Acrylamide  

*Millions of pounds per year. Commercial production is by hydration of acrylonitrile to form acrylamide monomer, which is supplied to the market as a 50 percent aqueous solution. A small amount of crystalline acrylamide is imported, but solution is favored on a cost basis and because of toxicity and safety concerns in handling the solid product.

Last year Nalco Chemical's parent company, Suez, announced the creation of ONDEO, an expansive water-solutions group comprised of Suez' four water-related companies. As a result, Nalco Chemical changed its brand name to ONDEO Nalco.

In late 2000, S.N.F. Floerger began installing the first of three acrylamide lines at Riceboro, Ga. These were completed in early 2001. The combined annual capacities amount to 143 million pounds.

In mid-2001, Dow closed its acrylamide plant in Midland, Mich., eliminating 105 million pounds of annual capacity.

Profile last published 3/15/99; this revision, 3/13/02.

DEMAND
2000: 191 million pounds; 2001: 200 million pounds; 2005: 232 million pounds, projected. Demand equals production plus imports (2000: 2 million pounds; 2001: 2 million pounds) less exports (2000: 11 million pounds; 2001: 8 million pounds).

GROWTH
Historical (1996 - 2001): 5.1 percent per year; future: 3.8 percent per year through 2004.

PRICE
Historical (1996 - 2001): High, $1.76 – 1.86 per pound, 50 percent solution, 100 percent basis, bulk, f.o.b. works; low, $1.76 – 1.86, same basis. Current: $1.76 – 1.86, same basis.

USES
Polyacrylamide (PAM), 94 percent (for water treatment, 56 percent; pulp and paper production, 24 percent; mineral processing, 10 percent; miscellaneous, 4 percent); N-methylolacrylamide (NMA) and other monomers, 6 percent.

STRENGTH
Water treatment is the largest market for polyacrylamide in the US, accounting for nearly 60 percent of PAM demand last year. The largest use for PAM in this category is as dewatering aids for sludges in the treatment of effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants (e.g., sewage treatment) and industrial processes (e.g., pulp and paper plant wastewater). Polyacrylamides are also consumed as flocculants in feedwater treatment for industrial purposes. PAM consumption for water treatment is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 3.5 percent through 2005. Growth for PAM is being driven by the need for more efficient effluent treatment to reduce sludge volumes, thereby reducing transportation and disposal costs.

The largest volumes of polyacrylamide consumed by paper mills are used to flocculate fillers, fibers and pigments at the headbox of the papermachine. This application is commonly referred to as a retention and drainage aid and is expected to grow at 4.5 percent over the next four years. Papermaking accounts for 24 percent of PAM demand.

WEAKNESS
Polymer flooding, a means of maximizing oil output from an existing well, was a substantial market in the mid-1980s. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) consumed 8 percent of polyacrylamides in 1986. Then, the drop in the price of crude oil made EOR economics generally unfavorable. Consumption of PAM for EOR has since fallen to the point of being negligible. Moreover, significant recovery in the EOR applications during the next few years is unlikely. The market for EOR becomes attractive when oil is priced above $25 per barrel.

OUTLOOK
Although there is considerable overcapacity in the marketplace, no rationalization is likely as all producers consume the majority of their acrylamide production in manufacturing higher value polyacrylamides. Acrylonitrile and its precursors are in good supply and stable in price, which should result in a correspondingly stable acrylamide market. Acrylamide's growth prospects depend largely on polyacrylamides and their primary markets in water treatment and the paper industry. These sectors are growing at 3.5 and 4.5 percent, respectively. Growth for acrylamide is projected at 3.8 percent per year, through 2005.