Basic chemical
Basic chemicals (also basic or heavy chemicals ) are in large scale industrially produced chemicals , which are used as starting material for many other industrial products. There are mostly chemically very simple structure substances in process technology produces optimized large-scale plants in quantities of often more than one million tons per year. Basic chemicals form the raw materials for such important mass products as plastics , colorants , surfactants and fertilizers as well as special products such as adhesives ,Pesticides , paints , preservatives and fine chemicals . Due to the mass production, the manufacturing price for basic chemicals is much lower than for the subsequent products, but it is heavily dependent on raw material and energy prices. Basic chemicals based on renewable raw materials are also known as platform chemicals .
economic aspects
Depending on the cost of raw materials and the demand for goods, new chemical plants for basic chemicals are planned very long-term. Until the 1960s, many technical chemistry processes for the production of organic raw materials were still based on coal as the starting material . Later, almost all coal-based processes were replaced by cleaner oil production . Many chemical-technical processes for the production of organic basic chemicals based on coal are significantly less advantageous and pollute the environment more than the processes based on petroleum. As a result of cheaper inorganic and organic raw materials, many industrial chemicals , special products and ultimately various consumer goods became accessible to all population groups. If the raw material situation in the field of crude oil supply (90% of which is used as a pure heating fuel or fuel) deteriorates or changes significantly in the future, the organic basic chemicals would of course also be (approx. 25 million tons per year in Germany alone), Industrial chemicals, specialty products and thus also many other economic sectors are affected, as many chemical plants were planned and built on a petroleum basis and the use of other raw materials - such as natural gas or coal - is not possible with these plants. In chemical reaction and process engineering, other systems would have to be designed and manufactured in good time so that there are no significant supply bottlenecks in the economy.
A large part of the basic organic chemicals was mainly produced in the industrial nations USA, Japan, Germany and other Western European countries until the 1980s, since the costs for raw materials and transport were low. When the oil price rose significantly in 1973 , many plants were built directly in the raw material countries, although the costs of building and operating plants were sometimes significantly higher than in the industrialized countries. The USA, Japan and European countries contributed capital to the construction of the plants.
Overview of important basic chemicals
For a long time, the most important basic chemical in terms of quantity was sulfuric acid , until it was replaced by ethylene obtained from petroleum .
Exact statistical information on the production quantities of basic chemicals is sometimes subject to confidentiality (for example in Germany, if fewer than three companies manufacture a certain chemical). Sometimes they are appreciated. Important inorganic and organic basic chemicals in the chemical industry in Germany can be found in the following tables:
Basic inorganic chemicals
| Basic inorganic chemicals |
Tons / year |
|---|---|
| chlorine | 4,800,000 |
| Caustic soda | 4,100,000 |
| sulfuric acid | 4,000,000 |
| ammonia | 2,700,000 |
| hydrochloric acid | 2,100,000 |
| sulfur | 1,700,000 |
| sodium | 1,500,000 |
| Aluminum hydroxide | 1,440,000 |
| Silicates | 960,000 |
| Silicon dioxide | 280,000 |
| Hydrogen peroxide | 230,000 |
Basic organic chemicals
| Basic organic chemicals |
Tons / year |
|---|---|
| Ethylene | 5,200,000 |
| Propene | 3,400,000 |
| 1,2-dichloroethane | 3,000,000 |
| benzene | 2,100,000 |
| Methanol | 2,100,000 |
| Vinyl chloride | 2,000,000 |
| formaldehyde | 1,400,000 |
| 1,3-butadiene | 1,200,000 |
| Butene | 1,100,000 |
| Cumene | 1,000,000 |
| Propylene oxide | 900,000 |
| phenol | 840,000 |
| Styrene | 800,000 |
| Ethylene oxide | 800,000 |
| toluene | 780,000 |
| p-xylene | 780,000 |
| Dimethyl terephthalate | 680,000 |
| Ethylbenzene | 600,000 |
| Adipic acid | 520,000 |
| aniline | 460,000 |
| 1-butanol | 450,000 |
| Formic acid salts | 410,000 |
| Propylene glycol | 380,000 |
| Fatty alcohol | 340,000 |
| Ethylene glycol | 280,000 |
| Cyclohexane | 260,000 |
| Phthalic anhydride | 240,000 |
| Chloromethane | 200,000 |
| acetic acid | 150,000 |
| Dichloromethane | 100,000 |
| chloroform | 80,000 |
literature
- Hans-Bernd Amecke: An overview of the chemical industry. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Weinheim 1987, ISBN 3-527-26540-6 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fach Series 4, Series 3.1, Manufacturing by type of goods, 2nd quarter of 2006; Extrapolation from half-yearly production based on one year. . Federal Statistical Office . Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
