Petrochemical Industry in India - Class-X

Petroleum is a mineral which is naturally occurring and consists of organic compounds viz. hydrocarbons. Chemical products derived from petroleum are called petrochemicals. The petrochemical industry is a mineral based industry which involves the production of petrochemicals using petroleum as major raw material. Major petrochemical classes are aromatics (such as benzene, xylene isomers, and toluene) and olefins (such as propylene and ethylene).

• ONGC which stands for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is a state-owned company which deals with exploration and production of petroleum products.
  
• Its headquarters are located in Dehradun. This was incorporated in the year 1959. 
  

The mineral based industries are called petro-chemical industries. These are extracted from earth and are formed by fossil decomposition and are hence called fossil fuels. These fuels form major source of energy.

Petroleum is oil obtained from sedimentary rocks of the Earth, so it is called mineral oil.  Petroleum and its derivatives are called "Black Gold" as they are very valuable

Petrochemicals can be converted into thousands of industrial and consumer products, including PLASTICS, paints, RUBBER, fertilizers, detergents, dyes, TEXTILES and solvents. The industry consists of 2 major divisions. The primary petrochemical industry produces basic chemicals, such as ethylene, from oil or gas.

The Indian Petrochemical Corporation Limited (IPCL) is a wholly Government of India undertaking which was incorporated in March 1969. It is located at Vadodara in Gujarat.

Petrochemicals are used to synthesize polymers and plastics that have largely replaced traditional materials like wood and glass in many industrial and consumer applications.

National Organic Chemicals Industries Ltd (NOCIL) was established in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1961 at Trombay. Mumbai was a major industrial hub for petrochemicals in India's early industrial development. The location provided access to ports and existing industrial infrastructure.

Petrochemical industries of Gujarat are concentrated in Ahmedabad.

There are a large number of petrochemical plants located here and some of them include BPCL, Gujarat chemical association etc.

Smoke emitted by chemical and paper factories, refineries etc., can be reduced by using gas instead of coal and petrol. This is because coal and petrol are carbonaceous fossil fuels with high carbon content which is emitted on burning coal and petroleum. This can be far reduced by using gases like biogas etc.