


At present, the companies with large production of hydroxyethyl cellulose in the world are concentrated in foreign countries, among which Hercules and Dow in the United States have strong production capacity, followed by Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and Russia. It is estimated that the production capacity of hydroxyethyl cellulose will be 160,000 tons in 2013, with an average annual growth rate of 2.7%.

* * The market demand for hydroxyethyl cellulose is large in Europe and North America *, and China is growing rapidly (with an annual growth rate of 9%). The total demand for hydroxyethyl cellulose in 2013 is estimated to be 88,200 tons. In 2011, with the commissioning of Yakualong Nanjing factory, foreign high-quality hydroxyethyl cellulose changed from short supply to balance supply and demand.

Production capacity and demand in China

In 1977, China began to develop and produce by Wuxi Research Institute of Chemical Industry and Harbin No.6 Chemical Factory. Over the years, with the development and perfection of China''s nonionic ether industry and the sound market, some cellulose manufacturers have also launched their own hydroxyethyl cellulose products. The enterprises that are currently producing and trial-producing include Luzhou North Cellulose, Hubei Xiangtai, Wuxi Sanyou, Yixing Hongbo, Yangzhou Zhiwei and Shandong Yinying.


At present, the domestic statistical production capacity of hydroxyethyl cellulose is 13,000 tons. Except for a few manufacturers, the rest are mostly modified and compounded products, which are not truly hydroxyethyl cellulose. The domestic pure hydroxyethyl cellulose production is less than 3,000 tons/year, and the current domestic market capacity is 10,000 tons/year, of which more than 70% are imported or provided by foreign-funded enterprises. Foreign manufacturers mainly include Asia Dragon Company, Dow Company, Klein Company and Akzo Nobel Company. Domestic producers of hydroxyethyl cellulose mainly include Northern Cellulose, Shandong Yinying, Yixing Hongbo, Wuxi Sanyou, Hubei Xiangtai and Yangzhou Zhiwei. The domestic hydroxyethyl cellulose market is mainly used in coatings and daily chemical industry, and more than 70% of the market share is occupied by foreign products. The domestic products are mainly in the low-end coatings, daily chemical market, petroleum additives market and some textile, resin and ink markets. There is an obvious quality gap between domestic and foreign products. The domestic hydroxyethyl market is basically monopolized by foreign products, while domestic products are basically in the low-end market. In the paint and daily chemical industry, first-and second-tier customers also use domestic products with foreign products to reduce risks.

Geographically, the demand of hydroxyethyl cellulose market is in the Pearl River Delta (South China). Followed by the Yangtze River Delta (East China); Thirdly, it is southwest China and north China; The top 12 enterprises of latex coatings, except Nippon and Zijinhua, are headquartered in Shanghai, and the rest are basically located in South China. The distribution of daily chemical enterprises is mainly in South China and East China.


Judging from the downstream production capacity, coatings is the industry with a large consumption of hydroxyethyl cellulose, followed by daily chemicals, followed by petroleum, and the consumption of other industries is very small.

Domestic supply and demand of hydroxyethyl cellulose: overall supply and demand are balanced, high-quality hydroxyethyl cellulose is slightly out of stock, and lower-end engineering coating grade hydroxyethyl cellulose, petroleum grade hydroxyethyl cellulose and modified hydroxyethyl cellulose are mainly supplied by domestic enterprises. 70% of the domestic hydroxyethyl cellulose market is occupied by foreign hydroxyethyl cellulose.

Properties of hydroxyethyl cellulose

The main properties of hydroxyethyl cellulose are that it is soluble in cold water and hot water, and has no gel property, wide range of substitution degree, solubility and viscosity, good thermal stability (below 140℃), and no precipitation under acidic conditions. Hydroxyethyl cellulose solution can form a transparent film, which has non-ionic characteristics of non-interaction with ions and good compatibility.

① High temperature and water solubility: Compared with the case that methyl cellulose (MC) is only dissolved in cold water, hydroxyethyl cellulose can be dissolved in both hot water and cold water, and does not precipitate at high temperature or boiling, which makes it have a wide range of solubility and viscosity characteristics, as well as non-thermal gelation;
② Salt tolerance: Because it is nonionic, it can coexist with other water-soluble polymers, surfactants and salts in a wide range. Therefore, compared with ionic carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), hydroxyethyl cellulose has better salt resistance.
③ Water-holding capacity, leveling property and film-forming property: Its water-holding capacity is twice as high as that of methyl cellulose, and it has excellent flow regulation, excellent film-forming property, filtration loss reduction, miscibility and colloid protection.

Use of hydroxyethyl cellulose

Hydroxyethyl cellulose is a nonionic water-soluble cellulose ether product, which is widely used in building coatings, petroleum, polymer polymerization, medicine, daily use, papermaking and ink, textiles, ceramics, construction, agriculture and other industries. It has the functions of thickening, bonding, emulsifying, dispersing and stabilizing, and can keep moisture, form a film and provide protective colloid effect. It is easily soluble in cold water and hot water and can provide solutions with a wide range of viscosity.

Latex coating

Hydroxyethyl cellulose is a commonly used thickener in latex coatings. In addition to thickening latex coatings, it can also play the roles of emulsification, dispersion, stability and water retention. It is characterized by obvious thickening effect, good color development, film forming and storage stability. Hydroxyethyl cellulose is a nonionic cellulose derivative, which can be used in a wide PH range. It has good compatibility with other materials in the composition (such as pigments, additives, fillers and salts). The coatings thickened with hydroxyethyl cellulose have good rheological properties and pseudoplasticity at various shear rates. Brush coating, roller coating, spraying and other construction methods can be adopted. Good workability, not easy to drip, sag and splash, and good leveling.