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For the purposes of this report, normal paraffins are linear, aliphatic hydrocarbons of C9-C17 chain lengths that are usually separated from kerosene or gas oil fractions of crude oil using molecular sieves. Their major use is as a raw material for the production of olefins or monochloroparaffins used to manufacture linear alkylbenzene (LAB).
Over the last ten years, there has been an increase in merchant sales of n-paraffins to new LAB plants in the developing world. At the same time, supplies of traditional feedstocks that are rich in n-paraffins have declined. The increasing demand and tighter supplies of these feedstocks, combined with sharply rising crude oil prices in 2003–2008, have led to large price increases. In turn, these developments have led to increases in downstream LAB prices that have made LAB somewhat less competitive with detergent alcohols in household detergent applications. Industry sources have also indicated that ExxonMobil Chemical Company will likely close its n-paraffin plant in the United States, which would further reduce n-paraffin supplies and add an additional uncertainty to the market for these products and their downstream derivatives. These developments create significant uncertainties about future growth in the consumption of n-paraffins and their downstream derivatives. However, a new Fischer-Tropsch unit using gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology that is currently under construction in Qatar may provide more economical supplies of n-paraffins for LAB producers.
The following pie chart shows world consumption of normal paraffins:
Linear alkylbenzene, almost all of which is converted to the surfactant linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and its salts (LAS), accounts for at least 70% of the world consumption of n-paraffins. Most of the remainder is sold to the detergent alcohol, chloroparaffin, solvent and lubricant markets. |
