Chemistry International Blank Image
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Chemistry International Blank Image Chemistry International Blank Image Chemistry International Blank Image
Chemistry International Blank Image
Chemistry International Blank Image
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Current Issue
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Past Issues
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Officer's Columns
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Features
Chemistry International Blank Image
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Up for Discussion
Chemistry International Text Image Link to IUPAC Wire
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Project Place
Chemistry International Text Image Link to imPACt
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Bookworm
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Internet Connections
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Conference Call
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Where 2B and Y
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Symposia
Chemistry International Text Image Link to CI Indexes
Chemistry International Text Image Link to CI Editor
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Search Function
Chemistry International Text Image Link to Information

 

Chemistry International Text Image Link to Previous Issue Chemistry International Text Image Link to Previous Page Chemistry International Text Image Link to This TOC Chemistry International Text Image Link to Next Page Chemistry International Text Image Link to Next Issue

Vol. 30 No. 4
July-August 2008

Stamps International |

See also www.iupac.org/publications/ci/indexes/stamps.html


Petrochemicals Galore

Countries sometimes use postage stamps to highlight their economic growth and promote their industrial prowess or development plans. Such is the case with South Korea, which issued a set of eight stamps on 15 March 2006 to recognize its key export industries, including automobiles, semiconductors, electronics, textiles, steel, machinery, ships, and petrochemicals. Accounting for nearly three quarters of the country’s total exports (worth some $360 billion in 2007), these industries have made South Korea one of the world’s leading industrialized and most technologically advanced nations.

The stamp illustrated in this note draws attention to the petrochemical industry in South Korea and displays the structural formulas of benzene, ethylene, propylene, and butadiene. In particular, ethylene is the most important petrochemical feedstock in the world in terms of both production volume (about 120 million metric tons) and number of derivatives. About half of the world’s output of ethylene is converted to polyethylene (that’s a lot of plastic bags!) and in the manufacture of ethylene dichloride, vinyl chloride, ethylene oxide, styrene, vinyl acetate, ethanol, acetaldehyde, and other organic compounds, with applications ranging from solvents and detergents to chemical fibers and adhesives. Interestingly, ethylene is also an important plant hormone and is extensively used as a ripening agent for fruits and vegetables.

Written by Daniel Rabinovich <[email protected]>.


Page last modified 5 August 2008.
Copyright © 2003-2008 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions regarding the website, please contact [email protected]
Link to CI Home Page Link to IUPAC E-News Link to IUPAC Home Page