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Tackifiers, including rosin and hydrocarbon types, are amore than $1 billion industry in the United States, and a $3billion to $4 billion enterprise globally. Tackifiers marched intothe 21st century with changes on the supply side to meetrequirements in packaging, pressure-sensitive adhesives,labels, book binding, home construction, flooring, disposablediapers and chewing gum.

Tom Eckhardt, director of Teckrez, Inc., a pine-chemicaltackifier supplier in Fleming Island, FL, explained more abouthow tackifiers are used: Ink and road marking and coatingresins are other major categories of rosin and hydrocarbonresins, but the word 'tackifier' isn't used for them. Meanwhile,terpene-based hydrocarbon resins, because of their highercosts, are limited to special performance applications. Androsins are known for peel-tack and specific adhesion contri-butions to adhesives, he noted.

Furthermore, Terpene-based resins are more diverse thanpetrochemical hydrocarbons because they are readily modi-fied with other chemicals like phenol to increase polarity,resulting in effective tackifiers. pine-based terpene and petro-chemical-based resins are hydrocarbonscontaining onlycarbon and hydrogenmaking them relatively non-polar, he

said.Hot-Melt Adhesives Are the Nation's Top Tackifier MarketCurrently there is a steady demand for tackifier resins.

Eckhardt said, the largest market is hot melt adhesives forpackaging, book binding and other segments. Also importantare pressure-sensitive tape and label adhesiveswhichinclude hot meltsand construction and flooring mastic-typeadhesives.

As for promising, growth markets, he said the higher-growth segment for tackifiers continues to be waterborne,pressure-sensitive adhesives and lower Volatile OrganicCompound or VOC flooring and construction adhesives.

Bob Wherry, sales and marketing manager at PDM, Inc.,an importer and distributor of pine-derived chemicals inWilmington, DE, said among the many uses for tackifiers Iwould include disposables, especially diapers and catame-nial products, which utilize tackifier resinsboth hydrocarbonand rosin based. Catamenial refers mainly to menstrualproducts like tampons and pads.

Improvements on the Production SideWherry pointed to several major advances in production

techniques in recent decades. "In the late 1980's, Ciba-Geigy Corp. along with Westonwhich is now owned byChemtura in Connecticutintroduced the use of adjuvants,like esterification catalysts and oxidation stabilizers for rosinesters, primarily utilized by tall oil rosin ester producers, hesaid. That allowed the production of very light and stablerosin esterswhich expanded their use considerably. Theadvent of these products has also allowed improvements inhydrocarbon tackifiers.

Wherry spent 38 years working within the domestic andinternational resin markets at Delaware-based Hercules, Inc.,before retiring from Hercules in 1999 and joining PDM in2003. Ashland Inc. bought Hercules in 2008.

Wherry continued, saying the use of larger rosin, resin-reaction vessels and kettles has allowed the production of

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Tackifiers

101:

Market Evolves

With Demand

For Adhesives,

Sealants and

Labels

By Susan Buchanan


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much larger batches of resin. For many years, the largestreaction kettles used in the U.S. by producers like Hercules,Arizona Chemical, Georgia-Pacific and MeadWestvacoCorp. were 2,000 gallons. But, he said, kettles can now be12,000 gallons or larger, and that simplifies analysis andquality testing for producers and users.

Wherry said in hydrocarbon, tackifier resin technology,

continuous production is the norm, even among the hydro-genated, hydrocarbon versions, resulting in lower-cost prod-ucts.

He said since the early 1990's, tackifier resins haveevolved from solid material in drumsespecially with rosinderivativesto flaked versions in bags, to pastilles in bags.This has resulted in a product with less surface area subjectto oxidation and less fines, that is also much more suscepti-ble to oxidation and dust generation, and a product lessprone to re-massing and easier to meter into the process.

Wherry explained what fines are, saying flaked resin in abag is like a bag of small fingernails that are basically flat andwith a somewhat ragged edge. As these edges rub against

each other in the bag, small, almost-circular pieces break off.The surface area of those small fines is much greater thanthat of the resin flake and more susceptible to oxidation.

In one U.S. industry development, Eckhardt pointed tonew investments in plant capacity for hydrogenated hydro-carbon resin tackifiers. Resinall Corp., for example, is buildinga hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin unit at its Hattiesburg, MSsite to produce low-molecular weight, thermoplastic resinssuitable for use as tackifiers in hot-melt and pressure-sensi-tive adhesives. Phase One of that Resinall facility is targetedfor completion and start-up in 2012.

U.S Imports from Asia, Brazil and Mexico

Eckhardt said, for many years the U.S. has imported gum-rosin based tackifiers, largely from Latin American countries,such as Brazil and Mexico. Over the last decade, producersof Chinese gum rosin based tackifiers have become themost prominent competitors.

Wherry noted that China is the worlds largest producer ofgum rosin. Prior to 2000, Chinas domestic tackifier produc-tion facilities were geared to domestic consumption. Plantstended to be small and quality was aimed at local needs.This has changed dramatically in the last decade as technol-ogy was improved, capacity expanded and joint operationswere formed with foreign producers who had technologyand wanted to take advantage of Chinas lower labor andraw material costs, Wherry said. Recent expansions aregeared more to export.

China is a major producer of rosin-based tackifiers, and itsoutput of hydrocarbon-based tackifiers is growing.

In 2010, China exported 400,000 tons of gum resin androsin resin to other countries but that was down from a 2007peak of nearly 500,000 tons, according to the ChinaNational Chemical Information Center. In recent years, euca-

lyptus planting, insect infestations and adverse weather,including drought, heavy rainfall and snow, affected China'spine-growing areas.

Japan is a major producer of both rosin and hydrocarbontackifiers resins, Wherry said. Japan has long been a suppli-er to the U.S. tackifier market, providing a range of productsthat are rosin based, hydrocarbon based, hydrogenated

hydrocarbon based, and terpene and terpene-derivativebased, he noted.

As for Europe, Wherry said, rosin derivatives are availablein several European countries, but U.S. imports from Europetend to be minor. Hydrocarbon tackifier facilities exist inEurope, and most of their production is consumed in thatregion. In the terpene phenolic area, major French producerDRT exports to the U.S., he said.

Tackifiers and the Green MovementEckhardt said over many decades, tackifier use has shift-

ed very significantly from the original solvent Volatile OrganicCompound or VOC-based adhesives to low-or-no, VOC-

containing technologies, like 100% solidsusually hot meltand waterborne adhesives.

Wherry said the fact that rosin is a renewable and sustain-able tree product has had a positive, but not huge impact ondemand for gum and tall oil rosin and their derivatives andesters. Expectations are that in time, this renewable aspectwill be of greater value and volume significance, he said.

Wherry continued, saying while wood rosin-base tacki-fiers do not enjoy sustainability, like their gum and tall oil rosincounterparts, most wood rosin-based tackifiers can be andare produced from gum rosin. Petroleum hydrocarbon tacki-fiers are not renewable and sustainable.

Brazil and, more recently, Mexico have planted pine treesfor the production of rosin in plantations where trees arespaced much like a corn crop, Wherry said. This allows formore efficient collection of crude gum and has other benefi-cial aspects [for the environment].

The Pine Chemicals Association, an Atlanta, GA-basedtrade group, formed a sustainability committee in 2010 todevelop strategies and programs that will emphasize theeco-friendly nature of the industry's products, including tacki-fiers. The committee has worked on an acceptable definitionof sustainable, and has looked into developing life cycle orcarbon-footprint analyses, according to the PCA's website.

When asked if resin prices might rise because of demand

May-June 2011 FOREST CHEMICALS REVIEW 17

PET thermoforms were tossed in

municipal landfills in Canada, instead

of being recycled, because it was

difficult to remove all the adhesives.


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for forest product for biofuel, Wherry said this may be apossibility, but the economics and logistics of growing grainsand grasses, versus that of forests, seem to favor grains. Thelength of time it takes to grow a harvestable crop of grainsand grasses is one season.

He continued, saying with trees, maturity tends to be atbest eight years and can be up to 15 years, even with fast-

growing varieties. In addition, the value of forests for prod-ucts other than biofuel, like lumber and packaging materials,seems to be higher.

Wherry continued, saying this, and the declining, popularappeal of federal tax credits for domestically made ethanoland other tax credits for producing bio-fuel materials, wouldtend to favor deriving maximum benefits from forests bymaintaining current uses. That means the impact of anyincreases in resin prices will likely be due to factors otherthan biofuel.

In the rosin market, Eckhardt provided an example of howbiofuel demand has affected prices. He said the diversion ofcrude tall oil for use in biofuels by SunPine in Sweden will

reduce rosin availability, and as a result put upward pressureon pricing since rosin is globally traded. SunPine, a second-generation biofuels company, is located in Pitea, Sweden.Also, he continued, U.S. rosin prices have risen substantiallythis year because of shortages and much higher, globalgum-rosin pricing.

Adhesives, Sustainability and RecyclingVirtually all groups of pine chemicals, except plant sterols,

are used by the adhesives and sealants industry. Adhesivesare a growth market and, because of their uses in packaging,have benefited considerably from Internet commerce and bigbox stores.

Matt Croson, president of the Adhesives and SealantsCouncil, Inc., a Washington-based trade group, said: there'sno pending legislation in Congress that would appear tohave a direct impact on the tackifier area, but with growinginterest in biofuels and [a] desire on the ObamaAdministration's part to use more alternative fuels, we canexpect some capacity and pricing pressures in the adhesivesindustry.

The Renewable Fuel Standard, a federal mandate,requires that the amount of renewable energy blended intothe national, transportation-fuel supply rise from 14 billiongallons this year to 36 billion gallons by 2022. The standardcalls for increased use of ethanol and other biofuels madefrom sources like wood, animal waste, landfill gas and other

organic materials. The U.S. has a long row to hoe from here,however, to meet that 2022 goal.

We have to be concerned about unintended conse-quences and ripple effects of any new biofuel requirementsthat are implemented, Croson said. Adhesives are a smallbut key piece of the green-energy puzzle, he noted, andadded: companies are taking proactive steps to educatethemselves and members of Congress about everything from

capacity issues to metric definitions and green-waste, legalimplications and the need to convert packaging and adhe-sive usage.

Croson said all of those matters will be discussed at asustainability conference held by the Adhesive and SealantCouncil and ASTM International, a Pennsylvania-based stan-dards group, from July 26 to 27 in Chicago.

The sustainability trend has become an important part ofthe specification process for industry, Croson said. Wal-Martheld its fifth annual, sustainable packaging event at a confer-ence in Toronto on June 22, and ASC was one of the partici-pants. We've worked with Wal-Mart in Canada, and with theNational Association for PET Container Resources or NAP-COR and the Association for Postconsumer PlasticRecyclers to remove adhesives from PET thermoforms, hesaid.

One issue was that PET thermoforms were tossed inmunicipal landfills in Canada, instead of being recycled,because it was difficult to remove all the adhesives, he said.We wanted to fix that, and a solution was found in six

months after a technical group addressed existing PET pro-tocols. We collaborated to develop a testing protocol thatillustrates how water can remove adhesives from PET-basedpackaging and support recycling.

Croson said, Collaboration on that Canadian technicalissue is a good example of how engineers and other expertscan get together and work things out. For Canada, it meansthey have less packaging in landfills and more feedstock thatcan be recycled. We're now working with NAPCOR and theTag and Label Manufacturers Institute on the next steps, pri-marily in Canada, and hope to find similar solutions for adhe-sives in U.S. recycling. The Tag and Label ManufacturersInstitute, Inc. is a Gloucester, MA-based association.

In early 2008, Wal-Mart launched its SustainablePackaging Scorecard, and set a goal to reduce all packag-ing used in its supply chain by 5% by 2013. Currently, alldirect suppliers to Wal-Mart USA and Canada are requiredto enter packaging data for each stock keeping unit sent tothe retailer. The company continues to introduce internationalscorecards, and says it sees opportunities to increase sus-tainability in all facets of its business.

Whole Foods Market has sustainable, packaging guide-lines, including new requirements for over 2,100 body-careand vitamin-supplement suppliers. Suppliers must utilize easi-ly reused or recycled packaging materials that alreadyinclude a high percent of recycled content.

Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, along with over 200 other

companies, are members of the Sustainable PackagingCoalition, an industry working group based in Charlottesville,VA.

Tackifier producers will continue to keep a eye on greentrends in retailing, changing packaging requirements, forestsin China and plantations in Brazil and the move towedrenewable fuels.

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