WP Report
Terephthalic Acid (TPA)
This World Petrochemical (WP) report on TPA contains complete global and country supply/demand balances for the base year, the past five years and five and ten year projections. In the report, both medium purity (MTA) and high purity (PTA) are analyzed. The complete report including the analyses and supply/demand tables contains approximately 145 pages. There is also a table showing all global producers, their locations, and capacities (current, historical and future) to produce TPA as well as capacities for derivative products.
Published January 2011
Abstract
Global production and consumption of TPA in 2010 were both approximately 42 million metric tons. Global capacity utilization was 87% in 2010, an increase from 2009. TPA consumption is estimated to have increased by 9% in 2010; it is expected to grow an average of 4.9% per year from 2010 to 2015, and around 3.7% per year from 2015 to 2020. Operating rates are expected to drop during 2011-2014, then increase gradually, reaching 93% by 2020.
TPA is used to make polyethylene terephthalate (PET melt), which in turn is used to make PET fibers, bottle resins, film, and engineering resins. PET melt accounts for almost 99% of global TPA consumption. Other applications for TPA include production of polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT) Corterra polymers, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), aramid fibers, polyacrylate resins, liquid crystal polymers (LCP), and specialty polyesters.