Silica is a safe and environmentally friendly daily chemical additive, and has better performance in high-end applications. For example, as beer silica gel in food to make products taste better, and as an anti-caking agent in cosmetics, it is harmless to the environment.
1. Application and substitution of silica in the food field
Silica has the excellent properties of non-toxic, harmless, stable properties and large specific surface area, which is exactly in line with the characteristics of food anticaking agents and adsorbents, and is more high-quality and efficient than the original products.
In the field of table salt, silicon dioxide is not only non-toxic, but also has high resistance to caking, which is superior to potassium ferrocyanide and ferric ammonium citrate, and can be used as a green and healthy anti-caking agent in table salt products. .
In the field of beverages such as beer and fruit juice, silica can agglutinate turbid substances and has a clarifying effect. It can effectively remove turbid proteins in beer without affecting the quality of beer products, and the loss of beer in the whole process is very small. Compared with other filter aids, it has the advantages of less dosage and better effect, and has been widely used in the beer industry as a new type of environmentally friendly adsorbent.
In the field of edible oil, adding less silica can greatly reduce the amount of activated clay used, avoid the color of the edible oil being too light, not only can get better quality sunflower oil, but also help enterprises save production costs.
2. Application and substitution of silica in the field of cosmetics
Plastic microbeads have been banned from production due to environmental issues, and silica is widely used as an excellent ingredient in cosmetics. Silica is a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) ingredient in personal care products such as cosmetics and sunscreens, and its spherical, small particle size, and porous properties make it an anti-caking agent in the cosmetic field And thickener, can improve storage stability and dispersion of powder products, is widely used, such as dispensing lipstick and cosmetic pigments to help improve the free-flow properties of hair bleach and nail polish coating properties.
3. The growth of high-end daily chemical applications of silica is exploding
The domestic demand for reinforcing agent for silicone rubber may reach 350,000 tons in 2025, with a CAGR of 10%: silicone rubber is odorless and non-toxic, has a wide working temperature, good insulation, oxidation resistance, light resistance, mildew resistance, and chemical stability. With the improvement of people’s requirements for the quality of life, it is widely used in daily chemical consumption such as baby care products. At present, the per capita consumption of organic silicon in my country is only half of that in developed countries. SAGSI predicts that the CAGR of organic silicon products in the daily necessities/food industry in my country will reach about 20% in the next five years. Silica is an indispensable reinforcing agent and binder. , the average annual growth rate is expected to be about 10%.
The fields of food and cosmetics are relatively scattered, and the potential space for consumption upgrade is huge. The global demand for silica used in food and cosmetics can reach 100,000 tons. According to Euromonitor data, the international market demand for silica used in cosmetic thickeners in 2021 is 50,000 tons, and the domestic demand is about 10,300 tons. The “China Rubber Industry Yearbook” data shows that in 2020, only about 5% of the domestic fumed silica will be used in the field of food, drug and cosmetics, about 10,000 tons. The high-end trend of food and cosmetics under the consumption upgrade will undoubtedly increase the demand for silica. Euromonitor International predicts that the potential market size of domestic cosmetics in 2025 will reach a CAGR of 11%. The demand for silica in the cosmetics field is also expected to maintain the same growth rate as the cosmetics industry, and the global demand is predicted to reach 100,000 tons.
The trend of high-end beer in food is in the ascendant, the price of products continues to rise, and consumers’ demands for product quality and taste also increase accordingly. In 2021, the domestic beer output will be 35.62 million kiloliters. The data of Japan’s Kirin Holdings (Kirin) shows that the global beer output will be in 2018. It has reached 191.06 billion liters. According to the assumption that the addition of beer silica gel is 0.03%-0.06%, the domestic demand for beer silica gel will reach 10,000-20,000 tons, and the global demand will be 6-120,000 tons.