Petroleum and Petrochemicals

Abstract

The hydrocarbon sector deserves a separate chapter because of its overwhelming importance as a technology germinator. Coal gas was really a hazard of the g sector, but it became a useful by-product of the coking process and, thus, the iron industry. But from a chemical perspective, being largely composed of methane, it belongs with petroleum and petroleum derivatives. Coal tar, another by-product of coke ovens, is a mixture of complex hydrocarbons (comparable to bitumen, from petroleum refineries). Aniline, a chemical fraction of coal tar and bitumen, has generated a series of by-products of its own, starting with dyes for the burgeoning cotton textile industry and followed by synthetic fibers, synthetic fertilizers, and drugs. This chapter concludes with refinery technology because of its link to fuel for the internal combustion engine and the automotive industry.