Commodity chemical

Commodity chemicals are a sub-sector of the chemical industry (other sub sectors are fine chemicals, specialty chemicals, inorganic chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy (e.g. biofuels) and materials (e.g. biopolymers)). Commodity chemicals are differentiated primarily by the bulk of their manufacture.

Types

Chemical compounds are often classified into two classes, inorganic and organic.

Inorganic chemicals

• aluminium sulfate
• ammonia
• ammonium nitrate
• ammonium sulfate
• carbon black
• chlorine
• diammonium phosphate
• monoammonium phosphate
• hydrochloric acid
• hydrogen fluoride
• hydrogen peroxide
• nitric acid
• oxygen
• phosphoric acid
• sodium carbonate
• sodium chlorate
• sodium hydroxide
• sodium silicate
• sulfuric acid
• titanium dioxide

Organic chemicals

Commonly traded commodity organic chemicals include:

• acetic acid
• acetone
• acrylic acid
• acrylonitrile
• adipic acid
• benzene
• butadiene
• butanol
• caprolactam
• cumene
• cyclohexane
• dioctyl phthalate
• ethanol
• ethylene
• ethylene oxide
• ethylene glycol
• formaldehyde
• methanol
• octanol
• phenol
• phthalic anhydride
• polypropylene
• polystyrene
• polyvinyl chloride
• propylene
• polypropylene glycol
• propylene oxide
• styrene
• terephthalic acid
• toluene
• toluene diisocyanate
• urea
• vinyl chloride
• xylenes