The Chemical and Petrochemicals Industry: A Guide for Non-Technical Personnel

Introduction:

This course tackles the technical aspects of the chemical and petrochemicals industries for those who do not have a technical background, with particular emphasis on the basics of Carbon-based Organic Chemistry. It examines chemical structure, process chemistry, technological production processes, associated equipment, and basic chemicals and petrochemicals business chains. Participants will learn about feedstocks and processes that transform raw crude oil and gas into polymers and end-market products. Moreover, it offers a historical perspective as well as the future development in the industry for professionals like business development managers, procurement managers, and customer care managers.

Objectives:

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply knowledge gained in the course on the structure of the petrochemicals industry to its primary organization.
• Appreciate the diverse petrochemical business.
• Know the seven units of Petrochemicals Fundamentals.
• Understand the phenomena regarding the creation of modern petrochemicals.
• Parametrise the petrochemicals business appropriately to customers or fellow employees in its various dimensions.

Training Methodology:

• Interactive lectures
• Case studies
• Group discussions
• Industry examples
• Visual aids
• Question & Answer session
• Applying analytical skills and creativity in addressing varied case scenarios

Course Outline:

Unit 1: Introduction:

• Gas and Petroleum Petrochemicals
• Fundamental Organic Chemistry
• In nature, fuel and brine exist in two orthogonal planes only.
• Coal has the appropriate position in the puzzle.
• Processes and Special Equipment Units.
• Crude Oil refining in conjunction with petrochemical plants.
• Markets, market growth, and industry expenditures.
• The Petrochemicals Division.
• The Industry Origin and History.
• What are the distinctive characteristics of the Industry?
• Costs, Margins, and Prices.
• Major Players: Evaluation.
• The major players’ strategies.
• Industry Return on Investment.
• Ethylene Propylene markets.

Unit 2: The Petrochemical Value Chains:

• Natural, Shale, and Stranded gas.
• Sources of Gas.
• Pair of supply and demand.
• Costs and pricing.
• A description of the C1 Value Chain and Derivatives.
• Economics of Olefin.
• Steam Cracker economics.
• Feedstock prices and their effect on the price of ethylene.
• Regions of production: cost differences and margin differences.
• The dynamics of feedstock of petrochemicals.
• Oil refining and gas distillation.
• Olefins: Costs, Margins, consumption, and investments.
• Introduction to Polyolefins.
• Aromatics Sources, Industries, and Technologies.
• Aromatic sources.
• Pair of supply and demand.
• Costs and pricing.
• Styrene – Manufacturing Technologies.

Unit 3: Ethylene and Propylene Fundamentals:

• Activity of Ethylene.
• Ethylene production feedstocks.
• A close look at the principal Ethylene Derivatives.
• Looking ahead.
• Propylene.
• The business of Propylene.
• How the Propylene shortage was resolved.
• Overview of propylene derivatives.
• What are the prospects?

Unit 4: C4 Derivatives and Introduction to Aromatics:

• Butylene and Butadiene Basics.
• What are C4 molecules?
• What is the process of manufacture and division?
• What is it for?
• Business Structure.
• What the future holds.
• Aromatics.
• The business of Aromatics.
• Sources and Methods of production.
• Concentrate on Benzene, Toluene, and Xylene.
• Markets and Applications.

Unit 5: The Polymers Business and Course Conclusions:

• Plastics.
• What are they and how do you manufacture them?
• Ways of manufacturing.
• Types of polymers.
• Principal characteristics.
• Market of Polymer and its application.
• Concentrate on Polyethylene.
• What are LDPE, HDPE, LLDPE?
• How they are manufactured.
• Where they are applied.
• Margins and consumption.
• Structure of the business.
• Concentrate on Polypropylene.
• What is polypropylene?
• How is it produced?
• Where is it applied?
• Margins and consumption.
• Structure of the business.
• What is in store.
• From Polymers to Products.
• The characteristics of the end-products.
• The Responsibilities in Charge of the CPU.
• Industries and Applications.
• Green Polyolefins, the road to a more sustainable polymer industry.