PETROCHEMICA

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WHAT IS PETROCHEMICALS?
are chemical products
made from hydrocarbons present in
raw natural gas and petroleum crude oil.

Petrochemicals

These

are used to manufacture a vast

variety of useful materials like solvents,
adhesives, antifreezes, synthetic rubbers,
synthetic fibers, nylon, polyester, plastics,
synthetic detergents, rocket fuels, etc.

HISTORY OF PETROCHEMICALS:
The

first organic chemical made on a large

scale from a petroleum base was Isopropyl
Alcohol (Isopropanol), first produced by
Standard Oil of New Jersey (now called Exxon)
in 1920.

By

1925, Standard Oil of New Jersey was

making 75 t/yr of isopropyl alcohol, and the
emergence of the petrochemical industry was
established in many minds.

HISTORY OF PETROCHEMICALS:
This

business changes very rapidly as new

processes simplify old ones and price changes
make usability vary; so many historically
important processes have become economically
or technologically obsolete.

Within

the past few decades, processes for

making ammonia, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid,
acetone, glycerin, acetylene, and other major
chemicals have been revised and are now
almost totally petroleum-derived.

HISTORY OF PETROCHEMICALS:
Currently,

well over 80 percent of all

organic chemicals are petrochemicals. The
percentage continues to increase despite a
nearly 10 to 1 increase in the price of raw
material.

RAW MATERIALS:
There

are two common feed stocks for the

manufacture of petrochemicals; these are :
1. Natural gas
2. Naphtha and reformed naphtha
.

You would recall that natural gas occurs

in nature in association with petroleum.
The major hydrocarbon component of
natural gas is methane. Naphtha is a
fraction obtained during refining of
petroleum.

PRIMARY PETROCHEMICALS:
Primary

petrochemicals are the

molecules obtained from the feed stock
and
are
used
to
manufacture
petrochemical intermediates. Since the
feedstock consists of natural gas, naphtha
and reformed naphtha, these give
different primary petrochemicals.

PRIMARY PETROCHEMICALS:
Feed Stock /

Raw Material

Natural Gas

Naphtha

Primary

Petrochemical

Formula

Ethene

CH2 = CH2

Propene

CH3 CH = CH2

Ethyne

CH CH

Ethene

CH2 = CH2

Propene

CH3 CH = CH2

Butadiene

CH2 = CH CH = CH2

PRIMARY PETROCHEMICALS:
Feed Stock /

Primary

Raw Material

Petrochemical
Benzene
Toluene

Reformed
Naphtha

o Xylene
m Xylene
p Xylene

Formula

INTERMEDIATE PETROCHEMICALS:

The petrochemicals obtained from

primary petrochemicals by chemical
reaction are called (secondary)
intermediate petrochemicals.
These intermediate petrochemicals
may be put to some use or these
may be further processed to get
derivatives of petrochemicals by a
chemical reaction or a series of
reactions to get products for other
end uses.

DOWN STREAM PETROCHEMICALS:

The petrochemicals obtained from a given

feedstock by a series of reactions are called down
stream petrochemicals. Down stream means that
a particular petrochemical comes at a later stage
in the sequence of chemicals produced.
For example in the following reaction.
CH4 CH3Cl CH3OH
Methyl alcohol is referred to as a down stream
petrochemical.

THE PETROLEUM
REFINING PROCESS

PETROLEUM REFINING PROCESSES

thechemical

engineeringprocesses
used in petroleum refineries to
transformcrude
oilinto
useful
products such as liquefied petroleum
gas(LPG),gasoline
or
petrol,
kerosene,jet fuel,diesel oilandfuel
oils.

 Crude

Oil
Distillation unit:
Distils

the incoming
crude oil into various
fractions for further
processing in other
units.

 The

distillation of Crude oil/Natural

Gases is where we gather the feed
stock
for
the
production
of
petrochemicals

PETROCHEMICALS 101

MANUFACTURE OF
PETROCHEMICALS
Chemical Conversions

CRACKING OR PYROLYSIS

Pyrolysisis a thermo-chemical decompositionof organic

materialat elevated temperatures in the absence ofoxygen (or
anyhalogen). It involves the simultaneous change ofchemical
composition and physical phase, and is irreversible.
The word is coined from theGreek-derived
pyro"fire" andlysis"separating".

elements

In general, pyrolysis of organic substances produces gas and

liquid products and leaves a solid residue richer in carbon
content, char.
Extreme pyrolysis, which leaves
residue, is calledcarbonization.

mostlycarbonas

the

HYDRATION AND HYDROLYSIS

Inchemistry, ahydration reactionis achemical

reactionin which a substance combines with
water. In organic chemistry, water is added to an
unsaturated substrate, which is usually an
alkene or an alkyne. This type of reaction is
employed industrially to produce ethanol,
isopropanol, and 2-butanol.
Hydrolysis,fromGreekhydro-,
meaning
water, andlysis, meaning to unbind, usually
means the cleavage of chemical bonds by the
addition ofwater.

(CATALYTIC) OXIDATION

Oxidationis thelossofelectronsor anincreasein

oxidation state by amolecule,atom, orion.
Catalytic oxidationare processes that oxidize
compounds usingcatalysts. Common applications
involve oxidation oforganic compoundsby the
oxygen in air.
An illustrative catalytic oxidation is the conversion
of methanol to the more valuable compound
formaldehydeusing oxygen in air:
2 CH3OH + O2 2CH2O + 2 H2O

METHANE
Petrochemicals produced from Methane

METHANE:

Methane is the major hydrocarbon component of

natural gas. CNG is the compressed natural gas
and LNG is the liquefied natural gas.
Methane is also obtained in large quantities as a
by product of petroleum refining.

PETROCHEMICALS FROM
METHANE:

1. CHLORINATED PRODUCTS OF
METHANE

Methane is chlorinated to get methyl chloride

(CH3CI), methylene chloride (CH2Cl2), chloroform
(CHCI3) and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4).
CH4 +Cl2 CH3Cl + CH2Cl2 + CHCl3 + CCl4

Most of the chlorinated products of methane are

used as a solvent.

2. UNSATURATED HYDROCARBONS
is cracked (by pyrolysis) with
the help of suitable catalysts to get
ethylene, propylene and acetylene.

Methane

3. CARBON BLACK
Methane

is converted into carbon black (a

form of carbon) by pyrolysis (cracking)
and hydrogen is obtained as a by product.
CH4 C + 2H2

Carbon

black is used as a black pigment

in manufacture of black printing ink and
in rubber tyre industry.

4. HYDROGEN
obtained by pyrolysis of
methane is used for the manufacture of
ammonia gas. Ammonia is used as a raw
material for manufacture of urea (a
fertilizer), ammonium nitrate and several
other products.

Hydrogen

5. METHYL ALCOHOL

Methane is converted into methanol (methyl

alcohol, CH3OH) by catalytic oxidation.

Methyl alcohol (methanol) is further oxidized to get

formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is an important raw
material for number of useful products, for
example phenol-formaldehyde resins (bakelite).
Methyl alcohol is an important industrial solvent.

ETHYLENE
Petrochemicals from Ethylene

ETHYLENE:
is obtained by pyrolysis of
natural gas or from naphtha by
cracking.

Ethylene

Ethylene

is an unsaturated hydrocarbon
and has a carbon-carbon double bond.
Therefore, ethylene is very reactive and
can be converted to a variety of
petrochemicals and useful end products.

PETROCHEMICALS FROM
ETHYLENE:

1. ETHYL ALCOHOL

Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is made by hydration of

ethylene. Ethyl alcohol is used as a solvent and a
raw material for the manufacture of acetic acid,
ethyl acetate and a large number of other useful
products.

2. ETHYLENE OXIDE

Ethylene is oxidized to ethylene oxide with air

or oxygen in the presence of a catalyst. It is a raw
material for the manufacture of ethylene glycol,
which is a starting material for the manufacture
of polyester.

3. ETHYLENE GLYCOL

The vast majority of the ethylene oxide produced

is hydrolyzed at 100oC toethylene glycol. The
oxidation reaction is:
C2H4O + H2OHO-CH2-CH2-OH.
Some 70% of the ethylene glycol produced is used
as an automotive antifreeze and much of the rest
is used in the synthesis of polyesters.

4. DICHLOROETHANE

Dichloroethane (1,2-dichloroethane) is made from ethylene by

the reaction of chlorine.
About 13% of the ethene is chlorinated to 1,2-dichloroethane
(dichloroethane) or to ethylene dichloride. The reaction
forming dichloroethane is:
H2C=CH2+ Cl2 H2ClC-CH2Cl
There are some minor uses for ethylene dichloride, but about
90% of it is cracked to the monomer of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), chloroethene or vinyl chloride. The simplified cracking
reaction is:
H2ClC-CH2Cl HCl + H2C=CHCl

5. VINYL CHLORIDE

Vinyl chloride is made directly from ethylene or is

made from ethylene dichloride.

6. POLYETHYLENE

On polymerization ethylene gives polyethylene

(polyethene), which is an important plastic
material.

7. ETHYL BENZENE

Ethylene reacts with benzene in the presence

of a suitable catalyst to give ethyl benzene. Ethyl
benzene is converted to styrene. Styrene is a raw
material for the manufacture of an important
plastic material polystyrene.

About 10% of the ethene is used in the production

of ethyl benzene.

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