Styrene

Americas Styrenics is one of the largest producers of styrene monomer in North America and a supplier to some of the world’s leading manufacturers of polystyrene.

First developed in 1928, styrene is today one of the most important monomers produced by the chemical industry. It serves as a basic building block of the plastics industry. The conventional method of producing styrene involves the alkylation of benzene with ethylene to produce ethylbenzene, followed by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene to styrene. Styrene undergoes polymerization by all the common methods used in plastics technology to produce a wide variety of polymers and copolymers. Styrene is readily polymerized and copolymerized by both batch and continuous mass polymerization, emulsion, suspension and solution processes.

Styrene produced by Americas Styrenics is manufactured at the St. James Plant in St. James, Louisiana. A high percentage of Americas Styrenics’ styrene is consumed by the Company’s polystyrene manufacturing facilities, while the remainder is sold to customers on the merchant market. Americas Styrenics’ strong, stable and market-leading position in the polystyrene business provides an excellent manufacturing and logistical foundation to serve as a top-notch styrene provider.