Chemical manufacturing and synthesis services produce organic chemicals and inorganic chemicals of various quantities to their customers. Chemicals are building blocks for industries such as petrochemical processing and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Chemical synthesis involves the conversion of raw materials into more usable molecules and compounds. Catalysis is the process of slowing or speeding up chemical reactions by adding a substance that is not changed in the reaction process. Typically, large amounts of heat and energy are required.

Selection of chemical manufacturing and synthesis services depends upon the products the service manufactures, its production terms, and its process capacity.

Types of Synthesized Products

The most important parameter in the selection of chemical manufacturing services is its products. The Engineering360 Database allows the industrial buyer to select companies based on the products the service provides. These products include:

• Acetylenes
• Alcohols
• Biochemicals
• Catalysts
• Additives
• Cleaners
• Coolants
• Cosmetics
• Filler
• Inorganic chemicals
• Lubricants
• Intermediates
• Fuels
• Organic chemicals
• Pharmaceuticals
• Pigments
• Polymers
• Reagents
• Solvents

Production Terms

Services may provide chemical synthesis or manufacturing on a contract, toll, or research and development basis.

Contract production is an arrangement between the company and client for manufacturing services, usually involving a set amount of product or time.

Toll or fee production involves manufacturing of chemicals on a fixed price or price per unit basis. These toll processors may hire operators to run the process equipment, or rent or lease their facility to a client who can bring in trained personnel.

Research and development terms involve the synthesis of chemicals for the promotion and advancement of research projects and initiatives.

The terms of production may also be customized between the service provider and client based on the agreement and application.

Process Capacity

Processing capacity is the amount of material that a manufacturer can handle. This is usually quantified on a mass basis for solids (pounds, tons, kilograms) or on a volume basis for liquids or gases (cubic feet, gallons, liters, cubic meters).

These capacities also relate to the scale of the processing operation. Bench scale operations do not exceed a few pounds or gallons of processed material and are meant to test the synthesis process. Pilot scale operations generally range in the hundreds of gallons or pounds, and are used to develop the production process for the material. Industrial scale operations are full scale and process much larger quantities of material based on demand.