What are the challenges for the chemical industry today?

Publicadas por eNgLiSh D2 , martes, 3 de noviembre de 2015 9:01 a.m.

 What are the challenges for the chemical industry today?

 


The chemical industry is undergoing huge changes worldwide. As we have seen above, one concerns the emergence of Middle Eastern countries and China, India and Brazil as manufacturers of chemicals on a mammoth scale, for their own consumption and also for export worldwide. 



Companies in these countries are also investing in plant in the US and Europe whilst US and European companies are investing in plant in these large emerging countries, making the industry as a whole totally international in the way it conducts business. 
The challenge for companies in the US and Europe is to cut their costs while ensuring that they conform to the best practice in protecting the environment. This concern about the environment is discussed in the separate units on individual chemicals.


A new revolution beckons. As oil and natural gas become ever scarcer and more expensive, chemists are searching for new feedstocks to supplement or even replace oil and natural gas. And they are rediscovering the virtues of coal (still in huge supply, even though it is a fossil fuel that cannot be replaced) and biomass.
Thus we are coming full circle. In the late 19th and the first part of the 20th centuries, the organic chemical industry was based largely on coal and biomass. Coal was heated strongly in the absence of air to form coal gas (a mixture of hydrogen, methane and carbon monoxide). 
A liquid (coal tar) was formed as a by-product which contained many useful organic chemicals, including benzene, and the solid residue was coke, an impure form of carbon. Coke was the source of what we now call synthesis gas. Steam was passed over it at high temperatures to yield carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Another source of organic chemicals was biomass. 





For example, the source of many C2 chemicals was ethanol, produced by fermentation of biomass. C3 and C4 chemicals such as propanone and butanol were also produced on a large scale by fermentation of biomass.

Since then, from the 1940s onwards, the industry has found better and better ways of using the products from the refining of oil to produce not only all the chemicals mentioned above but many more. An example is the growth of the petrochemical industry, with the array of new polymers, detergents, and myriad of sophisticated chemicals produced at low cost.
Perhaps therefore the greatest challenge lies in finding ways to reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources. Thus, as oil and natural gas supplies dwindle, we must find ways to use the older technologies based on biomass to produce chemicals in as an environmentally acceptable way as possible, in terms of energy expended and effluents produced. For example, some ethene and a range of polymers, as well as very large quantities of ethanol, are now being produced from biomass.
Another challenge is reduce our dependence on non-renewable resources to produce energy. The easiest way to do this is to find ways to run our chemical plants at lower temperatures with the aid of catalysts or using alternative routes. This has already begun in earnest and over the last 20 years, as noted in the last section, the consumption of energy per unit of product has been falling at an average of about 6% in the EU and about 2.5% in the US per year. In consequence, the emission of carbon dioxide has fallen per unit of product by 68% and 40% over the same time scale.




The new technologies based on nanomaterials will also be to the forefront in future advances in the chemical industry and it will be important to ensure that the production of these revolutionary materials is safe and of economic benefit.
The chemical industry has many challenges in the 21st century which must be overcome in order to remain at the heart of every major country. It is only through this that the industry can help society to maintain and improve its standard of living and do so in a sustainable way.
Much of the data used in this unit is derived from published work by CEFIC (Conseil Européen des Fédérations de l'Industrie Chimique, The European Chemical Industry Council) and the American Chemical Council.



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The chemical industry: how safe and how environmentally regulated?

Publicadas por eNgLiSh D2 , 8:50 a.m.


The chemical industry: how safe and how environmentally regulated?

Safety must be at the top of the chemical industry’s agenda and for good reason. Many of its products are potentially hazardous at some stage during their manufacture and transport. These chemicals may be solids, liquids or gases, flammable, explosive, corrosive and/or toxic. 

Manufacturing processes frequently involve high temperatures, high pressures, and reactions which can be dangerous unless carefully controlled. Because of this the industry operates within the safety limits demanded by national and international legislation.







 Risks and injuries 



In spite of dealing with hazardous operations, the chemical industry actually has a lower number of accidents than industry as a whole. Between 1995 and 2005, across the whole of European manufacture of all types, there were over 4 injuries for every 1000 employees, twice that sustained in the chemical industry.




US data, recorded as days lost due to accidents, show an even starker difference; the number of days lost in major companies in the chemical industry through accidents is 4 times less than in manufacturing generally.


Environmental regulations


There are serious concerns about the potential impact of certain manufactured chemicals on living organisms, including ourselves, and on the natural environment. These concerns include air, land and sea pollution, global warming and climate change, ozone depletion of the upper atmosphere and acid rain.




The chemical industry has a world-wide initiative entitled Responsible Care. It began in Canada in 1984 and is practiced now in over 60 countries. It commits national chemical industry associations and companies to:




Continuously improve the environmental, health, safety and security knowledge and performance of our technologies, processes and products over their life cycles so as to avoid harm to people and the environmentUse resources efficiently and minimise wasteReport openly on performance, achievements and short comings Listen, engage and work with people to understand and address their concerns and expectationsCooperate with governments and organisations in the development and implementation of effective regulations and standards, and to meet or go beyond themProvide help and advice to foster the responsible management of chemicals by all those who manage and use them along the product chain.


In the US, chemical companies spend over $ 12 billion a year on environmental, health and safety programs. This has, for example, has led to the reduction of hazardous releases to the air, land and water by over 70 percent over the last 40 years. 

Another environmental measure concerns the use of energy. In the 20 years from 1990, the chemical industry in the US saved energy at the average rate of 2.1% and in Europe at more than 4%. This also reduces the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, at a rate of nearly 2.5% and 6% per annum in the US and EU, respectively.


Regulations are in force in every major country. In Europe, they are enforced through REACH (Registration, Evaluation Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals). They are fundamentally changing the way chemicals are made, sold and used, by providing a single standardised framework for the safe management of chemicals. 


REACH places the responsibility on both manufacturers and importers to ensure that all chemicals produced in quantities greater than one tonne a year do not adversely affect human health or the environment. The industry provides comprehensive documented information for all qualifying chemicals and related substances, enabling users of the chemicals to ensure that adequate controls are in place. 

Chemicals which are produced in amounts of 1000 tonnes or more per year must have been registered by December 2010 and those greater than 1 tonne must be registered by June 2018.





Only a small proportion of chemical wastes are toxic or hazardous. Most of these, together with materials which resist natural breakdown, are incinerated at high temperature. Whenever possible, the waste itself provides the fuel for this process. The gases produced are thoroughly cleaned and ‘scrubbed’ before release into the atmosphere, leaving only ash for disposal. Examples of how by-products are dealt with are seen throughout the units on this web site.




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What does the chemical industry produce?

Publicadas por eNgLiSh D2 , 8:31 a.m.

What does the chemical industry produce?




The products of the chemical industry can be divided into three categories:

  • Basic chemicals
  • Speciality chemicals
  • Consumer chemicals
Several other categorisations are used but this one is simple and helpful in the context of this web site. Outputs range widely, with basic chemicals produced in huge quantities (millions of tonnes) and some speciality chemicals produced in modest kilogramme quantities but with very high value. 

 As explained in the unit on Chemical Reactors, the choice of reactor is often goverened by the amount of chemical that is to be produced.
The value of sales per category for both Europe and the US are broadly similar, as shown in:

  

Europe
US
Basic chemicals
62
61
Polymers
24
18
Petrochemicals
24
25
Basic Inorganics
14
18
Speciality chemicals
25
24
Consumer chemicals
13
14
Table 1: Products from the chemical industry in 2011 by category (%).
Facts and Figures 2011, CEFIC; 2011 Guide to the Business of Chemistry, American Chemistry Council.



Basic chemicals



Basic chemicals are divided into

  • chemicals derived from oil, known as petrochemicals
  • polymers
  • basic inorganics

The term ‘petrochemical’ can be misleading as the same chemicals are increasingly being derived from sources other than oil, such as coal and biomass. An example is methanol, commonly produced from oil and natural gas in the US and Europe but from coal in China. 




Another is poly(ethene), derived from oil and gas in the US and Europe but increasingly from biomass in Brazil. Other examples are described in the units on this web site.
Basic chemicals, produced in large quantities, are mainly sold within the chemical industry and to other industries before becoming products for the general consumer. For example, ethanoic acid is sold on to make esters, much of which in turn is sold to make paints and at that point sold to the consumer. Huge quantities of ethene are transported as a gas by pipeline around Europe and sold to companies making poly(ethene) and other polymers. These are then sold on to manufacturers of plastic components before being bought by the actual consumer. 




Petrochemicals and polymers



The production of chemicals from petroleum (and increasingly from coal and biomass) has seen many technological changes and the development of very large production sites throughout the world.

  The hydrocarbons in crude oil and gas, which are mainly straight chain alkanes, are first separated using their differences in boiling point, as is described in the unit Distillation. They are then converted to hydrocarbons that are more useful to the chemical industry, such as branched chain alkanes, alkenes and aromatic hydrocarbons. 

 These processes are described in the unit, Cracking and related refinery processes.


In turn, these hydrocarbons are converted into a very wide range of basic chemicals which are immediately useful (petrol, ethanol, ethane-1,2-diol) or are subjected to further reactions to produce a useful end product (for example, phenol to make resins and ammonia to make fertilizers). Many examples are found in the group of units on this site devoted to Basic chemicals.

The main use for petrochemicals is in the manufacture of a wide range of polymers. Due to their importance of these they are given their own section of units, Polymers.

Basic inorganics


These are relatively low cost chemicals used throughout manufacturing and agriculture. They are produced in very large amounts, some in millions of tonnes a year, and include chlorine, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric and nitric acids and chemicals for fertilizers. 

 As with petrochemicals, many emerging countries are now able to produce them more cheaply than companies based in the US and Europe. This has led to tough competition and producers of these chemicals worldwide work continuously to reduce costs while meeting ever more stringent environmental and safety standards.

The units on basic inorganics can be found within the Basic chemicals section of the site.

Speciality chemicals



This category covers a wide variety of chemicals for crop protection, pains and inks, colorants (dyes and pigments).  It also includes chemicals used by industries as diverse as textiles, paper and engineering.  There has been a tendency in the US and Europe to focus on this sector rather than the basic chemicals discussed above because it is thought that, with active research and development (R & D), speciality chemicals deliver better and more stable profitability.  


New products are being created to meet both customer needs and new environmental regulations.  An everyday example is household paints which have evolved from being organic solvent-based to being water-based. Another is the latest ink developed for ink-jet printers.
Units on selected speciality chemicals can be found within the Materials and Applications section of this site.

Consumer chemicals



Consumer chemicals are sold directly to the public.  They include, for example, detergents, soaps and other toiletries.  The search for more effective and environmentally safe detergents has increased over the last 20 years, particularly in finding surfactants that are capable of cleaning anything from sensitive skin to large industrial plants. 


Parallel to this, much work has been done in producing a wider range of synthetic chemicals for toiletries, cosmetics and fragrances.
Units on selected consumer chemicals can be found within the Materials and Applications section.


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Why are chemicals important in the workplace and beyond?

Publicadas por eNgLiSh D2 , lunes, 2 de noviembre de 2015 10:24 p.m.

 Why are chemicals in the workplace and beyond?


Chemicals are key to healthy living and modern convenience. They range from pesticides that improve the extent and quality of food production, to pharmaceuticals that cure illnesses, and cleaning products that help establish hygienic living conditions. 

Chemicals are also critical in many industrial processes for developing products important to global standards of living.

However, governments, employers and workers continue to struggle to address controlling exposure to these chemicals in the workplace,as well as limiting emissions to the environment.



What are the main threats created by chemicals?


Chemicals pose a broad range of potential adverse effects, from health hazards such as cancers and physical hazards like flammability, to environmental hazards such as widespread contamination and toxicity to aquatic life. Many fires, explosions, and other disasters result from inadequate control of chemicals’ physical hazards.





Is progress being made for the sound management of chemicals?



Significant progress has been made concerning the regulation and management of chemicals in the field of occupational safety and health but more needs to be done.  Serious incidents continue to happen and there are still  negative impacts on both human health and environment. 

Workers who are directly exposed to hazardous substances should have the right to work in a safe and healthy environment and be properly informed, trained and protectes.

Can we easily evaluate the impact of chemicals on workers’ health?


It is difficult to determine the extent of health effects in the workplace related to chemical exposures. Because of the complexity of assessing mixtures of chemicals, strategies to prevent harmful exposure tend to focus on individual chemical substances. This is further complicated by the fact that these substances can also be found combined with mixtures in most workplaces. They are rarely assessed or tested in the form of a mixture. Standards for individual chemicals routinely address problems with a single chemical.




Still, the reality is that there are so many chemicals to which workers may be exposed that this substance-by-substance approach will never be able to adequately protect them. Most workers are exposed to mixtures, rather than individual chemical substances, therefore the control of mixed exposures is critical for an effective protective programme. 

Furthermore, efforts to establish the connection between an exposure to chemicals 20 years ago and a case of cancer today have also been hampered by lack of information about the effects of chemical exposures. Record keeping on effects resulting from exposure to chemicals also needs to be improved.




What are the main recommendations included in the report?


The report calls on governments, employers, workers and their organizations to collaborate in the development and implementation of national policies and strategies aimed at the sound management of chemicals at work. 

These must comprehensively and simultaneously address the health, safety, and environmental aspects related to the production and use of chemicals. The idea is to maintain the benefits achieved through the production and use of chemicals while minimizing workers’ exposure as well as the emission of chemicals into the environment through national and international action. 


A coherent global response is necessary to coordinate the continuous scientific and technological progress, the growth in chemicals production and changes in the organization of work. Likewise, new tools need to be developed to provide readily available information about chemical hazards and risk, and associated preventive and protective measures.


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Chemical industries

Publicadas por eNgLiSh D2 , 9:26 p.m.



CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES



The chemical industry is of strategic importance to the sustainable development of national economies. The ILO estimates that there are up to 20 million people employed in the global chemical, pharmaceutical and rubber and tyre industries today. 

Challenges in the sector


Global competition has rapidly changed the world map of chemical production and consumption. Greater competitiveness and uncertainty have triggered restructuring processes with significant implications for employment and earnings, composition of employment and working conditions in general. 

The improper use of chemicals can have adverse consequences for humans and the environment. Although occupational safety and health prevention practices in the chemical sector have generally improved, there is concern about the risk gaps between large and small companies, and especially between regular workers and outsourced workers. Moreover, new occupational risks have emerged due to technological innovation.

The share of women employed in the chemical industry varies significantly and has only increased slowly. Higher educational levels among women relative to men are being reflected in greater shares of professional jobs and lower management, but less so in upper management positions.




Recent work


In 2013 the ILO held a Global Dialogue Forum on Initiatives to Promote Decent and Productive Work in the Chemical Industry, discussing innovative voluntary initiatives and social dialogue as effective tools to cope with existing and emerging challenges in the chemical industries. 

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