ExxonMobil sees business in thermoset

ExxonMobil Chemical aims to create a big business out of its Proxxima polyolefin thermoset resin technology, according to a presentation to investors on Sept. 20. The energy and chemical company acquired the resins in its 2021 acquisition of Materia, a firm founded on the technology of the late Nobel laureate Robert Grubbs of the California Institute of Technology. The materials are based on cyclic C5 monomers. In the presentation, Loic Vivier, senior vice president of specialty products at ExxonMobil, said the materials cure faster and are stronger than other thermoset resins such as epoxies. ExxonMobil aims to market them materials for pipeline coatings, automotive parts, and windmill blades. He also said that the market for the materials could be as much as 5 million metric tons per year and that profits from Proxxima could be $1 billion by 2040. ExxonMobil has already approved the first manufacturing plant for the resins.