Focusing on the ever-increasing requirement of resins for several applications, linear alpha olefins market participants have been adopting the strategy of business expansion lately. For instance, in 2017, Royal Dutch Shell expanded its chemical business across the U.S., establishing a linear alpha olefins unit with a production capacity of 425,000 per annum. In addition, Shell is also looking forward to building a petrochemical complex in Pennsylvania, the commercial production of which will start early next decade. This American shale revolution is also likely to boost linear alpha olefins industry share over the years ahead. Linear alpha olefins are prominently used to manufacture different types of industrial and consumer products including drilling fluids, synthetic lubricants, plastics, and household detergents. The rapidly growing oil drilling activities across the Gulf regions will also fuel the demand for linear alpha olefins pertaining to its environmental safety features over other drilling fluids, which will considerably impel linear alpha olefins market size. Apart from Shell, INEOS Oligomers has also been constructing a huge linear alfa olefins production plant at Texas-based INEOS petrochemical complex, which would further impel linear alpha olefins market.
U.S. Linear Alpha Olefins Market Size, By Application, 2016 & 2024 (USD Million)
Numerous regulatory bodies and regional governments have been becoming more aware of the drilling fluids used by oil and gas extraction companies that are discharged to ocean, which has had a tremendous impact on the aquatic life and environmental aspects owing to toxicity. Traditionally, linear alpha olefins are derived from petroleum, but pertaining to the rising environmental concern related to application of drilling fluids, researchers are continuously involved in detecting alternative linear alpha olefins (LAOs) production methods. For instance, researchers from the UW–Madison have recently developed LAOs from biomass, the impact of which is certain to propel linear alpha olefins industry outlook.
Currently, most of the players in linear alpha olefins market use two major technologies for production, namely, the full-range and on-purpose. Although the full range process is widely used for producing different types of products, nowadays, the on-purpose production process is also gaining popularity, owing to the surging demand for low carbon components such as octane-1, hexane-1, and butene-1. As per statistics, linear alpha olefins market size from butene-1 is slated to grow at a CAGR of more than 4.5% over 2017-2024, owing to its escalating use for producing commodity polymers such as polypropylene and polyethylene.
Shifting trends toward flexible and sustainable packaging facilities for various food, medical, and agrochemical packaging purposes is substantially affecting linear alpha olefins industry trends, owing to the escalating use of LLDPE as a packaging material. Many of the LLDPE manufacturers are using linear alpha olefins as a prominent raw material to produce LLDPE, as the usage of plastic containers has been increasing across the F&B sector. Rapid urbanization and changing food habits has significantly affected on demand of packaged products, owing to high mechanical strength, recyclability, gas barrier properties of LLDPE based packaging, which has had an impact on linear alpha olefins industry. Taking into account the surging requirement of LLDPE, Global Market Insights, Inc., has predicted that, linear alpha olefins industry from LLDPE application will collect a revenue of more than USD 10 billion by the end of 2024. In addition, due to increasing importance for LLDPE, many of the plastic solution providers are expanding their regional space by developing new product ranges as well as by partnering with packaging industries. For instance, UAE based plastic solution provider, Borouge has launched Anteo packaging grade in collaboration with Borealis in 2017 across Austria, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi. Business development strategies such as these in the packaging industry are likely to stimulate linear alpha olefins market size over the years ahead.
Nowadays, the demand for fuel additives has increased noticeably, given that they improve performance, power, and acceleration of an engine. Their rising deployment across the automotive domain is likely to augment linear alpha olefins market. The governments of various countries have deployed stringent regulatory norms to curb vehicle emissions, which has also propelled the need of fuel additives. In fact, linear alpha olefins are primarily used for producing automotive fuel additives, the surging use of which is certain to boost linear alpha olefins industry share.
The increasing awareness regarding the potential threats of carbon footprints in the environment have prompted chemical manufacturing companies to shift their focus on the development of renewable and low carbon chemical formulations. In consequence, a massive change of dynamics has been observed across this business space, as companies strive to manufacture linear alpha olefins from biomass-based oils such as palm, soybean, and canola. The shifting trends toward the deployment of eco-friendly alternatives is thus, one of most essential driving forces that would linear alpha olefins industry share in the years ahead.