What drives the price gap between monoethanolamine and triethanolamine in China?

What drives the price gap between monoethanolamine and triethanolamine in China?
The price difference between MEA and TEA is fundamentally a production cost issue. TEA requires excess ethylene oxide feed and a longer reaction sequence, producing a mixed stream of MEA, DEA, and TEA that must be separated. Unlike MEA, which can be isolated by simple distillation, TEA's high viscosity, hygroscopicity, and thermal sensitivity demand multi-stage high-vacuum distillation. This raises equipment investment, energy consumption, and operational difficulty substantially. Buyers should expect TEA to carry a structural premium over MEA, and price negotiations should factor in these purification costs rather than comparing only feedstock values.