How Is PVC Made, Anyway? A Complete Manufacturing & Compounding Guide

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is used in thousands of different applications. If you ask someone how PVC is made, you will probably be met with a blank stare.

Blank stares turn into raised eyebrows when you tell them the main ingredients in PVC are…salt and oil. Really! 

Vinyl compound is found in every facet of our daily lives. It is a versatile workhorse material that can be used to make everything from medical tubing to backyard decking to power cable jackets. If you look around you right now, you will find countless objects that have some PVC component.

Curious about how PVC is made? 

PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is one of the world’s most widely used and versatile plastics, found in thousands of products ranging from construction materials and medical devices to wire and cable insulation and consumer goods. Its popularity comes from the fact that it can be engineered into materials with very different properties—rigid or flexible, durable or elastic—depending on how it is formulated.

At its core, PVC is produced through a multi-step chemical manufacturing process that begins with widely available raw materials. The two primary inputs are salt, which provides chlorine, and hydrocarbon feedstocks derived from oil or natural gas, which provide ethylene. Through a series of controlled chemical reactions, these ingredients are converted into vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is then polymerized to create PVC resin. This resin serves as the foundation for a wide range of vinyl compounds used across industries.

The first step is separating ethylene out of the oil feedstock.

Ethylene, a natural gas derivative, is supplied by the petrochemical industry. It is captured during a process called thermal cracking. Liquid petroleum is heated in steam furnaces and put under extreme pressure. This creates changes in the molecular weight of the chemicals found in petroleum feedstock. Changing the molecular weight allows ethylene to be identified, segmented and captured. It is then cooled back down to a liquid state.

The other step is extracting chlorine from sea salt.

Chlorine, which is found in salt extracted from sea water, gains an additional electron during the process of electrolysis. By sending a strong current of electricity through salt water solution – strong enough to change its molecular structure – chlorine is separated, then extracted from the mixture.

When ethylene and chlorine are reacted, ethylene dichloride (EDC) is created. This passes through another thermal cracking process, which produces vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).

VCM is sent through a catalyst-containing reactor where polymerization occurs. In lay terms – chemicals cause the VCM molecules to react until they link together.

The linking of VCM molecules creates PVC resin – which is where all vinyl compounds begin.

Compounding is a separate downstream process that tailors PVC resin into application-specific vinyl compounds.

PVC resin has a nebulous structure and inherently exhibits flame retardant and chemical resistant properties. Custom rigid, flexible and blended vinyl compounds are formulated by mixing vinyl resin with a variety of plasticizers, stabilizers and modifiers to achieve certain properties - scuff and mar resistance, UV resistance, weatherability, color considerations and texturing capability, to name a few. 

Making these decisions are what the Teknor Apex R&D teams and process engineers have been assisting our customers with for more than six decades. They continue to formulate new compounds, aided by our suppliers’ ability to continue creating new additives which enable meeting more and more challenging requirements.

Making PVC resin and vinyl compounds are very technical, scientific and labor-intensive processes. There are several industries, and a large and varied job sector, that play a supporting role in providing manufacturers all over the world with the compounds they need, which enables them to make the products we all use every day.

The chemistry may seem complicated, but our excitement comes from asking the right questions of our customers and finding new creative solutions. Innovation is still strong in vinyl compound portfolios!

PVC compounds are used across many industries because they can be tailored into flexible, rigid, or elastomer-modified materials depending on performance needs. Flexible PVC is commonly used where bendability and durability are required, such as wire and cable insulation, tubing, and consumer products, while rigid PVC is chosen for applications demanding strength and dimensional stability, including pipes, fittings, profiles, and construction components. PVC-based elastomer blends extend performance further for demanding environments, supporting products like industrial cables, specialty jacketing, and components exposed to mechanical or chemical stress.

Sustainability in PVC materials continues to evolve through advancements in feedstocks, formulation design, and lifecycle management rather than changes to the core polymer itself. Current trends include the use of recycled-content PVC, bio-attributed alternatives, and compounds engineered for longer service life and improved processing efficiency. These approaches help reduce material waste, lower reliance on virgin resources, and support compliance with environmental regulations while maintaining the performance characteristics that make PVC widely used. As innovation continues, sustainable vinyl solutions are increasingly defined by responsible material selection, thoughtful design, and collaboration across the value chain—principles that guide ongoing development in PVC manufacturing and compounding.