The_Catalyst_Review_January_2024 - 12

SPECIAL FEATURE
It is noteworthy that most of the PO catalyst manufacturing sites are located in relatively few countries: in the US, Europe
(Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Spain), and Asia (Japan, Korea, India and China). Sabic and Reliance have massive catalyst
production in Saudi Arabia and India for captive use. A similar behavior is noted for the suppliers of co-catalyst activators
as Nouryon, Albemarle, Chemtura, Nippon Aluminum Alkyl, Saudi Organometallic Chemical, Chinese and so on), external
stereoregulators as Toho, Evonik, Chemtura, Wacker, Dow Corning, Gelest, and other Chinese ad supports suppliers as Toho,
Evonik, Grace, PQ and so on.
Usually, the catalyst suppliers finalize a proper Catalyst Supply Agreement (CSA) with their customers to fix the terms and
conditions for the supply and purchase of the catalyst: that is the price, the product quality warranty and liabilities, the contract
term, the product specifications, etc. The term of the agreement (duration) is usually in the range of 3-5 years with the possibility
of renewal. The quality warranty on catalyst mileage is based usually on the results of the catalyst polytest that is a polymerization
test conducted in a standardized lab autoclave according to a standard test method. The CSA is separated from the process
technology license agreement (LA); the LA states only the obligation of the licensor to provide the catalyst to the licensee when
required (catalyst produced by the licensor or by an authorized tolling source).
Each PO catalyst producer typically makes multiple grades of catalyst to fit the requirements of different polyolefin production
processes and different product types. The PO catalyst providers ordinarily have the catalyst production plants close to their R&D
labs and commercialize their products worldwide in drums of standard volumes, assuring a just-in-time supply through a system
of storage warehouses located close to well-connected ports and/or airports. In addition, the catalyst suppliers assure the supply
continuity maintaining security stock volumes to assure customers to overcome an accidental long discontinuity of the catalyst
production.
Availability of a global technical service network with a series of technical centers located in various continents close to the
customers is an essential part of a successful catalyst supply chain. In this way, all catalyst customers can take advantage of
supplier commitment, which emphasizes a strong, long-term focus on customers. In general, catalysts used by polyolefin
producers are not interchangeable. Catalysts often have a strong influence on the characteristics of the PO products they yield, so
a PO producer cannot change catalysts without re-qualifying in the market its industrial resin products. However, all PO producers
must continually strive for better performances, greater efficiency and lower costs, so they will go through re-qualification
procedures if there is substantial more value from improved catalysts. Then although there is considerable inertia in the market,
PO producers do switch catalyst suppliers, often away from their process licensor's catalysts, especially in PP. The result is that the
PO catalyst and technology market is highly competitive.
As previously indicated, this high market competition relates more to the PP catalyst field than the PE sector. Usually in PP
industry, any catalyst type is able to produce at least all the commodity PP products as homopolymers, random and basic impact
copolymers in both bulk and gas phase process technologies. Improvements in the choice of the internal and/or external electron
donors enlarges the envelope of the catalyst performances for more special and innovative resin applications. This is one reason
metallocene/SSC have a relatively limited usage in PP. The situation in PE is more and more complicated because there are more
products (HDPE, MDPE and LLDPE homopolymers and copolymers) and process technologies (slurry, gas phase and solution) and
each technology cluster needs its own optimal catalyst system (ZN, Cr, or SSC) to assure the efficient production of PE commodity
or specialty types. In PE, a large use of novel metallocene and SSC have assured the development of the needed product
differentiation.
To better understand the competitive market
positioning of the various catalyst suppliers,
Figure 8 provides a SWOT analysis of integrated
vs. independent catalyst suppliers. All the
mentioned integrated suppliers are big
petrochemicals companies that generate
large cash flow, allowing them large R&D and
innovation budgets. Historically, these suppliers
started to work only with their own process
licensees, more recently started to offer catalysts
to third party technologies also reacting to the
loss of market shares in their own PO technology
for the penetration from other suppliers (often
independent). The many company mergers that
happened in the last decades in the polyolefins
field allowed in-house access to assets of several
diverse PO process technology platforms,
enabling them to test the catalysts before offering
to the market.
Figure 8. SWOT integrated vs independent catalyst suppliers.
Source: Author
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