Polyvinyl chloride markets

Another important and growing market for plastics is the automotive field. Many automobile parts are now made of plastics. Among the most used polymers are polystyrene polymers and copolymers, polypropylene, polycarbonates, and polyvinyl chloride. These materials reduce the cost and the weight of the cars. As a result, gasoline consumption is also reduced. 

Another advantage cited for organic electronics is their perceived low environmental impact and high expected consumer safety. This assumption is generally based on the notion that plastics are easily recycled and are considered safe to humans and animals. However, the materials used are often completely new compositions with poorly understood health and safety attributes. The assumption that all plastics are completely safe for humans is inaccurate, as is exemplified by recent concerns about the toxicity of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).39 In contrast, most inorganic nanoparticle materials are already on the consumer market and have extensive historical data on their safety in a variety of applications. Some materials, such as zinc oxide, are even considered reasonably safe for ingestion and therefore are commonly used in food and cosmetics. However, the health effects and interactions of nanoparticles on the human body are still a topic of debate.40... 

Before World War II, German developed a synthetic fibre from polyvinyl chloride. In America, a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate was marketed as Vinyon . Dow chemical marketed as Saran a copolymer from vinylidene chloride and vinyl chloride. Saran fibre is characterised by its remarkable resistance of most of chemical reagents and fire. 

We have updated, edited, and rewritten every chapter in this book and even added two more chapters, qualifying us to use the advertisers mantra, New and Improved. ARer 10 years in the market place, the need to create a third edition came to us like a paper cur from licking an envelope. We were rereading parts of the 1990 edition — the chapters on polymers — and noted we said that a big market for polyvinyl chloride was phonograph records. Later on we said, probably all the wood on the front of your console TV is polystyrene. Well, lifestyles change with time and so do technologies, stimulating us to produce a new, more usehd edition. 

Large scale production of Vinylite resins, vinyl chloride-acetate copolymers, was started in 1933, at which time the material was marketed as molding compounds for the fabrication of phonograph records, dentures, rigid panels, and novelties (21). Several years elapsed before the introduction of highly plasticized polyvinyl chloride sheeting and the resultant widening market. 

Fig. 1. US total sales and captive use of selected thermoplastic resins by major market for 2001. Major market volumes are derived from plastic resins sales and captive use data as compiled by VERIS Consulting, LLC and reported by the American Plastics Council s Plastic Industry Producers Statistics Group. Selected thermoplastics are low-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, nylon, polyvinyl chloride, thermoplastic polyester, engineering resins, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, other styrenics, polystyrene, and styrene butadiene latexes. (Data from ref. 25.)...

The key industrial applications and markets for normal and isobutanol and 2-ethylhexanol are discussed. As will be noted, the C4 oxo alcohols find use primarily within the coatings industry, either as solvents, per se, or as intermediates to manufacture solvents or protective coatings chemicals. Applications for 2-ethylhexanol, while numerous and varied, are basically oriented toward the manufacture of plasticizers for polyvinyl chloride. Total U.S. consumption of these alcohols in 1979 was approximately 1.3 billion pounds -730 million pounds of n-butanol, 190 million pounds of isobutanol, and 380 million pounds of 2-ethylhexanol. The consumption pattern is summarized in Table II and described in the following sections ... 

In 2001 it was estimated that the world merchant market for catalysts was worth ca. US 25 billion, divided roughly equally between refining, petrochemicals, polymers, environmental (20-25% each) and with about 11% being used in fine chemicals. Refining is about the production of fuels (Chapter 3, Box 2), petrochemicals cover many of the basic commodity chemicals and the monomers required for the polymer industries fine chemicals include pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, as well as flavours and fragrances and environmental is about exhaust gas and waste product clean-up. Vehicle catalytic converters use catalysts, as does the production of the main tonnage polymers polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride and polyethylene terephthalate. 

Any post-consumer plastic stream will contain some halogens in the form of polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, brominated flame retardants, halogenated additives, food waste, or salt. Therefore, two issues must be considered. First, the gas stream resulting from the depolymerization of plastics must be scrubbed to remove any halogenated gases to satisfy emissions controls. Second, halogens in the liquid product must be minimized to increase its value and marketability. Therefore the Conrad process has been developed. It is a robust process unit that can accommodate a variable feedstream and produce a consistent product, free of nonhydrocarbon impurities by low feed preparation costs. 

Lead-acid batteries were developed in 1859 by Plante. Scientists including Faure, Volk-mar, Brush, Gladstone, Tudor, Phillipart, and Woodward among others, contributed to improve Plante s cell and to create the lead-acid battery designs that are now available in the market. Lead-acid batteries use lead dioxide as cathode material, metallic lead as negative material, and a sulfuric acid solution as electrolyte. Different materials are used as separator, for example, microporous rubber, cellulose, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, and glass fiber. The cell reactions are... 

Following the war, Solvay expanded its output in its European factories and built new ones in Italy, Greece, and other countries. It maintained ties with all its earlier allies except, of course, with Russia, where its properties had been confiscated. Before World War I, however, it had done little to commercialize new chemicals through process technologies, as Dow had done in the United States. But it did move into polymer/petrochemicals quickly after World War II. In 1949 Solvay initiated the production of polyvinyl chloride, becoming a European leader in that basic polymer commodity. The company then entered into the production of HDPB in 1959 and PP in 1966. Shortly thereafter, it began to produce a variety of end-products in the manner of the American companies for use in both consumer and industrial chemical lines. In 1974 Solvay returned to the U.S. markets, setting up headquarters in Deer Park, Texas. By that time its soda ash and caustic soda processes had become obsolete.3 ... 

A more recent example of the rise and decline of an important product is rayon. As the first mass-produced synthetic fiber, it had phenomenal growth between World War I and II, capturing a large share of the cotton and silk markets. Competition from nylon and polyesters as well as improved cotton products, caused rayon s popularity to wane, resulting in a very small share of the total fiber market. Cellophane is another product that lost its market share—in this case to polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, and polypropylene wrapping films. 

Data from Market Research Report of China Polyvinyl Chloride http //www.wanfang-data.com. 

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