By far the lowest-cost global producer, the North American polyethylene resin industry has been booming for the last few years, with a new supply of commodity grades brought on stream and more to come—often through partnerships that complement or enhance each other’s technologies. At the same time, specialty, higher-performance grades have been developed to meet major market trends, which include sustainability, consumer convenience, and evolving E-commerce packaging needs.
Key sources from three leading PE suppliers weighed in on these trends and discussed the half-dozen or so growth applications and the new materials developed within the last three-five years to meet their needs. These sources included are Olivier Lorge, global market development manager at ExxonMobil Chemical; Chris Foy, leader of PE R&D, and Alan Schrob, market group leader, of Nova Chemicals; and Louis Orozco Aragon, technical service & technology manager at Braskem.
