The world's largest chemical production. World production of chemical products, USD bln. And how much does it cost to write your work

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Vladimir Kondratyev

Kondratyev Vladimir Borisovich - doctor economic sciences, Head of the Center for Industrial and Investment Research, Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences.

Another article from a series of materials on the situation in certain sectors of the economy in Russia and the world is devoted to the chemical industry, which in terms of labor productivity in the world is second only to pharmaceuticals, ahead of the automotive, electronics and other industries. However, in Russia it is perceived not as an integral part of competitive production that brings high profits, but only as one of the not very profitable (in comparison with direct supplies of oil and gas) types of business. Privatization only intensified the deformation of the structure of the chemical industry that existed in Soviet times, and domestic consumers are increasingly focusing on foreign supplies.

Chemical industry is one of the most important basic branches of the modern economy. Its products (70 thousand items) are widely used for the production of various consumer goods, as well as - in large volumes - in other sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction and services. The chemical industry itself consumes over 25% of its own production of chemicals. Among the most important consumers of its products are the automotive, textile, clothing, metallurgy and other industries.

Chemical industry products can be divided into four categories: basic chemicals (they account for about 35-37% of the global production of the industry), the so-called life-support products - life science (30%), specialty chemicals (20-25%) and consumer goods (about 10%).

Base chemicals, or "commodity" chemicals, include polymers, bulk petrochemicals, industrial base chemicals, inorganic chemicals, and mineral fertilizers. Over the past twenty years, this segment of the chemical industry has developed at a relatively low rate - 50-70% of the average annual rate of world GDP. The main role is played by polymers (including all types of plastics and man-made fibers), accounting for 33% of total sales of basic chemicals.

The main markets for plastics are packaging, housing, container manufacturing, pipes, transportation, toys and games. Among polymers, the largest specific gravity is polyethylene (PE), which is used for the production of containers, packaging, containers and pipes, films, various containers, and technical fibers. Another important polymer is polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is used in the production of construction pipes, finishing and heat-insulating materials, to a lesser extent in the production of packaging and transport. Polypropylene (PP), in addition to the markets noted above, is used in the production of fabrics and carpets. Polystyrene (PS) is also used in the manufacture of toys, car parts, and the radio industry.

The most important feedstocks for polymer production are bulk petrochemicals and related chemicals, which in turn are made from liquefied petroleum gas (NPG), natural gas and crude oil. Sales of these materials represent approximately 30% of the total production of base chemicals. Large-scale chemicals include ethylene, propylene, benzene, toluene, methanol, monomeric vinyl chloride, styrene, butadiene, and others. These chemicals are used to produce most of the polymers and other organic chemicals, as well as special types of chemical products.

Other chemical derivatives and base chemicals - synthetic rubber, varnishes and paints, turpentine, resins, soot, explosives and industrial rubber goods - account for approximately 20% of the production of all base chemicals.

Inorganic chemicals (accounting for 12% of all base products in the industry) are the oldest chemical products. These include salt, chlorine, caustic soda, various acids (nitric, phosphoric, hydrochloric). Mineral fertilizers represent the least significant segment of basic chemicals (about 6%) and include nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizers.

Life support chemicals (accounting for 30% of the total production of the chemical industry) include biological substances, pharmaceuticals, diagnostic drugs, veterinary drugs, vitamins and pesticides. This segment of the chemical industry is developing at the fastest pace, which is 1.5-6 times higher than the average annual growth rate of world GDP. In addition, it is the most knowledge-intensive sector of chemistry: R&D expenditures here reach 15-25% of sales. The production of chemical life support products is very different high level specifications and government regulation and supervision of special bodies such as, for example, the US Food and Drug Administration. Pesticides, also called crop protection chemicals, account for approximately 10% of this group of chemicals and include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

Specialty chemicals are products with a relatively high added value and are a fairly fast-growing innovative segment of the chemical industry with a differentiated end-market. The growth rates of this segment are on average 1.5-3 times higher than the growth rates of world GDP. These products are appreciated in the market for their special functional qualities. These include electronic chemicals (intended for electronic devices and equipment), industrial gases, adhesives , various protective coatings , industrial cleaning chemicals, catalysts. Specialty chemicals are also called "fine chemicals"

Consumer chemicals include soaps, detergents, and cosmetics. The growth rates of this segment of chemistry are generally in line with the growth rates of GDP.

The United States remains the world's largest chemical producer. In 2009, they accounted for 18.6% of the global production of chemicals (Table 1).

Table 1. World production of chemical products, USD billion

	The country	1998 year.	Share,%	2009 year.	Share,%
	Germany
	Great Britain The shale gas revolution and its impact on the Dutch chemical industry. Researchers believe the chemical industry is undergoing a major transformation. Increasingly, the chemical sector will be seen as innovative, clean and safe, and as a critical industry for the production of smart products that limit the negative impact of economic activities on health and the environment. To achieve this vision of the future, the investment climate in the Netherlands must remain attractive. Encouraging free trade is essential. The government has endorsed the important role of the Dutch chemical industry. For this, government, business community, universities and research centers work together in the field of knowledge and innovation, etc. this collaboration encompasses the entire innovation chain - from basic research to applications - and is expressed in forms such as public-private partnerships, innovation laboratories and open chemical innovation centers.
	Brazil
	South Korea
	Other countries

A source

In the United States, about 96% of all manufacturing industries are in one way or another associated with chemical production and its products. The US chemical industry directly employs 900 thousand people, and given the fact that each job in this industry creates an additional 5 jobs in related industries, a total of 4.6 million jobs in the American economy are directly or indirectly tied to the chemical industry. Chemical production is relatively highly paid: the average wage here is $ 78 thousand per year, which is 43% higher than the average for the manufacturing industry.

The United States exports more than $ 170 billion in chemical products annually, which is 10% of American exports. The industry's annual investment reaches $ 15 billion, or 3.1% of sales. By comparison, the pharmaceutical industry has a capex of $ 5 billion, or 2.6% of sales. At the same time, in the last decade, the volume of capital investment in American chemistry has been declining: in 1999-2009. it decreased from 20 to 14.9 billion US dollars. are a net importer of chemical products. As the manufacturing base of the American manufacturing industry is shifted more and more overseas, giving way to the service sector, the consumption of chemicals is relatively declining, and the rate of investment in new chemical facilities is significantly lower than in other countries of the world.

Western Europe is a traditional large center of the chemical industry. In Europe (especially in Germany) this industry is one of the most important sectors of the economy. In total, the European chemical industry employs 3.6 million people, and the number of companies totals 60 thousand. The industry's products make up 65% of the European foreign trade turnover.

However, for the period 1999-2009. the share of this region in total global sales of chemicals decreased from 32% to 24%. Largest manufacturer here remains Germany. It is followed by France, Great Britain and Italy. These four countries account for 88% of all Western European chemical production. Of the total volume of chemical production Western Europe 60% are basic chemicals, including petrochemicals and basic inorganic chemicals, 26% are specialty chemicals (varnishes, paints, crop protection products, pigments and additives) and 14% are consumer chemicals.

The main driver of growth in the Western European chemical industry was the elimination of trade and non-trade barriers between European countries. There are currently 500 million chemical consumers in the European Union, with sales of $ 222 million in 2009 ($ 98 million in 1999). During the same period, domestic consumption of chemical products fell from $ 183 to $ 110 million, and the share of exports increased from 16% in 1995 to 26% in 2009.

In terms of labor productivity, the chemical industry is second only to pharmaceuticals (Fig. 1). At the same time, it is ahead of the automotive industry and the production of computers by 1.4 times, general mechanical engineering - by 1.7 times, the manufacturing industry - by 1.9, food industry- 3.3 times.

There are 29 thousand people in the Western European chemical industry. industrial enterprises... However, 96% of them are small and medium-sized enterprises with less than 250 employees. At the same time, 61% are micro-companies with the number of employees from 1 to 9 people.

Rice. one. Labor productivity level in various sectors of Western European industry in 2006 (index of conditionally net production per employee, chemistry - 100)

A source: Eurostat and Cefic Chemdata International.

In general, the Western European chemical industry is highly fragmented and has a number of structural weaknesses, such as insufficient production scale, relatively low integration of assets, high costs of chemical feedstocks. For example, 60% of all European polyethylene plants high density small in size (in comparison with world standards) and not closely integrated with the sources of chemical raw materials. As a result, production costs of European chemical companies are 50% higher than companies from the Middle East. Consolidation is becoming one of the most important areas for increasing the competitiveness of the European chemical industry. The experience of other capital-intensive industries shows that a sufficient level of profitability and efficiency is achieved when the four largest companies in the industry account for at least 70% of all production in the country. It is this level that provides the optimal combination of competition and price stability.

Despite the wave of mergers and acquisitions, the optimal concentration level in the Western European chemical industry has so far been achieved only in the production of styrene monomers. The level of production of polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene is close to the optimal level. According to experts, the European chemical industry will have to carry out another 20-25 major asset consolidation deals.

The share of the United States and other leading developed countries in the global production of chemical products has significantly decreased over the past decade due to the progress of this industry in developing countries. Industrialized countries have concentrated the bulk of the production of high-tech special-purpose materials through innovation and long-term targeted restructuring. At the same time, large-scale industries, which have not lost their importance as the main suppliers of basic products for the chemical industry, are actively transferred to regions provided with inexpensive raw materials and cheap labor force... For example, if the creation of polyethylene capacity in Venezuela per unit of production (1 ton) requires $ 0.9 thousand, then in Sweden it is almost $ 1.5 thousand.

China has achieved the most phenomenal results. 1998-2009 chemical production in this country has grown almost 6 times. China has firmly taken the second place in the world after the United States, threatening to overtake the leader in the coming years.

Rice. 2. Projected growth rates of the chemical industry in 2010-2020 by leading producer countries,%

A source:AmericanChemistry Council.

Rice. 3. New capacities of the chemical industry in 2010-2020,%

1 - Middle East; 2 - Asia; 3 - North America; 4 - other countries

A source:StrategicResourcesInc.

According to experts, by 2015 China will become the world's leading producer of chemicals, its share will be 12-14%. The United States will increasingly focus on innovation, process improvement and services. Production will shift towards pharmaceuticals while the growth of basic chemicals and crop protection products will slow down.

Chemical companies in developed countries can be divided into three groups. The first group is made up of “commodity players”, which mainly produce basic chemicals and plastics. They account for about a third of all global chemical industry sales. The most prominent representatives of this group are Dow Chemical (USA) and Shell Chemical (Great Britain). The second group includes companies that produce special types of chemicals for specific consumers. These include, for example, the Swiss Clariant Chemical and the German Ciba Specialty Chemicals, which mainly produce paints and pigments for textile and light industry... They account for 25% of the world's chemical production. Finally, the third group is the so-called hybrid or diversified companies that produce a wide range of chemical products along the entire value chain. This group includes such giants as BASF, Bayer, DuPont, Mitsubishi Chemical, and accounts for 40% of world production. The world's leading chemical companies are large diversified corporations (Table 2).

Table 2. The largest chemical corporations in the world

	Company	Production volume in 2007, billion dollars
	BASF (Germany)
	Dow Chemical (USA)
	INEOS (UK)
	LyondellBasell (USA)
	Formosa Plastics (Taiwan)
	Saudi Basic Industries
	Bayer (Germany)
	Mitsubishi Chemical (Japan)
	AkzoNobel / Imperial Chemical Industries (UK)

A source: American Chemistry Council, Global Business of Chemistry Statistics March 2011.

The largest chemical corporations in the world are American companies such as Dow Chemical, LyondellBasell and DuPont, which are among the top five world leaders. In addition to them, there are 170 large chemical companies in the United States. They have 1,700 branches and 2,800 factories around the world.

For a long time, chemical companies in developed countries have relied on traditional business strategies, trying to extract only additional added value from the main assets used. In the 1970s and 1980s, the focus was on improving basic sales functions and workflows. In the 1990s, there was a consolidation and restructuring, the purpose of which was to achieve the effect of the scale of production and reduce costs.

Prior to the 2008 crisis, this strategy had some success for chemical companies in developed countries, and their effectiveness was higher than that of companies operating in other basic heavy industries such as metallurgy and woodworking. So, earnings per share for 1990-2008. in the chemical industry it grew 5 times, while in the automotive industry - 3 times, in metallurgy and woodworking - 1.5 times. The 2008 crisis brought down prices and stock prices, which have not yet recovered.

This is not to say that the strategy of using capital-intensive assets has exhausted itself. It has been adopted by the developing chemical companies in Asia and the Middle East. In the developed countries of North America and Europe, the prospects and possibilities of traditional strategies have been largely exhausted. Development prospects within the framework of the old capital-intensive strategy remain only when production is concentrated on the main competencies of companies, in those areas of the chemical business where the competitive advantages of a particular company are most clearly expressed. This applies primarily to diversified corporations that are trying to sell off non-core assets and buy those that are close to key types of business. Such a strategy, according to experts, can be successful in the next five to ten years. In the long term, chemical companies in developed countries rely on a knowledge-based strategy.

This strategy has five critical areas. The first is associated with a fundamental change in the business model and the use of information technology and the Internet to better serve consumers and organize new companies. We can talk about the development of a completely updated technological process for the production of existing chemicals based on the use of biotechnology and combinatorial chemistry. For example, the American company Archer Daniels Midland in 2008-2010 alone, using the method of biological fermentation instead of traditional chemical synthesis, managed to reduce production costs by 60%, and its net profit in 2010 amounted to more than $ 2 billion.

Another leader in the field of combinatorial chemistry is the American company Symyx Technologies. These technologies are helping the company develop new materials for the chemical and electronics industries. Traditionally, new materials are developed through time-consuming and expensive "trial and error" processes. The use of combinatorial technologies makes it possible to find new materials and compounds hundreds of times faster and, thus, to reduce the costs of experiments to 1% of the level of traditional ones.

Another area of ​​knowledge-based strategy is the use of the methods of financial companies in the conduct of business. In the chemical industry of developed countries, various venture capital companies, mutual funds, institutional investors such as Sterling Group, Kohlberg Kraves Roberts, Schroder Ventures are actively operating, which often acquire large stakes in chemical companies and restructure them in order to increase their market value. Venture funds actively support new biotech "startups" for their subsequent sale to large chemical corporations. For example, the Sterling Group, having bought Cain Chemical for $ 28 million and then using various management mechanisms such as joint profit sharing, attracting employees to management and ownership, as well as stock options, was able to reduce administrative and overhead costs by 60%, increase profits by 7%, production volumes by 25% and ultimately sell the company for $ 1.1 billion.

The third area of ​​innovation strategy is the creation of efficient markets. In the late 1990s, two companies, Chemdex and CheMatch.com, created an online marketplace for sellers and buyers of chemicals, plastics and petroleum products. By July 2000, Chemdex's market capitalization had reached $ 1.4 billion. And in the 2000s, many of the largest corporations - BASF, Bayer, Dow Chemical, DuPont - created their online chemical trading platforms. Transparent pricing and trade has enabled financial derivatives for chemical products such as PVC, low-density polyethylene and styrenes.

Another area of ​​the innovation strategy is the use of "hidden" assets. Many chemical corporations have built a wide range of non-tangible assets over time, such as brands, patents, customer data banks, institutional expertise, and others. However, only a few have been able to maximize the use of these assets. DuPont is one of them. The company actively applies its experience in the safe operation of chemical plants. Its facilities recorded the lowest number of lost working days due to any incidents compared to other chemical companies. Some time ago, this company decided to engage in training others in safe production at chemical plants. Another example is the work of Dow Intellectual Asset Management, a global technology center for intellectual asset management, where an interdisciplinary team of experts is looking for efficient ways to license patents that Dow Chemical has acquired over the past decades.

Finally, many companies are trying to expand their participation in various parts of the value chain. For example, Dow Chemical, instead of selling the rubber it produces to medical glove manufacturers, is now producing it itself. Likewise, BASF Coatings no longer sells its paints to car manufacturers, but instead paints cars produced by leading carmakers. Using its advantages in understanding paint processes and chemical technologies, BASF has significantly improved the quality of work and reduced the consumption of paints and varnishes.

The phenomenal growth of the chemical industry in developing countries was associated not only with relatively low costs for the main chemical feedstock - natural and associated gas (Fig. 4), but also with intensive government support for this industry. So, until now, in many developing countries, import tariffs for chemical products are 1.5 times higher than in developed countries. However, direct government support is even more important.

Rice. 4. Natural gas production costs by country and region, USD / mln BTU

A source:AmericanChemistryCouncil.

Government Saudi Arabia after the oil shocks of the early 1970s, it decided to make more efficient use of associated petroleum gas from oil production and to develop its national chemical industry. For this, it was decided to turn the small fishing village of Jubail on the Persian Gulf coast into a modern industrial center. In 1976, the state-owned chemical company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) was founded here. A year later, the active construction of the necessary infrastructure began. Due to a shortage of skilled labor, the company began to send its employees for internships in the United States and enter into partnerships with Western companies on assistance in the organization of technological processes.

To obtain technology, training and marketing support, SABIC by the end of 1977 entered into partnerships with companies such as Dow Chemical, Exxon, Mitsubishi, in exchange for their access to cheap sources of raw materials. By 1979, the first SABIC subsidiaries began to appear: AR-RAZI, also known as the Saudi Methanol Company (created in partnership with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical to produce methanol); SAMAD, or Al-Jubail Fertilizer Company (joint venture with Taiwan Fertilizer Company) for the production of nitrogen fertilizers.

Thirty years after its founding, SABIC has grown into one of the largest chemical corporations in the world, with approximately 30,000 people employed in 60 plants in 40 countries. The state retains full control over the company with 70% of its shares. The rest of the shares can be held mainly only by residents of Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries of the Persian Gulf.

Today SABIC is a broadly diversified corporation with segments such as base chemicals, specialty chemicals, polymers, mineral fertilizers and metals. In 2007, SABIC bought for $ 11 billion. American company GE Plastics and thus formed the Innovative Plastics division. According to Charlie Crew, President of SABIC Innovative Plastics, "We are taking aggressive steps to accelerate our development and production of the latest high performance, high quality materials, and our goal is to create the most innovative products and bring them to the market today." Indeed, SABIC invested about $ 20 billion in new projects in 2008, and by 2010 planned to increase the level of capital investments to $ 70 billion. This allows it to increase its production of chemical products by almost 2.5 times (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. SABIC chemical production volumes, mln tons

Source: company annual reports.

China's modern chemical industry has largely been shaped by Western foreign direct investment. The largest chemical corporations in developed countries began to transfer their production facilities to China, following their main customers - automotive, communications and textile companies, attracted by the size of the market and low costs. Average labor costs in the Chinese chemical industry are less than 1 euro per hour (for comparison: in Poland - 5 euros, in Germany - 20 euros). Construction costs are significantly lower here.

The Chinese government encouraged the formation of state-owned chemical companies, such as China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec, founded in 2000), China National Chemical Corporation (ChemCnina, founded in 2004), etc. At the same time, foreign companies can enter the Chinese market only through creation of joint ventures with Chinese companies, with the transfer of advanced chemical technologies to them.

China specializes mainly in the production of basic chemicals (organic and inorganic fertilizers, ethylene, propylene, benzene, etc.). For this, a number of investment incentives are used, including the creation of industrial parks such as the Shanghai one. The German company BASF was one of the first Western chemical corporations to enter the Chinese market. In 2005, BASF and China's Sinopec launched a large plant for the production of basic chemicals and plastics in Nanjing with a capacity of 2 million tons of chemical products per year, employing 1.5 thousand people. This complex is capable of processing crude oil into the main base components: ethylene and propylene, from which plastics are then made for use in the automotive, shipbuilding, IT and toy industries. Subsequently, BASF began construction of large chemical complexes in Shanghai and Caojing.

China is more and more actively developing the segment of specialty chemicals, the share of which is planned to increase in the coming years from 30 to 45%. Particular emphasis is placed on the production of dyes used in the textile industry. Currently, China produces about 30% of the world's chemical fibers and threads. The country has already become the world's largest producer of synthetic paints and chemical pigments.

The Russian chemical industry is in eleventh place in the world in terms of production (Table 1). Industry share in total industrial production the country is 6%. Chemical enterprises account for 7% of fixed assets (fifth place after mechanical engineering, fuel industry, energy and metallurgy), providing 8% of the value of industrial exports and 7% of tax revenues to the budget.

Institutional transformations that have taken place since the beginning of market reforms have significantly changed the structure of chemical production by forms of ownership: to date, the chemical complex has the smallest group of enterprises that remain in state ownership. As a result of privatization, controlling stakes in a significant part of chemical enterprises passed into the hands of external investors. These are mainly oil and gas companies, mainly domestic, united in large vertically integrated financial and industrial groups such as Gazprom, Tatneft, Lukoil, etc.

The formation of consolidated chemical plants, the efficiency of functioning and competitiveness of which is due to the synergistic effect of the integration of oil and gas processing and petrochemistry, is a worldwide practice. However, in Russia, the consolidation of property based on proximity to raw material flows did not give a positive result, since it did not take place as a long logical development of the business, but practically simultaneously, in conditions of deep economic crisis and a sharp decline in domestic effective demand, when 60% of the industry's output was unclaimed.

As a result, domestic raw materials producers, who have monopoly positions and lobbying opportunities, perceived the chemical industry not as an integral part of a competitive business, bringing high profits, but only as one of the not most profitable markets (in comparison with direct oil and gas supplies). The new owners of chemical facilities are focusing on quick-return industries - primary petrochemicals and mineral fertilizers, which currently account for 64% of the value of industry products and 70% of the value of its exports.

From 1996 to 2000, among the 33 largest Russian companies, the share of petrochemical companies increased from 13% to 26%, those producing mineral fertilizers - from 18% to 24%, and mining chemical companies - from 8% to 10%. At the same time, manufacturers of downstream products intended for the domestic market or dropped out of largest companies(man-made fibers), or practically did not change their positions (plastics). And domestic consumers of chemical products are increasingly focusing on foreign supplies: since 2002, for the first time, Russia has become a net importer of chemical products with a negative foreign trade balance of $ 400 million.

Thus, privatization only intensified the deformation of the structure of the chemical industry that existed in Soviet times. In fact, the chemical industry was divided into two parts: basic large-scale and petrochemical industries, which are part of vertically integrated companies and develop in accordance with the interests of the owners of raw materials, on the one hand, and enterprises manufacturing products for the domestic market, under pressure from foreign competitors, and all the growing shortage of raw materials - on the other.

Among the main problems that determine the features of the current state and the prospects for the development of the chemical complex are equipment wear (60-80%, one of the highest indicators among industries) and its continuing aging. The share of equipment over 30 years old is 65% in polyethylene production, and 70% in polyvinyl chloride production. Over the past six years, total investments in the industry amounted to $ 14 billion. According to experts, no more than $ 5 billion was invested in new machinery and equipment, while most of it was spent on current technological repairs, power generation facilities and export terminals.

The state, counting on the activity of private investors, has almost completely withdrawn from financial support of the industry, allocating less than 0.1% of the total amount of industry capital investments as part of targeted investment support for socially significant industries (pharmaceuticals for diagnostics and therapy of oncological diseases, insulin, iodine preparations, feed proteins).

A significant obstacle to the development of the Russian chemical industry is the lack of large effective companies capable of competing on equal terms with the leading global players. Thus, the largest Russian chemical company Sibur Holding had a turnover of about $ 5.3 billion in 2009, which is about eight times less than Saudi SABIC in this indicator and two times less than Japanese Shin-Etsu Chemical, which ranks twenty among the world manufacturers. The rest of the major Russian companies, such as Salavatnefteorgsintez, Eurochem and Nizhnekamskneftekhim, in turn, are two to three times lagging behind Sibur in terms of turnover. In addition, Sibur employs almost twice as many people as SABIC. In other words, in terms of labor productivity, Russian chemical companies are not at all comparable with world leaders (Table 3).

Table 3. Key performance indicators of the chemical companies SABIC and Sibur Holding in 2009

Lab 6

Chemical industry of the world

Task number 1

Which industry group does the chemical industry belong to? Why the chemical industry is the base industry for a number of other sectors of the economy

The chemical industry is a complex industry that, along with mechanical engineering, determines the level of scientific and technical progress, which provides all industries National economy chemical technologies and materials, including new, progressive and mass-producing goods popular consumption.

The chemical industry is one of the leading branches of heavy industry, is a scientific, technical and material base for the chemicalization of the national economy and plays an extremely important role in the development productive forces, strengthening the defense capability of the state and ensuring the vital needs of society. It unites a whole range of industries in which chemical methods of processing objects of materialized labor (raw materials, materials) prevail, allows solving technical, technological and economic problems, creating new materials with predetermined properties, replacing metal in construction, mechanical engineering, increasing productivity and saving social labor costs. The chemical industry includes the production of several thousand different types of products, the number of which is second only to mechanical engineering.

The importance of the chemical industry is expressed in the progressive chemicalization of the entire national economic complex: the production of valuable industrial products is expanding; there is a replacement of expensive and scarce raw materials with cheaper and more widespread; produced complex use raw materials; many industrial waste is captured and utilized, including environmentally harmful ones. On the basis of the integrated use of various raw materials and the disposal of industrial waste, the chemical industry forms a complex system of ties with many industries and is combined with the processing of oil, gas, coal, with ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and the timber industry. From such combinations, whole industrial complexes.

Task number 2

Which industries does the chemical industry include?

Sub-industry	Examples of
Inorganic chemistry	Ammonia production, Soda production, Sulfuric acid production
Organic chemistry	Acrylonitrile, Phenol, Ethylene oxide, Urea
Ceramics	Silicate production
Petrochemistry	Benzene, Ethylene, Styrene
Agrochemistry	Fertilizers, Pesticides, Insecticides, Herbicides
Polymers	Polyethylene, Bakelite, Polyester
Elastomers	Rubber, Neoprene, Polyurethanes
Explosives	Nitroglycerin, Ammonium Nitrate, Nitrocellulose
Pharmaceutical chemistry	Medicines: Synthomycin, Taurine, Ranitidine
Perfumes and cosmetics	Coumarin, Vanillin, Camphor

Task number 3

Give a description of the oil refining and petrochemical industries. What is the geography of these industries

The rapid development of petrochemistry began in the 30s of the XX century. The dynamics of development can be estimated by the volume of world production (in million tons): 1950 - 3, 1960 - 11, 1970 - 40, 1980-100! In the 1990s, petrochemicals accounted for more than half of the world's organic production and over one third of the total chemical industry.

The main development trends are: increasing the unit capacity of plants to optimal (in terms of product cost), increasing selectivity to save raw materials, reducing energy consumption and closing energy flows through recovery, involving new types of raw materials (including heavy residues, as well as by-products other processes). In terms of the volume of production of petrochemical products, Russia occupies ~ 19th place in the world (1% of the world volume), in terms of volume per capita - 11th place.

The purpose of oil refining (oil refining) is the production of oil products, first of all, various fuels (automobile, aviation, boiler houses, etc.) and raw materials for subsequent chemical processing.

Primary refining processes do not imply chemical changes in oil and represent its physical separation into fractions.

Oil preparation

Oil arrives at the refinery in a form prepared for transportation. At the plant, it is subjected to additional purification from mechanical impurities, removal of dissolved light hydrocarbons (C1-C4) and dehydration in electrical desalting plants (ELOU).

Atmospheric distillation

Oil enters the rectification columns for atmospheric distillation (distillation at atmospheric pressure), where it is divided into several fractions: light and heavy gasoline fractions, kerosene fraction, diesel fraction and the residue of atmospheric distillation - fuel oil. The quality of the fractions obtained does not meet the requirements for commercial oil products, therefore, the fractions are subjected to further (secondary) processing.

Material balance of atmospheric distillation of West Siberian oil.

Vacuum distillation

Vacuum distillation is the process of stripping from fuel oil (the residue of atmospheric distillation) fractions suitable for processing into motor fuels, oils, paraffins and ceresins and other products of oil refining and petrochemical synthesis. The heavy residue remaining after this is called tar. It can serve as a raw material for obtaining bitumen.

Secondary processes

The purpose of secondary processes is to increase the amount of produced motor fuels; they are associated with the chemical modification of hydrocarbon molecules that make up oil, as a rule, with their transformation into forms more convenient for oxidation.

According to their directions, all secondary processes can be divided into 3 types:

Deepening: catalytic cracking, thermal cracking, visbreaking, delayed coking, hydrocracking, bitumen production, etc.

Refining: reforming, hydrotreating, isomerization, etc.

Others: processes for the production of oils, MTBE, alkylation, production of aromatic hydrocarbons, etc.

Catalytic cracking

The raw material for catalytic cracking is atmospheric and light vacuum gas oil, the task of the process is to break down the molecules of heavy hydrocarbons, which would make it possible to use them for fuel production. During the cracking process, a large amount of fatty (propane-butane) gases is released, which are separated into separate fractions and are mostly used in tertiary technological processes at the refinery itself. The main cracking products are pentane-hexane fraction (so-called natural gasoline) and cracked naphtha, which are used as components of motor gasoline. The cracking residue is a component of fuel oil.

Hydrocracking

Hydrocracking is the process of splitting hydrocarbon molecules in excess of hydrogen. Hydrocracking feedstock is heavy vacuum gas oil (vacuum distillation middle fraction). The main source of hydrogen is the reforming gas. The main products of hydrocracking are diesel fuel, etc. hydrocracked gasoline (a component of motor gasoline).

Isomerization

The process of obtaining isohydrocarbons (isopentane, isohexane) from hydrocarbons of normal structure. The purpose of the process is to obtain raw materials for petrochemical production (isoprene from isopentane) and high-octane components of motor gasolines.

Task number 4

Apply to the k / k the largest centers of the chemical industry in the world.

Task number 5

Group and classify countries and regions according to the level of development of chemical industries.

Table. World chemical industry centers (at least 5 in each position)

Industry name	The country	Centre
Basic chemistry
Production of acids (sulfuric, nitric, hydrochloric)	Germany	Luzhou, Shenyang, Jirin Perm, Orenburg, Astrakhan, Ekaterinburg Jirin, Tokyo, Nobeoka Baton Rouge Dorsten, Leverkusen
Production of alkalis	Russia	Sterlitomak, Volgograd, Kemerovo
Potash fertilizers	Germany	Dresden, Kassel Berezniki, Solikamsk Chicago, Gastonia Clermot-Ferrand, Carcassonne Regina, Vancouver
Phosphate fertilizers	Germany Belarus	Volkhov, St. Petersburg, Uvarov Leverkusen, Duisburg Richmond, Pittersburgh Montreal, Toronto Minsk, Gomel
Nitrogen fertilizers	Germany	Szczecin, Gdansk Navely, Sindri Toulouse, Strasbourg Dusseldorf, Wiesbaden
Petrochemical and refining industries
Production of plastics	Germany The Republic of Korea	Tyumen, Moscow, Orekhovo-Zuevo Marseille, Rotterdam Bakersfield Muroran, Tokuyama
Production of rubber	Germany	Voronezh, Yaroslavl Dormagen, Dusseldorf Corpus christi Chiba, Okayama Shanghai, Datong
Production of chemical fibers	The Republic of Korea	Kursk, Saratov, Tver, Barnaul, Serpukhov Baton Rouge, New York Digboy, Cochin, Trombay Liaoyang, Shanghai, Baoding Tesan, Ulsan

Task number 6

Describe current trends in the development of chemical industries. How the sectoral and territorial structure of the industry has changed over the last decade of the century. What are the major shifts in the geography of the industry. Describe three models for the location of enterprises in the industry.

The world's chemical industry developed at the fastest pace from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s. XX century Then, under the influence of the energy and raw materials crises, these rates slowed down somewhat: the chemical industry needed certain time for a new structural and technological restructuring. And then they again became quite high and, more importantly, stable. As a result, in the late 1990s. the global production of chemicals has reached $ 1.5 billion, so that in terms of the cost of manufactured products, this industry is now only ahead of electronics. In developed countries, in terms of its share in the structure of industrial production, it is second only to mechanical engineering.

Industry structure The chemical industry is very complex: there are more than 200 different kinds of sub-branches and industries in it, and the range of types of its products reaches 1 million. the chemical industry associated with the extraction and enrichment of mining and chemical raw materials - phosphorites, sodium chloride and potassium salts, sulfur, etc .; 2) the main chemical industry (production of mineral fertilizers, acids, salts, alkalis, etc.); 3) industry polymer materials, based primarily on organic synthesis and including the production of synthetic resins and plastics, chemical fibers, synthetic rubber, synthetic dyes, etc. The first two groups of sub-branches form, as it were, the “lower floors” of this complex industry, and the third - its “upper floor”. It also includes industries whose products are intended to meet the consumer needs of people (pharmaceuticals, detergents, photochemistry, perfumery and cosmetic products).

Over time, the importance of these subsectors and industries in the world economy has changed. Gradually, there was a transition from the predominance of the "lower floors" to the predominance of the "upper". This transition, in turn, led to a change in the role of individual factors in the location of the chemical industry. High raw material intensity, water intensity, heat capacity remained common for most chemical industries, but, say, electrical intensity, labor intensity, capital intensity, science intensity for the placement of industries of the "upper floors" are of much greater importance. Recently, the location of many chemical industries, which are especially "dirty", has been increasingly influenced by the environmental factor.

Under the influence of a complex combination of these factors, in the last two or three decades, a tendency towards the concentration of the mining and chemical and basic chemical industries (and after the energy crisis and some polymer production) in developing countries. These are precisely the industries that are more often represented by multi-stage plants. Accordingly, the sub-sectors and production of the "upper floors" began to focus more and more on developed countries. Gradually, production and technical ties between the two began to expand, which led to an increase in the role of such factors of location as economic and geographical location and transport. Despite the above tendencies, even today more than 2/3 of the world chemical production is produced by developed countries and only about 1/3 by developing countries. It should be borne in mind that many chemical enterprises in Asia, Africa and Latin America actually owned by the largest TNCs Western countries such as DuPont, Dow Chemical (USA), Bayer, BASF, Hoechst (Germany), Imperial Chemical Industries (UK), Montadison (Italy), etc.

Task number 7

Describe the top ten countries - the main producers of chemical products. What are the factors of development of the industry in different groups countries.

When zoning the world chemical industry, economic geographers distinguish three of its main regions.

The leading place among them is occupied by the region of foreign Europe, which produces about 1/3 of all products in this industry. Before the First World War, Germany was the main chemical power in the world. During the interwar period, the chemical industry began to develop rapidly in many other countries in the region. This applies even more to the period after World War II, when the petrochemical industry came to the fore, focusing mainly on imported raw materials. As a result, both petrochemicals and oil refining moved to seaports (Rotterdam, Marseille, etc.) or to the routes of main oil pipelines.

Overseas Europe only slightly inferior to the region of North America (30%), in which the USA plays a leading role. It was here in the 40s. XX century the first petrochemical enterprises appeared, which marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of the world chemical industry. In the first time after the end of World War II, which caused great damage to this industry in Europe, the United States produced almost half of all its products in the foreign world. The US chemical industry is very diverse. Its location was mainly influenced by the raw material factor, which often contributed to the huge territorial concentration of chemical industries. So, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the world's largest petrochemical region has developed, geographically coinciding with the oil and gas basin of the same name.

The third region of global importance is East and Southeast Asia. Its core is Japan (18%), where powerful petrochemicals originated in seaports on the basis of imported oil. Other sub-regions are China, where the production of basic chemicals predominates, and newly industrialized countries, specializing mainly in the production of synthetic products and intermediates. The development of the industry in this sub-region is also facilitated by the favorable economic and geographical position on the most important ocean routes.

In the 1990s. another, now a fairly large region of the chemical (petrochemical) industry, was born. It formed in the Persian Gulf. At the same time, the importance of the formerly very large region, now formed by the CIS countries, has decreased. This fully applies to Russia, which retained its place in the top ten countries for the production of nitrogen, phosphorus, potash fertilizers and synthetic rubber, but found itself outside the top ten countries for the production of plastics and chemical fibers.

Russia as part of the USSR had a powerful chemical industry, but it was represented to a greater extent by branches not of the "upper" but of the "lower levels". In the 1990s. The output of the chemical industry has declined significantly, and now Russia has lost a significant part of the positions that it previously occupied in world production (for example, mineral fertilizers, acids, alkalis, car tires, etc.). The “upper floors” industries suffered especially heavy losses. However, judging by the data in Table 114, Russia retained its place in the top ten countries for the production of synthetic rubber and returned to the top ten for the production of plastics. Along with this, in the production of chemical fibers (150 thousand tons), it continues to lag very far

Among the states of the region, the overwhelming part of the chemical industry products comes from Germany, France and Great Britain (more than 50% in total). The most powerful in terms of industry development is the Federal Republic of Germany (26%). She is the leader in obtaining most of the chemicals and polymeric materials. The environmental situation is forcing the countries of the region to reduce or even liquidate many enterprises for the production of sulfuric acid, phosphoric fertilizers with its use, and a number of others.

In the world's foreign trade in chemical goods, the role of Western Europe is exceptionally great: the region accounts for 2/3 of the turnover. The export quota is also very high - 40%, in the Netherlands - 70, in Belgium - 75%. The region's chemical industry is much more dependent on foreign markets than Japan or the United States. Exports of chemical products are more than double their imports. Mostly expensive products of the science-intensive industries of the industry are exported. Western Europe is characterized by a very large intraregional exchange of these goods (73% in 1995). Outside the region, the products of the industry go mainly (by 2/3) to the countries of Asia and North America, and most of the imported chemicals come from them.

North America is the second most important region of the chemical industry in the world (30% of the industry's production). Favorable prerequisites for its development were:

Exceptional wealth of the region in mining and chemical raw materials (table and rock salt, phosphorites, native sulfur), as well as hydrocarbon (oil, natural gas);

Largest energy resources, especially coal and hydropower;

Sufficient water resources in the USA and Canada to create water-intensive industries in the industry;

An extensive domestic market for a wide variety of chemical products for industrial and consumer purposes;

Powerful scientific and technical potential, ensuring the creation of innovative technologies and equipment for the industry;

The industrial potential of mechanical engineering, which allows the industry to be provided with modern means of production.

The structure and volumes of chemical production both in the United States and in Canada were formed under the strong influence of the needs of the domestic market - the manufacturing sector. Therefore, a high proportion of inorganic chemical products (caustic and soda ash, sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, chlorine), which are widely used in the pulp and paper industry, nonferrous metallurgy, and especially in the chemical industry itself. In the production of these types of products, the United States and the region as a whole are leaders in the world.

Mining chemical raw materials and a number of inorganic products (ammonia, nitric acid, etc.) contributed to the creation of a powerful industry of mineral fertilizers. Its production facilities such as potash and phosphorus are the largest in the world. Their development in the postwar years is directly related to the intensive processes of chemicalization of agriculture in the USA and Canada, and later in Mexico.

Task number 8

Describe the biotech industry

The biotech industry is sometimes divided into four areas:

"Red" biotechnology - the production of biopharmaceuticals (proteins, enzymes, antibodies) for humans, as well as the correction of the genetic code.

"Green" biotechnology - the development and introduction of genetically modified plants into the culture.

"White" biotechnology - the production of biofuels, enzymes and biomaterials for various industries.

Academic and government research - such as decoding the rice genome

The microbiological industry produces 150 types of products that are extremely necessary for the national economy. Its pride is the fodder protein obtained from the cultivation of yeast. More than 1 million tons are produced per year. Another important achievement is the release of the most valuable feed additive - the irreplaceable (that is, not formed in the animal's body) amino acid lysine. The assimilation of protein substances contained in the products of microbiological synthesis is such that 1 ton of fodder protein saves 5-8 tons of grain. The addition of 1 ton of yeast biomass to the diet of poultry, for example, makes it possible to obtain an additional 1.5-2 tonnes of meat or 25-35 thousand eggs, and in pig breeding - to release 5-7 tonnes of feed grain. Yeast isn't the only possible protein source. It can be obtained by growing microscopic green algae, various protozoa and other microorganisms. Technologies for their use have already been developed, giant enterprises with a capacity of 50 to 300 thousand tons of products per year are being designed and built. Their exploitation will make it possible to make a significant contribution to the solution of national economic problems.

If a human gene responsible for the synthesis of an enzyme or other important substance for the body is transplanted into the cells of microorganisms, then under appropriate conditions the microorganisms will produce a compound alien to them on an industrial scale. Scientists have developed and introduced into production a method for producing human interferon that is effective in the treatment of many viral diseases. The same amount of interferon is extracted from 1 liter of culture fluid, which was previously obtained from many tons of donor blood. The savings from the introduction of the new method are 200 million rubles per year.

Another example is the production of human growth hormone using microorganisms. Joint developments of scientists from the Institute of Molecular Biology, the Institute of Molecular Biology, the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Microorganisms of Russia and Russian institutes make it possible to produce already grams of the hormone, whereas before this drug was received in milligrams. The drug is currently being tested. Methods of genetic engineering have created the possibility of obtaining vaccines against such dangerous infections as hepatitis B, foot and mouth disease in cattle, as well as the development of methods for the early diagnosis of a number of hereditary diseases and various viral infections.

Genetic engineering begins to actively influence the development of not only medicine, but also other spheres of the national economy. The successful development of genetic engineering methods opens up wide opportunities for solving a number of problems facing agriculture. This is the creation of new valuable varieties of agricultural plants that are resistant to various diseases and unfavorable environmental factors, and the acceleration of the selection process when breeding highly productive animal breeds, and the creation of highly effective diagnostic tools and vaccines for veterinary medicine, and the development of methods for biological nitrogen fixation. The solution of these problems will contribute to the scientific and technological progress of agriculture, and the key role in this will belong to the methods of genetic, and also, obviously, cell engineering.

Cellular engineering is an unusually promising area of ​​modern biotechnology. Scientists have developed methods for growing in artificial conditions (cultivation) of plant cells, animals and even humans. Cultivation of cells makes it possible to obtain various valuable products that were previously obtained in very limited quantities due to the lack of sources of raw materials. Cell engineering of plants is developing especially successfully. Using the methods of genetics, it is possible to select lines of such plant cells - producers of practically important substances that are able to grow on simple nutrient media and at the same time accumulate valuable products several times more than the plant itself.

The cultivation of a mass of plant cells is already being used on an industrial scale to obtain physiologically active compounds. For example, the production of ginseng biomass for the needs of the perfumery and medical industries has been established. The foundations are laid for the production of biomass of medicinal plants - dioscorea and rauwolfia.

Methods are being developed for growing the cell mass of other rare plants - producers of valuable substances (Rhodiola rosea, etc.). Another important area of ​​cell engineering is clonal micropropagation of plants based on tissue culture. This method is based on an amazing property of plants: under certain conditions, a whole plant can grow from a single cell or piece of tissue, capable of normal growth and reproduction. Using this method, up to 1 million plants per year can be obtained from a small part of a plant. Clonal micropropagation is used for the recovery and rapid reproduction of rare, economically valuable or newly created varieties of agricultural crops.

In this way, healthy plants of potatoes, grapes, sugar beets, garden strawberries, raspberries and many other crops are obtained from cells not infected with viruses. At present, methods of micropropagation have been developed for more complex objects - woody plants (apple, spruce, pine). On the basis of these methods, technologies for the industrial production of the initial planting material of valuable tree species will be created.

Cell engineering methods will significantly speed up the breeding process when developing new varieties of cereals and other important agricultural crops: the period for obtaining them is reduced to 3-4 years (instead of 10-12 years required when using conventional breeding methods). A promising way of breeding new varieties of valuable agricultural crops is also a fundamentally new method of cell fusion developed by scientists. This method allows you to get hybrids that cannot be created by the usual way of crossing due to the barrier of interspecific incompatibility.

By the method of cell fusion obtained, for example, hybrids of various types of potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco; tobacco and potatoes, rapeseed and turnips, tobacco and belladonna. On the basis of a hybrid of cultivated and wild potatoes, which are resistant to viruses and other diseases, new varieties are being created. In a similar way, valuable breeding material of tomatoes and other crops is obtained. In the future, the complex use of genetic and cellular engineering methods to create new varieties of plants with predetermined properties, for example, wasps designed in them for fixing atmospheric nitrogen. Great advances have been achieved by cell engineering in the field of immunology: methods have been developed for obtaining special hybrid cells that produce individual, or monoclonal, antibodies. This made it possible to create highly sensitive diagnostic tools for a number of serious diseases of humans, animals and plants. Modern biotechnology makes a significant contribution to solving such an important problem as the fight against viral diseases of agricultural crops, which cause great damage to the national economy.

Scientists have developed highly specific sera to detect more than 20 viruses that cause diseases in various crops. A system of devices and devices for mass automatic express diagnostics of viral plant diseases in agricultural production has been developed and manufactured. New diagnostic methods make it possible to select virus-free starting material (seeds, tubers, etc.) for planting, which contributes to a significant increase in yield. Works on engineering enzymology are of great practical importance. Its first important success was the immobilization of enzymes - the fixation of enzyme molecules with the help of strong chemical bonds on synthetic polymers, polysaccharides and other matrix carriers. Anchored enzymes are more stable and can be reused.

Immobilization makes it possible to carry out continuous catalytic processes, to obtain products that are not contaminated with an enzyme (which is especially important in a number of food and pharmaceutical industries), and to significantly reduce its cost. This method is used, for example, to obtain antibiotics. Thus, scientists have developed and introduced into industrial production a technology for producing antibiotics based on the immobilized enzyme penicillin amidase.

As a result of the application of this technology, the consumption of raw materials decreased five times, the cost of the final product almost halved, the volume of production increased seven times, and the overall economic effect amounted to about 100 million rubles. The next step in engineering enzymology was the development of methods for immobilizing cells of microorganisms, and then - cells of plants and animals. Immobilized cells are the most economical biocatalysts, since they have high activity and stability, and most importantly, their use completely eliminates the cost of isolating and purifying enzymes. Currently, on the basis of immobilized cells, methods have been developed for the production of organic acids, amino acids, antibiotics, steroids, alcohols and other valuable products.

Immobilized cells of microorganisms are also used for wastewater treatment, processing of agricultural and industrial waste. Biotechnology is finding ever wider application in many branches of industrial production: methods have been developed for using microorganisms to extract non-ferrous precious metals from ores and industrial waste, to enhance oil recovery, to combat methane in coal mines. So, to free mines from methane, scientists proposed to drill wells in coal seams and feed them with a suspension of methane-oxidizing bacteria. Thus, it is possible to remove about 60% of the methane even before the start of production. And recently they found a simpler and more effective way: a suspension of bacteria is sprayed on the rocks of the goaf, from where the gas is most intensely released.

The slurry can be sprayed using special nozzles installed on the supports. Tests that were carried out in the mines of Donbass have shown that microscopic "workers" quickly destroy 50 to 80% of the dangerous gas in mines. But with the help of other bacteria, which themselves emit methane, it is possible to increase the pressure in oil reservoirs and ensure more complete oil recovery. Biotechnology also has to make a significant contribution to solving the energy problem. The limited reserves of oil and gas make it necessary to look for ways to use unconventional energy sources. One of such ways is bioconversion of plant raw materials, or, in other words, enzymatic processing of cellulose-containing industrial and agricultural waste.

As a result of bioconversion, you can get glucose, and from it - alcohol, which will serve as fuel. Research on the production of biogas (mainly methane) by processing livestock, industrial and municipal waste with the help of microorganisms is increasingly being developed. At the same time, the residues after processing are a highly effective organic fertilizer. Thus, in this way, several problems are solved at once: environment from pollution, energy and fertilizer production. Biogas plants are already operating in different countries... The possibilities of biotechnology are virtually endless. It boldly invades the most varied spheres of the national economy. And in the near future, undoubtedly, the practical significance of biotechnology in solving the most important problems of breeding, medicine, energy, and environmental protection from pollution will undoubtedly increase.

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