Petrochemical

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Petrochemical plant in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds
made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or
renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane.

The two most common petrochemical classes are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and
aromatics (including benzene, toluene and xylene isomers). Oil refineries produce olefins and
aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by
steam cracking of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by
catalytic reforming of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building-blocks for a wide range of
materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for polymers and
oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants, and gels.[1][2]

Global ethylene and propylene production are about 115 million tonnes and 70 million tonnes
per annum, respectively. Aromatics production is approximately 70 million tonnes. The largest
petrochemical industries are located in the USA 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:

 Olefins includes ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. Ethylene and propylene are
important sources of industrial chemicals and plastics products. Butadiene is used in
making synthetic rubber.
 Aromatics includes benzene, toluene, and xylenes. Benzene is a raw material for dyes and
synthetic detergents, and benzene and toluene for isocyanates MDI and TDI used in
making polyurethanes. Manufacturers use xylenes to produce plastics and synthetic
fibers.
  Synthesis gas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen used to make ammonia and
methanol. Ammonia is used to make the fertilizer urea and methanol is used as a solvent
and chemical intermediate.

The prefix "petro-" is an arbitrary abbreviation of the word "petroleum"; since "petro-" is
Ancient Greek for "rock" and "oleum" means "oil". Therefore, the etymologically correct term
would be "oleochemicals". However, the term oleochemical is used to describe chemicals
derived from plant and animal fats.

Contents
 1 Sources
 2 Manufacturing locations
 3 List of significant petrochemicals and their derivatives
o 3.1 Petrochemicals products
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 External links

Sources

Petrochemical feedstock sources

The adjacent diagram schematically depicts the major hydrocarbon sources used in producing
petrochemicals are:[1][2][3][4]
  Methane, ethane, propane and butanes: Obtained primarily from natural gas
processing plants.
 Naphtha obtained from petroleum refineries.
 Benzene, toluene and xylenes, as a whole referred to as BTX and primarily
obtained from petroleum refineries by extraction from the reformate produced in
catalytic reformers.
 Gas obtained from petroleum refineries.

Methane and BTX are used directly as feedstocks for producing petrochemicals. However, the
ethane, propane, butanes, naphtha and gas oil serve as optional feedstocks for steam-assisted
thermal cracking plants referred to as steam crackers that produce these intermediate
petrochemical feedstocks:

 Ethylene
 Propylene
 Butenes and butadiene
 Benzene

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][7]

Steam crackers are not to be confused with steam reforming plants used to produce hydrogen and
ammonia.

Manufacturing locations
Like commodity chemicals, petrochemicals are made on a very large scale. Petrochemical
manufacturing units differ from commodity chemical plants in that they often produce a number
of related products. Compare this with 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 Louisiana in the USA, in Teesside in the Northeast of England in the United
Kingdom, in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and in Jamnagar & Dahej in Gujarat India. 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. Speciality 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 infrastructure such as power stations, storage tanks, port facilities,
road and rail terminals. In the United Kingdom for example, there are 4 main locations for such
manufacturing: near the River Mersey in Northwest 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.

List of significant petrochemicals and their derivatives

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

Chemicals produced from ethylene

 ethylene - the simplest olefin; used as a chemical feedstock and ripening stimulant
o polyethylene - polymerized ethylene
o ethanol - via ethylene hydration (chemical reaction adding water) of ethylene
o ethylene oxide - via ethylene oxidation
 ethylene glycol - via ethylene oxide hydration
 engine coolant - ethylene glycol, water and inhibitor mixture
 polyesters - any of several polymers with ester linkages in the
backbone chain
 glycol ethers - via glycol condensation
 ethoxylates
o vinyl acetate
o 1,2-dichloroethane
 trichloroethylene
 tetrachloroethylene - also called perchloroethylene; used as a dry cleaning
solvent and degreaser
 vinyl chloride - monomer for polyvinyl chloride
 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) - type of plastic used for piping, tubing,
other things
Chemicals produced from propylene

 propylene - used as a monomer and a chemical feedstock

o isopropyl alcohol - 2-propanol; often used as a solvent or rubbing alcohol
o acrylonitrile - useful as a monomer in forming Orlon, ABS
o polypropylene - polymerized propylene
o propylene oxide
 polyether polyol - used in the production of polyurethanes
 propylene glycol - used in engine coolant and aircraft deicer fluid
 glycol ethers - from condensation of glycols
o acrylic acid
 acrylic polymers
o allyl chloride -
 epichlorohydrin - chloro-oxirane; used in epoxy resin formation
 epoxy resins - a type of polymerizing glue from bisphenol A,
epichlorohydrin, and some amine
 C4 hydrocarbons - a mixture consisting of butanes, butylenes and butadienes
o isomers of butylene - useful as monomers or co-monomers
 isobutylene - feed for making methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) or monomer
for copolymerization with a low percentage of isoprene to make butyl
rubber
o 1,3-butadiene (or buta-1,3-diene) - a diene often used as a monomer or co-
monomer for polymerization to elastomers such as polybutadiene, styrene-
butadiene rubber, or a plastic such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)
 synthetic rubbers - synthetic elastomers made of any one or more of
several petrochemical (usually) monomers such as 1,3-butadiene, styrene,
isobutylene, isoprene, chloroprene; elastomeric polymers are often made
with a high percentage of conjugated diene monomers such as 1,3-
butadiene, isoprene, or chloroprene
 higher olefins
o polyolefins such poly-alpha-olefins, which are used as lubricants
o alpha-olefins - used as monomers, co-monomers, and other chemical precursors.
For example, a small amount of 1-hexene can be copolymerized with ethylene
into a more flexible form of polyethylene.
 o other higher olefins
o detergent alcohols

Chemicals produced from benzene

 benzene - the simplest aromatic hydrocarbon

o ethylbenzene - made from benzene and ethylene
 styrene made by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene; used as a monomer
 polystyrenes - polymers with styrene as a monomer
o 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
o cyclohexane - a 6-carbon aliphatic cyclic hydrocarbon sometimes used as a non-
polar solvent
 adipic acid - a 6-carbon dicarboxylic acid, which can be a precursor used
as a co-monomer together with a diamine to form an alternating
copolymer form of nylon.
 nylons - types of polyamides, some are alternating copolymers
formed from copolymerizing dicarboxylic acid or derivatives with
diamines
 caprolactam - a 6-carbon cyclic amide
  nylons - types of polyamides, some are from polymerizing
caprolactam
o nitrobenzene - can be made by single nitration of benzene
 aniline - aminobenzene
 methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) - used as a co-monomer
with diols or polyols to form polyurethanes or with di- or
polyamines to form polyureas
o alkylbenzene - a general type of aromatic hydrocarbon, which can be used as a
presursor for a sulfonate surfactant (detergent)
 detergents - often include surfactants types such as alkylbenzenesulfonates
and nonylphenol ethoxylates
o chlorobenzene

Chemicals produced from toluene

 toluene - methylbenzene; can be a solvent or precursor for other chemicals

o benzene
o toluene diisocyanate (TDI) - used as co-monomers with polyether polyols to form
polyurethanes or with di- or polyamines to form polyureas polyurethanes
o benzoic acid - carboxybenzene
 caprolactam
 nylon

Chemicals produced from xylenes

 mixed xylenes - any of three dimethylbenzene isomers, could be a solvent but more often
precursor chemicals
o ortho-xylene - both methyl groups can be oxidized to form (ortho-)phthalic acid
  phthalic anhydride
o para-xylene - both methyl groups can be oxidized to form terephthalic acid
 dimethyl terephthalate - can be copolymerized to form certain polyesters
 polyesters - although there can be many types, polyethylene
terephthalate is made from petrochemical products and is very
widely used.
 purified terephthalic acid - often copolymerized to form polyethylene
terephthalate
 polyesters
o meta-xylene
 isophthalic acid
 alkyd resins
 Polyamide Resins
 Unsaturated Polyesters

Petrochemicals products

Petrochemicals Fibers Petroleum Chemicals

Basic Feedstock Acrylic fiber Lubricants Adhesives and se
Benzene Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Additives Agrochemica
Butadiene (ABS) Catalysts Construction che
Ethylene Acrylonitrile styrene (AS) Marine fuel oil Corrosion control c
p-Xylene Polybutadiene (PBR) Petroleum Cosmetics raw m
Propylene Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) refining Electronic chemicals a
Polyethylene (PE) Flavourings, fragran
Intermediates Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) additives
2-Ethylhexanol (2-EH) Polyol Pharmaceutical
Acetic acid Polypropylene (PP) Specialty and industria
Acrylonitrile (AN) Polystyrene (PS) Specialty and indust
Ammonia Styrene butadiene (SBR) Inks, dyes and printin
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (dioctyl phthalate) Acrylic-formaldehude (AF) Packaging, bottles, and
n-Butene Paint, coatings, an
Cyclohexane Polymer addit
Dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) Specialty and life scienc
Dodecylbenzene Surfactants and clean
Ethanol
Ethanolamine
Ethoxylate
1,2-Dichloroethane (ethylene dichloride or
EDC)
Ethylene glycol (EG)
Ethylene oxide (EO)
Formaldehyde Moulding Compound (FMC)
n-Hexene
Linear alkyl benzene (LAB)
Methanol
 Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)
Phenol
Propylene oxide
Purified terephthalic acid (PTA)
Styrene monomer (SM)
Thermosetting Resin (Urea/Melamine)
Vinyl acetate monomer (VAM)
Vinyl chloride monomer (VCM)