Vinyl chloride monomer

Vinyl chloride monomer is the gas polymerised into PVC; it is made from ethylene and chlorine, or in China from coal-based acetylene.

Commodity chemicals · Derivatives & intermediates · No. 39

• Single chemical
• Feedstock: Minerals and salts
• about 47 Mt a year (2024-2025, indicative: in line with PVC output)
• 3.5 t CO₂e per t
• HS 290321

The gas behind India's water pipes is over half chlorine, and in China often made from coal with a mercury catalyst.

Chart: Illustration: Vinyl chloride monomer

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Outside China, ethylene and chlorine make ethylene dichloride, which is cracked at about 500 C; the HCl released is recycled. China leans on acetylene from coal-based calcium carbide.

Three things to know

1. More than 99% of vinyl chloride goes into PVC, so its fortunes are really PVC's fortunes.
2. Roughly 70% of China's VCM comes from coal via calcium carbide and a mercury catalyst.
3. India had only 1.6-1.8 Mt of PVC capacity against about 4.1 Mt of demand in 2025, so it imports VCM and PVC.

The journey

1. 1 Ethylene, chlorine0.47 t ethylene, 0.58 t chlorine
2. 2 EDCChlorination and oxychlorination make dichloride
3. 3 CrackingGas furnaces at about 500 C
4. 4 VCM gasStored as pressurised liquid
5. 5 PVCMostly suspension polymerisation, about 90%

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