A new plant-based substitute for polyurethane foam eliminates the health risk of the material, commonly found in insulation, car seats and other types of cushioning, and it's more environmentally sustainable, our new research ...
Materials Science
Jan 6, 2023
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164
The Los Angeles City Council has approved a new ban on certain single-use plastics, taking the latest step in an effort toward becoming a "zero-waste" city.
Environment
Dec 7, 2022
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28
Plastic recycling rates are declining even as production shoots up, according to a Greenpeace U.S. report out Monday that blasted industry claims of creating an efficient, circular economy as "fiction."
Environment
Oct 24, 2022
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592
Researchers at Texas A&M University and ExxonMobil are developing a method to reprocess petroleum coke—a byproduct of refining crude oil—into a sustainable, high-value alternative. Using a chemical process called electrochemical ...
Nanomaterials
Jun 16, 2022
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84
All aspects of people's lives are now bound to a "seemingly unlimited supply of cheap and readily disposable" petrochemicals, a new essay argues.
Economics & Business
Oct 21, 2021
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20
Efforts to shift from petrochemical plastics to renewable and biodegradable plastics have proven tricky—the production process can require toxic chemicals and is expensive, and the mechanical strength and water stability ...
Materials Science
Mar 25, 2021
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431
An industrial process that currently consumes vast amounts of energy in petrochemical plants around the globe could be replaced by an alternative process so efficient that it requires no heating or elevated pressure.
Materials Science
Mar 30, 2020
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12
In the chemical and the petrochemical industries, separating molecules in an energy-efficient way is one of the most important challenges. Overall, the separation processes account for around 40% of the energy consumed in ...
Materials Science
Mar 15, 2018
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125
Instead of happening as a result of one big discovery, independence from fossil resources will most likely take place gradually. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials ...
Energy & Green Tech
Feb 1, 2018
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21
The chemical sector has a big role to play in tackling climate change and achieving EU energy targets. The wide scale use of existing and—in particular—emerging innovative energy technologies can bring big emissions savings ...
Environment
Dec 21, 2017
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19
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.
This article focuses on organic compounds that are not burned as fuel (see also Petroleum product).
Two 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.
Global ethylene and propylene production are ~110 million tonnes and ~65 million tonnes per annum respectively. Aromatics production is ~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:
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.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
