Characteristics of the Chemical Industry

The chemical industry is the application field for the study and the development of a global value chain planning model. General characteristics of the chemical industry as application field are described in this chapter. Particularities of chemical commodities are described in more detail being relevant for the considered case. 

Relevant characteristics of the chemical industry and the considered global value chain network have been presented in more detail. Results can be summarized ... 

Another general characteristic of the chemical industry is its importance in everyday life. It is both critical and pervasive. It is critical to the economy of a developed country. In the first half of this century a nation s industrial development was gauged by its production of sulfuric acid, the chemical with the largest amount of production. It has been called the grandfather of economic indicators. Lately ethylene, the largest volume organic chemical, is used to judge this development. The chemical industry cannot be replaced by any other industry. If a country does not have one, it... 

During the beginning of the nineteenth century, the alkali and acid industries provided the model for other chemical industries. One characteristic of the chemical industry is that development in one area often stimulates development in another area. For example, the lead-chamber method produced enough sulfuric acid to make the acid practical for use in the LeBlanc process. Similarly, the Solvay process used ammonia produced when coke was made for steel production. Certain chemical industries were perceived by royalty and national leaders as critical to their nation s welfare. One of these was the manufacture of gunpowder, also known as blackpowder. Gunpowder is a mixture of approximately... 

Chemical synthesis at the cost of generating a hazardous byproduct is not unique to adipic acid production. This and other problems characteristic of the chemical industry are illustrated by further examination of adipic acid synthesis. Benzene, the primary starting material in adipic acid manufacture, is a proven carcinogen (9). Benzene is used widely in the chemical industry, particularly as a feedstock ( ). For example, benzene is used to make phenol (4), the starting material from which a small percentage of adipic acid is currently synthesized. The United States alone product over 12 billion pounds of benzene in 1993 (10). Benzene is derived exclusively from petroleum (4,5), a non-renewable fossil fuel. Of the chemicals in the United States which are produced in excess of 10 million pounds per year, 98% are derived from petroleum feedstocks (4). Finally, extreme reaction conditions which are used in adipic acid manufacture include temperatures up to 250°C and pressures which reach 800 psi. Reaction conditions such as these are used routinely by the chemical industry. 

This section collects together important points which have previously been made in this chapter. Comments on the general characteristics of the chemical industry apply to a large extent to any individual national industry. 

Carbon is widely used in the catalytic processes of the chemical industry due to its unique characteristics, such as chemical inertness, high surface area and porosity, good mechanical properties and low cost. It is used for the production of chlorine and aluminum, in metal refining (gold, silver, and grain refinement of Mg-Al alloys) as well as for the electrolytic production of hydrogen peroxide and photoelectrochemical water splitting. 

Introduction. Today nitrocellulose is one of most important derivatives of cellulose used in industry and commerce, and a major product of the chemical industry. Its wide and manifold applications are due mainly to its extraordinary physical properties. Thus a protective coating of nitrocellulose varnish, a nitrocellulose film or a tube of smokeless powder — all are characterized by relatively high elasticity and mechanical strength. These properties are a direct consequence of the microstructure of cellulose, which is composed of highly oriented long-chain molecules of polysaccharide. Not only nitrocellulose, but also other derivatives of cellulose, such as other esters and ethers, demonstrate similar characteristics. 

Factors typically playing a role in these considerations include factor cost differences, personnel skill levels and the expected production volumes. In chemical industry, the characteristics of the chemical process determine to a large extent the requirements of the production process. Location-specific choices are available primarily with respect to equipment capacity and degree of automation. 

There are many different acids and bases. Being able to predict the results of reactions between them is important. Bakers, for example, depend on neutralization reactions to create light, fluffy baked goods. Gardeners and farmers depend on these reactions to modify the characteristics of the soil. Industrial chemists rely on these reactions to produce the raw materials that are used to make a wide variety of chemicals and chemical products. (See Figure 10.13.)... 

Among the distinguishing characteristics of the agrochemical industry are (1) the multitude of chemical agents employed, (2) a limited price range (which derives from the... 

Innovation. Developing a procurement capability that is intimately linked to the innovation priorities of the company can significantly boost innovation rates. Many segments of the chemical industry are experiencing increased pressure to lift their innovation rate. The focus here is not only on creating completely new products, but frequently involves innovations in product characteristics and applications development (e.g., ceramics, performance plastics) or process optimization (e.g., commodity chemicals). 

The respective applications require uncompromising structural and physical capabilities with resistance to hostile environments characteristic of the chemical, steel and metalworking industries. 

Experimental design has been employed for more than forty years in industry and chemical research [1]. However, it is not normally used to produce new catalysts due to the different behaviour that may be generated depending on the materials and compounds used, their characteristics, content and order or manner of preparation that can make its usefulness doubtful. Thus, some sectors of the chemical industry have opted for methods that insure that all possibilities are covered, as in the case of the pharmaceutical industry with systems of combinational chemistry that are now beginning to be applied in homogeneous catalysis [2,3]. However, the use of automatic methods or libraries with information of over 1000 different combinations are techniques that are beyond the capabilities of most conventional heterogeneous catalysis research laboratories. 

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