"Supply Cut"! Major Chemical Giants—BASF, Dow, and Chemours—Concentrated Plant Closures!

Recently, the stock price of a listed chemical company hit an all-time high, surging nearly 300% within two months. The catalyst behind this explosive surge is truly staggering! LyondellBasell and Covestro—the two global giants—have permanently shut down their combined 315,000-ton-per-year propylene oxide (PO) production capacity in the Netherlands! This has instantly created a critical gap in the global chemical supply chain! As a result, PO prices surged by 200 RMB/ton in just one week, breaking through the historic threshold of 7,750 RMB/ton. Total global PO capacity cut: 1 million tons! Multiple major PO producers have permanently ceased operations. Domestic PO producers—including primary and related enterprises—have collectively raised prices, primarily due to permanent shutdowns of PO production facilities overseas. Much of the world’s PO capacity is concentrated among chemical giants such as DuPont, LyondellBasell, Shell, BASF, and Covestro. Recently, escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions—combined with carbon tariff policies—have prompted leading enterprises to publicly declare a 'standby' stance. LyondellBasell, Covestro, Shell, and Dow Chemical have successively shut down or exited PO production, resulting in over 1 million tons of direct overseas capacity reduction—significantly reshaping the global PO supply-demand balance. In China, Wanhua Chemical, Binhu Chemical, Qixiang Tengda, Hongbaoli, and Yida Shares are key PO producers. However, because low-end PO production causes severe environmental pollution, the global—and especially domestic—phase-out of outdated low-end capacity has accelerated in recent years. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) explicitly classified the chlorohydrin process (a PO manufacturing method) as a restricted technology in its ‘Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance Catalogue (2024 Edition)’, mandating mandatory elimination after December 31, 2025 for installations failing to meet specific criteria. This means not only will over 1 million tons of overseas capacity be eliminated—but also a substantial volume of domestic capacity will be phased out. Under combined domestic and international pressures, the PO supply-demand equilibrium may be disrupted, making price hikes a widely anticipated outcome. Even more alarmingly, multiple upstream raw materials for coatings—including titanium dioxide (TiO₂) and toluene diisocyanate (TDI)—are now facing acute supply shortages. Foreign TiO₂ giants shutter plants—supply stability in doubt The titanium dioxide industry faces similar challenges: Tronox, Chemours, and Venator have recently closed factories, affecting tens of thousands of tons of annual capacity. Tronox announced the closure of its titanium dioxide plant in Botlek, the Netherlands—a facility with 90,000 tons/year capacity. Shutting it down aims to optimize remaining capacity and reduce overall manufacturing costs. Chemours closed its titanium dioxide plant in Taiwan, cutting ~50,000 tons/year capacity, to improve profitability and quality of its TiO₂ business. Venator announced the closure of its Duisburg, Germany titanium dioxide plant (50,000 tons/year), and rationalized its European TiO₂ capacity totaling 130,000 tons/year—relocating specialty TiO₂ production from Duisburg to Uerdingen. Its 80,000-tons/year TiO₂ plant in Scarlino, Italy, is also currently offline. As a critical raw material for the coatings industry—providing opacity, whiteness, and gloss—these plant closures will directly reshape global TiO₂ supply dynamics, thereby impacting coating manufacturers’ raw material procurement costs and supply reliability. Multiple TDI units halted—industrial anti-corrosion coating raw materials constrained Over recent years, overseas TDI capacity has been gradually shrinking. BASF shut down its TDI and precursor units at its Ludwigshafen site; Japan’s Tosoh halted TDI production at its Nanyo, Japan facility; and Argentina’s Petroquímica Río Tercero announced the cessation of operations at its Córdoba TDI plant—whose annual capacity stood at 28,000 tons.

From ‘Ionic Clusters’ to Market Scale: Why Is Ionomer Material Worth Watching?

1. Introduction to Perfluorosulfonic Acid (PFSA) Ionomers Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomers are a class of ion-conductive polymers renowned for their exceptional ion conductivity and chemical–mechanical stability. PFSA ionomers are commonly employed as solid electrolytes in electrochemical technologies—particularly as proton-exchange membranes in polymer electrolyte fuel cells and as sodium-ion conductors in chlor-alkali processes. In the 1970s, DuPont developed the first commercially viable PFSA ionomer monomer, Nafion®. DuPont’s Nafion® membrane—a commercially available PFSA-based membrane—is widely used in fuel cell applications. Even after decades of research, Nafion® remains the benchmark solid electrolyte for most energy storage and conversion devices, owing to its intrinsic electrochemical functionality: it efficiently transports ions and solvents within a chemically inert, mechanically robust matrix—while simultaneously suppressing electron conduction and crossover of reactants/products. Nafion® is a random copolymer composed of an electrically neutral, semi-crystalline polymer backbone (polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE) and randomly distributed side chains bearing pendant ionic groups (poly-sulfonyl fluoride vinyl ether) terminated with sulfonate (SO₃⁻) moieties associated with specific counterions (e.g., SO₃⁻ + H⁺ → SO₃H). The covalently attached ionic side chains and the hydrophobic backbone exhibit markedly different physicochemical properties, leading to intrinsic phase separation—which is further enhanced upon solvation (e.g., water or solvent uptake). It is precisely this phase-separated morphology that endows PFSA ionomers with their unique ion and solvent transport capabilities. Thus, PFSA ionomers are intrinsically multifunctional polymers whose transport and mechanical properties are governed by morphology, which itself arises from electrostatic interactions. Yet this morphology also reflects a delicate balance among various competing energies—including the mechanical (deformation) energy associated with the hydrophobic backbone and the chemical/entropic energy linked to hydration of the hydrophilic ionic groups and their side chains. 2. Major PFSA Ionomer Producers and Their Products Currently, leading global producers of PFSA ionomers include Chemours, Solvay, Asahi Kasei, and Fluorochemie. Chemours’ PFSA ionomer business originated from DuPont’s spin-off: In July 2015, DuPont transferred its ‘Performance Chemicals’ business—including the PFSA ionomer program—to the newly formed Chemours Company. Chemours manufactures Nafion™ PFSA membranes based on PFSA/PTFE copolymers, widely applied in electrochemical cells as cation-conducting solid electrolytes. Solvay produces PFSA ionomer products including Aquivion® D79-25BS, Aquivion® D72-25BS, and Aquivion® E98-05. These materials feature high crystallinity, improved mechanical performance, and superior proton conductivity—primarily used in fuel cell electrodes and electrochemical battery electrodes. Asahi Kasei is one of the world’s leading PFSA ionomer producers. Its PFSA ionomer product lines include Aciplex® and Flemion®, mainly deployed in high-performance applications such as proton exchange membrane fuel cells.