Market polymers

The polymer market ia the United States is dominated by synthetics with natural polymers constituting about one-eighth ia monetary terms (88). Of the synthetic polymers, most are based on acrylamide. A Hst of producers is as follows producers ia the left-hand column also produce polyamines and p oly qu atemarie s. 

The uniqueness of methyl methacrylate as a plastic component accounts for its industrial use in this capacity, and it far exceeds the combined volume of all of the other methacrylates. In addition to plastics, the various methacrylate polymers also find appHcation in sizable markets as diverse as lubricating oil additives, surface coatings (qv), impregnates, adhesives (qv), binders, sealers (see Sealants), and floor poHshes. It is impossible to segregate the total methacrylate polymer market because many of the polymers produced are copolymers with acrylates and other monomers. The total 1991 production capacity of methyl methacrylate in the United States was estimated at 585,000 t/yr. The worldwide production in 1991 was estimated at about 1,785,000 t/yr (3). 

With the exception of use in the manufacture of polymers, markets for chlorobenzenes are mature, and demand is expected to show Htde if any growth in the next few years. 

Because of increased production and the lower cost of raw material, thermoplastic elastomeric materials are a significant and growing part of the total polymers market. World consumption in 1995 is estimated to approach 1,000,000 metric tons (3). However, because the melt to soHd transition is reversible, some properties of thermoplastic elastomers, eg, compression set, solvent resistance, and resistance to deformation at high temperatures, are usually not as good as those of the conventional vulcanized mbbers. AppHcations of thermoplastic elastomers are, therefore, in areas where these properties are less important, eg, footwear, wine insulation, adhesives, polymer blending, and not in areas such as automobile tires. 

Controlled polymerisation of ethylene oxide under alkaline conditions will produce a range of polymers marketed under the trade name Carbowax. These have molecular weights in the range 1500-20000 and are greases or waxes according to their degree of polymerisation. Lower molecular weight polymers... 

Principles and Characteristics Although it might appear that MALDI-ToFMS should perform particularly well only for the polymer part of polymer/additive systems, the technique also yields useful information about additives contained in UV-insensitive polymers, such as polyolefins. The latter materials are hardly an insignificant part of the total polymer market ... 

Commonly used monomers for UV curing include acrylates (7), styrene/unsaturated polyesters (8,9), and thiol-ene compositions (10-12). Currently, acrylate-functional systems constitute a major share of the UV curable polymers market, mainly due to their rapid curing via free radical chain polymerization. 

The remarkable increase in the Melting point of polyesters formed by the incorporation of the aromatic ring is because of the stiffening of the polymer backbone. Thus, a polyester like polyethylene terephthalate (PETP) has a high Melting point due to the presence of the aromatic ring and is commercially the most popular polymers marketed under the trade name of Terylene or Terene. 

Unfortunately these are expensive catalysts and they have not yet made a serious dent in the large-scale polymer market. However, specialty applications in food packaging, personal care, and medicine are being utilized. 

This section describes the major applications today and those expected in the future (loose till applications excluded). Each paragraph is divided into a part describing the application in general and a part specific for Ecoflex or Ecovio . An overview of applications and volumes for the whole biodegradable polymer market in 2007... 

Platt DK (2006) Biodegradable polymers market report. Rapra Technology, Smithers Rapra,... 

Another Essential Aspect in Developing a New Polymer—Market Development... 

To understand this dramatic increase in the use of PVC in competition with dozens of other plastic materials, we must look beyond the initial assumption that it has been solely a result of the Reclining price of the polymer. The spiraling consumption is primarily the result of the usefulness of the product. The declining price is the result of technological advances, mostly in the field of monomer production, plus increasing competition in polymer marketing. For example, in the United States the number of polymer producers has increased from six to 26 during the last 20 years. In other words, PVC is popular because of its versatility. 

Together with purified terephthalic acid, 1,3-propanediol is used to produce polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT), a polymer with remarkable "stretch-recovery" properties. The desirable attributes of PTT have been known since the 1940s, but high production costs prevented its entrance into the polymer market (29). In the 1990s, a new fossil-based route to 1,3-propanediol was developed enabling the production of PTT for higher-value applications, and PTT polymers were introduced into the market by DuPont and Shell Chemicals (29,30). 

Many amine-copper complexes, as well as a few amine complexes of other metals, and certain metal oxides have since been shown to induce similar reactions (17, 18, 22, 23, 30). This chapter is concerned largely with the mechanism of oxidative polymerization of phenols to linear polyarylene ethers most of the work reported has dealt with the copper-amine catalyzed oxidation of 2,6-xylenol, which is the basis for the commercial production of the polymer marketed under the trade name PPO, but the principal features of the reaction are common to the oxidative polymerization of other 2,6-disubstituted phenols. 

Western European Biodegradable Polymers Market Forecast.44... 

North American Biodegradable Polymers Market Forecast.46... 

Asia Pacific Biodegradable Polymers Market Forecast.48... 

Product development and improvement has a crucial role to play in the further development of the biodegradable polymers market. These include development of more reliable and lower cost raw materials for manufacture of biodegradable polymers, improvement in performance properties vis-a-vis standard thermoplastics, improvement in processing performance and development of new polymers and blends. 

There are around thirty suppliers actively involved in the world biodegradable polymers market in 2005. The synthetic biopolymers market is dominated by large, global and vertically integrated chemical companies such as BASF, DuPont, and Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals. The starch and PLA sectors contain mainly specialist biopolymer companies such as Novamont, NatureWorks LLC, Rodenburg Biopolymers and Biotec, which were specifically established purely to develop biodegradable polymers. 

The section also provides an analysis of biodegradable polymer market size and growth over the last five years for the three major world regions (Western Europe, North America and Asia Pacific), plus forecasts to 2010. 

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