Chemical industry

Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHE : Chemical industry

Chemical tanks in Lillebonne, France

The chemical industry refers to an industry involved in the production of chemicals. The industry includes 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 are involved in the processing of raw materials obtained by mining, and agriculture among other supply sources, into materials and substances and chemical compounds that are end products, or are used in other industries.

Companies

The biggest companies in chemical industry on Earth are listed with business volume in billions of Euros Dollars

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)
Total (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
Monsanto

The 2005 top 5 of US owned chemical companies Top 50 Chemical Producers Chemical & Engineering News May 15, 2006 Volume 84, Number 20 pp. 23-27 [Link] (business volume in billions of Dollars) consisted of:

The total sales of the top 50 in 2005 was the amount of 281 billion dollars.

References

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