Engineering Resins: From Feedstocks to the Market Place

Day 1: Introduction

• Petrochemicals Gas and Petroleum

  • Feedstock Flowchart and cross linkages

  • Sources of the basic petrochemical building blocks

  • Intermediates, derivatives and end-use markets

• The Top 100 Chemicals

• Size, Commodities and Specialties

• Industry characteristics

• Advantages of Global Mega size

• GTL - effective use of cheap Gas

• Methanol and Formaldehyde

• Ethylene and derivatives

• Natural Gas C1 and C2 based Chemicals and Processes

• The natural gas/shale gas revolution

• Where does Coal fit in the strategy?

• Olefin Derivatives and uses

• Crude oil, refining, integration with Petrochemical plants

• Market growth and industry costs

• What makes the industry unique?

• Costs, Margins and Prices

• Evaluation of the major Players

• Strategies employed by the major players

• Industry Profitability

• Ethylene and Propylene markets

• The Petrochemicals Business

• The origins and history of the industry

Day 2: Petrochemical Process Technology & Key Value Chains

• The Petrochemical Industry Today and Tomorrow

  • Cyclicality and profitability

  • Monitoring the Industry

• Feedstocks

• Refinery Reactions as a source of Petrochemicals

• FCC Cracking

• Steam Cracking

• Reforming

• Intermediates production

• Sources of Gas

• Supply and demand

• Costs and pricing

• The C1 Value Chain and derivatives

• Steam Cracker Margins

• Market Value Chains, Investment decisions

• Economy of Scale

• Industry Cost Curves, Cash margin Index

• Natural, Shale and Stranded Gas

• Olefin Economics

• Petrochemical Economics

• Feedstock costs and their impact on ethylene cost

• Differences in costs and margins between producing regions

• The dynamics of petrochemical feedstocks

• Sources of aromatics

• Supply and demand

• Costs and pricing

• Styrene – routes to manufacture

• Refining and gas separation

• Olefins – Costs, Margins, Consumption and Investment

• An introduction to Polyolefins

• Aromatics Sources, Business and Technologies

Day 3: Ethylene & Propylene Fundamentals 

• Technology and Economics of Olefins

  • Supply/demand balance

  • Regional comparisons

  • Feedstocks, plant design, catalyst options, operating philosophy and conditions

• The business of Ethylene

• Feedstocks to Ethylene

• Detailed investigation of major Ethylene Derivatives

• The Future for Ethylene

• Propylene

• Propylene to Polymers - C3+ Chemicals and Processes

• Process and technology licensees, business dynamics, value chains

• Commercial routes to C3, C4 blockbuster chemicals

• The business of Propylene

• How the Propylene shortage was fixed

• Detail of propylene derivatives   

• What the future holds

Day 4: C4 Derivatives & Introduction to Aromatics 

• Butylene and Butadiene Fundamentals

  • What are C4 molecules

  • How are they made and separated?

  • What they are used for

  • Business Structure

  • What the future holds

• Aromatics

• Aromatics Sources, Business and Technologies

• Value chains, Routes into Polymers, Styrene production routes

  • The Aromatics business

  • Sources and production methods

  • Focus on Benzene Toluene and Xylene

  • Markets and Applications

Case Study - PX and PTA - Market Economics & Drivers

• Sustainable Development

  • What is sustainability and Green Chemistry?

  • Review of potential bio-feedstocks

  • Is BTL realistic for fuel and chemical production?

• Discussion Forum - Industrial Catalysis for Petrochemicals

• Catalyst Basics

• What catalyst to choose

• Catalyst Suppliers and manufacturing methodology

• Commercial and technical Catalyst management

Day 5: The Polymers Business and Course Conclusions 

• How Polymers are Manufactured

  • The Polymer Tree

  • Commercial outlook for Polymers

  • Polymer production and chemistry

  • PE and PP technologies

  • Synthetic versus Natural Polymers

• Plastics: what are they and how are they made

• Methods of manufacture

• Polymer types

• Key properties

• Polymer Markets and Applications

• LDPE, HDPE and LLDPE, what are they

• How they are made

• What they are used for

• Margins and consumption

• Business Structure

• What is polypropylene

• How is it made

• What it is used for

• Margins and consumption

• Business Structure

• What the future holds

• The properties of finished products

• The role of the Processor

• Markets and Applications

• Green Polyolefins, towards a sustainable future with Polymers.

• Polyethylene Fundamentals

• Polypropylene Fundamentals

• Polymers to Products

Case Studies   

• Traditional and New Petrochemical Feedstocks   

• PX and PTA market study   

• Green Chemistry: Can Polyolefins be ever viewed sustainably?