|
Speciality chemicals (also called specialties or effect chemicals) are particular chemical products which provide wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agrichemicals, cleaning materials, cosmetic additives, construction chemicals, elastomers, flavours, food additives, fragrances, Industrial gases, lubricants, polymers, surfactants, and textile auxiliaries. Other industrial sectors such as automobile, aerospace, food, cosmetics, agriculture, manufacturing, textile industries are highly dependent on such products.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=what is speciality chemical manufacturing )〕 Speciality chemicals are materials used on the basis of their performance or function. Consequently, in addition to "effect" chemicals they are sometimes referred to as "performance" chemicals or "formulation" chemicals. They can be unique molecules or mixtures of molecules known as formulations. The physical and chemical characteristics of the single molecules or the formulated mixtures of molecules and the composition of the mixtures influences the performance end product. In commercial applications the companies providing these products more often than not provide targeted customer service to innovative individual technical solutions for their customers. This is a differentiating component of the service provided by specialty chemical producers when they are compared to the other sub-sectors of the chemical industry such as fine chemicals, commodity chemicals, petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. In the USA the speciality chemical manufacturers are members of the Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates (SOCMA). In the United Kingdom such companies are members of the British Association of Chemical Specialties (BACS).〔(British Association of Chemical Specialties )〕 SOCMA state that “Specialty chemicals differ from commodity chemicals in that each one may have only one or two uses, while commodities may have dozens of different applications for each chemical. While commodity chemicals make up most of the production volume (by weight) in the global marketplace, specialty chemicals make up most of the diversity (number of different chemicals) in commerce at any given time.” ==Manufacturing speciality chemicals== Speciality chemicals are usually manufactured in batch chemical plants using batch processing techniques. A batch process is one in which a defined quantity of product is made from a fixed input of raw materials during a measured period of time. The batch process most often consists of introducing accurately measured amounts of starting materials into a vessel followed by a series of processes involving mixing, heating & cooling, making more chemical reactions, distillation, crystallization, separation, drying, packaging etc., taking place at predetermined and scheduled intervals. The manufacturing processes are supported by activities such as the quality testing, storage& warehousing, logistics of the products, and management by recycling, treatment and disposal of by-products, and waste streams. For the next “batch” the equipment may be cleaned and the above processes repeated. Most speciality chemicals are organic chemicals that are used in a wide range of every day products used by consumers and industry. It is a consumer driven sector and as such the specialty chemical industry has to be innovative, entrepreneurial and consumer-driven. In contrast to the production of commodity chemicals that are usually made on large scale single product manufacturing units to achieve economies of scale, specialty manufacturing units are required to be flexible because the products, raw materials, processes &, operating conditions and equipment mix may change on a regular basis to respond to the needs of customers. In the United Kingdom there are a many speciality chemical companies that are members of the British Association of Chemical Specialties (BACS) and also the Chemical Industries Association (CIA). Most of these companies have their manufacturing units based in the North of England for example see the membership of the Northeast of England they are members of the Northeast of England process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「speciality chemicals」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|