Petrochemical

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia

Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems

sugar cane
.

The two most common petrochemical classes are

isomers
).

gels.[2][3]

Global ethylene production was 190 million tonnes and propylene was 120 million tonnes in 2019.

petrochemical industries are located in the United States and Western Europe; however, major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia
. There is substantial inter-regional petrochemical trade.

Primary petrochemicals are divided into three groups depending on their chemical structure:

In 2007, the amounts of ethylene and propylene produced in steam crackers were about 115 Mt (megatonnes) and 70 Mt, respectively.[5] The output ethylene capacity of large steam crackers ranged up to as much as 1.0 – 1.5 Mt per year.[6]

The adjacent diagram schematically depicts the major hydrocarbon sources and processes used in producing petrochemicals.[2][3][7][8]

Petrochemical feedstock sources

Like

specialty chemical and fine chemical
manufacture where products are made in discrete batch processes.

Petrochemicals are predominantly made in a few manufacturing locations around the world, for example in

Dahej in Gujarat, India and in Singapore. Not all of the petrochemical or commodity chemical materials produced by the chemical industry are made in one single location but groups of related materials are often made in adjacent manufacturing plants to induce industrial symbiosis as well as material and utility efficiency and other economies of scale. This is known in chemical engineering
terminology as integrated manufacturing. Specialty and fine chemical companies are sometimes found in similar manufacturing locations as petrochemicals but, in most cases, they do not need the same level of large-scale infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, storage, ports, and power, etc.) and therefore can be found in multi-sector business parks.

The large-scale petrochemical manufacturing locations have clusters of manufacturing units that share utilities and large-scale infrastructures such as power stations, storage tanks, port facilities, road and rail terminals. In the United Kingdom, for example, there are four main locations for such manufacturing: near the River Mersey in North West England, on the Humber on the East coast of Yorkshire, in Grangemouth near the Firth of Forth in Scotland, and in Teesside as part of the

Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster
(NEPIC). To demonstrate the clustering and integration, some 50% of the United Kingdom's petrochemical and commodity chemicals are produced by the NEPIC industry cluster companies in Teesside.

History

In 1835,

Teflon. In 1946, he invented Polyester. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are made from ethylene and paraxylene. In 1949, Fritz Stastny turned polystyrene into foam. After World War II, polypropylene was discovered in the early 1950s. In 1965, Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar.[9]

Olefins

The following is a partial list of major commercial petrochemicals and their derivatives:

Chemicals produced from ethylene
Chemicals produced from propylene
  • propylene – used as a monomer and a chemical feedstock
  • butene
  • higher olefins
    • polyolefins – such poly-alpha-olefins, which are used as lubricants
    • 1-hexene
      can be copolymerized with ethylene into a more flexible form of polyethylene.
    • other higher olefins
    • detergent alcohols

Aromatics

Chemicals produced from benzene
  • benzene – the simplest aromatic hydrocarbon
    • ethylbenzene – made from benzene and ethylene
      • styrene – made by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene; used as a monomer
    • cumene – isopropylbenzene; a feedstock in the cumene process
      • phenol – hydroxybenzene; often made by the cumene process
      • acetone – dimethyl ketone; also often made by the cumene process
      • bisphenol A – a type of "double" phenol used in polymerization in epoxy resins and making a common type of polycarbonate
        • epoxy resins – a type of polymerizing glue from bisphenol A, epichlorohydrin, and some amine
        • polycarbonate – a plastic polymer made from bisphenol A and phosgene (carbonyl dichloride)
      • solvents
        – liquids used for dissolving materials; examples often made from petrochemicals include ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, acetone, benzene, toluene, xylenes
    • cyclohexane – a 6-carbon aliphatic cyclic hydrocarbon sometimes used as a non-polar solvent
    • nitrobenzene – can be made by single nitration of benzene
    • alkylbenzene – a general type of aromatic hydrocarbon, which can be used as a precursor for a sulfonate surfactant (detergent)
      • detergents – often include surfactants types such as alkylbenzene sulfonates and nonylphenol ethoxylates
    • chlorobenzene
Chemicals produced from toluene
Chemicals produced from xylenes

List of petrochemicals

Petrochemicals Fibers Petroleum Chemicals
Basic Feedstock
Benzene
Butadiene
Ethylene
p-Xylene
Propylene

Intermediates

Vinyl chloride monomer
(VCM)

butadiene
(SBR)
Acrylic-formaldehude (AF)
Petroleum refining
life sciences chemicals
Surfactants and cleaning agents

See also

References

  1. ^ Kiesche, Liz, "Royal Dutch Shell may take 50% stake in $9B Indian petchem project", Reuters via Seeking Alpha, August 12, 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ "Ethylene production capacity globally 2024".
  5. .
  6. ^ Steam Cracking: Ethylene Production (PDF page 3 of 12 pages)
  7. ^ SBS Polymer Supply Outlook
  8. .
  9. ^ "Timeline – Petrochemicals Europe". www.petrochemistry.eu. Retrieved 2018-04-07.
  10. ISSN 0021-9517
    .
  11. .
  12. ^ HU patent 209546B, Forstner, Janos; Gal, Lajos & Feher, Pal et al., "Anti-freeze solution for internal combustion engines", published 1994-07-28 

External links