Petroleum Based Components Used in Products You Never Realized

Of course, everyone realizes petroleum products areobtained from the refining of crude oil called naphtha is
used in the gasoline we fuel our vehicles and in theone of the basic feedstocks, Petrochemical
heating oil we use to keep our homes warm. But didfeedstocks also include products recovered from
you know petroleum-based components are innatural gas, and refinery gases (ethane, propane, and
medicines, food, plastics, and even in the clothes webutane). Petrochemical feedstocks are converted to
wear? Not only is petroleum a source for fuel, but itbasic chemical building blocks and intermediates, such
has many other uses.as ethylene, propylene, normal- and iso-butylenes,
Petrolatum or better known as petroleum jelly isbutadiene, and aromatics such as benzene, toluene,
sometimes blended with paraffin wax and used inand xylene.
medicines and in many toiletries and healingAll these chemicals are in turn used to produce plastics
moisturizers. Paints, lacquers, and printing inks all havefound in our everyday objects, synthetic rubber used
within them petroleum-based solvents to make themto make things more pliable and stretchy, synthetic
flow better. Besides your automobile engine, allfibers found our clothing to make them more
machinery, like the engine in your lawn mower, needcomfortable, drugs to help us fight diseases, and
lubricating oils and grease made from petroleum todetergents to make our cleaning process easier.
keep them running smoothly. Petroleum (or paraffin)There are three major categories for petroleum-based
wax is used in packaging, candles, matches, shoeproducts:(fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel,(non-fuel
polish, and even candy making. Asphalt we useto paveproducts such as solvents and lubricating oils, and
our driveways, roads and airfields is a byproduct offeedstocks such as naphtha. Petroleum-based
petroleum. Asphalt also is used to surface canals,products, especially motor gasoline, distillate (diesel) fuel,
dams, and reservoirs. We can find this in the linoleumand jet fuel, provide virtually all of the energy
we cover our floors with and in the shingles we put onconsumed in the transportation sector. Transportation
our roofs.remains the greatest single use of petroleum. The
Petroleum coke is used as a raw material for manyindustrial sector is the second largest petroleum
carbon and graphite products. These products includeconsumption, and the residential/commercial including
furnace electrodes and liners and the anodes used inthe electric utility sectors account for the remaining
the production of aluminum. Aluminum is used in thepetroleum consumption. Because we depend on oil
construction of just about all of our everydayand petroleum-based products so greatly, companies
appliances.like Triple Diamond Energy Corporation concentrate
Since the 1920's, petroleum has been used as atheir efforts in continuing to provide it and making it
feedstock in the production of petrochemicals. A liquidreadily available.