Specialty Chemicals: Complex, High-Value Chemical Products

It can be difficult to explain what we do, especially to people who are not in the petrochemical industry. How do you explain specialty chemicals to someone who knows little to nothing about petrochemical manufacturing? It's not easy. But if you are involved in the industry, you already know that specialty chemicals are complex, high-value chemical products that the modern world really cannot do without.

We produce specialty chemicals at our Lawrence, KS and Silsbee, TX plants. We are extremely enthusiastic about our high purity hydrocarbons along with normal pentane, isopentane, petroleum ether, and other products.

Specialty Chemicals' Primary Characteristics

Specialty chemicals are not commodity chemicals. They are not produced at large volumes for a mass market. Instead, specialty chemical manufacturing is small-scale. Products are:

Purposely designed for specific uses.

  • Produced via complex manufacturing processes.
  • Customized with unique performance characteristics.

As a result, specialty chemicals are often high-margin products for manufacturers. That means a higher price for end users as well. But considering how valuable these chemicals are to petrochemical manufacturing, they are worth every penny.

Types of Specialty Chemicals

We can break specialty chemicals down into a number of types, beginning with paints, coatings, and adhesives. These types of chemicals speak for themselves. Paints, coatings, and adhesives are arguably the most common specialty chemical types.

Here are some of the other types of specialty chemicals:

  • Agricultural chemicals
  • Catalysts and additives
  • Polymers and resins
  • Fragrances and flavors
  • Chemicals for water treatment

In the agricultural category, you're looking at things like fertilizers and pesticides. Chemicals associated with polymers and resins include products that might be used to manufacture composites like carbon fiber and fiberglass.

Improving Petrochemical Manufacturing

While specialty chemicals have applications outside of petrochemical manufacturing, they are widely used within as well. Specialty chemicals often function as performance enhancers, for example. Consider polymer additives.

Additives can improve polymer strength, flexibility, and flame resistance. They can make plastic tougher. Certain additives even contribute to unique properties that would otherwise be out of reach. A great example is the UV protection you get with sunglasses.

Catalysts are another great example of enhancing petrochemical manufacturing. A catalyst can improve petroleum refining efficiency. It can help reduce energy consumption while simultaneously increasing yield.

Specialty chemicals in petrochemical manufacturing contribute to:

  • Functional improvements
  • Manufacturing enhancements
  • Formulation customization
  • Regulatory and environmental compliance

The petrochemical industry would be quite different without access to specialty chemicals. But because these chemicals exist, manufacturers can do amazing things with petrochemicals.

How They Are Manufactured

One last thing to mention is how specialty chemicals are manufactured. It all starts with commodity petrochemicals produced for the mass market. These are things like ethylene and propylene. They act as the building blocks for specialty chemicals.

Building block chemicals are processed further. They are also formulated through a variety of means. Here's a basic rundown of the process:

  • Building block petrochemicals are produced from oil and gas feedstocks.
  • They are processed (as inputs) to create complex formulations and structures.
  • Smaller batches of the complex formulations are produced.

Small batch production is preferred over continuous production. Again, this is because specialty chemicals are purpose-designed for specific purposes. Batch production would be both impractical and cost prohibitive.

Right now, we're seeing an increased demand for specialty chemicals. We also see greater interest in sustainable and bio-based chemicals capable of performing the same functions.

As market demand increases, you can expect Trecora to continue doing what we've always done. Specialty chemicals are our bread and butter. We are more than thrilled to provide our clients with high-purity, high-demand, and complex chemicals for petrochemical manufacturing.