In the final analysis, chemistry is about chemicals. In school, you may carry out a reaction with a few grams of a chemical; in industry, tons of the same chemical may be used in the same reaction. And in industry, a lot of money is made from actually very few chemicals. Maybe you’ve wondered about industrial chemistry, including what goes on in that field and which chemicals are used on a large scale. Here are the ten most commonly produced chemicals. The amounts change from year to year, but all the chemicals listed are produced in excess of 100 million metric tons. Here you can see how much chemistry impacts your daily life.
No matter what the year, sulfuric acid heads the list as the number-one produced chemical worldwide. The major use of sulfuric acid is in the production of fertilizers — ammonium sulfate and superphosphate. However, sulfuric acid is also used in other products, including the following:
Sulfuric acid is also used as a reactant during the manufacture or processing of certain goods. Here are some examples of its function:
Nitrogen is largely an inert gas because it’s commonly used as a blanketing gas, which means it protects oxygen-sensitive materials from contact with the air. Following are some of the many industrial uses of liquid nitrogen:
The following industries also use nitrogen and liquid nitrogen:
The food industry uses the quick-cooling aspect to minimize cell damage from ice crystals that commonly form during the normal freezing process. Another use is in food service: Liquid nitrogen is used in refrigerated trucks to minimize the contact of the food with air.
The healthcare industry uses liquid nitrogen to freeze blood and tissue samples as well as in cryosurgery to destroy tissue, such as warts.
And at least one college chemistry club uses liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. No churning here; it’s ready in less than a minute!
Ethylene is one of the major feed stocks for the chemical industry, especially the plastics industry. You may be surprised to see how versatile this chemical is. It’s used in these ways:
Some of oxygen’s main roles are in the following combustion processes:
Oxygen is also used in chemical industries to break down hydrocarbons (compounds of just carbon and hydrogen) into smaller hydrocarbon products such as ethylene, propylene, and acetylene, which are in turn used to produce plastics, paints, and other products.
Propylene’s major use is as an intermediate in the production of other chemical compounds, like the following:
Chlorine has many uses, including the following:
The major use of ethylene dichloride is in the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Those white plastic pipes used to carry water underground and throughout your home are PVC, which is a mainstay of the construction industry.
Ethylene dichloride is also used in the production of polystyrene, another useful synthetic polymer. Ethylene dichloride is used in the production of
About three-quarters of the phosphoric acid produced worldwide is used in the production of synthetic phosphate fertilizers. Here are some other uses for phosphoric acid:
In the food industry, phosphoric acid is added as a food pH adjuster (in colas, for example), as a clarifying agent, and as a preservative.
Phosphoric acid acts as a rust converter, converting the ferric oxide (Fe 2 O 3) to ferric phosphate (FePO 4), which can then be easily scrubbed off. Phosphoric acid for this purpose is commonly sold as a gel called naval jelly.
Well over half of the ammonia produced worldwide is used in agriculture:
Ammonia is also used in the production of other chemicals and products, including
Additionally, ammonia is used by several industries:
When a strong base is required in industry, sodium hydroxide is the one. It’s put to many uses in a variety of industries. Here are some of its uses:
