UNITED STATESPress Releases
Chemicals role in everyday life
16/02/2004
Petrochemicals are essential building blocks for modern life - find out how they are made and how they touch our lives in an extraordinary variety of ways - from paints and pharmaceuticals, to cosmetics and CDs.
You may not realize it, but many common items, from CDs to cosmetics, paints to pharmaceuticals, are produced using petrochemicals. And while the route from crude oil to a CD may involve many stages, two distinct industry divisions contribute to the production and manufacture of these items:
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- The production of the base chemicals.
- The manufacture of products of these.
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Every year the petrochemicals industry produces millions of tons of products we use in our homes, shops, offices, factories, clubs, cars, boats and planes - products that were originally derived from oil or natural gas. Learn more about how chemicals are made here.
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Base chemicals are the vital connecting link between hydrocarbon raw materials, such as crude oil, and the chemicals that are needed to produce a wide variety of end products. The major industries of car manufacture, aerospace, transport, electronics, food and drink, packaging, consumer goods, communications and construction all rely on the many thousands of products that come from only a handful of chemicals. Learn more about base chemicals.
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A further range of chemicals, known as intermediates, are created from base chemicals and are important materials for an enormous range of products that we use in our daily life including:
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- detergents
- antifreeze
- synthetic lubricants
- brake fluids
- polyurethanes
- polyesters
- inks
- paints
- lacquers
- epoxy resins
- polycarbonates
- solvents
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Learn more about how intermediates are useful in our everyday lives and are essential to the chemicals industry�here.
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While intellectual curiosity drove chemists to discover new polymers, perhaps it also inspired our early ancestors to explore the use of fire, as it transformed raw materials by cooking or carbonating them. Learn how chemicals�shaped our past and are forming our future.
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