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World-scale vinyl acetate plants are large and expandable, usually initiating at about 150 thousand metric tons, and have been based on the vapor-phase fixed-bed ethylene/acetic acid technology. All North American capacity is based on the fixed-bed ethylene/acetic acid process but significant older capacity in Western Europe and especially in Asia uses an acetylene/acetic acid process. BP Chemicals has constructed a new plant that uses fluidized-bed technology at Hull, United Kingdom, which came on stream in December 2001.
In North America and Western Europe, a large portion of vinyl acetate production is marketed domestically to resin producers that prepare polyvinyl acetate resins for local markets. In Japan, only a minor portion of production is sold on the merchant market; most is used captively, especially for polyvinyl acetate conversion to polyvinyl alcohol manufacture. Most of the Asian capacity recently installed is intended for merchant sales. The VAM market is at continued high risk for consolidation of producers as local producers must compete with imports from the Middle East and China.
Vinyl acetate’s exclusive use is as a monomer. The consumption pattern, however, varies by world region. In North America and Western Europe, polyvinyl acetates account for over half the final consumption. In Japan and China, the major final consumption is for polyvinyl alcohol, which is obtained via further processing of polyvinyl acetate.
The following pie chart shows world consumption of vinyl acetate:
Most of the applications for vinyl acetate are mature. The strongest growth areas are ethylene–vinyl alcohol resins (EVOH), polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and vinyl acetate–ethylene resins (VAE). EVOH is a small-volume product but good growth in the United States, Japan and Western Europe is forecast during 2007–2012. PVB use is growing in laminated safety glass for architectural and commercial applications. Overall growth in vinyl acetate consumption during the 2007–2012 period in the United States is forecast to be moderately slow. Fairly good growth in VAM consumption in Western Europe is forecast for this period and slow growth in Japan. Good growth in vinyl acetate consumption in China is forecast; consumption in other parts of Asia is expected to increase at slow to moderately healthy rates for the next five years.
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