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The Polyolefins (PO) business is a global one, played on a regional scale. POs such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are the most common plastics. Resin production has moved from the regions where technologies were originated and still continue to be developed, to regions with low cost, abundant raw materials and regions with high demand, but with higher cost raw materials. The total cost of producing POs consists of variable costs and fixed costs. The single largest item is the monomer cost, ranging from 80 to 85% of the total costs. There are several routes to ethylene and propylene, the PO monomers. All modern PO polymerization technologies are capable of producing competitive grades but each generic technology has strengths and limitations. PO resins are sold to tens of thousands of processors throughout the world. They range from large multinationals with the most modern equipment to very small family operations.
Jorge O. Bühler-Vidal is Director of Polyolefins Consulting, L.L.C., which provides market, product and process technology selection consulting to the polyolefins industry. He is also President of the PetroChemical Consulting Alliance, a joint undertaking to provide consulting products and services to clients in the worldwide petrochemical and plastics industries. Previously he was at Union Carbide, where he had responsibility for a diverse range of technologies associated with the production processes for polyethylene and polypropylene. He was Team Leader in charge of providing product and marketing support to the global licensing activities of Univation Technologies.