PODCAST: Europe oxo-alcohols, derivatives markets show limited response to propylene fall

LONDON (ICIS)–Oxo-alcohols market players continue to juggle the challenges from the coronavirus and Oxea’s force majeure declaration, with the biggest month-on-month fall in propylene since early 2009 a secondary part of discussions.

In this podcast, oxo-alcohols editor Jane Massingham discusses the downstream market situation with acrylate esters editor Katherine Sale, butyl acetate (butac) editor Nick Cleeve and glycol ethers editor Eashani Chavda.

N-butanol (NBA) is a solvent with more than half if its production used as an intermediate chemical in the production of butyl acrylates for paints, coatings and adhesives, or acetates and glycol ethers. 2-ethylhexanol (2-EH) is used to make plasticizers, mainly dioctyl phthalate (DOP). Key end markets include the construction, appliance and automotive industries.

Acrylate esters are used in the manufacture of surface coatings, paints and resins, adhesives, plastics, textiles and paper.

Butac is mostly used as a solvent in paints and coatings or as a synthetic fruit flavouring in food products.

Glycol ether glycol ethers are mainly used as a solvent for domestic and industrial applications such as paints and coatings.

Additional reporting by Eashani Chavda, Nick Cleeve, Jane Massingham and Katherine Sale