Reformation and Development of Dye Intermediates for Domestic and International Applications

Dye intermediates are an extremely important branch of the fine chemical industry. The rapid development of the dye industry relies on the development of intermediates that support it.

Since the 1950s, the production of dye and pigment intermediates in China has made significant progress, and with the increasingly fierce market competition, innovation in production technology has been made in dye and pigment intermediates. This includes the development of new varieties, improvement of production processes, research into new methods, the use of old varieties for new purposes, environmental protection, and the use of clean production processes for the production of dye and pigment intermediates.

The application development of dye intermediates

In fact, the development of the use of intermediates is multifaceted. One intermediate may be used in dyes, while others may be used in pesticides and medicines. Instead of dividing intermediates into strict categories, such as dye intermediates, pesticide intermediates, and medicinal intermediates, intermediates should be considered as a whole branch of the fine chemical industry. This will expand the scope of use for some intermediates and promote overall development.

The study of fine chemical intermediates is characterized by a wide variety of intermediate compounds. Although production volumes are particularly large for a few varieties, most have relatively low tonnages, and processing processes are often complex, involving many unit reactions and separation processes. During production, a considerable amount of "three wastes" are generated, which need to be properly treated. Therefore, research on intermediate products must involve the development of a series of products' manufacturing processes and the rational organization of intermediate product production to achieve good economies of scale.

The transformation and development of dye intermediates industry

From the situation abroad, the research and production of intermediates tend to be concentrated to achieve series production. One production unit can produce several to more than ten intermediate varieties. Overall development and new technology adoption are relatively easy. Such research and production will achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Through transformation and development, the dye intermediates industry in China has reached a higher level in terms of production scale, technology, and equipment level. This can meet the needs of the domestic dye and pigment industry development and provide foreign customers with more high-quality intermediate products.

The raw materials required for synthesizing intermediates are mainly obtained from products of the petroleum and coking chemical industries, with the vast majority being benzene series, naphthalene series, anthracene, and quinone compounds, as well as some heterocyclic compounds. In recent years, the use of organic pigments synthesized from heterocyclic intermediate compounds has been on the rise. In addition, compounds such as phenanthrene, pyridine, oxygen, fluorene, quinoline, indole, carbazole, biphenyl series, and other complex raw materials are applied to dye manufacture, making the use of synthetic raw materials more extensive and commonplace.