Glossary

A plant is considered as being Under Construction once ground has been broken for civil works on a site. This classification can be reviewed if activity is reported to have been halted at the site.

Units refers to the selected production basis for any output. The default unit is tons (tons per annum, US dollars per ton), however the user can alternatively select pounds or even volumetric measures such as US gallons and barrels.

Urea is an organic compound that occurs naturally as a product of excretion in living organisms, and is produced industrially by reacting ammonia with carbon dioxide. Urea's main use is as a fertilizer in the form of granules, prills or in aqueous solution. Urea is also an important ingredient for the manufacture of melamine, and for urea-formaldehyde resins, which are used as adhesives for wood products, paper and textiles.

Utilities lists the separate utility services that are needed to balance the energy requirements of the process. Some petrochemical reactions produce significant amounts of energy. Such processes will commonly show a negative steam mass flow per ton of main product, indicating that steam is produced by the reaction.

Vapour Pressure is a key physical parameter used in gasoline specifications. Vapour pressure determines the ease with which the fuel is vapourised within a combustion engine as well as the amount of vapour created during filling operations. Gasoline regulations often specify a higher vapour pressure during the summer to reduce vapour emissions at gasoline retail stations.

The Variable Cost of production is calculated here as the net cost of all materials (feedstocks less co-products) plus utility costs associated with the plant operation, and are presented per ton of main product. Sales realisation of the main product are not included in the variable cost calculation.

The Variable Cost Margin is the margin achieved over net raw material and utility costs from sales realising the netback value at the plant gate. Petrochemical producer cannot run plants at a negative variable cost margin for any significant length of time, unless cash is available from other sources to fund feedstock and utility costs.

VAM (vinyl acetate monomer) is a highly versatile intermediate used in the production of a variety of polymers, such as polyvinyl acetate (PVAc), polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH), polyvinyl butyral (PVB), polyvinyl formal (PVF) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). The main process used to produce VAM is vapor-phase acetoxylation (reaction of ethylene with acetic acid), except in China where the acetylene process dominates.

Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) is an intermediate chemical of the vinyls chain, mainly produced by thermal cracking of EDC. Almost all VCM produced is used to manufacture PVC, with other applications consuming very little VCM. VCM is a toxic gas at room temperature, and thus transporting VCM is costly and hazardous. As such, trade in VCM is usually minimised, in favour of shipping EDC (the precursor to VCM) or PVC.

The Vinyls family contains those chemicals used in the production of PVC resin, namely chlorine, EDC, VCM, and PVC. Although not specifically used for PVC production, caustic soda is often associated with the vinyls chain, as it is a major by-product of chlorine production.