Introduction to Petroleum Chemicals emerged from a series of lectures on the petroleum chemical industry given at the Manchester College of Science and Technology during the fall and winter of 1959. The book does not claim to be an exhaustive treatment of petroleum chemicals, but attempts to a survey of the important aspects of the industry at its present level of development. The course was given by chemists and chemical engineers engaged in the chemical industry of Britain, giving the text a British and European, as distinct from American, flavor. The book begins with a discussion of the cracking to olefins of liquid hydrocarbons. This is followed by separate chapters on separation processes for olefins; derivatives of ethylene and propylene; olefin polymerization process; and properties of polyethylenes and polypropylenes. Subsequent chapters cover the production and utilization of butadiene and isobutylene; aromatics production; manufacturing, properties, and uses of styrene and polystyrene; production of acetylene from hydrocarbons; and the carbon black industry.
