Chemical industry is a type of industry in which key value has processing of raw materials by chemical methods. The main materials used in this industry are various minerals and petroleum. The role of the chemical industry in modern world very big. Thanks to it, people can use various plastic and plastic products, as well as other petroleum products. In addition, the industry produces explosives, fertilizers for agricultural needs, medicines, and so on.

Development

The beginning of the history of this industry is considered to be the industrial revolution, which occurred at the beginning of the 17th century. Until the 16th century, the “science of substances” generally developed very slowly, but as soon as people learned to apply this knowledge in industry, much changed. The very first product of the chemical industry was sulfuric acid, which today remains an extremely important substance and is used in many areas of human activity. At that time, this compound was mainly used in the processing of metal ores needed for the industrial revolution in large quantities. The first enterprises for the production of sulfuric acid were created in England, France and Russia.

The second stage in the development of this area was the need for mass production of soda ash. This substance was necessary to ensure the production of glass and textiles.

At the first stage, England made the largest contribution to the development of the industry. With increasing interest in organic chemistry, Germany had an increasing influence on the development of this science, whose scientists are still considered one of the best specialists in this area. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the chemical production was located in this country, which, according to some analysts, provided German leaders with confidence in victory in the First World War due to high quality explosives and advanced research chemical weapons. By the way, it was German troops who used chemical warfare gas for the first time.

Chemical industries

Nowadays, both inorganic and organic chemistry are relevant, and many discoveries are made in these areas every year. The most promising developments are:

• Oil refining.
• Creation medicines.
• Creation of fertilizers.
• Creation of polymers and plastics.
• Study of the conductive properties of substances.

Scientists have been working on creating an ideal conductor for several decades. If successful, humanity will be able to use the planet's resources much more efficiently.

Chemical industry in Russia

Petrochemistry

Petrochemistry is a key branch of the chemical industry in Russia. This is largely due to exclusively important role oil refining industry in the country's economy. Educational institutions Every year tens of thousands of petrochemical specialists graduate. The government also allocates a lot of money to sponsor research in this area.

The annual sales volume of all petrochemical production is more than 500 billion rubles.

Ammonia production

Togliattiazot is one of the leading ammonia producers in the world. Recently, the company has been producing more than 3 million tons of gas per year, this is exclusively high rate. According to experts, the share of this company in global ammonia production ranges from 8 to 10%; the company also produces mineral fertilizers and occupies about 20% of the Russian market in this sector.

Fertilizer production

An important part of the industry is the production of fertilizers. On the territory of Russia there are very large deposits of raw materials for this industry. The production of resources to create chemical fertilizers is also well developed. During the Soviet era, the best scientists worked on increasing the efficiency of fertilizers, making many fundamental discoveries in this area. Thanks to this, Russia is one of the most important exporters of fertilizers.

Pharmaceutical industry

Production medicines and their components is a very promising direction. Currently, this industry does not cover Russian needs, and the creation of many drugs has not even been established. Therefore, every year foreign investors, including large chemical concerns, invest in the development of this industry. Nevertheless, a significant increase in production volumes and product quality, according to analysts, will occur in best case scenario in ten years.

Chemical industry in the world

The chemical industry is most developed in Germany, Great Britain and the USA. That is, among European countries the most advanced are usually states that have made a certain contribution to the development of chemistry as a science. In the case of the USA this is due to favorable conditions for the development of chemistry and pharmacology: good economic situation, availability of large raw materials and developed transport system, luring the best specialists from other countries.

In particular, the top five concerns with the highest profits include 2 companies from Germany, 2 from the UK and one from the USA.

Together with the electric power industry and mechanical engineering, the chemical industry determines the scientific and technological progress of the world economy.

The raw material base of the chemical industry is very diverse. The industry primarily uses natural raw materials (salts, sulfur, oil, gas, coal, wood), as well as numerous wastes from other industries.

Supplying raw materials for all sectors of the economy, processing waste from other industries, the chemical industry uses a lot of energy, raw materials, equipment, and means of transport. Therefore, it is characterized by a developed combination with other industries.

The chemical industry is a complex complex, covering several industries: mining chemicals (extraction of mineral raw materials), basic chemistry (production of mineral fertilizers, acids, soda), chemistry of organic synthesis (produces mainly semi-finished products for the manufacture polymer materials), processing of polymer materials (tire production, polyethylene film etc.).

The principles for locating chemical enterprises are very different and are similar to the principles for locating mechanical engineering. The mining and chemical industry gravitates towards sources of raw materials. Basic chemistry takes into account two factors: the production of acids is mainly located near the consumer, and mineral fertilizers - mainly near sources of raw materials.

Organic synthesis and polymer chemistry requires a lot of raw materials, energy and water. Its enterprises are often located along pipelines (for example, petrochemical plants). There is a special group of chemical production, such as the pharmaceutical industry, which focuses on qualified labor resources.

Modern production Various plastics are characterized by a large volume of products produced, widespread use, and automation. A special place is occupied by the production of fiberglass, heavy-duty plastics, which are widely used in transport engineering (there are already cars whose bodies are completely plastic), pipe production (they are half the price and lighter than steel).

Great value have film materials, varnishes, paints, adhesives. Modern adhesives, for example, are used under water, in space, and even in surgery.

Our clothes today also largely consist of chemical fibers. There are artificial fibers, which are made from plant fiber (viscose, acetate), and synthetic fibers, which are made from oil, gas and coal (nylon, lavsan).

The close connection of the chemical industry with other sectors of the economy determines its constant development and improvement. Therefore, this industry changes its product range extremely quickly, quickly responding to modern demands. Distinctive feature chemical industry - the location of its enterprises around the world.

Developed countries are significantly ahead of all others in terms of the number and total volume of chemical industry products. Their gap in production is especially noticeable synthetic materials. There are large areas and centers of the chemical industry in the world. Among them are the state of Texas and Pittsburgh in the USA, the Volga region in Russia, Donbass in Ukraine, Ruhr in Germany and many others.

In developing countries, not so long ago, the mining and chemical industry dominated predominantly - the extraction and primary processing of chemical raw materials. Most of the products were exported. However, since the mid-70s, oil and gas rich countries of the world ( Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, etc.) began to independently increase the production of nitrogen fertilizers, polymers and other products.

The main contradiction in the development of the chemical industry is that, on the one hand, it determines scientific and technological progress, and on the other, it is the most dangerous industry from an environmental point of view. New chemical materials in the natural cycle are alien and often deadly to living beings.

Conclusions:

The chemical industry largely determines scientific and technological progress.

The raw material base of the chemical industry is extremely diverse, which determines its complex industrial structure.

When locating branches of the chemical industry, many factors are taken into account: raw materials, transport, availability of qualified labor resources, proximity to the consumer.

The chemical industry is developing rapidly and is environmentally unsafe.

The chemical industry produces products using chemical methods processing of raw materials and supplies. In its industrial structure, two large groups of industries are distinguished: basic (inorganic) chemistry and the organic synthesis industry.

The group of basic chemistry is formed by the mining and chemical industry, engaged in the extraction of chemical raw materials, and basic chemistry itself, which produces mineral fertilizers(nitrogen, potassium, phosphate), sulfuric acid, soda and the like. The group of organic synthesis industries includes: chemistry of organic synthesis (production of organic

semi-finished products - ethylene, acetylene, benzene, ethyl alcohol, acetic acid etc.); production of polymers (synthetic resins, rubber, plastics, chemical fibers); polymer processing (production of plastic products, tires, rubber products).

In addition to the main large groups, there is a group of other branches of the chemical industry: paint and varnish, photochemical industry, production of chemical reagents, etc.

The chemical industry is significantly inferior to mechanical engineering in terms of the share of products and employees in the industry, but is one of those industries that ensures scientific and technological progress.

Raw material base

Chemical industry characterized by an extremely wide raw material base. It uses non-metallic mineral (chemical) raw materials from the bowels of the earth (potassium and kitchen soda, phosphorites, apatites, sulfur), fuel mineral resources (oil, natural gas, coal, shale), waste from ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, forestry, food and light industry. Using raw materials from other industries, the chemical industry combines and cooperates with them. It is also characterized by the concentration of production, carried out by merging enterprises or increasing the capacity of technological lines;

Geography of individual branches of the chemical industry

Areas of the chemical industry in general are material-intensive. Therefore, the main factors for locating chemical industry enterprises are raw materials, fuel and energy, consumer, water, and environmental factors.

The most important areas of the mining and chemical industry are the Carpathian region (mining potassium salts in Kalush and Stebnyk, sulfur in Yavorov and Novy Rozdol) and Donbass (mining rock salt in Artemovsk and Slavyansk).

Basic chemistry in Ukraine specializes in the production of soda ash and caustic soda in Slavyansk and Lisichansk, mineral fertilizers, and sulfuric acid.

Potash fertilizers are produced in Kalush at the Lukor concern and at the Stebnitsky potash plant. factory

Phosphorus fertilizers from imported apatites are produced in beet growing areas (Vinnitsa, Sumy), and in the centers of sulfuric acid production - Odessa and Konstantinovka.

The Nitrogen-Tukova industry uses coking and natural gas (Dneprodzerzhinsk) to produce nitrogen fertilizers. Therefore, its largest enterprises are located in Dneprodzerzhinsk on the Dnieper region, Torlivtsi, Severodonetsk in the Donbass, as well as in areas of fertilizer consumption (Rivne, Cherkassy) on gas pipelines.

The production of sulfuric acid, due to its poor transportability, gravitates towards areas of product consumption, that is, enterprises producing phosphorus and nitrogen fertilizers. Practically in each of the centers for the production of these fertilizers, the production of sulfuric acid has been established.

Chemistry of organic synthesis provides a large share of chemical industry products. Synthetic materials create a new raw material base for industry and construction. Mostly they are cheaper and best quality natural, although they have worse hygienic properties.

The chemistry of organic synthesis covers plants producing intermediate products for the production of polymers (Lisichansk, Severodonetsk, Gorlovka, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Zaporozhye). The industry uses mainly oil and gas raw materials.

The location of enterprises producing polymers depends primarily on the availability of hydrocarbon raw materials, as well as fuel, electricity, and water. For some sub-sectors, an important location factor is labor resources. Synthetic resins and plastics are produced mainly at petrochemical plants, nitrogen-fertilizer and chlorine plants, that is, they are combined with the production of other chemical products. The centers of production of synthetic resins and plastics are Donetsk, Severodonetsk, Zaporozhye, Dneprodzerzhinsk, Pervomaisk, etc. Artificial (from cellulose) and synthetic (from synthetic resins) chemical fibers are produced by enterprises in Chernigov, Kyiv, Cherkassy, ​​Sokal (Lviv region).

The most important of the enterprises processing polymers is the production of tires, which is established in Dnepropetrovsk tire factory and the Belotserkovsky plant of tires and humo-asbestos products.

Among other branches of the chemical industry, the paint and varnish industry (Dnepropetrovsk, Lvov, Odessa, etc.), the industry of synthetic dyes (Rubezhnoye in the Lugansk region), the chemical-pharmaceutical industry (Kyiv, Kharkov, Odessa, Lvov), and the photochemical industry (Shostkinsky PA "Svema" in the Sumskaya Oblast) are important. region and Kiev factory "Foton").

Main areas of accommodation large quantity chemical enterprises in Ukraine are Donbass, the Dnieper region, the Carpathian region, and the Black Sea region.

Problems and prospects for development. High concentration of the chemical industry in large and medium-sized industrial centers and certain four regions of the country, insufficient development of production with low-waste or non-waste technologies, modern systems waste treatment, as well as the residual principle of financing nature conservation and rational environmental management have led to the emergence of a difficult environmental situation in many cities and regions of Ukraine. Among them, first of all, is the Lisichansk-Rubezhansky industrial hub, as well as the North Crimean, Cherkasy, Kola, Odessa and others.

In the future, the development of the chemical industry in Ukraine will occur primarily due to

reconstruction and technical re-equipment of enterprises already operating today. They are widely introducing energy- and resource-saving and low- and non-waste technologies, closed-cycle water use schemes, and industrial waste treatment systems.

The chemical forest complex is of great importance for the Russian economy. It unites technologically interconnected enterprises of the forestry and chemical industries. The sectors of the complex are closely related to all other sectors.

Chemical industry. It has a complex structure, including various branches of basic chemistry and organic synthesis. The industry has an extensive raw material base: various minerals, wood, water, air, and waste from other industries. But the main raw materials are now products of oil refining and coal coking. Russia occupies a leading place in the world in terms of reserves of chemical raw materials and wood.

The location of chemical industry enterprises depends on various factors; Among them, the most important are raw materials, energy, consumer, and water. The specificity of chemical production is that it is water-intensive and is one of the main polluters.

For different branches of the chemical industry, different factors are paramount.

Basic Chemistry

Basic chemistry includes the production of acids, alkalis and mineral fertilizers.

The sulfuric acid industry is one of the most important chemical industries; its products are used in the production of mineral fertilizers, metallurgy, food and light industries, etc.

Plants for the production of sulfuric acid are located only in areas of consumption, since it is poorly transportable.

The industry is developed in almost all economic regions. The most important enterprises are located in the Central region (Voskresensk, Shchelkovo, Novomoskovsk), in the Volgo-Vyatka region (Dzerzhinsk), in the Urals (Berezniki, Perm).

The soda industry produces products used in the glass, chemical industries, non-ferrous metallurgy, household goods, etc. It is located near salt deposits (the raw material for producing soda) - in the Altai Territory, Perm Region, and Bashkortostan.

Production of mineral fertilizers. Phosphates and apatites are used to produce phosphate fertilizers. Most factories in the Russian Federation operate on Khibiny apatite. Large enterprises are in Voskresensk, St. Petersburg, Kingisepp.

Production potash fertilizers represented by the Solekamsk and Bereznikovsky plants in the Urals.

The nitrogen industry uses mainly natural gas as a raw material, so new industry enterprises are located near gas fields, as well as along highways main gas pipelines. The main centers are Dzerzhinsk. Berezniki, Novomoskovsk.

Chemistry of organic synthase

IN recent years The chemistry of organic synthesis began to play a major role. It produces various organic compounds from hydrocarbon raw materials (oil, natural gas, coal).

Basic organic synthesis includes the production of alcohols, organic acids, and solvents.

Organic synthesis enterprises produce plastics, resins, chemical fibers, etc., production of rubber, synthetic rubber, tires. The final stages of organic synthesis gravitate towards the consumer - mechanical engineering centers and the textile industry. Large plastics production factories are located in Kazan, Volgograd, Nizhny Tagil, Ufa, and Tyumen. Moscow, St. Petersburg.

Production of artificial and synthetic fibers requires a large amount of raw materials, fuel, water. The main factories are located in Tver, Ryazan, Balashov, Barnaul, Kursk.

Enterprises for the production of synthetic rubber are located in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Voronezh, Omsk, Yaroslavl, Arkhangelsk and other cities.

Problems and development prospects

After the collapse of the USSR, chemistry, like other industries, is in a state of crisis. Need national economy the country's supply of chemical products is not satisfied due to the lag and reduction in capital construction, and incomplete use of existing production facilities. There are often disruptions in the supply of fuel and energy, technological raw materials, materials (due to the severance of old production ties).

The decline in production is also associated with the deterioration of production conditions and the quality of raw materials, the lack of personnel with the necessary qualifications, violations of technology and the increasing frequency of accidents. A number of production facilities have been closed for environmental reasons. The issue of urgent withdrawal of chemical enterprises from Moscow and other cities has become urgent.

The chemical industry has a high concentration of production in areas of the European part of the country. This contradicts the distribution of raw materials and fuel and energy resources throughout the territory of Russia. It is necessary to make more use of the rich resources of Siberia and the Far East.

In addition, the development of chemistry in the future should be based on improved investment, tax and credit policies, deepening the specialization of regions based on the development of highly efficient resources.

Urgent tasks in chemistry and petrochemistry are also the reduction of pollution emissions and the disposal of industrial waste.

Chemical industry - a complex industry that, along with mechanical engineering, determines the level of scientific and technological progress, providing all sectors of the national economy with chemical technologies and materials, including new, progressive ones, and producing consumer goods.

The chemical industry is one of the leading branches of heavy industry, is the scientific, technical and material basis for the chemicalization of the national economy and plays exclusively important role in the development of productive forces, strengthening the defense capability of the state and ensuring the vital needs of society. It unites a whole complex of industries in which chemical methods of processing objects of embodied labor (raw materials, materials) predominate, allows solving technical, technological and economic problems, creating new materials with predetermined properties, replacing metal in construction, mechanical engineering, increasing productivity and saving costs of social labor. The chemical industry includes the production of several thousand various types 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:

• - production of valuable industrial products is expanding;
• - expensive and scarce raw materials are replaced with cheaper and more common ones;
• - complex use of raw materials is carried out;
• - many industrial wastes, including environmentally harmful ones, are captured and disposed of.

Based on the integrated use of various raw materials and the recycling of industrial waste, the chemical industry forms a complex system of connections with many industries and is combined with the processing of oil, gas, coal, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and the forestry industry. Entire industrial complexes are formed from such combinations.

At the core production process The chemical industry most often involves transforming the molecular structure of a substance. The products of this sector of the national economy can be divided into items for industrial purposes and items for long-term or short-term personal use.

Consumers of chemical industry products are found in all spheres of the national economy.

• - Mechanical engineering needs plastics, varnishes, paints;
• - agriculture- in mineral fertilizers, preparations for controlling plant pests, in feed additives (livestock);
• - transport - in motor fuel, lubricants, synthetic rubber.

The chemical and petrochemical industries are becoming a source of raw materials for the production of consumer goods, especially chemical fibers and plastics. Modern aircraft manufacturing, jet technology, radar, space technology, and rocketry are unthinkable without the use of synthetic materials and new types of synthetic fuel.

The chemical complex has a complex structure, including many different specialized branches of basic chemistry and organic synthesis, heterogeneous in raw materials and purpose of the products, but similar in production technology. In terms of the diversity of its constituent sub-sectors, it is comparable only to mechanical engineering. The structure of the chemical industry is constantly becoming more complex.

The leading sub-industry of Russian chemistry and petrochemistry is basic chemistry, which in monetary terms produces almost 60% of the products of the chemical industry and more than 40% of the products of all chemistry and petrochemistry (excluding microbiological chemistry). The production of synthetic rubber, the tire industry, and industry also have a significant share in the volume of industrial output of the industry. plastic products, fiberglass materials, fiberglass and products made from them, rubber-asbestos industry, synthetic resins and plastics industry, production of organic synthesis products.

Rice. 1.

Basic Chemistry - production of basic chemical products (sulfuric acid, soda ash and caustic soda, synthetic ammonia, calcium carbide, sodium sulfate; a wide range of other inorganic chemical products, which, in particular, include industrial gases (oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, acetylene and etc.), acids, salts, oxides of various chemical elements; mineral fertilizers, chemicals plant protection);

Mining and chemical industry - extraction and enrichment of ore and non-metallic minerals (except for hydrocarbons, coal and metal ores), which are raw materials for the production of chemical products, including apatite concentrate, carnallite, sulfur pyrites, sulfur;

Chemical fiber and thread industry - production of artificial and synthetic fibers and threads, including textile, technical and cord;

Industry of plastic products, glass fiber materials, fiberglass and products made from them - production of plastic products (polymer films, thermoplastic products, pipes and pipeline parts made of thermoplastics, etc.), polyvinyl chloride plastic compounds, fiberglass materials and fiberglass and products made from them;

A group of fine chemical industries (paint and varnish, synthetic dyes, etc.) - production of white pigments and paint and varnish products (varnishes, enamels, primers, putties, paints on various bases, solvents and removers for paint and varnish materials etc.);

Industry household chemicals - production of household chemical goods (chemical products in small packaging; washing, cleaning, polishing, adhesives, care products for cars, motorcycles and bicycles, products against household insects, rodents and for disinfection, etc.);

Synthetic resins and plastics industry - production of synthetic resins (including polyvinyl chloride), plastics and polymeric materials (the main ones are polyethylene, polystyrene, polypropylene);

Chemical and pharmaceutical industry - production of medicines various types(antibiotics, vitamins, drugs for the treatment of various diseases).

Polymer materials processing industry (tires) - production and retreading of tires for cars and trucks, buses, agricultural and road construction equipment, motorcycles and scooters, aircraft tires, bicycle tires;

Chemistry of organic synthesis - production of products of basic organic synthesis (ethylene, rectified methanol, benzene, styrene, butyl and isobutyl alcohol, phenol, plasticizers, etc.);

Rubber-asbestos industry - production of various rubber and rubber-asbestos products (conveyor belts, rubberized belts, sleeves, rubber shoes, etc.);

Synthetic rubber production - production of synthetic rubbers of various types (polyisoprene, styrene-butadiene, polybutadiene and others) and latexes;

Carbon black production ;

Microbiological chemistry is often considered separately from other sub-branches of chemistry and petrochemistry or generally refers to another industry - the medical industry.