CEH Report

Table of Contents

Abstract

Cyclopentadiene and its dimer, dicyclopentadiene, are obtained as by-products of the steam cracking of hydrocarbons.

The United States, Western Europe, Japan and China are the largest producing and consuming areas. Global consumption is forecast to grow at an average annual rate of 3.4% per year for 2009–2014, but will only partially make up for the drastic consumption declines of 2–20% (depending on the location) during the economic recession of 2008–2009. The overall growth in dicyclopentadiene consumption will be greatest in China, with average annual growth of 5.9% during 2009–2014. Of the major consuming countries/regions, consumption in the United States and Western Europe will increase by an average annual rate of 3.0% but this will not make up for the consumption declines of 16% and 19%, respectively, during 2008–2009. Japanese consumption will grow at an average annual rate of 1.8% during 2009–2014 and will show positive growth over 2008 levels; consumption declined by 4.4% during 2008–2009.

The following pie chart shows world consumption of dicyclopentadiene:

Sales in the primary end-use markets for dicyclopentadiene—unsaturated polyester resins, EPDM elastomers and hydrocarbon resins—depend on the performance of the general economy, and dicyclopentadiene consumption tends to swing with changes in GDP.

Production and consumption are concentrated in the United States, Western Europe and Japan but the rise of Chinese demand into traditional dicyclopentadiene markets has led to China’s becoming the fourth-largest consumer. Especially in Asia, growth in the construction, automobile and electronics industries increased consumption of dicyclopentadiene.