Tightening global environmental regulations are reshaping the perchloroethylene (PCE) industry landscape. Regulatory measures in major markets including China, the U.S., and the EU are exerting full-chain control covering production, application, and disposal, driving the industry through profound transformations in cost restructuring, technological upgrading, and market differentiation.
A clear restrictive timeline has been established at the policy level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule at the end of 2024, mandating a complete ban on PCE use in dry cleaning after December 2034. Third-generation outdated dry cleaning equipment will be phased out starting 2027, with only NASA retaining an exemption for emergency applications. Domestic policies have been upgraded in tandem: PCE is classified as hazardous waste (HW41), with the 8-hour average indoor concentration strictly limited to 0.12mg/m³. Fifteen key cities including Beijing and Shanghai will implement stricter VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) standards in 2025, requiring product content ≤50ppm.
Policies have directly pushed up enterprise compliance costs. Dry cleaners must replace open-type equipment, with a single store renovation cost ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 yuan; non-compliant businesses face fines of 200,000 yuan and closure risks. Production enterprises are mandated to install real-time VOCs monitoring devices, with a single set investment exceeding 1 million yuan, and environmental compliance costs now account for over 15% of total costs. Waste disposal costs have multiplied: the disposal fee for spent PCE reaches 8,000 to 12,000 yuan per ton, 5-8 times higher than ordinary waste. Production hubs like Shandong have implemented electricity price surcharges for enterprises failing to meet energy efficiency standards.
Industry structure is accelerating differentiation, with technological upgrading becoming a survival imperative. On the production side, technologies such as membrane separation and advanced catalysis have increased product purity to over 99.9% while reducing energy consumption by 30%. Technologically leading enterprises enjoy a profit margin 12-15 percentage points higher than traditional counterparts. The application sector exhibits a “high-end retention, low-end exit” trend: 38% of small and medium-sized dry cleaning stores have withdrawn due to cost pressures, while chain brands like Weishi have gained an edge through integrated recovery systems. Meanwhile, high-end fields such as electronics manufacturing and new energy electrolytes retain 30% of the market share due to performance requirements.
The commercialization of alternative technologies is accelerating, further squeezing the traditional market. Hydrocarbon solvents, with moderate renovation costs of 50,000 to 80,000 yuan, have achieved a 25% market share in 2025 and qualify for 20-30% government subsidies. Despite high equipment investment of 800,000 yuan per unit, liquid CO₂ dry cleaning has seen annual penetration growth of 25% thanks to zero-pollution advantages. D30 environmental solvent oil reduces VOCs emissions by 75% in industrial cleaning, with a market scale exceeding 5 billion yuan in 2025.
Market size and trade structure are adjusting simultaneously. Domestic PCE demand shrinks by 8-12% annually, with the average price expected to drop to 4,000 yuan per ton in 2025. However, enterprises have offset domestic gaps through exports to Belt and Road countries, with export volume surging by 91.32% year-on-year in January-May 2025. Imports are shifting toward high-end products: in the first half of 2025, import value growth (31.35%) far outpaced volume growth (11.11%), and over 99% of high-end electronic-grade products still rely on imports from Germany.
In the short term, industry consolidation will intensify; in the medium to long term, a pattern of “high-end concentration and green transformation” will take shape. It is expected that 30% of small and medium-sized dry cleaning stores will exit by the end of 2025, and production capacity will be reduced from 350,000 tons to 250,000 tons. Leading enterprises will focus on high-value-added products such as electronic-grade PCE through technological upgrading, with the proportion of green solvent business gradually increasing.
Post time: Dec-11-2025