Phenol/Acetone '02: Acetone demand boost needed

22 May 2002 17:44  [Source: ICIS news]

MADRID (CNI)--A technology solution for the growing imbalance in the supply and demand of acetone was called for on Wednesday by Ben Fitzpatrick, business manager for phenol/acetone at Shell Chemicals at the ICIS-LOR World Phenol/Acetone* conference here.

Acetone demand is predicted to grow at only 3%/year compared to 5.4%/year for phenol, with which it is co-produced. Fitzpatrick predicted that supply could exceed demand by 300 000-600 000 tonne/year by 2006 and over 800 000 tonne/year by 2011.

This situation could worsen with the commercialisation of new processes based on isobutene or ethylene feedstocks to make methyl methacrylate (MMA), a traditional outlet for acetone. These new MMA processes are said to have 30% lower costs than the acetone cyanohydrin route. They also offer environmental benefits.

New applications are needed to consume acetone, said Fitzpatrick. One possible solution is Mitsui Petrochemical’s process that recycles acetone back to propylene. However, he noted that this process is quite expensive.

Shell is evaluating a process for manufacturing isopropyl alcohol (IPA) from acetone. However, Fitzpatrick said it only makes sense with the shutdown of existing plants that make IPA from propylene and any project needs careful evaluation.

*The 2^nd ICIS-LOR World Phenol/Acetone conference concludes tomorrow. ICIS-LOR is a sister company of CNI.

By: Peter Taffe
+44 20 8652 3214

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