Isoctanoic acid is a high value-added fine chemical in the downstream derivatives of propylene. In recent years, with the development of national economy and the growth of isoctanoic acid consumption market, the research and production of isoctanoic acid in China have made new progress.

According to the quality of isoctanoic acid, isoctanoic acid can be used in industrial, pharmaceutical, catalyst, synthetic resin fields, among which pharmaceutical, catalyst, high-end paint ink and other fields have higher requirements for isoctanoic acid.

At present, iso-octanol oxidation is the main research direction of iso-octanol production methods, and iso-octanol industrial synthesis methods include iso-octanol oxidation and butanaldehyde condensation hydrooxidation. Because of the wide range of uses of isoctanoic acid, the consumer market is expanding.

At present, the production of isoctanoic acid by butyraldehyde is more than 80% in the world. The main foreign manufacturers include BASF, Hoechest and Huls in Germany, and Estman and Union in the United States.

According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 10 isoctanoic acid production enterprises in China with a total production capacity of about 50,000 tons. The main production enterprises include Liaoning Shenyang Zhangming Chemical Co., LTD., Jiangxi Jintai Chemical Co., LTD., Henan Dancheng Kaijie Technology Co., LTD.

In recent years, the downstream scale of isoctanoic acid in China has been expanding, leading to the increasing demand for isoctanoic acid, and some products rely on imports. According to incomplete statistics, China's annual import volume of isoctanoic acid is 8-12 kt, mainly from Japan and Germany, and a small amount from other countries such as South Korea.

Chinese enterprises should produce products of different quality and specifications according to the demands of different users, especially to increase the production and development of high purity isoctanoic acid. Although the demand in these fields is not as large as the coating industry, but used as pharmaceutical raw materials, catalysts and initiators and other fields of high purity products, relatively high added value, can obtain good economic benefits.