The First Catalysts

Abstract

Organic chemical compounds have been produced on an industrial scale for over a century. In the early days, the source of carbon was coal, and many of the compounds were produced via the intermediate manufacture of acetylene and benzene. The development of crude oil refining and the use of new processes to satisfy the increase in demand for gasoline has provided refinery off-gases and other hydrocarbons that are now used as the main source of industrial organic compounds, and the term petrochemicals arose to describe this evolution of the chemical industry.