Polyethylene Product Attributes that Resulted in Rapid Growth

1 Polyethylene Product Attributes that Resulted in Rapid Growth 

The primary markets for polyethylene (mostly LDPE provided by the high-pressure process) during this high growth period are summarized in Table 5.7 for the period 1954-1960 [1]. 

Cost of 60 million pound/year in a plant 40 million 315 milhon 

Note Inflation adjustment to convert 1955 dollars into 2009 dollars is an increase by a factor of 7.87. In 2010 the approximate capital costs for the construction of a state-of-the-art polyethylene manufacturing facility was about 0.2-0.40 US dollars per pound of capacity, with a typical plant annual capacity of500-1,500 million pounds of polyethylene. The commercial price of polyethylene in 2014 is in the range of 1.00 1.30 per pound. 

Examination of the structure of cellophane shows that this is a polar, rigid material which accoxmts for the very different set of chemical and physical properties (see Table 5.8) when compared to polyethylene. Because of these differences, polyethylene became the material of choice for the majority of film applications starting in the 1950s. 

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