Market Study:The Importance of Fire Protection - Flame Retardants
Submission Date : 2018-01-16
The Importance of Fire Protection
The catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower in London has shown how important fire protection is. Flame retardants can delay the development of fires: They provide the fire department and those affected with crucial minutes and seconds for the rescue. Flame retardants act in chemical and physical ways by interrupting the burning process in different phases, i.e. during heating, thermal degradation, combustion, or spread of flames. Overall, about 2.21 million tonnes of flame retardants per year are used in plastic products, electronic devices, construction material, and textiles. Ceresana analyzed the world market for the fifth time already: for brominated and chlorinated flame retardants, as well as ATH, organophosphorus, ATO, and other types. The present study provides both figures of demand and revenues for the overall market as well as demand volume for the particular types of flame retardants and their applications.
Use of Flame Retardants - Often Indispensable
The construction industry is the most important sales market: About 30% of global demand originate in this segment. Flame retardants are often used in insulating foams made of expandable polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PUR). Flame retardants are also used in numerous onstruction materials made of rubber, in adhesives as well as in paints and varnishes. In the electronics industry, they are used for components such as circuit boards, computer casings, as well as household and telecommunication devices. They are utilized in engineering plastics such as ABS, polyamide, epoxy, and polycarbonate. Other applications are wires, cables, and products for the automotive industry. Until 2024, Ceresana expects demand for flame retardants in the segment transportation to experience the strongest percentage growth. However, construction materials will continue to be the largest application in the upcoming eight years.
One Flame Retardant, Many Applications
Aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) was by far the bestselling flame retardant in recent years. ATH is used in the pharmaceutical industry, as a chemical intermediate, as a filler in plastics, rubber, cosmetics, and paper, as a glass additive, and in ceramics. Additionally, ATH is used as a non-smoke
emitting, low toxicity, halogen-free flame retardant used for plastics, paints, adhesives, sealants, and rubber. Demand for the flame retardant ATH in Europe and the Americas amounts to over 45%. Brominated compounds, used in electronic and electrical products as well as foams, are in second place. Brominated flame retardants are very effective but also controversial. Due to legal provisions, there are significant regional differences: In Western Europe and North America, brominated compounds had market shares of only 6.4% and 12%, respectively, while accounting for 28% in Asia.
The Study in Brief:
Chapter 1 provides a description and analysis of the global market for flame retardants – including forecasts up to 2024: Demand and revenues are provided for each world region.
Chapter 2 analyzes the 16 most important countries and their flame retardants revenues and demand in detail. Demand is split by single applications and product types. Additionally, all important manufacturers of flame retardants are listed according to countries.
Chapter 3 offers a substantiated analysis of the application for flame retardants: construction materials, electrical & electronics, cables, transport industry, and others.
Chapter 4 examines demand for individual types of flame retardants: ATH, brominated compounds, chlorinated compounds, organophosphorus, antimony compounds (ATO), and other. Demand is clearly arranged for each of the 16 countries analyzed in chapter 2 and all world regions.
Chapter 5 provides company profiles of the largest manufacturers – clearly arranged according to contact details, revenues, profit, product range, production sites, profile summary, and products. In-depth profiles of 82 producers are given, including Akzo Nobel N.V., Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (CHALCO), BASF SE, Huber Engineered Materials, INOVYN ChlorVinyls Limited, Rio Tinto Group, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC), The Dow Chemical Company , Tosoh Corp., and Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.