Show petrochemicals Petro chemicals added to list of important 0 S industries although the word been us used very much by the layman pe petrochemical cal Is coming more inore and more into prominence dous s strides have been Xin ma made c in the in industry d astry during the last half century and every passing d day v sees the esulto ot of new reso research arch a in laboratories acro aarow s the he nation n a tion today petrochemicals petro chemicals accorn account for about one fourth of all U united ed states chemical production roni ducal n hundreds of applications tf inq are ba being ing found in a long 0 ng list of industrial and consumer products scientists say petrochemical potentials c als have hardly been tapped that hat more than half a million additional dit ional 0 rial chemical compounds can be 8 synthesized from the same dource s if a use for them develops the petrochemical industry began in 1919 with a small pilot P plant an t built by the standard oil co of new jersey at badway bayway N J to make alcohols from refinery gas during the next two decades s 1 activity c in the industry was I 1 largely a rg e ly research and pilot plant experimental work altho a few companies began marketing petroleum and gas based chemicals then world war 11 II forced the nation to find or invent new sources for many strategic materials such as rubber and the development of petrochemicals petro chemicals be began n in earnest P now w the industry boasts more than petrochemical plants either in production or under con st ruction according to the manufacturing fac turing chemists they are operated by 79 chemical companies and 58 oil companies and six are joint ventures at least 60 new petrochemical plants are in the planning or building stage and scarcely a week goes by without an announce announcement of come same new project or expansion in the field for example the commercial solvents corp announced recently a 5 million expansion for commercial production of f nitro tins described ss as a new family of cals volume volum fever never before available in of iche the chemicals regularly produced in the united states about 2500 already are derived from petroleum or natural gas industry forecasters declare that by 1975 half of the nations chemical needs will be supplied from these sources since petrochemicals petro chemicals have burgeoned out so rapidly into so many varied fields perhaps the best way to illustrate the sort of 1 impact act and growth they have had ax is to tell the story of one of them it is a volatile liquid that looks like water smells somewhat like witch hazel and Is considered one of 1 the most promis promising ng raw materials of them all this versatile chemical Is a 3 key intermediate in the pi process pio mess cess for example of making soft beautiful sweaters out of natural gas it is the basis for the synthetic fibers orlon orion dynel ac rilan X 51 and others athers being used increasingly in ln wearing apparel blankets and 0 other t her materials because they hold bold their shape dry quickly resist sunlight and mildew and oo 00 not stretch or shrink but is also used to give synthetic rubber resistance to nil 11 and grease rease rea se its derivatives V es are added to many types of p plastics h as to make them tougher harder more rest litant slant to heat and cals it is used for toll boll conditioners and in processes to make fabrics either slitter stiffer or more flexible depending on n the need and to make adhesives stronger and paint more durable american cyanamid co initiated production of ile in 1940 and virtually alt all that was produced during the war years went into synthetic rubber for self scaling sealing airplane fuel tanks and other military needs at the close of the war the nations annual capacity was about pounds by 1948 several com companies were experimenting with acrylic fl fibers bers for textiles du pont union carbide and carbon carboa C corp and the Chem strand corp got iott into commercial production with such libers thus the petrochemical endur industry has been added to the many which IV eh work to better the american standard of living and to add to the comfort of every american so far there has been no known discussion of establishing a pet plant on the plateau but it is not outside the realm of possibility |