Petrochemical Products

The different types and their uses



Basic Chemicals

Raw Materials: The usual feedstocks are natural gas, natural gas liquids ("NLGs"), naphtha, gasoil and refinery gases. These products come from crude oil and natural gas. Crude oil is processed into naphtha, gasoil and refinery gas streams. NGLs (ethane, propane, butane) are separated from natural gas. These feedstocks for petrochemical processing are fed into reactors through the application of heat and pressure, or by reaction with other raw materials; they are converted into the primary petrochemicals methanol, olefins and aromatics, which are then separated by distillation and extraction.

1.) Benzene - Produced world-wide in substantial quantities, and because it is very easy to transport by ship, it is traded internationally.   Benzene is a very important basic chemical. It is the starting point for many derivatives required in the production of a wide range of goods used in everyday life. For example, benzene and ethylene are used to produce styrene, from which polystyrene is made.  Well-known commodity chemicals like polystyrene and nylon are subsequently used to manufacture everyday items including clothing, paints, computer casings and packaging.  Nylon originated in 1930 in the research laboratory of Wallace Hume Carothers (1896–1937) at the DuPont Company.

2.) Paraxylene - Used primarily as a feedstock for the manufacture of purified terephthalic acid (PTA), the principal raw material to produce most polyesters.

Fertilisers

1.) Urea - Used for irrigation, and suitable for all crops across a wide range of environmental conditions.

Intermediates

Petrochemical intermediates are generally produced by chemical conversion of primary petrochemicals to form more complicated derivative products. Petrochemical derivative products can be made in a variety of ways: directly from primary petrochemicals; through intermediate products which still contain only carbon and hydrogen; or through intermediates which incorporate chlorine, nitrogen or oxygen in the finished derivative.

1.) Plastic Board (PB) - These include: exhibition stand construction; advertising boards and signs; building construction and cladding; decoration and in-store displays; point of sale units; model making and toys; television; theatre scenery and electrical cabinet and switchboard; furniture manufacturing; and many other applications.

2.) Synthetic Leather - A wide range of substrates of textiles-knitted, woven or non-woven are used.

PVC & Polyester

The process by which many of the primary and intermediate petrochemicals are converted into synthetic resins, plastics, and fibres is known as polymerisation.  Products derived from PVC and polyester play an increasingly important role in helping raise global standards of living.
Plastics, credited to Leo Hendrik Baekeland's discovery of bakelite in 1907,  provide new consumer and industrial markets with practical, modern, and economic products in elegant designs that cannot be produced using other materials. Polymers have increasingly replaced scarce and costly materials like wood, steel and aluminium. By the turn of the 21st century, global thermoplastics consumption had reached 115 million tons per year.