PODCAST: Europe oxo-alcohols chain further pressured by feedstock limitations and force majeures

ICIS Editorial

23-Feb-2021

LONDON (ICIS)–Limited availability of feedstock propylene and force majeures from BASF and Sasol have resulted in tight supply and sustained pricing pressure across the oxo-alcohols markets.

Rising costs and short feedstock supply have passed pressure down to n-butanol (NBA) derivative markets, with prices for multiple products reaching the highest levels since ICIS records began.

Butyl acetate (butac) editor and oxo-alcohols covering editor Nick Cleeve discusses the impact of these constraints with acrylate esters editor Mathew Jolin-Beech and glycol ethers editor Eashani Chavda.

NBA is a solvent with more than half of 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.

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

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

Divided in E-series and P-series, depending on whether they are made from ethylene oxide (EO) or propylene oxide (PO), glycol ethers are mainly used as a solvent for domestic and industrial applications such as paints and coatings.

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