Chemical industry
Chemical industry
Chemical tanks in Lillebonne, France
The chemical industry refers to industry involved in the production of chemicals with high economic impact. These include petrochemicals, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, paints, and oleochemicals. Chemical processes are used, including chemical reactions to form new substances, separations based on properties such as solubility or ionic charge, and distillations, in addition to transformations by heating and other methods.
Chemical industries involve the processing of, or change in, raw materials obtained by mining, and agriculture among other supply sources, into materials and substances that are useful on their own, or in other industries. The food processing industries are generally not included in the term “chemical industry”.
Companies
The biggest companies in chemical industry on Earth are listed with business volume in billions of Euros.
- Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik (BASF)(D) 28 (formerly IG-Farben)
- Dow Chemical (USA) 27
- DuPont (USA) 24
- Bayer (D) 20 (formerly IG-Farben)
- ExxonMobil Chemicals (USA) 20 (formerly Standard Oil)
- Atofina (F) 20
- BP Chemicals (GB) 13
- Mitsubishi Chemicals (J) 12
- Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheide-Anstalt (DEGUSSA)(D) 11(formerly IG-Farben)
- Shell Chemicals (NL/GB) 11