In October of 1920, Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation was formed as a subsidiary company of Union Carbide and Carbon Company. This company was established with the goal of commercializing the production of several aliphatic compounds by developing an economical process for manufacturing ethylene.  A small gasoline extraction plant was then purchased in Clendenin, West Virginia which marked the start of petrochemical industry. With the completion of the hydrocarbon separation plant and ethane cracking plant at that location in the summer of 1921, the Carbide and Chemicals Corporation created the first petrochemical plant capable of separating light hydrocarbons and manufacturing limited quantities of ethylene and its derivatives. <br/>            The achievements accomplished in the small town of Clendenin grew into a multi-billion-dollar industry that has become useful in virtually every aspect of modern life. Today, ethylene is used in a range of industries and applications including, but not limited to: the automotive industry, the medical industry, metal fabrication, rubber extraction, and the production of automotive and industrial coolants. Ethylene has become one of the largest produced petrochemicals worldwide, and is primarily used to produce: polyethylene (the world’s most common plastic; used for garbage bags, food containers, etc.), ethylene dichloride (a precursor used to produce polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC), and ethylene oxide for synthesis of ethylene glycol (primarily used to produce polyethylene terephthalate, which is used in polyester fibers).<br/>       The ethane cracking plant built in Clendenin by Union Carbide and Carbon Company is set apart from other achievements in chemistry as it was the first of its kind to be built. This system became the predecessor for future plants built for the purpose of separating light hydrocarbons from natural gasoline for the production of light olefins.<br/>

Clendenin, WV: The birth of the petrochemical industry

2019 Spring National Meeting

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