Po|ys|yrene

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Hay 1997
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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I STRATEGIC ISSUES 1
A. INTEGRATION ISSUES 1
B. INTERMATERIAL COMPETITION 3
II INTRODUCTION 7
A. BACKGROUND 7
B. CHEMISTRY 10
1. Free Radical Polymerization Mechanism 12
(a) Initiation 13
(b) Propagation 14
(c) Termination 14
2. Zeigler-Natta (Metallocene) Polymerization Mechanism 15
C. COPOLYMERIZATION - HIGH IMPACT POLYSTYRENE (HIPS) 21
III PROCESS TECHNOLOGY 22
A. BULK (MASS) PROCESS 22
1. Reactor Design Used in Polymerization 23
2. Devolatilization 26
3. Copolymerization 27
4. Specific Designs 28
(a) Horizontal Polymerizers 28
(b) Tower-Type Polymerization 32
(c) Vertical CSTR Polymerization 35
(d) Mixer Polymerization 37
B. SUSPENSION PROCESS 39
C. SYNDIOTACTIC POLYSTYRENE 41
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IV ECONOMICS 49
A. BULK PROCESS 49
1. General Purpose Polystyrene 50
2. High Impact Polystyrene 54
3. Syndiotactic Polystyrene 59
B. SUSPENSION PROCESS 63
C. SUMMARY 65
D. VALUE OF INTEGRATION 67
V IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ON THE POLYSTYRENE
INDUSTRY 75
A. INTRODUCTION 75
B. UNITED STATES 75
1. 1990 U.S. Clean Air Act 75
2. Polystyrene Manufacturing 76
3. Solid Waste, Recycling, and Miscellaneous Environmental
Issues 77
(a) Environmental Concerns 77
(b) Applications Targeted for Deselection 80
(c) Applications Targeted for Recycling 81
C. WESTERN EUROPE 83
D. JAPAN 85
VI RECENT ADVANCES IN POLYSTYRENE TECHNOLOGY 88
VII COMMERCIAL ANALYSIS 92
A. UNITED STATES 92
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1. Demand 92
(a) Introduction 92
(b) Packaging and Disposables 97
(c) Electrical/Electronics/Appliances 100
(d) Consumer Products/Housewares 100
(e) Furniture and Furnishings 101
(f) Building and Construction 101
(g) Miscellaneous 101
2. Supply 101
3. Supply/Demand Balance 104
B. WESTERN EUROPE 104
1. Demand 104
(a) Introduction 104
(b) GPPS/HIPS Demand 109
(1) Packaging 109
(2) Electrical/Electronics 111
(3) Consumer/Housewares 112
(4) Furniture/Furnishings 112
(5) Building/Construction 113
(6) Toys 113
(7) Other 114
(c) EPS Demand 114
(1) Building/Construction 114
(2) Packaging 115
2. Supply 115
(a) GPPS/HIPS Supply 115
(b) EPS Supply 116
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3. Supply/Demand Balance 118
(a) GPPS/HIPS Trade 118
(b) EPS Trade 118
C. JAPAN 119
1. Demand 119
2. Supply 128
D. SOUTHEAST ASIA 130
1. Demand 130
2. Supply 134
3. Supply/Demand Balance 137
E. GLOBAL SUMMARY 130
1. Demand 139
2. Supply 141
3. Trade 144
REFERENCES 146
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TABLES
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Table I.A.1 Level of Styrenics Integration 2
Table I.A.2 U.S. Gulf Coast Comparison of Nonintegrated and Integrated
Polystyrene Production Cost Economics, 1996 3
Table I.B.1 Property Comparison of Polystyrene and Polypropylene 4
Table I.B.2 Common Applications of Polystyrene and Polypropylene 4-5
Table II.A.1 Typical GPPS Resin Properties 8
Table II.A.2 Typical Properties of High Impact Polystyrene 10
Table III.A.1 Reactor Types and Degree of Mixing 23
Table III.A.2 Typical Styrene Specifications 31
Table III.C.1 SPS Polymerization Catalyst Parameters 42
Table IV.A.1 Comparison of Polystyrene Production Economics, U.S. Gulf
Coast Basis, 1996 51
Table IV.A.2 Cost Estimate of Polystyrene (GPPS) Production via Bulk
Polymerization, Plug Flow 52
Table IV.A.3 Cost Estimate of High Temperature Resistant Polystyrene
Production via Bulk Polymerization, Plug Flow 53
Table IV.A.4 HIPS Economic Summary, Bulk Process, U.S. Gulf Coast
Basis, 1996 54
Table IV.A.5 Cost Estimate of High Impact Polystyrene Production via Bulk
Polymerization, Plug Flow 56
Table IV.A.6 Cost Estimate of High Impact Polystyrene Production via Bulk
Polymerization, Tower Reactor 57
Table IV.A.7 Cost Estimate of High Impact Polystyrene via SDS Bulk Process 58
Table IV.A.8 Cost Estimate of Syndiotactic Polystyrene Production via
Bulk Process 60
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Table IV.B.1 Cost Estimate of Expandable Polystyrene via Suspension
Process 64
Table IV.C.1 Comparison of Polystyrene Production Costs, U.S. Gulf Coast
Basis, 1996 67
Table IV.D.1 U.S. Polystyrene Producer Integration, 1997 68
Table IV.D.2 Cost Estimate of Ethylene Production via Steam Cracking of
Light Naphtha 69
Table IV.D.3 Cost Estimate of Production of BTX from Reformate via CCR
Reforming/Reformate Extraction 70
Table IV.D.4 Cost Estimate of Styrene Production via Gas Phase Alkylation 71
Table IV.D.5 Cost Estimate of Ethylbenzene Production via Zeolite Alkylation 72
Table IV.D.6 Cost Estimate of Polystyrene (GPPS) Production via Bulk
Polymerization/Plug Flow, Styrene at Cash Cost 73
Table IV.D.7 U.S. Gulf Coast Comparison of Nonintegrated Polystyrene
Production Cost Economics, 1996 74
Table V.C.1 EU Packaging Directive Targets 84
Table V.D.1 MITI Guidelines for Recycling 86
Table VII.A.1 U.S. Polyester Demand by Application, 1993-2005 93
Table VII.A.2 U.S. Polystyrene Demand by Category, 1993-2005 95
Table VII.A.3 Polystyrene Capacity, 1996 103
Table VII.A.4 U.S. Polystyrene Supply/Demand Balance, 1993-2005 104
Table VII.B.1 West European Polystyrene Demand by Application, 1993-2005 106
Table VII.B.2 West European Polystyrene Demand by General Category,
1993-2005 106
Table VII.B.3 West European Polystyrene Capacity, 1996 117
Table VII.B.4 West European Polystyrene Supply/Demand Balance, 1993-2005 119
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Table VII.C.1 Japanese Polystyrene Demand, 1993-2005 120
Table VII.C.2 Japanese Polystyrene Demand by General Category, 1993-2005 123
Table VII.C.3 Japanese Polystyrene Capacity, 1996 129
Table VII.C.4 Japanese Polystyrene Supply/Demand Balance, 1993-2005 130
Table VII.D.1 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Demand, 1993-2005 131
Table VII.D.2 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Capacity, 1993-2005 134
Table VII.D.3 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Net Trade, 1993-2005 138
Table VII.D.4 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Supply/Demand Balance,
1993-2005 138
Table VII.E.1 Global Polystyrene Demand, 1993-2005 141
Table VII.E.2 Global Polystyrene Capacity, 1993 2005 142
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FIGURES
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Figure I.B.1 U.S. Polystyrene and Polypropylene Pricing, Cycle Case 6
Figure II.B.1 Polystyrene Structures 11
Figure II.B.2 Phenyl-Phenyl Interaction and Chain Propagation 20
Figure III.A.1 High Impact Polystyrene Bulk Process Steps 24
Figure III.A.2 Flowsheet of High Impact Polystyrene: Bulk Horizontal Reactor 30
Figure III.A.3 Flowsheet of High Impact Polystyrene: Bulk Tower Type Reactor 34
Figure III.A.4 Flowsheet of High Impact Polystyrene; CSTR Bulk Process 36
Figure III.A.5 Flowsheet of High Impact Polystyrene: Bulk SDS Process 38
Figure III.B.1 Flowsheet of Expanded Polystyrene: Batch Suspension Process 40
Figure III.C.1 Flowsheet of SPS Polymerization Process 44
Figure III.C.2 Flowsheet of SPS Polymer Recovery 45
Figure III.C.3 Flowsheet of SPS Process: Typical Finishing (Dry End) Area 46
Figure IV.A.1 Effect of Catalyst System Cost on SPS Production Cost, 1996 61
Figure IV.A.2 Syndiotactic Polystyrene Production Sensitivity to Plant
Capacity, 1996 62
Figure IV.C.1 Polystyrene Production Cost Comparison, U.S. Gulf Coast, 1996 66
Figure VII.A.1 U.S. Polystyrene Demand by Application, 1996 94
Figure VII.A.2 U.S. Polystyrene Demand by Category, 1996 96
Figure VII.B.1 West European Polystyrene Demand by Application, 1996 107
Figure VII.B.2 West European Polystyrene Demand by Category, 1996 108
Figure VII.C.1 Japanese Polystyrene Demand by Application, 1996 122
Figure VII.C.2 Japanese Polystyrene Demand by Category, 1996 124
Figure VII.D.1 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Demand by Country, 1996 133
Figure VII.D.2 Southeast Asian Polystyrene Capacity by Country, 1996 135
Figure VII.E.1 Global Polystyrene Demand by Region, 1996 140
Figure VII.E.2 Global Polystyrene Capacity by Region, 1996 143
Figure VII.E.3 Polystyrene Net Trade by Region, 1996 145