CHEMICAL PROFILE: BUTYL ACRYLATE
By Aligoli Amir Nazmi Afshar, TranTech Consultants, July 2014
USES
Butyl acrylate is used chiefly to make acrylic polymers and polyethylene (PE). It is used
in formulating paints and dispersions for paints, inks, and adhesives. Other uses include
cleaning products, antioxidant agents, amphoteric surfactants, aqueous resins,
elastomers and dispersions for textiles and papers.
In 2013, 43.7% of global demand came from coatings, 17% as a comonomer in PE,
17% in adhesives, 10% in textiles, 4.7% in pulp/paper, 3.8% in polish/stabilizer, 2% in
printing/dying, and 1.8% other uses.
SUPPLY/DEMAND
Global Capacity stood at 3.45m tons/year in 2013, according to TranTech estimates,
with 1.89m tons/year in Asia Pacific, 694,000 tons/year in the US, 450,000 tons/year in
Western Europe, 80,000 tons/year in Africa, 71,000 tons/ year in Eastern Europe and
60,000 tons/year in Latin America.
Asia Pacific is the largest consumer at about 1.44m tons/year, followed by the US at
476,000 tons/year and 446,000 tons/year in Western Europe. Japan, Latin America,
Asia/Middle East, Eastern Europe consumes 131,000 tons/year, 120,000 tons/year and
80,000 tons/year, respectively. The demand in other regions was below 60,000
tons/year each. China had capacity and output of 852,000 tons/year and 733,000
tons/year, with demand exceeding 1.2m tons/year.
PRICING
The price of butyl acrylate depends on its color and purity. Most common butyl acrylate
has an American Public Health Association color index of less than 10 and minimum
purity of 99.5%. China prices in quarter two were between ¥13.7-14.2/kg (including 17%
VAT). Contract prices in May for the US and Germany were $2.2-2.4/kg and €01.5-
1.6/kg, respectively.
TECHNOLOGY
Butyl acrylate is made from ester grade acrylic acid and small excess of butanol at
elevated temperatures extracted at a yield of 94-97%. It is usually integrated to an
acrylic acid facility. All the processes are based on the same principle of esterification;
there are different catalysts, conditions and systems with variation in catalyst type,
recycle of alcohol and quality of finished product. Available technology is limited. Most
plants use Nippon Shokubai process and another licensor is Mitsubishi. BASF,
however, the largest scale manufacture of acrylic acid and esters, does not release its
technology.
OUTLOOK
Global demand growth is forecast at 5.5%/year to 2018. Regionally, consumption will
rise 8%/year in Asia Pacific, 5%/year in Asia/Middle East, 1%/year in Japan and about
3%/year for rest of the world.
MAJOR GLOBAL BUTYL ACRYLATE CAPACITY ‘000
TONS/YEAR, 2013(*)
Company Location Capacity
American Acryl(1) Bayport, TX, USA 60.00
Arkema Carling, France 120.00
Clear Lake, TX, USA 175.00
BASF Freeport, TX, USA 50.00
Ludwigshaufen, Germany 200.00
BASF-Petronas JV Guaratingueta, Brazil(2) 60.00
BASF-Petronas JV Kuantan, Malaysia 165.00
BASF-Sinopec JV Nanjing, China(3) 160.00
CNPC (Jilin) Jilin, China 60.00
CNPC (Lanzhou Pet) Lanzhou, China 90.00
Dow Chemical Taft, LA, USA 100.00
BSL, Germany 60.00
Deer Park, TX, USA 309.00
Formosa Plastics Mailiano, Taiwan 40.00
Ningbo, China 145.00
Gazprom Salavat Salavat, Russia(4) 80.00
Idemitsu Petrochemical Nagoya, Japan 30.00
Jiangsu Jurong-Arkema Yancheng, China(5) 209.00
LG Chemical Yeosu, South Korea(6) 180.00
Mitsubishi Chemical Yokkaichi, Japan 70.00
Momentive Sokolov, Czech Republic 40.00
Nippon Shokubai Cilegon, Indonesia 40.00
Himeji, Japan 100.00
Other China Producers Several Locations, China 100.00
SASOL Sasolburg, South Africa 80.00
Shandong Kaitai Zibo, China 80.00
Shanghai Huayi Shanghai, China(7) 176.00
Shenyang Chemical Shenyang, China 160.00
Sibur Dzerizhinsk, Russia 31.00
Singapoue Acrylics Pulau Sakra, Singapore 30.00
Sinopec (Beijing Eastern) Beijing, China 85.00
Stohaas Marl, Germany 70.00
TASNEE Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia(8) 220.00
Zheijiang Satellite Acrylic Jiaxing, China(9) 110.00
Zhenghe Petrochemical Guangrao, China 80.00
(1) Nippon Shokubai-Arkema JV; (2) Expansion to 110 kt in 2016?; (3) Expanded to320 kt in 4/2014; (4) New 2014;
(5) Expansion to 418 in 2014/2015; (6) Expansion to 240 in 2014/2015; (7) Expansion to 264 in 2015/2016; (8) Started in 5/2014;
(9) Expansion to 220 kt in 2015/2016; (*) Over 10 kt
GLOBAL MARKET SHARES FOR BUTYL ACRYLATE IN 2013
Zhenghe Zheijiang Satellite Others, 3.9% BASF-
Petrochemical, 2.0% AA, 3.0% Petronas JV,
1.9%
Stohaas, 2.1%
Shenyang Chemical,
4.4% BASF-Sinopec JV,
BASF, 12.6% 5.1%
Sinopec, 1.5%
Shandong Kaitai,
1.9%
Shanghai Huayi,
4.6% CNPC, 4.3%
SASOL, 2.6%
Dow Chemical,
Other , 2.5%
14.7%
Nippon Shokubai,
4.6%
Mitsubishi Chemical,
2.2%
Arkema, 9.4%
LG Chemical, 4.5%
Jiangsu Jurong
Chemical-Arkema JV, Momentive, 1.2% Formosa Plastics ,
5.3% 5.6%
For more information about market and site-specific/technology-specific investment and
production cost data for butyl acrylate and some 1000 more chemicals, please send your
inquiries to trantech@[Link].