Engineering Plastics
The market of petrochemical materials for automobiles such as engineering plastics is steadily growing thanks to fuel efficiency issues and the toughening of eco-friendly regulations.
According to the Yano Economic Research Institute, a market survey company, the market of petrochemical materials will grow 35.2 percent to 10.85 million tons from 8.02 million tons of last year. This means that the market will grow an average of three to four percent a year.
Resins for automobiles are mainly thermoplastic with a strong ability to withstand heat such as polypropylene (PP) and polyamide (PA 6 • 66), acrylonitrile, butadiene and styrene (ABS), polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC) and PPS (polyphenylene sulfide).
In particular, resins for car windows are light and hard to break, so they are safe and very excellent in insulating heat. Resins for automobiles are easy to process. This point sets them apart from competing materials such as steel and aluminum.
Even though there is room for improvement in resins for automobiles in terms of strength, the combination of resins for automobiles and carbon fiber or steel will make the resins tougher, according to petrochemical industry experts. Leading Korean petrochemical companies are busy, spurring the expansion of their market.
LG Chem is rolling out 230,000 tons of engineering plastic in Korea such as Yeosu and Iksan.
The company is operating production plants in China (Guangzhou, Tianjin and Ningbo) and Poland (Wroclaw) as well. Furthermore, the company is building an EP compound plant with an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons in Chungching.
Lotte Chemical, which recently took over the Chemicals Business Division from Samsung SDI, is eyeing the market of resins for automobiles. Samsung SDI already entered the market of plastics for the exterior and interior of vehicles. Its ABS, one of its representative products, is enjoying a global market share of seven percent, according to data by HIS, as of the end of the second quarter.
In addition, in June, Lotte Chemical founded a corporation for the purpose of building an EP compound plant in Shenyang, China. Last month, SK Global Chemical held a ceremony in honor of completing a nexlene plant in Ulsan, Korea in partnership with SABIC, and is going ahead with the construction of the second plant in Saudi Arabia.
Hanwha Chemical merged Hanwha Next and Hanwha Compound with a view to reinforcing its competitiveness in the EP market. BASF, the world leader in the chemical industry completed an EP compounding plant in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province last month.
What is more, Toray built a giant PPS production plant in Korea, and SK Chemical is test operating a PPS plant in Ulsan, which the company built in cooperation with Japan’s Teijin.