Chemical Week - November 4/11
Polymer catalysts set for growth
Sotirios Frantzanas 2024-11-08 07:27:54
Innovation, sustainability, regulation to drive medium-term expansion
The polymer catalysts market is expected to continue growing in the medium term, with polyolefin catalysts forecast to outpace global GDP. Supporting sustainability in polymers and the elimination of dangerous chemicals are among the main trends and priorities identified by some of the leaders in the field.
Nouryon BV told CW that it anticipates the market will see another year of modest growth in 2025, with expansion likely thereafter. Demand for polymerization catalysts is directly linked to the production of polymers, which are dependent on key end markets such as packaging, automotive, construction and consumer durables, the company said. These sectors are forecast to improve as inflation decreases and policy stimuli, such as interest rate cuts, begin to take effect.
There are challenges around the Chinese market, but strong market growth is foreseen in certain other regions, particularly India, Nouryon said. Europe will remain under pressure in the current challenging environment before conditions stabilize, while fundamental market growth is expected in other regions, highlighting a geographic shift in market dynamics, the company added.
“We believe that the majority of destocking has concluded, aligning the demand for initiators more closely with actual polymer needs. Longer term, we expect the transition towards sustainable energy and mobility will drive increased market demand for plastics and specific catalysts used to produce the polymers consumed in these sectors,” Nouryon said.
The polyolefin catalysts market was the largest polymerization catalysts market in 2023, with a share of 50%-60%, equivalent to about $5 billion-$6 billion from a total of approximately $10.5 billion, according to the recently published Overview of the Specialty Chemicals Industry report by S&P Global Commodity Insights’ Specialty Chemicals Update Program (SCUP).
Polyolefin catalysts include chromium-based catalysts (Phillips catalyst), titanium-based catalysts (Ziegler-Natta catalyst) and single-site catalysts (metallocene or late transition metal catalysts), the report said.
Polyolefin catalysts are expected to grow at a higher pace than global GDP over the next five years, driven by “dynamic” regional growth patterns, Thomas Deman, president/specialty catalysts, supply chain and procurement at W.R. Grace & Co., told CW. Increased demand for innovation and sustainability in food packaging and infrastructure end markets are driving the need for high-performance polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), including grades that enable recyclability downstream, Deman said.
“China will remain the biggest polyolefin market and India is expected to see the largest growth in polyolefin demand. We also expect North America, the Middle East and India to lead the next wave of polyolefin capacity additions. The current sluggish end-market demand and polyolefin oversupply conditions will challenge polyolefin producers to think differently about how to position themselves for success in the short- to medium term. We expect that feedstock-disadvantaged regions, such as Europe, will see asset rationalizations,” Deman noted.
Strong growth continues for PP, compared with other large-volume polymer catalyst markets, at about 1.5 times world GDP, according to Jens Cuntze, president/catalysts and Asia-Pacific and member of the executive steering committee at Clariant. Demand for PP catalysts is growing faster than PP capacity growth, and new projects over the past five years have added demand at an annual rate of 4.7%, Cuntze said.
“While there are large regional differences in terms of market maturity, replacement of other materials such as glass and other plastics will continue to drive the overall demand growth of PP resins and catalysts globally. PP is moving further into the specialty performance area, toward replacement of polystyrene and ABS [acrylonitrilebutadiene-styrene] in thermoforming and injection molding for packaging, EVs/automotive and general consumer use in appliances,” he said.
The polymerization catalysts market was the largest process catalysts market in 2023, accounting for 41% of the world market for process catalysts, according to the SCUP report. Chemical process catalysts accounted for 35% and refining catalysts for 24%, it said.
Sustainability is driving shifts in polymer usage patterns and the types of polymers being utilized. The fast-growing solar industry is consuming large amounts of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and polyolefin elastomers (POEs), Nouryon said. This shift necessitates changes in the catalysts and initiation systems supplied to the polymer industry, the company said.
The catalysts and initiators used in polymerization have no pronounced impact on sustainability considerations in most cases, Nouryon said. This is because they are used in such minimal quantities within a completely contained industrial environment that they are under the threshold of being incorporated into customers’ carbon footprints, it said. The products also decompose during use, and their substance properties are generally of no concern for the end product, it added.
“However, we do invest significantly in improving our carbon footprint and sustainability impact, driven more by our own targets than by market requests,” Nouryon said.
Recycling has emerged as one of the crucial areas of sustainability in the polymer industry. One of the main recycling methods is advanced recycling, or chemical recycling, which breaks down polymers into their basic building blocks for reuse, Nouryon said.
Polymer recycling does not affect demand for catalysts and initiators because these elements are essential for the production of new polymers, Nouryon said. The company added that catalysis has theoretical potential to reduce energy requirements when breaking down polymers into their basic building blocks in advanced recycling, but practical implementation is still in development.
Meanwhile, most catalysts can themselves be regenerated because they are not consumed in the process, Nouryon said. “However, in general, catalysts used in our polymer production do not withstand the production cycle and therefore cannot be regenerated. Consequently, the decomposed elements either integrate into the polymer itself or end up in side streams such as wastewater,” the company said.
Nouryon’s initiators decompose during polymer production to form free radicals that initiate the polymerization process, it said. “The catalysts and co-catalysts used in the process decompose either during polymerization or subsequent treatments, leaving low parts per million [ppm] or parts per billion [ppb] levels of decomposition products in the final polymer,” Nouryon said.
Grace’s polyolefins business has grown 2.5 times in the last 25 years, and the company is working to support improvements in production and disposal of plastics, Deman said. “In fact, we are well positioned to support the technical evolution to circularity and recyclability of post-consumer plastics. We are committed to working to reduce our own environmental footprint and to partnering with our customers in helping them achieve their sustainability objectives. Our biggest impact will be made through catalyst innovation,” Deman added.
Grace’s ActivCat catalyst technology produces performance resins for flexible film applications that can be downgauged, delivering material savings while enabling mono-material laminate films and cleaner polymers that are easier to recycle downstream, Deman said.
In addition, Grace scientists have developed a new plastic recycling solution using chemical catalysts to help meet the demands of the evolving circular economy, he said. Grace’s CirFlex has the potential to reduce emissions, save energy and lower costs compared with other options, he added.
Clariant’s Cuntze said that the biggest trend the company has seen in the past few years is a strong shift toward non-phthalate-containing catalysts, with increasingly stringent customer requirements.
“Clariant is already offering alternative drop-in catalyst solutions that can address these issues and our portfolio will continue to expand within this area. Thanks to the support of Clariant’s corporate environmental safety and health affairs and product stewardship teams, we can offer detailed tests and study results to confirm that Clariant polypropylene catalysts fulfil all the regulatory requirements for toxicity and migration limits,” he said.
Cuntze added that eliminating toxic chemicals that form part of the catalyst composition remains the major driver for new catalyst development. Clariant sees product safety and performance as the core elements for any new catalyst, so research and development plays a key role for developing its portfolio, Cuntze said.
Regulatory requirements triggered a more rapid development of advanced performance catalysts in the last 15 years than in the previous 50 years, offering operational improvement and polymer portfolio development, while delivering cost benefits to users, he added.
For Grace, the elimination of hazardous chemicals is an important objective in the company’s development of new polyolefin catalysts, according to Deman. “At Grace, we see catalyst innovation as a powerful way to support the industry as regulations evolve. For example, our non-phthalate CONSISTA catalyst system eliminates the use of phthalates while enhancing plant efficiency, enabling the production of polypropylene resins with reduced volatile organic compounds, benefiting both production and end-use safety,” Deman said.
Nouryon’s technology primarily relies on free-radical initiation, during which the products decompose into mostly nonharmful elements. Certain products utilize carriers that, together with some decomposition products, can persist in the final polymer. In these instances, Nouryon strives to employ safe carriers and/or chemistries that meet the stringent standards required for various end applications. This ensures compliance with the highest industry standards, it said.
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