Released April 30, 2021 | SUGAR LAND
en
Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Two sectors rise to the forefront when talking about what's to come for Chemical Processing Industry project activity: Power-to-X projects and plastics. In a Wednesday webinar, Trey Hamblet, Industrial Info's vice president of research for the Chemical Processing Industry, and Shaheen Chohan, vice president of research for Global Analytics, discussed current and future spending drivers.
Power-to-X projects are ramping up rapidly, and Hamblet said that it seems at least one new Power-to-X project is added almost daily to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Database. Industrial Info is tracking more than 160 of these projects throughout the world. Such projects are especially big in the Oceania region, where Power-to-X is a primary driver of planned spending. In Power-to-X projects, renewable electricity is used to create "green hydrogen" and the manufacture of end products such as green methanol and green ammonia. Hamblet said, "I really think this is something that is going to be a significant portion of the chemical industry when we look out to the next three to five years."
One of biggest drivers at the moment is plastics demand, stemming from changing consumer needs (more packaging, single-use products, etc.) and the need for personal protective equipment (PPE). Hamblet said that while demand and prices for plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene fell down as the pandemic took hold, they have quickly rebounded as economies recover. The first quarter of this year was "tremendous" for these commodity prices.
Hamblet said there are approximately 135 ethylene units planned throughout the world, representing about 170 billion pounds per year of new capacity. Most of these are in East Asia. Many of these, mostly in China, are based on methanol feedstock, and Hamblet said that these could be slow to move until more methanol production facilities are built, particularly in the U.S.
Downstream from this, the polyethylene market is booming. There are about 175 planned polyethylene units around the world, representing about 89 billion pounds per year of new capacity. "The odds are, we'll see less fallout of these than we do for ethylene. I think the odds of this are pretty good, simply because of plastics demand," said Hamblet.
There are about 180 polypropylene units planned, representing 90 billion pounds per year of capacity. "This is a commodity where we've seen an increased number of planned projects," said Hamblet. "In the last couple of years, it was a little bit slower getting to the game than polyethylene. I think this is a response to PPE requirements. Polypropylene is one of the common commodities that goes into making that protective equipment. Also, pipes and electrical components have a lot of polypropylene in them, and we all know as consumers that we have a high demand of personal computers, smartphones, electronics, and plastics components are a key part of that, and polypropylene plays a significant role."
Hamblet and Chohan discussed many other aspects of the industry, including the outlook for turnarounds, the types of projects moving forward, and the impact of plastics recycling. Click here to listen.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
Power-to-X projects are ramping up rapidly, and Hamblet said that it seems at least one new Power-to-X project is added almost daily to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Database. Industrial Info is tracking more than 160 of these projects throughout the world. Such projects are especially big in the Oceania region, where Power-to-X is a primary driver of planned spending. In Power-to-X projects, renewable electricity is used to create "green hydrogen" and the manufacture of end products such as green methanol and green ammonia. Hamblet said, "I really think this is something that is going to be a significant portion of the chemical industry when we look out to the next three to five years."
One of biggest drivers at the moment is plastics demand, stemming from changing consumer needs (more packaging, single-use products, etc.) and the need for personal protective equipment (PPE). Hamblet said that while demand and prices for plastics such as polyethylene and polypropylene fell down as the pandemic took hold, they have quickly rebounded as economies recover. The first quarter of this year was "tremendous" for these commodity prices.
Hamblet said there are approximately 135 ethylene units planned throughout the world, representing about 170 billion pounds per year of new capacity. Most of these are in East Asia. Many of these, mostly in China, are based on methanol feedstock, and Hamblet said that these could be slow to move until more methanol production facilities are built, particularly in the U.S.
Downstream from this, the polyethylene market is booming. There are about 175 planned polyethylene units around the world, representing about 89 billion pounds per year of new capacity. "The odds are, we'll see less fallout of these than we do for ethylene. I think the odds of this are pretty good, simply because of plastics demand," said Hamblet.
There are about 180 polypropylene units planned, representing 90 billion pounds per year of capacity. "This is a commodity where we've seen an increased number of planned projects," said Hamblet. "In the last couple of years, it was a little bit slower getting to the game than polyethylene. I think this is a response to PPE requirements. Polypropylene is one of the common commodities that goes into making that protective equipment. Also, pipes and electrical components have a lot of polypropylene in them, and we all know as consumers that we have a high demand of personal computers, smartphones, electronics, and plastics components are a key part of that, and polypropylene plays a significant role."
Hamblet and Chohan discussed many other aspects of the industry, including the outlook for turnarounds, the types of projects moving forward, and the impact of plastics recycling. Click here to listen.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn.
