Vanillin to See New Expansion in 2024

Vanillin mainly exists in the natural plant vanilla, presenting the unique aroma of vanilla pods, sweet bean, and powder aroma. It is currently one of the world's largest producers of spices and as a flavor fixative, coordinator, and flavoring agent, widely used in food, beverage, cosmetics, daily chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. In the food industry vanillin is mainly used as a flavor enhancer in cakes, ice creams, soft drinks, chocolates, baked sweets, and wines. In the cosmetic industry, vanillin can be used as a flavoring agent in perfumes and creams. In the household chemicals industry, vanillin can be used to modify the aroma of daily chemicals. In the chemical industry, it is mainly used as a defoamer, vulcanizing agent, and precursor of pharmaceutical intermediates.

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At present, the annual consumption of vanillin in the global market is about 20,000 tons, from the consumption structure: food industry: 55%, pharmaceutical intermediates: 30%, feed, flavorings: 10%.

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There Are Mainly Three Methods for Large-Scale Industrial Production of Vanillin:

Lignin Route: Take the lignin sulfonate contained in the sulfite pulp waste liquid of the paper-making industry as raw material, hydrolyze it at alkaline high temperature and high pressure, then dehydrate it and then oxidize it, Canada and the United States mainly adopt this method to produce vanillin.

Guaiacol-Formaldehyde Route: Guaiacol, formaldehyde, and p-nitrosodimethylaniline as raw materials for the synthesis route, also known as nitroso method.

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Guaiacol-Glyoxalate Route: Guaiacol and glyoxalate are used as raw materials, and vanillin is made by condensation, oxidation, and decarboxylation. This method is mainly researched and developed successfully by the French company Rhone-Poulenc and produced on a large scale. The used glyoxalic acid can be produced from dimethyl maleate by ozonolysis (German Patent 3224795). Due to the convenient source of raw materials, fewer reaction steps, lower cost, and less pollution of three wastes, this synthetic route is adopted by Jiaxing Zhonghua and is the main industrialized route at present.

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In recent years, vanillin obtained by isomerization and oxidation of eugenol extracted from clove oil or clove basil oil, and vanillin process prepared by synthetic biology with ferulic acid as a substrate have also been industrialized, and it is called natural grade vanillin and entered into the fragrance market because it can be regarded as a natural equivalent.

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The global demand for vanillin in 2023 is about 20,000 tons, of which more than 70% of the production capacity is gathered in China. China exports nearly 10,000 tons of vanillin annually, and there is also a domestic demand of about 2,500 tons.

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The main manufacturer of synthetic vanillin is Jiaxing Zhonghua, with 10,000 tons of vanillin and 2,500 tons of ethyl vanillin production capacity, and more than 90% of the leading products are exported, which are sold to the United States, Germany, Britain, Turkey, France, Italy, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and other major countries and regions. At present, the price of synthetic vanillin is 75 RMB/kg, and the export price is around 8 USD.

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The global demand for natural vanillin is about 500 tons, mainly in Kunshan Yaxiang, with eugenol and ferulic acid being two types of natural vanillin, of which the eugenol vanillin is about 450 yuan/kg, which is 6 times the price of synthetic vanillin, and the ferulic acid vanillin is about 1,500 yuan/KG, which is 20 times of the price of synthetic vanillin, and the ferulic acid vanillin is mainly produced by Kunshan Yaxiang and Zhongke Xinyang.

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Because Jiaxing Zhonghua is affected by environmental protection and relocation factors, the capacity release is limited, at present, domestic Xinhecheng (5,000 tons), Brother Technology (7,500 tons of vanillin + 2,500 tons of ethyl vanillin) and other major flavor and fragrance enterprises have begun to lay out the product, and there is also another large-scale chemical enterprises also have a layout, the vanillin product will usher in a wave of industrial expansion period.

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