Chemical and allied products

The chemical process industry is vast and varied. The value of chemicals and chemical products in 1993 was 0.5 trillion for the Ll.S," involving 67,000 chemical engineers, 98,000 chemists. There were 5.5 non-fatal occupational injuries per 100 employees in 1995 involving chemical and allied products, and 4.8 per 100 workers in petroleum and coal products, There were 101 fatalities due to exposure to caustic, noxious or allergenic substances and 208 deaths from fires and explosions in 1995. 

Allied Products Industry Productivity of Chemical and Allied Products Chemical Engineering... 

Chemical-based products cover a broad spectrum of materials and forms, ranging from molecules to appliances. Table 16.1-1 shows the various product functional forms, along with examples in major application areas. Examples highlighted in italic are those discussed in this book. Most small molecules such as BTX (benzene-toluene-xyxlene) are sold to chemical and allied products industries while a limited number such as refrigerants and solvents are for sale in the consumer market. In contrast, multicomponent liquid mixtures such as liquid shampoo, semi-solids such as cream and paste, and structured solids such as controlled release herbicide are often sold directly to the consumers. Business-to-consumer sale is even more prevalent for ready-to-use devices and appliances such as diagnostic kits, drinking water filters and air cleaners. 

The U.S. chemicals and allied products industry consists of some 9,125 corporations whose primary business is the development, manufacturing, and marketing of industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and other chemical products. 

The chemical industry is actually a set of related industries with many diverse functions and products. Certain raw materials are used to prepare key chemicals, monomers, and intermediates that may be sold independently or used directly in additional steps to give various polymers and end chemicals. These in turn can be formulated and fabricated into chemical products, which can sometimes be modified into finished products. There is a flow of materials and products from raw sources to finished formulations. Although the division is approximate, about 60% of the chemical industry manufactures industrial products that are further modified, whereas 40% of their products are sold directly to the consumer. Chemistry may not be a household word, but it should be. Actually, the older name for the Chemical Manufacturing sector is Chemicals and Allied Products, still used sometimes and a term that adequately describes the breadth of the industry. 

To whom does the chemical industry sell all of its chemicals It is its own best customer. It is estimated that over 50% of industrial chemicals are sold within the Chemicals and Allied Products sector. To give a simple example, chlorine might be sold to another company to make vinyl chloride, which in turn is sold to someone else to make poly(vinyl chloride) plastic, which can be made by another company into a finished plastic product. Some chemicals are exported others are sold to the government for defense and to other industries, especially agriculture, petroleum refining, and paper products. 

Table 1.7 shows the total employment of all workers, technical and nontechnical, by the chemical industry as well as by all manufacturing. Note that about 18.4 million workers are in all manufacturing, about 1.0 million in Chemicals and Allied Products. Employment in the chemical industry is relatively constant. This is to be contrasted to other major industries— construction and automobiles, for example— where employment can be down during a recession. Overall the chemical industry is in good shape. It is believed that about 160,000 chemists and 120,000 chemical engineers are employed in the U.S. The American Chemical Society alone has over 160,000 members currently. Unemployment of chemists is low, and in March 2001 it was 1.5%. It is always much lower than the nationwide unemployment. 

The chemical industry is research intensive. It hires over 15% of all scientists and engineers in the U.S. The four industrial sectors spending the largest amounts on R D are aircraft and missiles, 25% electrical equipment, 17% chemicals and allied products, 11% and motor vehicles and related equipment, 11%. Of the total for chemicals about 10% of chemicals and allied products R D is federally financed, compared to 76% of aircraft and missiles R D and 44% of electrical and communications equipment R D. Thus chemical R D is heavily subsidized by industry. 

The chemicals and allied products industry is an investor in basic research— the planned search for new knowledge without reference to... 

This is also known as the SIC Code and is assigned for tax and financial purposes. Because the classification can determine if a facility falls under certain regulations, it is important to ensure that the classification is correct. The SIC Code consists of four digits, the first two of which show the principal group. For chemicals and allied products, this group is 28. Table 3 fists the Industry Group Numbers under this major group. 

A State of the Art Review of the Effects of Regulation on Technological Innovation in the Chemical and Allied Products Industries", Center for Development Technology for National R D Assessment Program. St. Louis, Mo Washington University (February 1975), Three Volumes. 

Other Work on the Regulation-Technological Change Relationship. A 1975 literature survey of the chemical and allied products industries concluded ... 

Figure 2. Comparison of Tetraethyllead Price with Commodity Price Index for Chemicals and Allied Products...

Given the above disclaimers, Mr. Toscano provided the following The Chemical and Allied Products classification (SIC Code 28) experienced 38 deaths out of a reported 1,289,000 employees (in 1995). This is a relative risk of 0.6, lower than relative risk of the average job (1.0). The 1995 statistics for the Petroleum Refining classification (SIC Code 291) include 13 fatalities out of a listed 151,000 employees. The relative risk is 1.8. 

Del Pino M, Blessing RL. 1988. Chemicals and allied products. J Water Pollut Cont Fed 60 909-916. 

---