From Gas to Wrap: How Petroleum Becomes Plastic
In short: How hydrocarbons from oil and natural gas are steam-cracked into ethylene, then joined bond by bond into polyethylene and the plastics around us.
A 2:09 short film in the series “How Things Work”, narrated by intellect_voice_01.
Sources used in this film: Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Petroleum refining - Petrochemicals, Fractional Distillation, Cracking | Britannica”; Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC Education), in association with the Nuffield Foundation, “Cracking hydrocarbons in liquid paraffin with a catalyst”; BBC Bitesize (British Broadcasting Corporation), “Addition polymers - Polymers - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize”; OECD, “The future of petrochemicals”.
Sources used in this film
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Petroleum refining - Petrochemicals, Fractional Distillation, Cracking | Britannica · View →
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC Education), in association with the Nuffield Foundation — Cracking hydrocarbons in liquid paraffin with a catalyst · View →
- BBC Bitesize (British Broadcasting Corporation) — Addition polymers - Polymers - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize · View →
- OECD — The future of petrochemicals · View →
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Petroleum refining - Petrochemicals, Fractional Distillation, Cracking | Britannica
- Also: Royal Society of Chemistry (Education in Chemistry / edu.rsc.org), in association with the Nuffield Foundation: Cracking hydrocarbons in liquid paraffin with a catalyst
- Also: BBC Bitesize (British Broadcasting Corporation): Addition polymers - Polymers - GCSE Chemistry (Single Science) Revision - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize
- Also: OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development); report The Future of Petrochemicals: The future of petrochemicals
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