subject: Branches of Chemical Industry [print this page] Branches of Chemical Industry Branches of Chemical Industry
As a knowledge system, chemical industry has many classification methods to divide its branches according to various demands in different historical stages. These branches can be divided at the base of raw material source, the nature of the products and process laws and so on. But these classification methods can not be made use of independently. From the angle of raw materials, chemical industry includes fuel chemical industry; from the angle of products, chemical industry includes inorganic chemical industry, basic organic chemical industry, polymer chemical industry, fine chemical industry, etc.; from the common process laws, the branch of chemical engineering can be contained.
The raw materials of fuel chemical industry mainly include such inflammable minerals as petroleum, natural gas, coal and oil shale. Therefore, fuel chemical industry can also be divided into petroleum refining industry, petrol-chemical industry, natural gas chemical industry, coal chemical industry and oil shale chemical industry. Among them, petroleum refining industry is one of the most important economic lifelines for a country which can produce relatively high account of value. As natural gas and petroleum are interdependent, natural gas chemical industry usually belongs to petrol-chemical industry. Nowadays, petroleum refining industry and petrol-chemical industry are the main parts of fuel chemical industry. The important product of petrol-chemical industry is raw materials for basic organic chemical industry. Therefore, petrol-chemical industry is also an important component of basic organic chemical industry. In addition, petro-chemical industry can also produce composite materials like plastic, synthetic rubber and synthetic fiber which are also the products of polymer chemical industry. As a result, fuel chemical industry, basic organic chemical industry and polymer chemical industry are tied together closely. Fine chemical engineering mainly produces chemicals with specific functions in small lots. Though many of its products have been produced on a large scale, they are still regarded as products of fine chemical engineering out of habits. The products of fine chemical industry mainly include dyes, agricultural chemicals medicines, dopes, etc. From the angle of raw materials, fine chemical industry can be both organic and inorganic. In the new technological revolution of micro electronic technique, biotechnology and new materials, fine chemical industry adds new vitality to chemical industry.
Chemical engineering can be divided into chemical engineering thermodynamics, transmission process, unite operations, chemical reaction engineering and chemical system engineering. The first two categories are the theoretical basis. Unite operation is the earliest concept of chemical engineering which divided the physical process of chemical production into several unites, such as fluid transfer, distillation, heat exchange, etc. Unite operation is still being developed.Chemical reaction engineering plays an important role in the design and amplification of reactors according to the transfer and dynamics laws. Chemical system engineering is an interdisciplinary subject which mainly makes use of theories and methods of system engineering to solve problems in the chemical process.
Generally speaking, many cores of chemical industry have been summarized in these six branches. In addition, for chemical industry, environmental protection is both a common problem to be solved and a kind of contribution to be made. In order to solve pollution and protect environment, chemical industry must become the main force to realize ecological balance in a further way.
