Hydrocarbon Resins: C5 Aliphatic, C9 Aromatic, DCPD & Hydrogenated

C5, C9, C5/C9 and DCPD petroleum resins by ring-and-ball softening point and Gardner colour

Hydrocarbon resins, also called petroleum resins, are made from the by-product streams of naphtha steam cracking and are bought as tackifiers and binders. C5 aliphatic resins are polymerised from the C5 stream, of which piperylene makes up about a tenth; DCPD resins use dicyclopentadiene, co-produced in large quantities in the same crackers; C9 aromatic and C5/C9 resins complete the family; and hydrogenated C5 and DCPD grades are water-white. Grades are sold on two numbers, the ring-and-ball softening point tested to ASTM E28 and the Gardner colour, with acid value and ash on the sheet, and published producer sheets show the spread: a general-purpose C5 rubber tackifier at 96-103 °C and Gardner 5 maximum; C5 road-marking grades at 100 ± 5 °C with melt viscosity capped at 250 cP at 200 °C; dark C9 grades at 100, 110 and 120 °C with Gardner 15-18; printing-ink C9 grades at 120-130 °C and 130-140 °C with Gardner 10-12; and hydrogenated DCPD grades at 97-108, 115-125 and 125-135 °C with Gardner 1 maximum. Tackifiers can make up to about 40% of the total mass of a hot-melt adhesive, and C5 grades for hot-melt and pressure-sensitive adhesives are used with natural rubber, synthetic rubber, EVA and styrene block copolymers. In thermoplastic road marking, hydrocarbons are one of three main binder chemistries alongside rosin esters and maleic-modified rosin esters, and the mix is heated to about 200 °C before it is laid. C9 grades go into printing inks, paints, tyre and rubber compounds and bitumen modification. Customs puts the family under HS 3911.10, with coumarone-indene resins and polyterpenes.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 3911.10 total about USD 2.04 billion and 1.06 million MT across 69 reporters: China USD 675 million and 461,800 MT, Korea USD 335 million and 174,100 MT, the USA USD 187 million and 73,100 MT, the Netherlands USD 172 million, France USD 147 million, Taiwan USD 115 million and 70,600 MT, Japan USD 94 million, Germany USD 80 million and Singapore USD 79 million and 41,400 MT. Those are declared export values, not offers. In August 2024 Korea opened an anti-dumping investigation into petroleum resins under HSK 3911.10.1000 from China and Taiwan, on a Korean producer's petition, with C9 resins softening at 130 °C or higher outside its scope; the importer confirms any duty in force before an origin is fixed. The buyer is a hot-melt or pressure-sensitive adhesive maker, a road-marking paint producer, a tyre and rubber compounder, a printing-ink or paint maker, a bitumen modifier or a distributor. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers C5, C9, C5/C9, DCPD and hydrogenated resins from producers and their offtake traders in China, Korea, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Taiwan, Japan, Germany and Singapore, against the producer's certificate of analysis for softening point, colour, acid value and ash, the safety data sheet, a certificate of origin, a REACH statement for EU imports and, for food-packaging adhesives in the USA, a declaration against 21 CFR 175.105, which lists hydrogenated petroleum hydrocarbon resins of the cyclopentadiene type and of the styrene, vinyltoluene and indene types. Resin moves as pastilles or granules in 25 kg kraft paper bags with a poly liner or PP woven bags, or in 500 kg to one-tonne bulk bags, and producers classify it as non-hazardous, in containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Pricing is per MT on grade, pack and origin, and Argus publishes a C5 and hydrocarbon resins report; minimum quantities are confirmed per product and pack. Send the resin type, softening point band, colour limit, end use, pack, monthly volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.