The Important Role of Hydrocarbons in Petrochemical Production

Hydrocarbons play an important role in petrochemical production. One could make the case that they are the building blocks of all sorts of petrochemicals. Needless to say that getting into this business without any knowledge of what hydrocarbons are and how they are used would be extremely risky.

Hydrocarbons are a class of organic chemical compounds made up of just two elements: carbon and hydrogen. They are the primary constituent in both natural gas and petroleum. Many of them occur in nature, though some are created as a result of petrochemical processing.

From our perspective, hydrocarbons serve as the raw materials and feedstocks for our processes. Our role as a producer of high-purity specialty chemicals simply would not be possible without them. Below is a general discussion of what hydrocarbons do for us.

Providing Building Blocks for Other Chemicals

Petrochemical processors go to great lengths to break the chemical bonds between molecules in order to turn them into more useful chemicals. One such process for doing so is known as cracking. By cracking large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones, we can create new chemicals. For instance, cracking ethane creates ethylene. Cracking propane creates propylene.

Both of these chemicals are utilized as building blocks for other petrochemicals. So we can take hydrocarbons, break them down, and then use the resulting chemicals to make new chemicals.

Olefin and Aromatic Production

Ethylene and propylene are known as olefins. Likewise, breaking down hydrocarbons allows us to create another class of chemicals known as aromatics. Examples include benzene and toluene.

Olefins and aromatics provide the foundation for a wide range of petrochemical products associated with manufacturing and composites. Examples that immediately come to mind include resins, fibers, elastomers, and a variety of plastics.

Taking this one step further, ethylene produced through steam cracking can then be converted into a polymer through a combination of polymerization and synthesis processes. The processes transform ethylene into polyethylene. You might know polyethylene as a plastic. We can do the same thing with propylene to create polypropylene.

Use as Feedstocks

Breaking down hydrocarbons to create new chemicals is just the start. We can also use hydrocarbons as feedstocks for other chemicals. Take methane. It can be converted to ethylene, methanol, and syngas. All three can then be deployed to synthesize a number of other chemicals, including acetic acid and formaldehyde.

In essence, hydrocarbons are to petrochemical processing what stem cells are to human biology. They are the fundamental building blocks from which a variety of petrochemicals are produced. There would be no petrochemical industry without hydrocarbons.

Environmental Concerns

Of course, whenever we talk about hydrocarbon processing there are environmental concerns. Hydrocarbon processing does have known environmental impacts. At the top of the list is air pollution.

Processing hydrocarbons releases volatile organic compounds. This is a known contributing factor to ground level ozone. Likewise, hydrocarbon processing can release nitrogen and sulfur compounds.

The release of greenhouse gases is yet another concern petrochemical processors have to account for. Fortunately, technological advancements over the last decade or so have made hydrocarbon processing more efficient and environmentally friendly. Efforts to further mitigate environmental impacts remain ongoing to this day.

You Benefit from Our Knowledge

As a Trecora customer, you may have no idea how we transform hydrocarbons into the specialty chemicals you need. But that's okay. You benefit from our knowledge. You benefit from the fact that we can take nature's building blocks and create exactly what you need for your manufacturing processes. The more we learn about hydrocarbons, the more we can pass our knowledge on to benefit you.