Chemical Process Industries (Part - 1) | Chemical Technology - Chemical Engineering PDF Download

Chemical Process Industries

Introduction

Chemical industry is one of the oldest industries and playing an important role in the social, cultural and economic growth of a nation and in providing basic needs of humankind - food, shelter and clothing have become an indispensable part of our life. Figure M-I 1.1 illustrate the role of chemical industry in daily life. It is one of most diversified of all industrial sectors covering thousands of products. Chemical industry includes basic chemicals and its product, petrochemicals, fertilizers, paints & varnishes, gases, soap and detergent, perfumes, pharmaceuticals and covers thousands of products, which are finding use in our daily life from industrial to household goods. Structure of organic chemical industry is shown in Figure M-I 1.2. Various products are finding use in various fields packaging to agriculture, automobiles to telecommunication, construction to home appliances, health care to personal care, explosive, pesticides to fertilizer, textile to tire cord, chemicals to pharmaceuticals [Table M-I 1.1].

Indian chemical industry plays an important role in the overall development of Indian economy and contributes about 3% in the GDP of the country. It comprises large scale, medium scale and small units.

The chemical industry is a key contributor to the world economy and produces more than 8000 products, which is a vital part of agricultural and industrial development in India and has key linkages with several other downstream industries such as automotive, consumer durables, engineering and food processing [Chemical Engineering World, 2004]. Organic chemicals are one of the important sectors of the Indian chemical industry, which provide a vital development role by providing petroleum products, chemical feedstock, basic chemicals, intermediates, and important products like polymer, synthetic fibre, synthetic rubber, paints, varnish, pesticides and explosives, dyes, specialty chemicals. Major feedstocks for chemical industries are coal, petroleum, biomass, oils and fats, sulphur, salt, lime stone, rock phosphate etc.

Table M-I 1.1: Major Products of Chemical Industries and their Area of Application

Chemical Industry 

Food :  Fertilizer & Agrochemical 

Clothing:  Synthetic fibers, Dyestuffs, Textiles, Auxiliaries, Specialty Chemicals 

Shelter: Polymer composites, Coating, New Performance Materials 

Health Care:  Pharmaceuticals, Polymers, Synthetics, Detergent 

Quality of Life : Transportation, Education, Fuel, Electricity, Energy, Water supply, Management, Communication, Polymers & Industrial Chemicals 

Figure M-I 1.1: Role of Chemical Industry 

Figure M-I 1.2: Structure of Organic Chemical Industry

Chemical Industry and Technological Development in Chemical Industry 

Chemical process industry has evolved considerably over the last century largely in response to changing societal requirements and changing raw material availability and environmental issues.  Some of the major technological development in chemical industry are  · Leblanck process to Solvay and modified Solvay process 

• Lead chamber to Contact process (single absorption and DDCA
• Diaphragm process to Mercury and Mercury to Membrane
• Wet to Dry  cement Process
• Coal chemicals  to alcohol based chemicals to petroleum based chemicals and vice versa
• Acetylene based chemicals to other routes
• Claus to Super Claus process
• Wood based paper to agro-based and waste paper based
• Pulping to biopulping
• Stone ground wood pulping to thermo mechanical pulping
• Chlorine to oxygen bleaching and enzymatic bleaching
• Sulphur to pyrite based sulphuric acid plant
• Conventional aluminium and iron based catalyst to zeolite based catalyst
• Coal based Fertilizer to Natural gas and Naphtha based Fertilizers
• Coal and Alcohol based  chemical to  Petroleum based  chemicals
• Thermal cracking to Catalytic cracking
• FCC to Deep catalytic cracking for olefin and Hydrocracking for processing heavier crude
• Naphtha reforming to isomerisation
• Acid catalyst to solid acid catalyst in alkylation process
• Naphtha steam cracking to gas cracking
• Conventional petroleum fuel to biofuel
• Coal as fuel to coal as chemical
• Coal gasification to Petrocoke and Biomass gasification
• Chemical pesticide to bio pesticide
• Chemical fertilise to biofertliser
• Soap to detergent, Non biodegradable detergent to Biodegradable detergent
• Natural gas to coal bed methane, shale gas, gas hydrate
• Dimethyl terephthalate(DMT) to Purified terephthalic acid(PTA)
• Conventional caprolactam to ammonium sulphate free caprolactam
• Natural fibre to Synthetic Fibre
• Natural rubber to synthetic rubber
• Petroleum refinery to Natural gas refinery and Biorefinery
• Petroleum refinery to Petrochemical refinery
• Conventional gasification to underground gasification
• Conventional drilling to  horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing
• Gas to liquid and Methanol to olefin technology
• Coal to methanol and olefin
• Conventional desulphurization to ultra desulphurization processes and biodesulphuristion 
• Polymer to biopolymer
• Conventional Ziegler Natta catalyst to metallocene catalyst