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As one who has worked in the petrochemicals industry for 28 years, I find the current definition rather strange. Admittedly, the compounds named are chemicals, and they are derived from rocks, however I think that there is a distinction to be made between chemicals and fuels. The agricultural chemicals mentioned are either made by relatively small-scale multi-stage organic synthesis (pesticides and herbicides) or are not organic at all (fertilisers - urea, ammonium nitrate, phosphate and potassium. Is ammonia a petrochemical simply because it is made by the reaction of methane-derived hydrogen and nitrogen?).
I would therefore suggest the following as a short alternative, which could of course be enlarged (though there are already articles on most of the indivdual chemicals):
Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum (hydrocarbon) origin.
The two main classes of raw materials are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and aromatics (including benzene and xylene isomers), both of which are produced in very large quantities, mainly by the steam cracking and catalytic reforming of refinery hydrocarbons. From these basic building blocks are made a very wide range of raw materials used in industry - plastics, resins, fibres, solvents, detergents, etc.
World production of ethylene is around 110 million tonnes per annum, of propylene 65 million tonnes and of aromatic raw materials 70 million tonnes. The largest petrochemical industries are to be found in the USA and Western Europe, though the major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia. There is a substantial inter-regional trade in petrochemicals of all kinds.
Bearfoot 15:47, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
... currently redirects here, but the article doesn't really address either the commercial or engineering aspects, just the chemistry. Is there someplace better that could be pointed, or is our coverage just rather incomplete? Alai 06:22, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Presently the article says that "petrochemical" is not a correct term since the Greek prefix petro- means "rock", and that petrochemicals come not from rock, but from crude oil. I think that "petrochemical" is derived from the English word petroleum which means "crude oil" from the ground (or from underground). "Petroleum" in turn was derived from petro- meaning "rock" (in effect, meaning from the ground, as opposed to oil from plant or animal sources) and oleum meaning "oil". However, the term "oleochemical" would also be reasonable, meaning chemical from oil. H Padleckas ( talk) 20:59, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
The current article begins with the following surprising definition "Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin." This statement is probably incorrect but the rest of the article is built on this premise. The website [1] lists ethylene-propylene-C4's and benzene-toluene-xylene (BTX) as the only petrochemicals. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry makes the following statement in the chapter on oil refining: "there are only few materials that are produced as individual chemical compounds, e.g., propane, sulfur, or benzene – toluene – xylene (BTX) aromatics." Mirriam-Webster Dictionary has this "a chemical isolated or derived from petroleum or natural gas" which is broad but to me excludes those derivatives obtained by further processing. 99% of the millions of synthetic organic compounds are derived from petroleum, so if we wish to distinguish petrochemicals, we should probably adhere to a far more restrictive list: C2's, C3's, C4's and BTX.-- Smokefoot ( talk) 21:12, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
Detailing all steps in a process and all end uses of petrochemicals would be impossible. Our selection of applications will give you an insight into how petrochemistry is central to today's society. Beyond this flowchart, bear in mind that there is much more to petrochemistry than what you will see here.....
I added a few images visualizing the production routes of many of the chemicals mentioned on this page, using the data contained within the article. For each of the images, I've included the Graphviz source code used to generate them in case anyone has future additions, or better ideas about how to visualize these. Mr3641 ( talk) 15:40, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
I think petrochemistry and petrochemical (and possibly petroleum product) should be merged. There's little difference in what the topic described by the articles are, although there are significant differences in content. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 03:11, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
I am removing the merge requests because of lack of participation per Wikipedia:Tagging pages for problems#Removing tags. If an editor feels they should still be merged and places a tag again please follow the proper procedures and carry through with the request. Otr500 ( talk) 18:30, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
Since Petrochemicals are used to make medicines the insignificant petrochemicals should also be listed for a list that is exhaustive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C518:6C40:F02A:330C:11CC:ACDB ( talk) 01:40, 25 May 2013 (UTC)
This
level-4 vital article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
As one who has worked in the petrochemicals industry for 28 years, I find the current definition rather strange. Admittedly, the compounds named are chemicals, and they are derived from rocks, however I think that there is a distinction to be made between chemicals and fuels. The agricultural chemicals mentioned are either made by relatively small-scale multi-stage organic synthesis (pesticides and herbicides) or are not organic at all (fertilisers - urea, ammonium nitrate, phosphate and potassium. Is ammonia a petrochemical simply because it is made by the reaction of methane-derived hydrogen and nitrogen?).
I would therefore suggest the following as a short alternative, which could of course be enlarged (though there are already articles on most of the indivdual chemicals):
Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum (hydrocarbon) origin.
The two main classes of raw materials are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and aromatics (including benzene and xylene isomers), both of which are produced in very large quantities, mainly by the steam cracking and catalytic reforming of refinery hydrocarbons. From these basic building blocks are made a very wide range of raw materials used in industry - plastics, resins, fibres, solvents, detergents, etc.
World production of ethylene is around 110 million tonnes per annum, of propylene 65 million tonnes and of aromatic raw materials 70 million tonnes. The largest petrochemical industries are to be found in the USA and Western Europe, though the major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and Asia. There is a substantial inter-regional trade in petrochemicals of all kinds.
Bearfoot 15:47, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
... currently redirects here, but the article doesn't really address either the commercial or engineering aspects, just the chemistry. Is there someplace better that could be pointed, or is our coverage just rather incomplete? Alai 06:22, 2 May 2006 (UTC)
Presently the article says that "petrochemical" is not a correct term since the Greek prefix petro- means "rock", and that petrochemicals come not from rock, but from crude oil. I think that "petrochemical" is derived from the English word petroleum which means "crude oil" from the ground (or from underground). "Petroleum" in turn was derived from petro- meaning "rock" (in effect, meaning from the ground, as opposed to oil from plant or animal sources) and oleum meaning "oil". However, the term "oleochemical" would also be reasonable, meaning chemical from oil. H Padleckas ( talk) 20:59, 28 December 2007 (UTC)
The current article begins with the following surprising definition "Petrochemicals are chemical products made from raw materials of petroleum or other hydrocarbon origin." This statement is probably incorrect but the rest of the article is built on this premise. The website [1] lists ethylene-propylene-C4's and benzene-toluene-xylene (BTX) as the only petrochemicals. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry makes the following statement in the chapter on oil refining: "there are only few materials that are produced as individual chemical compounds, e.g., propane, sulfur, or benzene – toluene – xylene (BTX) aromatics." Mirriam-Webster Dictionary has this "a chemical isolated or derived from petroleum or natural gas" which is broad but to me excludes those derivatives obtained by further processing. 99% of the millions of synthetic organic compounds are derived from petroleum, so if we wish to distinguish petrochemicals, we should probably adhere to a far more restrictive list: C2's, C3's, C4's and BTX.-- Smokefoot ( talk) 21:12, 14 November 2009 (UTC)
Detailing all steps in a process and all end uses of petrochemicals would be impossible. Our selection of applications will give you an insight into how petrochemistry is central to today's society. Beyond this flowchart, bear in mind that there is much more to petrochemistry than what you will see here.....
I added a few images visualizing the production routes of many of the chemicals mentioned on this page, using the data contained within the article. For each of the images, I've included the Graphviz source code used to generate them in case anyone has future additions, or better ideas about how to visualize these. Mr3641 ( talk) 15:40, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
I think petrochemistry and petrochemical (and possibly petroleum product) should be merged. There's little difference in what the topic described by the articles are, although there are significant differences in content. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 03:11, 21 September 2011 (UTC)
I am removing the merge requests because of lack of participation per Wikipedia:Tagging pages for problems#Removing tags. If an editor feels they should still be merged and places a tag again please follow the proper procedures and carry through with the request. Otr500 ( talk) 18:30, 22 October 2011 (UTC)
Since Petrochemicals are used to make medicines the insignificant petrochemicals should also be listed for a list that is exhaustive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:C518:6C40:F02A:330C:11CC:ACDB ( talk) 01:40, 25 May 2013 (UTC)