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Commodity chemical

Group of industrial chemical compounds

Commodity chemicals (or bulk commodities or bulk chemicals) are a group of chemicals that are made on a very large scale to satisfy global markets. The average prices of commodity chemicals are regularly published in the chemical trade magazines and web sites such as Chemical Week and ICIS. There have been several studies of the scale and complexity of this market for example in the USA.

Commodity chemicals are a sub-sector of the chemical industry (other sub sectors are fine chemicals, specialty chemicals, inorganic chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy (e.g. biofuels) and materials (e.g. biopolymers)). Commodity chemicals are differentiated primarily by the bulk of their manufacture.

Types

Chemical compounds are often classified into two classes, inorganic and organic.

Inorganic chemicals

aluminium sulfate
ammonia
ammonium nitrate
ammonium sulfate
carbon black
chlorine
diammonium phosphate
monoammonium phosphate
hydrochloric acid
hydrogen fluoride
hydrogen peroxide
nitric acid
oxygen
phosphoric acid
sodium carbonate
sodium chlorate
sodium hydroxide
sodium silicate
sulfuric acid
titanium dioxide

Organic chemicals

Commonly traded commodity organic chemicals include:

acetic acid
acetone
acrylic acid
acrylonitrile
adipic acid
benzene
butadiene
butanol
caprolactam
cumene
cyclohexane
dioctyl phthalate
ethanol
ethylene
ethylene oxide
ethylene glycol
formaldehyde
methanol
octanol
phenol
phthalic anhydride
polypropylene
polystyrene
polyvinyl chloride
propylene
polypropylene glycol
propylene oxide
styrene
terephthalic acid
toluene
toluene diisocyanate
urea
vinyl chloride
xylenes
Biodiesel
Bisphenol A
Butanediol
Butyl acetate
Castor oil
Dimethyl terephthalate
Epichlorohydrin
Epoxy resins
ETBE
Ethanolamines
Ethyl acetate
Ethylene diamine
Ethylene dichloride (EDC)
Ethylene vinyl acetate
Ethyl benzene
Expandable polystyrene
Fatty acids
Fatty alcohols
Glycerine
Glycol ethers
Hexane
Isocyanates
Maleic anhydride
Melamine
Methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK)
Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK)
Methyl methacrylate
Monoethylene glycol
Monopropylene glycol
Naphtha
Nylon 6 & 6/6,
Oxo alcohols
Perchloroethylene
Polycarbonate
Polyethylene
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)
Polyols
Recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
Sorbitol
Vinyl acetate
Water
White spirit --

Sectors

Commodity chemicals are produced to supply diverse but usually well-defined industrial needs. Some major sectors and their components are:

plastics, synthetic fibers, synthetic rubber
dyes, pigments, paints, coatings
fertilizers, agricultural chemicals, pesticides
cosmetics, soaps, cleaning agent, detergents
pharmaceuticals
mining

References

The magazine ''Chemical Week'' is published by, and [https://www.chemweek.com the Chemical Week website] is owned by, a parent company that has changed hands several times and was eventually re-named to "[[Accuris]]", after being bought by [[S&P Global]], and then [circa 2023] sold to [[KKR & Co]]. For more details about that parent company, formerly known as "[[IHS Markit]]" -- (including some historical information about the companies "Information Handling Services (IHS)" and "Markit") -- one may click on the link to the article that is still named "[[Chemical Week]]", but which (''as of'' January 2025) became a 'redirect' to [the article about] "[[Accuris]]".
(2003). "Industry Trade & Summary: Organic Commodity Chemicals". UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION.
(5 March 2007). "SURVEY OF ALTERNATIVE FEEDSTOCKS FOR COMMODITY CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING".
Wieissermel & Arp. (February 1997). "Industrial Organic Chemistry 3rd Edition".
(2012). "Facts & Figures Of The Chemical Industry". Chemical and Engineering News.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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