Global Production Of Chemical

Chemical substances make a vital contribution to almost aU aspects of the hves of human beings. Chemicals bring about improvements in the health of the population and our quahty of life through new developments in, for example, treatment of disease, food safety, or crop protection. They also make a vital contribution to the economic and social well-being of citizens in terms of trade and employment. The global production of chemicals has increased from about 1 rnilhon tons in 1930 to more than 400 million tons today, and more than 100,000 different chemical substances are now on the market. 

In the prioritization of chemicals for setting scenarios that are the most realistic and probable for chemical mixtures, tools are needed to overcome the almost infinite number of chemicals or combinations of chemicals and of differing concentrations in emissions. The global production of chemicals has increased from 1 million tons in 1930 to 400 million tons today. There are about 100,000 different substances registered in the EU market, of which 10,000 are marketed in volumes of more than 10 tons (produced per manufacturer or imported per importer per annum), and a further 20,000 are marketed at 1 to 10 tons (EC 2001). In the selection of chemicals for mixture scenarios, the volume of marketing is an important parameter however, other factors, such as emission pattern (spatial and temporal), degradation, and toxicity, are also very important. 

According to the European Commission s White Vapcr on the strategy for a fiiture chemicals policy, the global production of chemicals had increased fitim Imillion tonnes in 1930, to 400 million tones by die time the White Paper was published in 2001 (EC, 2001 4). The chemical industry in the EU produces about one third of total international chemical output and as such is collectively the largest chemical industry in the world, with an estimate turnover of some 556 billion in 2003 (for the EU 25 counteies) (CEFIC 2004). 

Chemicals in general are not the problem. Manufactured chemicals are essential ingredients in the products of the twenty first century economy. Today global production of chemicals totals over 300 million tons per year, there are over 80,000 chemicals in commerce, and global chemical sales approach two trillion dollars per year. Carpets, cars, trains, buses, televisions, computers, fabrics, lights, and even food are among the many products made with manufactured chemicals. 

The ten largest chemical companies (without pharmaceuticals) by sales and a geographic breakdown of world chemicals sales are listed in Tables 1.2.2 and 1.2.3, respectively. In recent years the role of the chemical industry in the European Union (EU-27) and in North America has decreased for example, in 2000 the EU-27 share of the global production of chemicals was about 29%, whereas the value for 2010 is only 21%. The share of Asia (without Japan) has increased in this period from 21% to 42%. Table 1.2.4 lists the top ten pharmaceutical companies. 

Most small olefins produced in the chemical industry are used to make polymers, with a global production of the order of 100 million tons per year. Polymers are macromolecules with molecular weights of typically lO" to 10 and consist of linear or branched chains, or networks built up from small monomers such as ethylene, propylene, vinyl chloride, styrene, etc. The vast majority of polymers are made in catalytic processes. Here we concentrate on ethylene polymerization over chromium catalysts as an example [M.P. McDaniel, Adv. Catal. 33 (1985) 47]. 

Sodium chloride has numerous uses one major producer lists more than 1,400 uses for its salt. Global production of salt is about 230 million tons annually about 50,000 tons are produced in the United States. The largest consumer of salt is the chemical industry, which uses approximately 60% of total production. The major chemical industry that uses salt is the chlor-alkali industry to produce soda ash (in countries that do not obtain it from natural deposits), caustic soda (NaOH), and chlorine (see Sodium Carbonate and Sodium... 

The first production of this group of compounds started in 1943. The production of lindane (y-HCH) in developed countries has been estimated to be 720,000 tonnes. The global production of technical-grade HCHs over the period between 1948 and 1997 has been estimated to be 10 million tonnes. Today, the production and use of HCHs have been strongly reduced due to the international restriction. The principal emission sources of this group of compounds are shown in Fig. 3. Their physical-chemical properties are summarised in Table 1. 

Examinations of global-scale patterns of secondary metabolite production frequently look at current interactions between existing algae and herbivores and infer past patterns of selective pressures from them.26 6290 91 These studies rarely take into account the evolutionary histories of the algal and herbivore taxa that are common at different sites. Examinations of the evolutionary origins of groups and their dispersal patterns over time may provide valuable insights into the evolution of interactions, patterns of chemical defense concentrations, and selective pressures for the production of chemical defenses. 

Chlorine and caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) are among the top ten commodity chemicals produced in the world. In 2004, North America produced about 29 million tons of chlorine and caustic soda.18 Figure 26.5 shows the global production of chlorine by region in 2004. 

FIGURE 7-1 Feedstocks used in the current global production of hydrogen. SOURCE Courtesy of Air Products and Chemicals (2003). 

The necessity to switch from nonrenewable fossil resources to renewable raw materials, such as carbohydrates and triglycerides derived from biomass, was an important conclusion of the Report of the Club of Rome in 1972 [2]. It should be noted, however, that ca. 80% of the global production of oil is converted to thermal or electrical energy. If the world is facing an oil crisis it is, therefore, an energy crisis rather than a raw materials crisis for the chemical industry. Indeed, there are sufficient reserves of fossil feedstocks to satisfy the needs of the chemical industry for a long time to come. 

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