Refinery Chems Mkt. to Hit $26.8 Bil. in 2013

World demand for chemicals used in petroleum refineries is forecast to advance at a 3.5 percent annual pace to 18.3 million metric tons in 2013, valued at $26.8 billion, according to a report by the Freedonia Group. Increased refinery chemical usage will be driven by continued investment in chemically-intensive conversion and petroleum treatment processes, as refiners seek to meet tightening environmental standards while boosting yields of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Source: The Freedonia Group, Inc.

Catalysts are widely used to improve energy efficiency and process productivity in petroleum treatment and conversion applications. Freedonia says catalytic cracking and hydroprocessing represent the highest value markets for catalysts, primarily employing zeolite and metal catalysts, respectively. Although the largest application in volume terms is alkylation, its impact in value terms is relatively small, since the process typically utilizes low-value sulfuric acid catalyst. Demand growth for pH adjusters and corrosion inhibitors is expected to outpace that for catalysts through 2013, with gains primarily driven by increases in refinery output and internal water recycling.

North America is the largest regional consumer of refinery chemicals, due to high levels of chemical use in the advanced refineries of the United States and Canada, according to Freedonia. In addition to widely employing chemically-intensive catalytic conversion and treatment processes, North America accounts for the bulk of global alkylation capacity, which requires the heavy use of low-value sulfuric acid catalysts. Through 2013, chemical growth in North America and Western Europe will be restrained by decreasing refinery output as less profitable refineries are closed. Significantly faster gains in refinery chemical consumption are expected in the Asia/Pacific and Africa/Mideast regions, with demand boosted by both rising refinery throughput and the increased adoption of catalytic refining processes as the regions’ refineries upgrade from distillation and thermal cracking technologies.

WORLD REFINERY CHEMICAL DEMAND (000 metric tons)
% Annual Growth
Item	2003	2008	2013	03-08	08- 13
World Refinery Chemical Demand	11900	15400	18250	5.3	3.5
North America	5560	6765	7465	4.0	2.0
Western Europe	2060	2635	3055	5.0	3.0
Asia/Pacific	2440	3380	4465	6.7	5.7
Latin America	530	670	820	4.8	4.1
Eastern Europe	555	775	915	6.9	3.4
Africa/Mideast	755	1175	1530	9.2	5.4