Among all futures products, the chemical sector is probably the least down-to-earth sector. The chemical sectors we generally talk about include these varieties: plastic, PTA, PP, PVC, methanol, asphalt, and rubber.

Among all futures products, the chemical sector is probably the least down-to-earth sector. The chemical sector we generally talk about includes these varieties: plastic, PTA, PP, PVC, methanol , asphalt, (natural) rubber. Plastics, asphalt, rubber and even methanol are fine. At least most people will still be exposed to them in their lives, but many people don’t understand the remaining varieties after checking the information. Today, we will take the petrochemical industry chain as the entry point to briefly introduce the basic knowledge of each variety in the chemical sector.

It is said that chemical industry is about crude oil, because most varieties in the chemical sector are sourced from crude oil, and it is not without reason that crude oil is called the blood of the industry today. The petrochemical sectors are linked one by one, and it is difficult to understand just looking at a certain variety or link.

In general, the source of petrochemical is oil and natural gas mined from the earth's crust, and then enters the continuous petrochemical industry chain, roughly cutting it into three sections: the upstream industry is mainly refining, the midstream industry is mainly olefins and aromatics, and the downstream is the three synthetic materials of ( synthetic resin , synthetic rubber , and synthetic fibers). As shown in the figure below:

In the figure above, we see 4 futures varieties: PVC, PP, PE (plastic - polyethylene ), PTA, (the rubber in the Shanghai Futures Exchange refers to natural rubber rather than synthetic rubber, so it is not within the scope of the research). Among them, PVC, PP, and PE are closer.

synthetic resin plates—PP, PVC, plastic

PP, PVC, plastic, they are all synthetic resins. What is synthetic resin?

synthetic resin is one of the three largest synthetic materials in the world, and the other two are synthetic rubber and synthetic fibers. Among them, synthetic resin is the synthetic material with the highest yield and consumption. In layman's terms, synthetic resins are materials that can melt or soften at a certain temperature, and can be qualitatively cured, with different components and synthetic properties. Various plastic products are typical examples.

synthetic resins include five general resins: polyethylene PE, polyvinyl chloride PVC, polypropylene PP, polystyrene PS, and ABS resin. Among them, PE is mainly divided into three categories: linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Plastics traded by Dalian Commodity Exchange actually refer to linear low-density poly ethylene (LLDPE).

PP, PVC, and plastic production process is as follows:

1, plastic (LLDPE) production path: "Crude oil- naphtha -ethylene-LLDPE"

2, PP (polypropylene) production path: "Crude oil-naphtha-propylene-polypropylene"

3, PVC ( polyvinyl chloride ) production path: "Crude oil-naphtha-ethylene-polypropylene"

So from the upstream perspective, PP, plastic, and PVC are very similar. Let's look at the downstream. The main uses of these three are:

It can be seen that the downstream of PP, plastic, and PVC are also very similar. Their downstream are even the various "plastic products" we think of in daily life.Because of this, all three of them are listed on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, and the futures price trend is very similar. All the basic knowledge of

PTA is in the figure below:

PTA is the English abbreviation of Pure Terephthalic Acid. It is PTA, the end product of petroleum, and its raw material is paraxylene (hereinafter referred to as PX), while the raw material of PX is petroleum. Compared with the petrochemical industry chain diagram above, it is another branch downstream of naphtha.

What is PTA used for? Its main purpose is to produce polyester fiber (polyester), polyester bottle sheets and polyester films, and then it is widely used in chemical fibers, light industry, electronics, construction and other fields. In other words, the synthetic resin above is highly correlated with daily necessities and construction fields, but PTA is more related to the textile and garment industry, so the trend of PTA is different from the varieties in the synthetic resin field, and it is more similar to the trend of oil.

Asphalt

Petroleum asphalt is a lower-level product in the crude oil processing process. It is a black or black-brown viscous liquid, semi-solid or solid at room temperature. It belongs to the upstream of the petrochemical industry chain at the beginning of the article - the refining industry. According to the purpose, petroleum asphalt can be divided into road asphalt, construction asphalt, hydraulic asphalt and other special asphalt classified by use. Asphalt is a rigid demand for road construction, and in addition, asphalt has a high correlation in international crude oil prices. Generally speaking, when the increase in the price of petroleum asphalt is less than that of crude oil, for economic maximization, some refineries cut the supply of asphalt, resulting in tight resource supply in some areas, and asphalt prices will rise again.

methanol

methanol is different from the varieties in the chemical sector above because it is not very related to crude oil. The main raw materials for its production are carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The conversion process does not produce any by-products and does not emit pollutants. Looking further up, its raw materials are coal and natural gas.

Since industrial production began in 1923, the raw material route for methanol synthesis has undergone great changes. Before the 1950s, coal and coke were mostly used as raw materials; after the 1950s, methanol production process using natural gas as raw materials was widely used; since the 1960s, methanol devices using heavy oil as raw materials have developed. At present, countries in Europe, the United States and the Middle East mainly use natural gas as raw materials to produce methanol. This process has the advantages of low investment and pollution-free, and there is no need to consider too much by-product sales. Since my country's primary energy structure has the characteristics of "rich, poor, poor, and low gas" and lacks cheap natural gas resources. With the shortage of oil resources and the continued rise of oil prices, under the background of vigorously developing clean coal utilization technology, coal will remain the most important raw material for my country's methanol production for a long time in the future. At present, my country's methanol plant production capacity with coal as raw materials accounts for 65% of the total domestic production capacity, 19% of natural gas as raw materials, and 16% of the raw materials.

What are the uses of methanol?

methanol is an important organic chemical raw material and is widely used. It can be used to produce a series of organic chemical products such as formaldehyde, dimethyl ether , acetic acid, methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), dimethylformamide (DMF), methylamine , chloromethane, dimethyl terephthalate, methyl methacrylic acid, synthetic rubber, etc.; methanol is not only an important chemical raw material, but also an excellent energy and automotive fuel. It can be mixed with gasoline or replaced with gasoline as a power fuel; in recent years, methanol has been increasingly valued; methanol is also a raw material for the production of pesticides such as Dibaipon, methyl parathion , and pyrolylin; methanol can produce methanol protein through biofermentation and used as feed additives.

The above diagram describes the upstream and downstream of methanol well.