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New TECH Report - Polycarbonate (2024 Program)
Polycarbonate is one in a series of reports published as part of NexantECA’s 2024 Technoeconomics – Energy & Chemicals (TECH) program.
Overview
Polycarbonate is an engineering thermoplastic used in a range of relatively high-value-added polymer applications. Those high-performance polymers are impact resistant, heat resistant, optically very clear, dimensionally stable, and have good electrical insulating properties, as well as a reasonable price compared with competing materials. Although polycarbonate has been around for 70 years and is considered a mature material, the business continues to see changes in terms of production technologies, toxicity concerns, end-uses, major players, industry concentration, regional growth patterns, competition from a functional equivalent, and interest in continued development of a “green” version of polycarbonate.
Within the TECH report, NexantECA provides the insights behind recent capacity additions and details a high-level analysis to the business and strategic considerations from the perspective of a company entering or expanding into the polycarbonate market.
- What are the major production technologies for polycarbonate and how do they differ?
- Who are the main technology owners and licensors?
- What are the recent technological innovations for polycarbonate production?
- What are the primary end use markets for polycarbonate?
- Where are the main producers?
- What is the business and regulatory environment like for polycarbonate today?
- How does carbon intensity change for the different production routes for polycarbonate?
Commercial Technologies
Polycarbonate is mostly produced via the interfacial, the non-phosgene melt, and the phosgene melt routes. A small amount is also produced via the isosorbide route. The report presents these four major production routes. R&D efforts, such as those directed toward developing a recycling process, using bio-sourced feedstocks or producing polycarbonate via carbon-capture are also discussed in the report.
Process Economics
The cost of production for four prominent production routes has been estimated for plants located in the United States, Western Europe, South-Korea, and China for the first quarter of 2024. These regions/countries account for the large majority of global polycarbonate capacity. The analysis breaks down the key factors in determining the unit cost of production.
Commercial Overview
Polycarbonate is used in a range of relatively high value-added polymer applications, such as electrical & electronics, construction, automotive parts, and optical medias. Polycarbonate can be alloyed with other polymers such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), or can be reinforced with glass fiber to improve its properties and lower cost.
New compounds/alloys continue to be developed thus allowing further penetration of polycarbonate, particularly into the automotive (high-impact resistant materials) industry and medical industry (blood purifiers, surgical instrument with efforts on biocompatibility) and consumer electronics (smartphones/laptops with efforts on resistance and lightweight properties). The analysis discusses each end use.
Contact a member to our Insights & Analytics team to find out more about this report
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.
