Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) is produced by a reaction of ethylene and acetic acid with oxygen. The largest end-use for acetic acid is the production of VAM. VAM in turn is primarily converted to polyvinyl acetate, some of which is used directly as the homopolymer or in various copolymers, or further converted into polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), which results in recovered acetic acid. One of the major classes of VAM derivatives is polyvinyl acetate copolymers with ethylene. If the vinyl acetate content is more than half of the copolymer, these are designated as vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) copolymers; these have been split out as a discrete demand segment. Ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymers, where the ethylene content dominates, are included as a separate derivative category. Ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) copolymers are also identified as a separate category of VAM demand.
