News
Expandable Polystyrene: From Production to Market Trends and Environmental Impact
June 20, 2024
Expandable polystyrene (EPS) is a versatile polymeric foam used in a vast range of commercial applications and industries, including packaging, construction (especially, when EPS is employed as an energy-efficient, durable, light, and robust insulation material), electronics, electrical goods, the automobile …
Polyphthalamide (PPA): The High-Performance Polymer Revolutionizing Various Applications
June 13, 2024
Polyphthalamide (PPA) is a high-performance engineering polymer with more advanced mechanical and thermal properties as compared to conventional commodity polymers. For instance, its melting point could peak 325°C, which is impressive for a polymer. In general, PPA is firmly embedded …
Dimethyl Terephthalate (DMT) & Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): Navigating Market Changes & Innovations
June 6, 2024
Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) is a high-production volume chemical intermediate, which is predominantly used to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other linear polyesters (e.g. polybutylene terephthalate). For example, dimethyl terephthalate can be applied to manufacture 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol, which is further employed to …
Acetone: A Critical Component in Diverse Industrial Sectors
May 27, 2024
Acetone is an important chemical compound used in a wide range of commercial applications. It plays a prominent role as an intermediate to manufacture such chemicals as methyl methacrylate (MMA), bisphenol-A (BPA), and methacrylic acid, which are in turn applied …
Titanium Dioxide: Market Trends and Production Insights
May 16, 2024
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an oxide of titanium and a mineral product that can be obtained from natural or synthetic sources. Natural titanium dioxide exists in three crystalline forms, i.e. anatase, rutile, and brookite. However, the bulk of pure titanium …
Potassium Hydroxide: A Global Market Overview and Future Prospects
May 7, 2024
Potassium hydroxide (KOH), also known as caustic potash, is a potassium salt that serves a wide range of end-use markets. These key end markets include the production of potassium carbonate and potassium phosphates, chemical intermediates, potassium salts, and other applications, …
Ethylbenzene Market: Balancing Industrial Demand with Environmental Responsibility
April 29, 2024
Ethylbenzene (EB) is an aromatic compound that is among the most popular building blocks in the chemical industry, together with benzene, toluene, and xylene. Ethylbenzene is traditionally produced by the alkylation of benzene with ethylene in the presence of a …
Aniline in the Modern World: Production Insights and Market Constraints
April 18, 2024
Aniline, also known as phenylamine or aminobenzene, is an aromatic amine compound within an important commodity value chain consisting of nitrobenzene, aniline, methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI production is a major outlet for aniline) and polyurethanes. It is used in a …
Polyphenylene Sulphide: Bridging Performance with Versatility in Advanced Applications
April 9, 2024
Polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) is a high-performance engineering thermoplastic which demonstrates a useful combination of properties, such as high thermal and dimensional stability, excellent chemical, corrosion and fire resistance, low toxicity, good rigidity and toughness, as well as excellent processing capacity. …
Polyisobutylene: Charting the Course of a High-Performance Elastomer in Global Industries
April 1, 2024
Polyisobutylene (PIB) is a thermoplastic elastomer whose properties vary from an oily liquid to a rubbery material, subject to a degree of polymerization. PIB grades could be of low, medium, and high molar mass, as well as conventional and highly …
Polyethylene Market: Charting the Course of the World’s Predominant Plastic
March 21, 2024
Polyethylenes (PEs) are generally referred to as homopolymers of ethylene, as well as ethylene copolymers with some olefins. Ethylene can be obtained by cracking ethane or naphtha, which are in turn derived from natural gas and oil, respectively. Fossil fuel-derived …
Polyarylsulfones: Revolutionizing High-Tech Industries with Grade Versatility and Multifunctionality
March 13, 2024
The large family of high-performance amorphous thermoplastic polymers is represented by polysulfone (PSU), polyphenylsulfone (PPSU), polyetherimide (PEI), and polyethersulfone (PESU). According to the polymer typology applied by BASF, polyarylsulfones comprise PSU, PESU, and PPSU. Polyarylsulfones are known for their high …
Polyvinyl Alcohol Market: Sustainable Focus & Stressed Macroeconomic Environment
March 1, 2024
Polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) is an acetylene-based polymer used in adhesives, films, packaging, paper, textile fibres, ceramics, agriculture, the oil industry, construction, and other applications and industries. PVOH is the product of the hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate. The latter is manufactured …
Ammonium Sulphate: Navigating Market Dynamics and Sustainability Concerns
February 21, 2024
Ammonium sulphate is an important nitrogen and sulphur fertilizer with a global output of over 30 million metric tonnes per year (or over 6 million metric tonnes by nitrogen content). As major contributors of soil nitrogen for synthetic N fertilization, …
Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT): Market Dynamics Amidst a Challenging Environment
February 8, 2024
Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) is a high-performance engineering polyester within a broader category of polycondensates. Being one of the most important polyesters, PBT resin is used primarily in the production of high-quality construction materials, especially for manufacturing cars (the largest end-sector …
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) Market: Thriving Amidst Macroeconomic Turbulence
January 31, 2024
Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) comprises a family of copolymers of ethylene and vinyl acetate. Ethylene vinyl acetates are highly customizable, for example, through varying the percentage rate of vinyl acetate in the copolymer. This augments the versatility of EVA applications …
Nitrile Rubber Market: Navigating Prominent Trends
January 23, 2024
Nitrile rubber (nitrile butadiene rubber or NBR) forms a broad group of synthetic rubber copolymers of acrylonitrile and butadiene. Patented by the chemists Erich Konrad and Eduard Tschunkur in 1934, nitrile rubber is produced by performing emulsion polymerization using butadiene …
Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM): The Essential Chemical in Modern Manufacturing
January 15, 2024
Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is an important chemical intermediate indispensable in the production of an extensive range of consumer and industrial commodities. It is involved in the complex value chains of various feedstock materials, intermediates, derivatives, and end-products. Polyvinyl acetate …
Hydrogen Cyanide Market: Balancing Industrial Demand with Safety Concerns
January 4, 2024
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN, also known as prussic acid) is a volatile liquid or gaseous organic compound and an important chemical intermediate used to manufacture such vital products as adiponitrile, hexamethylenediamine, methyl methacrylate, sodium cyanide, acetone cyanohydrin, methionine, cyanuric chloride and …
Polybutadiene Rubber Market: Navigating Major Trends, Prospects And Challenges
December 18, 2023
Polybutadiene (PBR) is an amorphous sticky material and a synthetic rubber acting as a viable alternative to natural rubber. The popularity of synthetic rubber has gained momentum since WWII. The production of tires and re-tread tires accounts for the bulk …
Polymethyl Methacrylate: Insights into the Evolving Market Landscape
December 7, 2023
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, acrylic glass) is a thermoplastic polymer obtained via radical chain-growth polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer. It can be represented by copolymers of MMA with acrylonitrile, styrene, α-methyl styrene, and acrylic esters. In combination with quartz or …
Polyvinyl Acetate: Comprehensive Insights into the Evolving Market Landscape
November 30, 2023
Polyvinyl acetate (PVA) is an important chemical derivative featuring all homopolymers and copolymers with the vinyl acetate content of at least 50%. PVA is embedded in an extended network of upstream and downstream chemical products. This network comprises such compounds …
The Versatile World of Liquid Crystal Polymers: Major Applications and Market Dynamics
November 15, 2023
Liquid crystal polymers (LCP) are high molecular weight materials and thermotropic (melt-orienting) thermoplastics with a capacity to enter a physical state (phase) between an ordered solid body and a disordered liquid. In other words, they combine the anisotropic physical properties …
Dioctyl Phthalate: Navigating the Complexities of a Global Market
November 2, 2023
Dioctyl phthalate (DOP or di-n-octyl phthalate, DnOP) belongs to a multi-functional class of high-tonnage chemical compounds known as phthalates, which are the esters of phthalic acid. Phthalates are added to various polymer materials (e.g. polyvinyl chloride or PVC) as plasticizers …
Styrene Market: Navigating Global Dynamics, Sustainability Trends & Technological Advances
October 16, 2023
Styrene is an organic hydrocarbon and an aromatic monomer manufactured from petroleum feedstock, specifically ethylbenzene, via various technological pathways, namely ethylbenzene dehydrogenation, oxidation, oxidative conversion, or side-chain chlorination. Ethylbenzene in turn can be produced by liquid-phase alkylation of benzene with …