Nylon 12 ? The Road Ahead

Evonik is the market leader in the production of cyclododecatriene (CDT), a precursor of Nylon 12. The explosion happened at Evonikï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’??s facility in Marl, Germany, in March 31, 2012, created a stressful situation in the nylon 12 market. The facility was supplying raw material for Evonik and Evonikï¾Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Æ’??s competitor, Arkema. Evonik had almost 40% of the nylon 12 market before the fire accident at Marl. The plant is expected to be completely repaired and CDT production is expected to return to normal levels by Q4 2012. Only Evonik was backwardly integrated and produced CDT. Other global manufacturers of nylon 12 are Arkema Group, Ube Industries Ltd. and EMSN, who obtained CDT from Evonik, Invista or BASF. The sudden shortage in the supply of nylon 12 created a panic in the market. Companies other than Evonik were at their maximum operating rate, thereby unable to accept any new business orders. The huge market share of Evonik came as a surprise to most of the people in the industry only after the supply shortage. This supply shortage opened the eyes of the end users to take necessary step to avoid any chaos in their manufacturing. The hunt for possible alternatives or substitutes for nylon 12 began shortly after the accident in March 31, 2012.