Global production capacity

The global production capacities for thermoplastics (2000) are indicated in Tables 10.1 and 10.2. 

As the new players from Asia in general are still small compared to the big European companies and have relatively small production capacities only, their 50% share of the exhibitors at CPhl does not correspond to 40% of the global production capacity. Furthermore, their capacity utilization in terms of /m per year generally has not yet reached European standards. 

Overall, the clash between an increased number of players and a boost of global production capacity on one hand and an overall sluggish demand on the other hand has created a highly competitive environment. In order to avoid plant closures, hne-chemical companies accepted prices that covered only variable costs, in some cases even only part of them. 

Global production capacity for aziridine is more than 12 000 tonnes per year (Scherr et al., 1995). Information available in 1995 indicated that it was produced in Germany and Japan (Chemical Information Services, 1995). 

Table 8.1 overviews the H202 capacity of the main producers. The market is dominated by two companies (Solvay and Degussa) with about 30% and 20% of the share of the main producers. Two other companies (FMC and Arkema) have a share above 10%, while all the other are present with a lower market percentage. Note, however, that global production capacity is higher because only the main producers appear in Table 8.1. 

Aniline s global production capacity in 1999 was 2.9 million tonnes, and demand in 2000 was estimated to be 2.68 million tonnes per year. The capacity in 1999 was found in these regions Western Europe - 47%, North America -30% and Asia / Pacific -19%140,256. In 2000 China had over 20 aniline producers with a total capacity that exceeded 200,000 tonnes per year. Aniline production in 1999 in China was 142,700 for a utilization rate of around 70%. Historical production in the United States is summarized in Table 20.2255. 

Ammonia is the second largest synthetic commodity manufactured by the chemical industry, with the global production capacity exceeding 140 million metric tons. Haber, in 1909, demonstrated that ammonia can be produced at a high pressure by the reaction... 

Global production capacity for biodegradable polymers has grown dramatically since the mid 1990s. In 1995, production was mainly on a pilot-plant basis with total worldwide capacity amounting to no more than 25-30,000 tonnes. In 2005, global capacity for biodegradable polymers was around... 

Polylactide (PLA) is the leading polymer type among biodegradables with global production capacity for this material amounting to about 250,000 tonnes per annum in 2005. Starch-based polymer capacity is approaching 60,000 tonnes per annum. 

The global demand for methanol has increased about 8%/yr from 1991 to 1995. The global production capacity of methanol has expanded by about 5.1 million metric tons, or 23% in the same time period. Leading the growth is increased methanol demand for MTBE and formaldehyde production. The world methanol supply/demand balance is shown in Table 3.19. 

Fig. 14.1 a Global plastic production in 1950-2015 time frame, b Global production capacity of bio-based polymers in 2008-2015 time frame... 

Source From European Bioplastics/University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanova- (2012). Percentage of the total global production capacity. 

Growing importance of BPA as the chemical intermediate is particularly connected with rapidly expanding fields of polycarbonates and epoxy resins. Presently, the main market for BPA is in production of the polycarbonates (66% of the BPA in global production capacity), and the primary commercial method for their synthesis is a homogeneous (usually in pyridine) or an interfacial polycondensation of BPA with phosgene as shown in Figure 7.13. 

Tran Tech Consultants Inc. - Estimate of global production capacity for polyacrylamides/ polyacrylates in 2004. 

I 5 Raw Materials, Products, Environmental Aspects, and Costs of Chemical Technologf Table 5.3.7 Industrially important organic acids and their global production capacities. 

Table 6.8 Global production capacities of bioplastics in the years 2010-2017 ...

Table 6.9 Global production capacity of bioplastics by type (total capacity 1,161,200 tonnes in 2011) ...

Most zirconium is used as an oxide in commercial applications. Only a few percent is converted to the metal and used in chemical process industries because of its excellent corrosion resistance, while a special grade of zirconium is used in the nuclear industry. There are no official statistics for the production and consumption of zirconium metal. The annual global production capacity is estimated approximately at 85001, and total production/consumption is about 7000 t/year. The main applications of zirconium metal are for the nuclear energy and chemical process industries. About 85% of zirconium metal, 5000-6000 t/year, is used in the nuclear industry. Commercial-quality zirconium still contains 1 -3% hafnium. This contaminant is unimportant except in nuclear applications. For nuclear reactor materials, the zirconium metal should have a very low hafnium content of less than 0.01 wt%. Most Zr metal is produced by the reduction of the zirconium (ZrCy chloride with magnesium metal in the Kroll process. 

The earliest mention of benzoic acid appears in the sixteenth century. The substance received its name from gum bezoin, the plant from whose resin it was first derived. This plant was for a long time the only source for this acid. In the nineteenth century, benzoic acid was synthesized from coal tar. Today it is manufactured by treating molten phthalic anhydride with steam in the presence of a zinc oxide catalyst, by the hydrolysis of benzo-trichloride, or by the oxidation of toluene with nitric acid or sodium dichromate or with air in the presence of a transition metal salt catalyst. The estimated global production capacity for this acid is about 600,000 tonnes per year. 

Holmes M. Global production capacities will increase. Plast Addit Compound 2008 10 1-11. 

BASF is the second largest supplier of polyamide resins in the world with global production capacity for its Ultramid polyamide of around 340,000 tpa in 2002. In Europe, BASF has plants in Antwerp, Belgium and Ludwigshafen, Germany. Total European capacity is estimated at close to... 

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