Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems[1]) are the chemical products

obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum
are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or
renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit or sugar cane.

The two most common petrochemical classes are olefins (including ethylene and
propylene) and aromatics (including benzene, toluene and xylene isomers).

Oil refineries produce olefins and aromatics by fluid catalytic cracking of

petroleum fractions. Chemical plants produce olefins by steam cracking of natural
gas liquids like ethane and propane. Aromatics are produced by catalytic reforming
of naphtha. Olefins and aromatics are the building-blocks for a wide range of
materials such as solvents, detergents, and adhesives. Olefins are the basis for
polymers and oligomers used in plastics, resins, fibers, elastomers, lubricants,
and gels.[2][3]

Global ethylene production was 190 million tonnes and propylene was 120 million
tonnes in 2019.[4] Aromatics production is approximately 70 million tonnes. The
largest petrochemical industries are located in the United States and Western
Europe; however, major growth in new production capacity is in the Middle East and
Asia. There is substantial inter-regional petrochemical trade.

Primary petrochemicals are divided into three groups depending on their chemical
structure:

Olefins includes ethene, propene, butenes and butadiene. Ethylene and propylene are
important sources of industrial chemicals and plastics products. Butadiene is used
in making synthetic rubber.
Aromatics includes benzene, toluene and xylenes, as a whole referred to as BTX and
primarily obtained from petroleum refineries by extraction from the reformate
produced in catalytic reformers using naphtha obtained from petroleum refineries.
Alternatively, BTX can be produced by aromatization of alkanes. Benzene is a raw
material for dyes and synthetic detergents, and benzene and toluene for isocyanates
MDI and TDI used in making polyurethanes. Manufacturers use xylenes to produce
plastics and synthetic fibers.
Synthesis gas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen used to produce methanol
and other chemicals. Steam crackers are not to be confused with steam reforming
plants used to produce hydrogen for ammonia production. Ammonia is used to make the
fertilizer urea and methanol is used as a solvent and chemical intermediate.
Methane, ethane, propane and butanes obtained primarily from natural gas processing
plants.
Methanol and formaldehyde.
In 2007, the amounts of ethylene and propylene produced in steam crackers were
about 115 Mt (megatonnes) and 70 Mt, respectively.[5] The output ethylene capacity
of large steam crackers ranged up to as much as 1.0 – 1.5 Mt per year.[6]

The adjacent diagram schematically depicts the major hydrocarbon sources and
processes used in producing petrochemicals.[2][3][7][8]

Petrochemical feedstock sources

Like commodity chemicals, petrochemicals are made on a very large scale.
Petrochemical manufacturing units differ from commodity chemical plants in that
they often produce a number of related products. Compare this with specialty
chemical and fine chemical manufacture where products are made in discrete batch
processes.

Petrochemicals are predominantly made in a few manufacturing locations around the

world, for example in Jubail and Yanbu Industrial Cities in Saudi Arabia, Texas and
Louisiana in the US, in Teesside in the Northeast of England in the United Kingdom,
in Tarragona in Catalonia, in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in Antwerp in Belgium,
in Jamnagar, Dahej in Gujarat, India and in Singapore. Not all of the petrochemical
or commodity chemical materials produced by the chemical industry are made in one
single location but groups of related materials are often made in adjacent
manufacturing plants to induce industrial symbiosis as well as material and utility
efficiency and other economies of scale. This is known in chemical engineering
terminology as integrated manufacturing. Specialty and fine chemical companies are
sometimes found in similar manufacturing locations as petrochemicals but, in most
cases, they do not need the same level of large-scale infrastructure (e.g.,
pipelines, storage, ports, and power, etc.) and therefore can be found in multi-
sector business parks.

The large-scale petrochemical manufacturing locations have clusters of

manufacturing units that share utilities and large-scale infrastructures such as
power stations, storage tanks, port facilities, road and rail terminals. In the
United Kingdom, for example, there are four main locations for such manufacturing:
near the River Mersey in North West England, on the Humber on the East coast of
Yorkshire, in Grangemouth near the Firth of Forth in Scotland, and in Teesside as
part of the Northeast of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). To demonstrate
the clustering and integration, some 50% of the United Kingdom's petrochemical and
commodity chemicals are produced by the NEPIC industry cluster companies in
Teesside.