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Global epoxy resin demand exceeded 3.1 million tons in 2020 and
is expected to grow 3.4% per year from 2021 through 2026.
The fastest-growing applications will be adhesives and
composites. Adhesives are being used in greater quantity to bond
dissimilar materials of construction that are increasingly used in
the automotive and aviation industries. Composites, made by epoxy
reinforcement of carbon and other fibers, are increasingly used for
wind turbine blades, aircraft, pressure vessels, automotive, and
other high-value goods.
Epoxy resins have been commercially important for about 80 years
due to their excellent resistance to corrosion and chemicals,
mechanical strength, dielectric properties, adhesion strength and
reasonable costs. Most applications are mature, however, tending to
grow in step with GNP. Coatings account for around 50% of
consumption, followed by civil engineering (flooring, paving and
construction), composites, electrical/electronics, and adhesives.
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Opportunities from offshore wind
One of the more dynamic markets for epoxy resins is the wind
turbine blade market, where epoxy is used as the binder for carbon
fiber reinforcement (CFR) in very large blades such as those used
in offshore applications.
Newer blades are 50 meters or longer to maximize efficiency.
Epoxy/CFR blades are lightweight, very strong, and are specified
for use by major manufacturers of large wind turbine blades. As the
world strives to meet the goals of the 2016 Paris Agreement on
climate change, annual global capacity additions of offshore wind
turbines are expected to rise by 600% by 2035. This is expected to
turbo charge epoxy resins demand from this sector.
Offshore wind is expected to grow from 5.7 GW of installed
global capacity in 2020 to 37 GW by 2035, about 15% of the total
renewable energy mix. Offshore wind is an attractive source of
renewable energy because it is more powerful and predictable, can
be located closely to densely populated areas, is less of an
eyesore, and has lower limits on blade sizes. In addition,
technology is improving, and costs are falling. However, they are
expensive to build and maintain, costing up to 50% more than
onshore installations. Possible opposition from environment,
tourist, maritime traffic and fishing industries could also hamper
growth of offshore wind installations.
Currently, most offshore wind installations are in Europe and
China.
The U.S. currently has little offshore wind capacity, with only
a small (30 MW, 5 turbine) unit operating off the coast of Rhode
Island. However, the Biden Administration, in support of the Paris
Agreement, plans to accelerate development of renewable energy. The
Biden Administration is anticipating annual capital investments in
excess of $12 billion.
Other nations are also planning for major investments in
offshore wind.
The industry is developing new technology to improve efficiencies
and increase potential. For example, the use of floating wind
turbine farms has been proposed for installation off the coast of
California. These factors should further boost installations and
demand for epoxy/CFR blades as well.
Meanwhile, advances are also being made in wind blade size.
Larger sizes generate more power and reduce the number of units
required to generate a given amount of power. For example, the
$2.8-billion Vineyard Wind project, planned for installation off
the coast of Massachusetts, originally planned to use as many as
108 turbines situated 24 kilometers off the coast of Martha's
Vineyard to supply 800 megawatts of power. In December 2020,
Vineyard Wind temporarily withdrew its application while it
considered the use of General Electric, the most powerful on the
market. With the use of General Electric's Haliade-X turbines
technology, Vineyard Wind will now require only 62 turbines to
produce the same amount of power.
The wind turbine industry also uses adhesives based on epoxy
resins to make highly durable bonds. Some manufacturers supply
highly specialized formulation for this application, which is quite
demanding. As the blades grow in size, the stresses on the
adhesives increase considerably.
Epoxy resin producer Olin has joined the CETEC (Circular Economy
for Thermoset Epoxy Composites) coalition of industry and academic
leaders to develop a new technology enabling circularity for
thermoset epoxy composites, the material used to make wind turbine
blades. The new technology delivers the final technological step on
the journey towards a fully recyclable wind turbine value chain.
Wind turbines are 85%-90% recyclable, with turbine blade material
constituting the remaining percentage that cannot be recycled due
to the nature of thermoset composites. CETEC is aiming to close
this recycling gap and enable a significant step forward in the
elimination of waste across the wind energy industry.
All in all, the winds of change will provide new growth
prospects for epoxy resins.
