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February 17, 2025Circularity and the wider sustainability movement’s impact on EVOH demand
NexantECA has undertaken several studies in the production and use of ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH), witnessing its strong historic growth which had been driven by its barrier performance, cost saving and convenience. More recently a rising number of regulations focusing on circularity, such as the new EU rules to reduce, reuse and recycle packaging approved in 2024, may give EVOH demand a boost. However, questions remain on its recyclability across a variety of its single use applications. For applications where it has qualified as recyclable (PE/PP multilayered food packaging designed to be recyclable), its ability to fulfil its barrier requirements or performance in real life recycling activities is yet to be fully established.
EVOH is a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl alcohol. It exhibits a variety of qualities, the main being its superior oxygen/atmospheric/aroma barrier performance allowing it to significantly increase the life of products in a variety of sectors, primarily food and beverage, and limiting aroma leakage from food and cosmetic products. Global demand of EVOH in 2023 was estimated at around 200 thousand tons, with a CAGR of 5.5 percent from 2010 to 2023(1). The main demand markets are the developed markets, primarily North America and Europe, with Asia the fastest growing region. The main producers are Kuraray and Mitsubishi Chemicals, accounting for over 90 percent of global supply.
Oxygen Transmission Rate (OTR) versus Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) Requirements for Different Types of Food Products Vs. Barrier Resins Performance
EVOH’s attractiveness can be attributed to several aspects:
1) Food security/shelf life – Growing concerns about food security, lengthening food supply chains, transition from wet markets to grocery stores and e-commerce requires food products with longer shelf lives. Use of EVOH can, for example, increase meat’s shelf life from 4 days to 30 days.
2) Convenience – Since COVID-19, convenience of food purchase, preparation and storage has become a key growing trend. In developing nations, wet markets have seen growing competition from grocery stores, e-commerce has become a key distribution channel for perishable goods and the trend of packaged ingredients and ready-made meals with longer shelf lives has been growing in popularity. Lightweighting (industry activity to reduce product weight) has also helped boost EVOH demand, as it replaces heavier rigid plastic, metal and glass packaging.
3) Nutrition – Unlike many commodity polymers, the main geographical demand for EVOH is in developed markets like the US and Europe instead of China and the rest of Asia. As Asia’s middle-income segment grows, many of the food trends exhibited in developed markets are being replicated. Consumption of protein per capita is set to grow, along with other protein and nutritional rich foods requiring EVOH packaging. Additionally, due its superior oxygen barrier performance, food brands have utilized EVOH to offer long shelf-life food products that require no preservatives to meet the demand of the growing health-conscious market in both developed and developing countries.
4) Versatility - It is suited for various packaging manufacturers’ production technologies (blown film, cast film, thermoforming, coextrusion, injection blow molding etc.) for rigid, flexible and multilayered packaging as well as different types of food filling methods (cold fill, aseptic fill etc.). It is transparent, making it ideally suited for applications (food packaging primarily) where transparent packaging is critical for marketing activities.
5) Cost savings – Due to its complex production process EVOH is one of the most expensive polymers, with prices reaching above US$7 000 per ton. However, a 1 mm thick layer of EVOH exhibits the same gas barrier performance as a 10 meter wall of LDPE. Hence its ability to be used in rigid and flexible multilayered packaging with cheaper polymer resins has made flexible EVOH packaging cheaper than many rigid plastic, metal and glass packaging.
6) Sustainability – A more recent demand trend, voluntary sustainability activities by brands saw EVOH adopted to reduce packaging weight to reduce environmental impacts, reduced food waste and improved food security. Both Kuraray and Mitsubishi Chemicals produce bio-EVOH to capitalize on the transition to a net zero landscape. With the current move towards a more circular economy, this may boost future demand growth. In addition, its key alternative, PVDC, is being phased out by several global brands in key markets from food packaging applications because it cannot be readily recycled and has carcinogenic properties.
Kuraray and Mitsubishi Chemicals through collaborations with packaging producers, have had PP, PE and EVOH multilayered packaging certified as recyclable by various recycling organizations such as the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in the U.S. and RecyClass in Europe, which recently aligned their guidance regarding the amount of EVOH viable for recycling.
- For rigid containers EVOH of up to 6 percent of container weight for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP)
- For flexible multilayered packaging EVOH of up to 3 percent of packaging weight for PP and 5 percent PE.
The ability to have both rigid and flexible EVOH packaging classed as recyclable facilitates growth in markets which will mandate all single use packaging to be made from 100 percent recyclable materials. EVOH would be able to substitute many non-recyclable rigid and flexible plastic packaging, and PVDC.
There are still aspects that need to be addressed to facilitate wider use, stemming from the relatively new focus of EVOH recyclability (for multilayered packaging) about (1) its ability to meet recycling requirements for a wide range of markets that have or will implement recycling mandates with differing recycling requirements/guidelines (2) the ability to meet recycling requirements and still retain its required barrier performance (3) ability to meet recycling requirements for all its single use applications as EVOH is used with a variety of other polymers (such as PET) which has not yet been certified as recyclable.
Though success has been achieved in certifying the recyclability of PE/EVOH and PP/EVOH packaging, impacts of recycling on its barrier performance are still to be fully addressed. Mitsubishi Chemicals, the world's second largest EVOH producer partnered with Berry Global to develop its other barrier resin, MXD6, to address issues relating to degradation, contamination and recyclability/reprocessing considerations of EVOH.
The recyclability guidelines are still in flux for many markets, and it is likely there will be amendments once different regulations are enforced and real-life recycling of EVOH multilayered packaging occurs. Despite the uncertainty the transition to a circular economy by many markets will likely boost EVOH demand, at least for the near future. This sentiment is shared by Kuraray which cites packaging regulations, in particular EU’s PPWR (Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation) as a driving motivator for expanding its EVOH production capacity(2).
Sources:
(1) NexantECA EVOH data
(2) Q&A Summary of the Investment Briefing for a New EVALTM Plant, Kuraray website, March 2024
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About Us: NexantECA, the Energy and Chemicals Advisory company is the leading advisor to the energy, refining, and chemical industries. Our clientele ranges from major oil and chemical companies, governments, investors, and financial institutions to regulators, development agencies, and law firms. Using a combination of business and technical expertise, with deep and broad understanding of markets, technologies, and economics, NexantECA provides solutions that our clients have relied upon for over 50 years.
