PVC is the shorthand way of
describing Polyvinyl Chloride. What is PVC ?
As the name suggests one of the
elements present is Chlorine - in
fact over half the weight of a PVC How is it Made?
polymer is Chlorine. The presence
of Chlorine is responsible for PVC’s
excellent resistance to fire.
The modern starting materials for the manufacture of PVC are oil and salt.
Both of these are products of nature. Oil is “cracked” to produce Ethylene and other
useful chemicals. The electrolysis of salt solution produces Sodium Hydroxide (or
Caustic Soda) and Chlorine. Both of these products are extremely important chemicals.
Much of the Sodium Hydroxide produced is used in the production of Aluminium.
Approximately a third of all Chlorine produced is used in the PVC
manufacture. Another important use is for the bleaching of paper.
The use of both salt, a staple commodity, and oil as starting materials in the
manufacture of PVC helps to ensure a more stable price structure than if based on oil
alone. The production of PVC is also less energy intensive than that of products
derived entirely from petrochemicals.
Ethylene and Chlorine are reacted to produce Vinyl Chloride monomer (VCM)
VCM is a highly reactive and flammable gas. It is stored in liquid form under pressure.
Virtually all VCM produced is used to manufacture PVC.
Oil drilling required to extract the raw
materials from the earths natural resources
for the purpose of PVC manufacture
All the most common methods of
converting VCM to PVC consist of dispersing
VCM as fine droplets in water in the presence of
catalysts and traces of other chemicals.
Polymerisation takes place whereby VCM is
converted to PVC.
When most of the monomer is converted to polymer, the reaction is stopped. Any
unreacted monomer is stripped off the resulting white polymer powder and returned to
storage tanks. The polymer is then dried and is ready for use.
H
HH H C
H H
H H H
C C C Cl Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)Cl
C C C C
HH H (Chemical Compound Diagram)
H
HCl Cl
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