Polymer additives
Antioxidants, light and heat stabilisers and processing aids that keep plastics from breaking down during processing and use.
Specialty chemicals · Performance additives · No. 78
- Product family
- Feedstock: Oil, gas or coal
- not published in tonnes in sources reviewed
- 5.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 381239
A few hundred grams of antioxidant per tonne decides whether a plastic part lasts months or decades.
Chart: Illustration: Polymer additives
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Petrochemicals like phenol and isobutylene are built up in multi-step syntheses; antioxidant 1010, for example, starts from a hindered phenol and methyl acrylate.
Three things to know
- Light stabilisers are low in volume but high in value; the 2023 global listing of UV-328 forced makers to switch UV absorbers.
- EU Regulation 2023/923 restricts lead in PVC, so pipe makers are shifting to calcium-zinc and organotin stabilisers.
- Songwon's fourth-quarter 2025 margin fell to 2.5% from 8.9% as Asian oversupply cut prices.
The journey
- 1 PetrochemicalsPhenol, isobutylene, phosphorus trichloride, acetone
- 2 SynthesisAlkylation, esterification, condensation in batch plants
- 3 BlendsPowders, pellets, one-pack blends, masterbatches
- 4 Plastic compoundingAdded at fractions of a percent
- 5 Lasting productsPipes, films, car parts, garden furniture