GLOBAL MARKET REPORT POLYURETHANE AMINE CATALYSTS 2006

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GLOBAL MARKET REPORTPOLYURETHANE AMINE
CATALYSTS2006

• JBK RESEARCH CONSULTING
• DR.J.B.KOSTER
• CH-1260 NYON

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INTRODUCTION
Lectori Salutem ! I took the courage to prepare
for and write this Market Report. I took the
courage from the fact that I have worked during
30 years in the world of PU Amine Catalysts,
first with Bayer in Dormagen-Germany, in their PU
Research Department, and later with Union Carbide
Europe,Africa Middle-East in Geneva. Just as a
personal introduction, my first patent with Bayer
was the combination of PU amine catalysts with
silicone surfactants, zero emission, but the time
was too early, 1975- When I started 1980 working
for Union Carbide , polyester catalysis was
dominated by odoriferous tertiary amines like NMM
and NEM. My contribution to the PU ester foam
world was the development of NIAX TM catalyst
KST-100, what was quite successful, and as a
consequence got kloned pretty soon. (Product has
been re-developed into NIAX TM KST-100-NPF
since ) As you will know , PU amine catalysts
are an integer part of the total PU formulation
for foamed polyurethane applications. Everywhere
where water is used as a blowing agent, a blowing
amine catalyst is needed. And for the reaction
of isocyanates with polyether or polyester
polyols, a gelling amine catalyst is needed, in
combination with stannous octoate for polyether
slabstock foam. This report is supposed to be a
global report. However, I have to admit that the
emphasis is on the three major world PU
areas Europe, Africa , Middle East ( including
India ), Nafta Countries and Asian Pacific
Countries, including China . Detailed country
data are hardly reliable, and are omitted for
this reason. Global data are however provided ,
but not in total detail like for the major
areas. CASE applications are omitted from this
report, as the usage of PU amine catalysts in
this industry is limited, no water for example is
used as a blowing agent, hardly any blowing
agents are used. Some vocabulary explanations ( a
PU Tertiary Amines Catalysts Glossary is
included ,together with activity selectivity
data ) Odoriferous catalysts do mean alkylated
morpholines, like NMM NEM, and trialkylamines,
like TEA. Zero-emission amine catalyst do speak
for themselves, this product segment shows a lot
of promising innovation during the last
years. The report starts from my estimation of
2006 PU global consumption data, which data were
discussed and agreed with PU colleagues. I do
hope that this report will enhance your
knowledge understanding of the complexity of
the exciting world of PU amine catalysis ! Dr.
Joop Koster, CH-1260 Nyon, Switzerland, tel.
41223617960.
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CONCLUSION
It is obvious that the usage of PU amine
catalysts in the PU foam industry will continue,
there are hardly any economic and performing
alternatives. The same applies to stannous
octoate for flexible PU polyether slabstock foam
for example. Their usage in flexible foam
applications will definitely change, the trend is
to zero emission amine catalysts, at the cost of
BDMAEE for example . This zero-emission demand
might be satisfied by present or newly developed
zero emission amine catalysts, or by so called
autocatalytic polyols, where the tertiary amine
function is built into the polyol polymeric
matrix. This can be done for newly developed
biopolyols a well. This would affect the present
supply chain of PU amine catalysts, like
decreased sales by the established suppliers of
Urethane Additives, like Evonik-Goldschmidt ,
Momentive Performance Materials, Air Products ,
Tosoh , Huntsman and Basf. Producers of so
called active ingredients like Taminco could
profit from this trend, and Chinese / Indian
producers. The industry is not seated anymore in
comfortable chairs, like 20 years
ago. Competitive forces increased dramatically
and this will continue, till some industry
consolidation has taken place. Nevertheless, I do
believe in the future of this market
segment. Innovation has to take place, for zero
emission purposes, and for autocatalytic polyols
, as I think that the   final   molecule has
not yet been made . Good ROC can still be
earned, but less with pure commodities like DMCHA
DMEA for the time being . Advantages from
blendology have to be exploited , especially in
combination with other additives. Synergies !! A
worrying aspect as to this business is the new EU
REACH legislation. Not all used active
ingredients are fully tested as to their
environmental impact,and it has to be seen if the
producers want to continue marketing these not
high volume products. However, for the lower
volume products, there is still a lot of time
leftover till REACH has reached this industry.For
new products, their future chances might be even
lower, what could affect the availability of new
zero-emission amine catalysts. Or it must be  
blockbusters  . Please send me your appreciated
comments . jkoster_at_iprolink.ch Thanks for having
purchased this report.