How to break the problem of lanthanum and cerium overcapacity

On April 29, at the Second China Rare Earth Industry Chain Forum 2021 held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, industry insiders pointed out that the surplus of lanthanum and cerium products has been a common problem facing the development of the rare earth industry, and is also a key problem restricting the industry's development.

According to some analysis, there is a surplus of lanthanum and cerium products, mainly due to the lack of deep processing capacity of lanthanum and cerium and other rare earths, which is reflected in three aspects: lack of advanced core technology;Domestic consumption of rare earth functional materials and rare earth application products is insufficient;Industrialization development still exists problem.

According to incomplete statistics, China's annual total production of rare earth is about 150,000 tons, of which about 90,000 tons are lanthanum and cerium products. The main application fields of lanthanum and cerium are hydrogen storage alloy, catalyst, polishing powder and rare earth ferrosilicate alloy, etc. The annual consumption is about 40,000 tons, so the annual surplus of lanthanum and cerium products is more than 50,000 tons.

In fact, the problem of excess lanthanum and cerium products is also the result of the contradiction and deviation between the short-term and long-term goals of the rare earth industry.In the short term, it is urgent to strengthen the added value of lanthanum and cerium products and maintain the high-quality development of rare earth industry.However, in the long term, the ultimate goal is to upgrade lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth products, get rid of the vicious circle of low added value, and make the rare earth industry onto the road of sustainable development.

It has become a consensus in the rare earth industry that the processing of new rare earth materials with high added value and high technological content can really eliminate the excess of lanthanum and cerium products and create sustainable huge wealth for the products.In the process of increasing the added value of some rare earth products, it is particularly important to do a good job in the deep processing of lanthanum and cerium rare earth products.

First of all, it is necessary to accelerate the development of lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth products to the deep processing and application fields, further promote the extension and upgrading of the rare earth industrial chain, and drive the development of mid-stream materials with the development of downstream applications, and promote the extension of the rare earth industrial chain to the two ends with high added value.For example, rare earth catalysts needed by the petroleum industry have a large demand for lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth elements. Increasing the application of rare earth catalysts in the petroleum industry can further increase the consumption of lanthanum and cerium, which has already been overproduced, and optimize the consumption structure of rare earth elements.

China needs to use 180,000 tons ~ 200,000 tons of oil cracking catalyst every year, according to the internationally accepted oil cracking catalyst lanthanum, cerium content of 4%~6% of the standard, the annual required amount of lanthanum and cerium is about 8,000 tons ~ 12,000 tons.With the implementation of higher standards for refined oil products, CNPC, Sinopec and CNOOC will once again increase the amount of lanthanum and cerium in petroleum catalytic cracking agent, which is a great benefit to the upper and middle reaches of rare earth.

Secondly, the relevant government departments, especially the downstream application management departments, should play a positive role in promoting the comprehensive development of the industry with policy synergy.Further processing and application products of lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth products shall be included in the list of encouraging development, and enterprises producing corresponding products shall be provided with financial support;The establishment of relevant R&D funds and key projects will be inclined to the deep processing and application fields of lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth elements;Local governments should also pay attention to the implementation of deep-processing projects of lanthanum and cerium and other rare earth elements.

The most effective way is to establish the linkage mechanism of trade, production and scientific research at home and abroad, to feed back the new demands of users for lanthanum and cerium products to the production and scientific research departments in time, to drive the deep processing of the excess resources such as lanthanum and cerium, and to improve the market competitiveness of the products.Efforts should be made to research and develop new applications of lanthanum and cerium, increase the application of lanthanum and cerium in metal smelting, agriculture and environmental protection, and try to solve the problem of unbalanced application.At the same time, strengthen the research and development of rare earth related equipment production, break the bottleneck of key technology and equipment in the production of rare earth functional materials, and improve the grade of products.