Petrochemicals value chains

They are developed by big chemical or petrochemical companies in order to extend their value-added chain, for instance, in the sequence methanol acetic acic acetoacetates y-chloroacetoacetates 2-aminothiazolyl acetates, or benzene cumene phenol salicylic acid. 

Monoester sulphosuccinates use a wider variety of alcohols than diesters and tend to use longer carbon chain alcohols to obtain the required HLB value from a single alkyl group. A typical product for cleansing applications would use a C12-14 alcohol derived from coconut or palm kernel oil. These materials are easily available due to their use as raw materials for sulphation (see later). Effective sulphosuccinates can also be prepared from petrochemical alcohols but these seem to be less popular. Ethoxylated alcohols (typically 3 mol of EO) are also used and can provide additional benefits in personal care applications. In some cases, alkanolamides or ethoxylated alkanolamides are used as the alcohol, such as ethoxylated cocomonoethanolamide, but they are relatively uncommon, since they are difficult to manufacture and are prone to colouration. 

The practical value of the Fischer-H opsch reaction is limited by the unfavorable Schulz-Flory distribution of hydrocarbon products that is indicative of a chain growth polymerization mechanism. In attempts to increase the yields of lower hydrocarbons such as ethylene and propylene (potentially valuable as feedstocks to replace petrochemicals), researchers have used zeolites as supports for the metals in attempts to impose a shape selectivity on the catalysis [114] or to control the performance through particle size effects. [IIS] These attempts have been partially successful, giving unusual distributions of products, such as high yields of C3 [114] or C4 hydrocarbons. [116] However, the catalysts are often unstable because the metal is oxidized or because it migrates out of the zeolite cages to form crystallites, which then give the Schulz-Flory product distribution. 

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