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There is a big battle being played out on planet Earth. The fighting is intense, but the rewards are worth billions. The battle is for the global chemical market and, as any chemicals trader, company CEO or salesman will tell you, competition is hotting up.

There is much thinking at present, amongst economist circles, that the battle is being played out between the giant multi-national corporations of Europe and North America (Dow, BASF, Bayer, LyondellBasell etc.) and the emerging giants of the BRIC countries (Sinopec, Braskem, Reliance, Alpek and Sasol). As both these groups vie for power and influence over the all important chemicals market, as demand increases, there is much money to be made. But of equal importance, is the fact that the battle is intensifying as the number of players in the market increases.

As most chemicals professionals are aware, the real growth area is in the markets of the Far East, India and South America. The more professional, chemicals professionals will also have observed how the emerging giants are taking a larger part of this booming market. Whilst the western multinationals that have moved into these regions have used experience and financial muscle to their advantage, the emerging markets ‘new kids on the block‘ have used their local knowledge and influence in government to their advantage, at the same time as grabbing major market share.

As Nikolaus Lang and Andreas Gocke (of industrial consultants, BCG) note in their recent report entitled, Dueling with Dragons: The Next Phase to Global Competition, “With $60 billion in revenues in 2013, China’s Sinopec is larger than Dow Chemical. Sabic, a $50 billion conglomerate based in Saudi Arabia, is bigger than LyondellBasell Industries, DuPont, and Mitsubishi Chemical.“ The position of these conglomerates has been greatly aided not only by insider government contacts, but also by their contacts with nationalised power generators and oil companies.

These major emerging market conglomerates at present have a strong hold on the raw material markets, as well as basic plastics and polymer production, but many economists believe that this position will soon change.

This theory is based on the success that emerging market companies have had over the last 30 years, changing from small inexperienced start ups into supersized corporations (as the emerging market’s thirst for chemicals has also become supersized). It therefore follows that if the emerging markets have an increased demand for speciality chemicals, that companies based in the emerging markets (like Sinopec and Braskem) will grow into the speciality chemicals sector.

Furthermore, logic states that these companies will be drawn into the speciality sector as their R&D budgets expand, and because of the higher margins to be made there. Indeed, the Chinese government’s last five-year plan included giving additional support for Chinese businesses in speciality materials, advanced polymers, as well as research into new composities and inorganic materials.

Already the growing power of the newer players from the emerging markets can be seen, as Lang and Gocke note, “From 2007 through 2012, the amount that emerging market companies spent on acquisitions [of western companies] grew from $7.9 billion to $10.6 billion [whilst] the transaction volumes of western multinationals‘ acquisitions of emerging-market-based chemical companies dropped from $4.6 billion to $2.8 billion during that same period. Emerging market companies are making bigger deals, too. The average emerging market company outbound acquisition—$881 million—was nearly nine times larger than the average outbound western multinational deal.“

That said, no one is predicting the immediate death of western mulitinationals (like Dow and BASF) anytime soon. As the industry grows there will be room for them, as well as other new players in the market. However, many predict a period of oversupply in the coming years that will further reduce margins. To combat this many of the larger businesses in the industry are adopting strategies like these;

• Continued diversification. A wider range of products will give greater flexibility and stability, given the great price fluctuations to which the industry has historically been prone. Diversifying into speciality chemicals makes sense, not only for their higher margins, but also as part of a trend to apply modern technological solutions to more specialised problems. One such example being the premium product Zetag. Zetag is a specialised polymer developed by BASF to solve a particular, specialised problem (to more effectively remove water from sludge, reducing the cost of disposal for the customer). It is expected that the future growth of the chemicals market will lie in specialised chemicals for specialised problems.
• Localisation. Businesses will increasingly focus on speciality markets. As the BRIC economies become wealthier and have an expanded middle class (with its ensuing consumerist demands), they will demand their own specialised chemical products based on regional and cultural influences. R&D will also become increasingly localised, moving from western universities and research centres to the emerging markets. For example, when in early 2015 the chemicals company Hallstar opened a new polymer research facility in Suzhou, China, at a cost of many millions. This is a new trend that would have been unheard of only a decade ago.
• Sustainability. This final point of action has become a rather overused buzzword in the last few years, mostly because it is becomming an increasingly important factor. An industry with small margins needs sustainability for two good reasons; it reduces waste (at a time when energy and raw material prices are rising), and it improves a companies image in a time when consumers and politicians are becomming more and more environmentally conscious.

Whether these strategies will help western businesses stay competitive when the flow of power is heading east, remains to be seen. However, with such large profits at stake, it is sure to be a major battle for control and influence over this vital economic sector.

Indeed, given the global strategic importance that the chemicals industry has in so many areas (modern weapons, telecommunications, space exploration etc.), it may not be long before other factors, such as politics, start to influence the winners and losers in this field. Furthermore, as control of chemical supply and production means control over almost every part of our daily lives, then the battle for supremacy in the chemicals markets of the 21st century may soon evolve into a war.

When the world became aware of the damaging effect that CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons; commonly used as a refrigerant) were causing to the ozone layer, it was chemists who developed a replacement product HFC’s (hydrofluorocarbons). Neonicotinoids are currently being studied for the possible negative effects that these effective pesticides have on bee populations. It is chemistry that is at the heart of this study, and it is chemistry that will find an improved ‘pollinator friendly’ pesticide.

A few years ago in the UK, a woman in her twenties died in her tent whilst she slept. The evening before her death, she and her boyfriend cooked food on a barbeque. They then brought the barbeque inside the tent to protect it from rain and thieves. As her boyfriend recounted to the BBC, “The barbecue was cold to the touch. There was no smoke coming off it, no glowing, it seemed to be completely inactive.”

But it was still emitting unseen fumes. The woman died that night of carbon monoxide poisoning. The boyfriend was lucky to survive.

Carbon monoxide is a deadly chemical. She was killed by chemicals – so it still sounds like chemistry is to blame.

Technically it was, but then it was also chemistry that allowed the transfer of oxygen from the air in her lungs and into her blood stream that kept her alive in the first place. Hooray for chemistry, it brings life to all living creatures! Not quite, as I imagine the story was read by people as, “Chemicals kill another innocent person.”

To avoid this negative publicity, perhaps the chemical industry should collectively take on the role of spreading the good news of its work. Focusing news stories less on the problems that chemicals cause, and more on the positive that it does in the world. Making our planet a healthier place to live, whilst at the same time creating jobs and developing businesses.

Take for example the story of a sushi box, that Philipp Moeller, who at the time was business manager at Clarifoil, a uk producer of cellulose acetate, wrote about in a blog on the IHS Chemweek blog page (http://www.chemweek.com/chem_ideas/Guest-Author/By-rethinking-old-ways-the-chemical-industry-can-change-the-world_47952.html). Here he described a problem caused by a Styrofoam box, that was used to package sushi.

The box was not really good enough for the task in hand, as the sushi was rather damaged in transit from the shop to office. It was used only once and then thrown away, quite possibly ending its days slowly decomposing in a landfill site.

According to data from Duke University, “Approximately 55% of 220 million tons of waste generated each year in the United States ends up in one of the over 3,500 landfills.”

This is a bad result for almost everyone, but as the styrofoam container was made by the chemicals/polymer industry, most of the blame falls on them. Not the food industry for using an ineffective, one time user container, not the purchaser, or the shop that sold the sushi, not the waste collection service for using landfill instead of recycling, but the chemicals industry that had developed a product as un-earth friendly as Styrofoam.

Most people at this point would feel a degree of self-loathing at being part of the landfill problem through a personal desire for takeaway sushi, but not so Philipp Moeller. He brought in the engineers and designers from his place of work and they went through a useful thought process, knowing that chemicals could produce a better packaging solution for sushi.

As he explains, “One of the eco-friendly solutions (was) recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or RPET. RPET ticks a green initiative box for many companies; however, RPET products still contain virgin PET and are only up to one-third recycled material. This recycled material comes from manufacturers’ waste rather than plastic bottles consumers place in recycling bins. Also, RPET has a finite lifetime since it can only be recycled a limited number of times and will ultimately end up in landfills.”

So the search for a better solution continued, leading the team to try out a diacetate film that could be thermoformed into the shape of a sushi box. As Moeller explains, this was a better outcome on many levels. “Not only is the cellulose diacetate raw material sourced from sustainably managed forests, the standard film can also be composted according to American and European standards (EN13432 and ASTM D6400). Cellulose diacetate is also 100% biodegradable so it doesn’t stack up in landfills. It is also approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”

His team had created a product that was, “… clearer and higher quality than PET, RPET and polylactic acid (PLA) that today are the industry standard.” Thus whilst chemistry was the cause of the original problem, it also became part of the solution.

As Professor Herbert Ipser, of the University of Vienna and President of the GÖCH (Austrian Chemical Society) said in a recent interview, “…a good part of our standard of living is due to the achievements of chemistry.” A message that needs to be spread wider, not only to the public, but also among the industry itself.

The further development of our understanding and application of chemicals can solve the entire planet’s problems. From hydrogen engines to solar panels, from non-toxic food preservatives to fire suppressants and retardants, chemistry has it all.

By thinking a little outside the box (sushi or otherwise), you never know when and how you can use your products to create a new market, find a new purpose and not only profit from it, but also help the good name of chemistry look slightly better.

Bioabsorbable Polymers: Ensuring Safety and Improving Patient Outcomes

In the world of medicine, new devices offer huge potential for patients and healthcare. At the forefront of this wave are bioabsorbable or resorbable polymers – giant molecules that can be broken down by and assimilated back into the body gradually over time. This allows the body to heal without the need for a permanent device implant or surgery to remove a medical device once healing has properly occurred.

However, with that potential comes the need for strict testing and regulation. Without these precautions, there is no way to assure that the material will be safe for the patient or if it will perform as expected.

The benefits of bioabsorbable polymers
Bioabsorbable polymers play an important role in all kinds of surgeries, procedures and healthcare. For example, in maxillofacial surgery, these materials allow surgeons to provide scaffolding to aid the healing process that are broken down into small molecules once they are no longer needed.

Polylactic acid is one common resorbable polymer due to its strength and biocompatibility. Once it’s within the body, it converts to lactic acid – the same chemical that causes you to feel the burn during a workout.

Considerations for the testing process
There are many ways to characterize and test bioabsorbable polymers for their safety and effectiveness, including inherent and intrinsic viscosity, molecular weight distribution, moisture content, and several others. Polymer structure, molecular weight, and morphology are three attributes that affect not only the mechanical properties of the material, but also the rate of resorb.

Testing laboratories must be aware of potentially toxic polymeric degradation products – if these build up in the body or occur in concentrated doses, they could become fatal. However, properly-tested bioabsorbable polymers have huge potential for increased healing and more advanced operations. Going forward, these compounds could play an integral role in healthcare and quality of life.

Many thanks to our partners at Polymer Solutions for sharing this research.