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INEOS Phenol produces two main products: phenol and acetone. These basic chemicals
are feedstocks for our customers
who manufacture derivative products,
which eventually become essential ingredients
in numerous beneficial products that consumers use every day.
These include aspirin, compact discs,
car bumpers, household appliances and acrylic glass. Additionally, homes and furniture
are manufactured from plywood and other wood products, produced with phenolic resins.
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These and many more applications have been discovered over time during the last century.
INEOS Phenol has been at the forefront of this industrial development from the very beginning.
Phenol
Phenol was isolated for the first time from coal tar, in 1834. At room temperature, it is a white, crystalline material that melts at 41° C (105° F). Initially, its disinfecting properties
were discovered and used to treat wounds. Soon thereafter, the synthetic potential of phenol was realized and a vast number of derivatives were synthesized, preparing
the ground for today's high-quality, high-value phenol derived products.
With phenol extracted from coal tar, it took an extreme effort to meet even a 99.6% purity. Soon after INEOS Phenol started producing phenol in Gladbeck, Germany, in 1954,
our process delivered a purity of 99.7%. Today, we meet the quality requirements
of the most demanding producers with purity in excess of 99.98%.
Acetone
Acetone is a water-white, highly combustible liquid with a boiling point of 56° C
(133° F). Using cumene as feedstock, we produce acetone together with phenol
in one process. Similar to phenol, acetone has a wide variety of uses, from solvent
in numerous applications to chemical intermediates in the production of acrylics, polycarbonates and fine chemical intermediates. Purity of normal acetone / chemical grade acetone in Gladbeck is 99,9% without water; this is our standard specification.
In
the manufacturing process for phenol and acetone, it is possible
to isolate alphamethylstyrene as a by-product. Currently, this material
is
produced only
in Gladbeck, while it is being recycled into feedstock in Antwerp
and Mobile.
Alphamethylstyrene
(AMS)
AMS
is available to the market in a purity of 99.6%. It is a combustible
liquid with a boiling point of 164° C (329° F), similar
in its chemical nature to cumene or gasoline.
It is used as a modifier in the manufacture of heat resistant ABS
resins with applications
in the automotive and electrical industries, for waterheaters, and
household machinery.
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