Trimanganese tetroxide is mainly used in the production of soft magnetic materials and cathode materials for lithium batteries. The main methods for preparing Trimanganese Tetroxide include metal manganese method, high-valent manganese oxidation method, manganese salt method and manganese carbonate method. The metal manganese oxidation method is the most mainstream process route at present. This method uses electrolytic manganese metal as raw material, and makes a manganese suspension by grinding, and oxidizes by passing air under the conditions of a specific temperature and catalyst, and finally obtains manganese tetraoxide products through filtration, washing, drying and other processes. Manganese sulfate is prepared by a two-step oxidation method. First, sodium hydroxide is added to the high-purity manganese sulfate solution to neutralize the precipitate, and after the precipitate is washed several times, oxygen is introduced to carry out the oxidation reaction. After that, the precipitate is continuously washed, filtered, aged, pulped, and dried to obtain high-purity trimanganese tetraoxide.
In recent years, driven by the overall demand for downstream soft magnetic materials and positive electrode materials such as lithium manganate, China’s output of manganese tetraoxide has continued to grow. The data shows that China’s output of manganese tetraoxide will reach 10.5 tons in 2021, an increase of about 12.4% over 2020. In 2022, as the overall growth rate of demand for lithium manganate and others has declined, the overall output is expected to increase slightly. In December 2022, China’s overall output of manganese tetraoxide reached 14,000 tons, a slight decrease from the previous month. Among them, the output of electronic grade and battery grade was 8,300 tons and 5,700 tons respectively, and the overall electronic grade accounted for a relatively high proportion, reaching about 60%. From 2020 to 2021, as China’s overall domestic downstream demand continues to rise, and the supply of upstream electrolytic manganese is declining, the raw materials will increase sharply, resulting in the overall price of manganese tetraoxide continuing to rise. Looking at the whole year of 2022, China’s overall domestic demand for manganese tetraoxide is sluggish and superimposed, the cost of raw material pressure has dropped, and the price has continued to decline. At the end of December, it was around 16 yuan/kg, which was a significant drop from nearly 40 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year.
From the perspective of the supply side, China’s production capacity and output of manganese tetraoxide rank first in the world, and its product quality ranks at the international advanced level. The top five enterprises in China’s production capacity account for more than 90% of the world’s total production capacity, mainly concentrated in Hunan, Guizhou, Anhui and other places. The production of manganese tetraoxide by leading enterprises ranks first in the world, accounting for about 50% of the domestic market in China. The company produces 5,000 tons of battery-grade manganese tetraoxide, which is mainly used in the manufacture of soft magnetic manganese-zinc ferrite, and in the manufacture of positive electrodes for lithium manganese oxide and lithium manganese iron phosphate lithium-sodium ion batteries. The company has newly added 10,000 tons of battery-grade manganese tetraoxide production capacity, which is expected to be released in Q2 in 2023.
The research team of UrbanMines Tech. Co., Ltd. uses desktop research combined with quantitative investigation and qualitative analysis to comprehensively and objectively analyze the overall market capacity, industrial chain, competition pattern, operating characteristics, profitability and business model of the manganese manganese tetroxide industry development. Scientifically use SCP model, SWOT, PEST, regression analysis, SPACE matrix and other research models and methods to comprehensively analyze relevant factors such as market environment, industrial policy, competition pattern, technological innovation, market risk, industry barriers, opportunities and challenges of the manganese manganese tetroxide industry. The research results of UrbanMines can provide important references for investment decisions, strategic planning, and industrial research of enterprises, scientific research, and investment institutions.