Tubular LDPE has the Extrusion Coating Future, 2007 European PLACE Conference

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The extrusion coating market (EC) is still dominated by autoclave LDPE. As described in the literature this is a consequence of the typical molecular mass distribution (broad + long chain branching) of the autoclave resins, which determines its processability.

Some facts:

• The average age of the European autoclaves is high (± 35 yrs).
  
• Autoclaves have a relatively small plant size (on average 75 ktons in Western Europe).
  
• Forced by European legislation, suppliers are confronted with significant license to operate investments.
  
• We expect that no new autoclaves will be built in the future.

At the moment no alternative polymers with comparable characteristics are available.