There are a variety of products created from the chemical industry that have an effect on virtually every aspect of everyone’s lives. Many of the industry products are purchased by the consumer directly; these include detergents, perfumes and soaps. Other chemicals that are manufactured are used by other industries to make their products, including other branches of the chemical industry. Melamine suppliers and Industrial Kaolin suppliers claim that there are a wide variety of raw material used in the industry; air, water, minerals, oil, etc. being just some of them.
Chemical Industry products can be divided into essentially three categories:-
1) Basic Chemicals
2) Speciality Chemicals
3) Consumer Chemicals
The outputs of these chemicals range widely. For example, basic chemicals are produced in huge quantities going upto millions of tonnes and speciality chemicals are produced in very few kilograms but they have a very high value. The amount of the chemical that is to be produced for a particular purpose decides the choice of the reactor.
1) Basic Chemicals
These are further sub-divided into the following categories:-
– Chemicals derived from oil, i.e. petrochemicals
– Polymers
– Basic Inorganics
All these chemicals are manufactured in huge quantities and are mostly sold within the chemical industry and all other industries before being converted into consumer usage products. For instance, ethanoic acid is used to make esters, which is then sold to paint manufacturers to make paint to be sold to the consumers.
2) Speciality Chemicals
These include chemicals manufactured for specific purposes such as textiles, engineering, paper, etc. They also include chemicals used for paints, crop protection, dyes, inks, pigments, etc. These deliver better profits to the manufacturers.
3) Consumer Chemicals
Most often than not, these are chemicals that are sold directly to the public and include detergents, soaps, toiletries, etc.
