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What are petrochemicals?
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What are petrochemicals?
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A vast majority of petrochemicals are obtained from fossil fuels, such as natural gas and crude oil. The rest usually comes from coal and biomass. A major, if not the most important element of the industry is the petrochemical plant itself.
These plants are the powerhouses that convert the natural resources into petrochemicals to be used as the building blocks for other processes and products.
Increasingly complex, these plants are both impressive in size and engineering, meeting the growing needs, expectations, and demand of today’s global economy.
The process requires energy in huge amounts and involves a distillation phase, in which hydrocarbons are separated from the fossil fuels. The separated hydrocarbons are then sent to facilities called “crackers”. These facilities convert them into useful chemicals, known as “feedstock”.
Chemical feedstock refers to any type of unprocessed material used in a manufacturing process as a base material to be transformed into another end product.
The primary class of petrochemical feedstock includes:
Olefins (ethylene, propylene, and butadiene)
Aromatics (benzene, toluene, and xylenes)
Methanol
Basic petrochemicals such as these are the basis of many products, including plastic, paper, fibres, adhesives, and detergents. They are also responsible for producing a whole gamut of chemicals known as petrochemical intermediates.
These derivatives are more complex versions of primary petrochemicals. They are also used in making a variety of products. Some typical examples include:
Vinyl Acetate – used in making paint
Ethylene Glycol – used in polyester textile fibres