WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF CHEMICAL PRODUCTS?

Quiz chemicals keynote speakers and futurists and you’ll learn much about where the industry is heading. But to know where it’s going, it also helps to know where the business of chemical products has been. In fact, we’d wager most people use loads of related household products every day without realizing what types of services and providers supply them. Being chemicals keynote speakers and consulting futurists, we thought we’d revisit the main types of chemical products:

• Commodity options – Basic chemicals produced in huge quantities like sulfuric acid, methanol, ethylene, benzene used across industries.
• Specialty items – Higher value chemicals made in smaller quantities for specific applications like additives, adhesives, catalysts and coatings according to chemicals keynote speakers and futurists.
• Agricultural – Items used in farming including pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, animal feed additives.
• Cleaning  – Solutions for cleaning uses like detergents, bleaches, disinfectants used in household and industrial contexts.
• Paints and pigments – Chemical coatings like enamels, lacquers, stains, dyes used to color surfaces.
• Food additives – Additives added to food to act as preservatives, antioxidants, sweeteners, colorings, flavorings, etc. or so chemicals keynote speakers and futurists tell us.
• Personal care chemicals – Ingredients used in cosmetics, hygiene and toiletry products like creams, soaps, shampoos.
• Pharmaceutical items – Active chemical substances that produce the desired therapeutic effect in medicinal drugs.
• Textile chemicals – Chemicals like bleaches, dyes, softeners used in treating and enhancing textile products.
• Petrochemicals – Chemicals derived from petroleum and natural gas used to make plastics, fuels, lubricants, synthetic rubber.

Put it all together and chemicals keynote speakers and futurists tell us that the chemical industry produces a vast range of compounds essential across all sectors of the economy.