化工专业英语 unit 5课件.pptVIP

Unit 5 Basic Chemicals;Guiding questions; We can divide the various sectors of the chemical industry into these two types: the higher volume sector and low-volume sector. In the high-volume sector, individual chemicals are typically produced on the tens to hundreds of thousands of tones per annum scale. As a result, the plants used are dedicated to the single product, operate in a continuous manner and are highly automated including computer control. Sectors categorized as high-volume are sulphuric acid, phosphorus containing compounds, nitrogen-containing compounds, chlor-alkali and related compounds, plus petrochemicals and commodity polymers such as polythene. With the exception of the latter, these are key intermediates, or base chemicals, which are feedstock for the production of a wide range of other chemicals, many of which are also required in large quantities.; In contrast, low-volume sectors are largely involved in fine-chemicals manufacture and individual products are produced only on the tens of tons to possibly a few thousand tons scale. However, they have a very high value per unit weight, in contrast to high-volume products. Fine chemicals are usually produced in plants operating in a batch manner and the plants may be multiproduct ones. Thus, low-volume sectors are agrochemicals, dyestuff, pharmaceuticals, and specialty polyesters such as PEEK.; Basic chemicals are the orphans of the chemical industry .They are not glamorous, like drugs, and are something not very profitable (and at the very least the profit comes in unpredictable cycles of boom and bust). They are not seen or used directly by the general public and so their importance is not often understood. Even within the industry their importance is often insufficiently appreciated. Without them, however, the rest of the industry could not exist.; Basic chemicals occupy the middle ground between raw materials (that is, things that are mined, quarried or pumped from the ground) and