R.A. Sheldon – författare

The sector of fine chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dyes and pigments, fragrances and flavours, intermediates, and performance chemicals is growing fast. For obvious reasons chemistry is a key to the success in developing new processes for fine chemicals. However, as a rule, chemists formulate results of their work as recipes, which usually lack important information for process development. Fine Chemicals Manufacture, Technology and Engineering is intended to show what is needed to make the recipe more useful for process development purposes and to transform the recipe into an industrial process that will be safe, environmentally friendly, and profitable.The goal of this book is to form a bridge between chemists and specialists of all other branches involved in the scale-up of new processes or modification of existing processes with both a minimum effort and risk and maximum profit when commercializing the process. New techniques for scale-up and optimization of existing processes and improvements in the utilization of process equipment that have been developed in recent years are presented in the book.

The origins of the petrochemical industry can be traced back to the 1920s when simple organic chemicals such as ethanol and isopropanol were first prepared on an industrial scale from by-products (ethylene and propylene) of oil refining. This oil-based petrochemical industry, with lower olefms and aromatics as the key building blocks, rapidly developed into the enormous industry it is today. A multitude of products that are indispensible to modern day society, from plastics to pharmaceuticals, are derived from oil and natural gas-based hydro­ carbons. The industry had its heyday in the '50s and '60s when predictions of future growth rates tended to be exponential curves. However, two developments that took place in the early '70s disturbed this simplistic and optimistic view of the future. Firstly, the publication of the report for the Cub of Rome on the 'Limits to Growth' emphasized the finite nature of non-renewable fossil fuel resources. Secondly, the Oil Crisis of 1973 emphasized the vulnerability of an energy and chemicals industry that is based largely on a single raw material.

The origins of the petrochemical industry can be traced back to the 1920s when simple organic chemicals such as ethanol and isopropanol were first prepared on an industrial scale from by-products (ethylene and propylene) of oil refining. This oil-based petrochemical industry, with lower olefms and aromatics as the key building blocks, rapidly developed into the enormous industry it is today. A multitude of products that are indispensible to modern day society, from plastics to pharmaceuticals, are derived from oil and natural gas-based hydro­ carbons. The industry had its heyday in the '50s and '60s when predictions of future growth rates tended to be exponential curves. However, two developments that took place in the early '70s disturbed this simplistic and optimistic view of the future. Firstly, the publication of the report for the Cub of Rome on the 'Limits to Growth' emphasized the finite nature of non-renewable fossil fuel resources. Secondly, the Oil Crisis of 1973 emphasized the vulnerability of an energy and chemicals industry that is based largely on a single raw material.