The chemical industry is a type of industry in which the processing of raw materials by chemical methods is of key importance. The main materials used in this industry are various minerals and petroleum. The role of the chemical industry in the modern world is very great. Thanks to it, people can use various plastic and plastic products, as well as other petroleum products. In addition, the industry produces explosives, fertilizers for agricultural needs, medicines, and so on.

Development

The beginning of the history of this industry is considered to be the industrial revolution, which occurred at the beginning of the 17th century. Until the 16th century, the “science of substances” generally developed very slowly, but as soon as people learned to apply this knowledge in industry, much changed. The very first product of the chemical industry was sulfuric acid, which today remains an extremely important substance and is used in many areas of human activity. At that time, this compound was mainly used in the processing of metal ores needed for the industrial revolution in large quantities. The first enterprises for the production of sulfuric acid were created in England, France and Russia.

The second stage in the development of this area was the need for mass production of soda ash. This substance was necessary to ensure the production of glass and textiles.

At the first stage, England made the largest contribution to the development of the industry. With increasing interest in organic chemistry, Germany had an increasing influence on the development of this science, whose scientists are still considered one of the best specialists in this field. At the beginning of the 20th century, most of the chemical production was located in this country, which, according to some analysts, provided German leaders with confidence in victory in the First World War due to the high quality of explosives and promising research into chemical weapons. By the way, it was German troops who used chemical warfare gas for the first time.

Chemical industries

Nowadays, both inorganic and organic chemistry are relevant, and many discoveries are made in these areas every year. The most promising developments are:

• Oil refining.
• Creation of medicines.
• Creation of fertilizers.
• Creation of polymers and plastics.
• Study of the conductive properties of substances.

Scientists have been working on creating an ideal conductor for several decades. If successful, humanity will be able to use the planet's resources much more efficiently.

Chemical industry in Russia

Petrochemistry

Petrochemistry is a key branch of the chemical industry in Russia. This is largely due to the extremely important role of the oil refining industry in the country's economy. Educational institutions annually graduate tens of thousands of petrochemical specialists. The government also allocates a lot of money to sponsor research in this area.

The annual sales volume of all petrochemical production is more than 500 billion rubles.

Ammonia production

Togliattiazot is one of the leading ammonia producers in the world. Recently, the company has been producing more than 3 million tons of gas per year, this is an exceptionally high figure. According to experts, the share of this company in global ammonia production ranges from 8 to 10%; the company is also engaged in the production of mineral fertilizers and occupies about 20% of the Russian market in this sector.

Fertilizer production

An important part of the industry is the production of fertilizers. On the territory of Russia there are very large deposits of raw materials for this industry. The production of resources to create chemical fertilizers is also well developed. During the Soviet era, the best scientists worked on increasing the efficiency of fertilizers, making many fundamental discoveries in this area. Thanks to this, Russia is one of the most important exporters of fertilizers.

Pharmaceutical industry

The production of medicines and their components is a very promising area. Currently, this industry does not cover Russian needs, and the creation of many drugs has not even been established. Therefore, every year foreign investors, including large chemical concerns, invest in the development of this industry. Nevertheless, a significant increase in production volumes and product quality, according to analysts, will occur in ten years at best.

Chemical industry in the world

The chemical industry is most developed in Germany, Great Britain and the USA. That is, among European countries, the most advanced are usually states that have made a certain contribution to the development of chemistry as a science. In the case of the United States, this is due to favorable conditions for the development of chemistry and pharmacology: a good economic situation, the presence of large raw material resources and a developed transport system, and luring the best specialists from other countries.

In particular, the top five concerns with the highest profits include 2 companies from Germany, 2 from the UK and one from the USA.

The constant development of technology every year places increased demands on the economy. This invariably affects the development of the most important sector of the world economy - industry. Today, more than 500 million specialists of various levels of training are employed to ensure its full-fledged operation.

World industrial structure

It is not for nothing that industry is considered one of the leading sectors of the world economy: during the twentieth century, industrial production increased tens of times, and continues to confidently increase its growth rate.

Industrial goods are in great demand on the world market, and developed countries continue to invest significant sums in the development of new industrial technologies and scientific research.

There are three main groups of industries:

• To the primary sphere old industries include: metallurgical, coal, textile, iron ore and shipbuilding. The growth of these industries is noticeably slowing down.
• To the secondary sphere include such new industries as the production of chemical fibers and plastics, the automotive industry, and aluminum production. The development of these industries determined scientific and technological progress in the twentieth century. They continue to grow and develop quite quickly.
• To the newest industries The tertiary sector includes nanotechnology, microbiological industry, computer technology, microelectronics, robotics, aerospace and nuclear production. In the modern world, these high-tech industries are the most popular and developing.

Fig.1. The future lies with nanotechnology.

The development scheme for the industrial sector is quite simple and consists in reducing the ratio of old industries towards new ones and, especially, the newest ones.

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Geography of sectors of the world economy

Changes are constantly taking place in the geography of the industrial world. First of all, they are associated with the peculiarities of the distribution of production spheres between the North and the South. The location of the largest industrial regions, which, as a rule, are located in Europe, East Asia, the CIS, and North America, has a significant influence.

For example, until quite recently, the industrial structure prevailed in such developed regions as Western Europe, the USA and Japan. However, the situation in global industry has changed greatly, and industrial countries today include China and countries that produce and export oil (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Algeria).

It is worth noting that the rich countries of the North occupy a leading position in the production of the latest industrial sectors, while the countries of the South, with rare exceptions, are strong in oil refining, mining, and light industry. The vast majority of various industrial regions are located in the countries of the North, which determine the geography of the world economy.

Fig.2. Oil production and export is the main trump card of developing countries.

Main sectors of the world economy

The global industries include:

• Fuel and energy industry (gas, coal, oil). The main oil exporters are developing countries.

Table of World Oil Reserves and Production

• Electric power industry. The first place is occupied by the production of thermal energy, the second - hydraulic, and the third - nuclear.
• Mining industry. It is the most important supplier of mineral raw materials on the world market. Despite the decline in production rates, it still continues to influence the geography of the world economy and the division of labor.
• Metallurgical industry (ferrous and non-ferrous). Directly depends on iron ore mining and steel smelting. Production growth is noticeably declining.
• Mechanical engineering. It occupies a leading position among other sectors of the world economy. It is in this type of industry, as nowhere else, that the division into all industries into old, new and newest is clearly visible. 90% of all engineering products are produced in developed countries.

Old branches of mechanical engineering have ceased to develop or are in decline (shipbuilding). New industries are still showing slight growth (automotive). The latest developing engineering industries include robotics and electronic engineering.

Fig.3. Shipbuilding is an old branch of mechanical engineering.

• Chemical industry. It is based on the production of polymer materials and petrochemicals.
• Forestry industry. In the North, coniferous wood is mined, and in the South, deciduous wood is mined.
• Textile industry. Includes the production of fabrics from natural and synthetic fibers.

What have we learned?

The main branch of the world economy is industry, which is constantly developing and thereby influences the geography of industrial sectors. Depending on consumer demand and, accordingly, the pace of development, industries are old, new and new. The latter predominate in rich, economically developed countries.

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Industry, as already noted, remains the leading sector of material production, and its share in the total volume of production of material production sectors is even growing.

The following factors can be identified in increasing the role of industry in the world economy:

1. The level of mechanization (as an industrial product) is growing in all sectors of the economy: for example, agriculture, the construction industry, trade, banking, even households increasingly require means of mechanization.

2. Natural raw materials (agricultural products) are increasingly being replaced by synthetic raw materials, which changes the structure of MX in favor of industry. For example, the production of synthetic raw materials requires appropriate equipment, i.e., industrial products.

3. A number of industries and industries are moving into the industrial sphere from other sectors of the economy. So, in particular:

The production of feed for livestock was previously exclusively a function of agricultural production, but now a powerful feed industry has been created;

Construction is increasingly turning into industrial production for the assembly of finished structures;

In trade, activities such as packaging and packing moved into industry.

4. Food products (as traditional agricultural products) increasingly come into consumption after industrial processing. This fact also indicates an increase in industrial production.

Fuel and energy complex - tek

The structure of the fuel and energy complex in MX is determined by the types of used primary energy and balance between them. Let us visualize the sources of primary energy and the corresponding types of secondary energy resulting from the transformation (Table 1.4).

Table 1.4

Types of primary and secondary energy

Types of primary energy	Corresponding types of secondary (converted) energy
Hard and brown coal	Coke, agglomerates, electricity
	Gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, fuel oil
Natural gas	Energy from thermal power plants
	Hydraulic energy
Uranium, etc. ore	Atomic Energy

The structure of consumption of primary energy resources in MX is as follows:

Oil - 41.2%;

Solid fuel - 28.3%;

Gas – 22.3%;

Nuclear energy - 9%;

Hydroelectric power stations and other non-traditional sources constitute the rest of consumption. Geography of energy consumption in MX:

Developed countries - 53%;

Developing - 29%;

CIS and Eastern European countries - 18%.

The world's largest sources of energy production:

Oil: Samotlor (Western Siberia, Russia); Saudi Arabia and Kuwait;

Gas: Komi Republic, Urengoy (Russia); Holland, USA.

Russia holds first place in the world in total oil and gas production.

Main trends in the development of the fuel and energy complex:

Significant growth in oil and gas production;

Coal, which was previously the main source of energy, is losing its former role;

The share of non-traditional energy sources (solar, for example) is increasing.

In general, the production and consumption of energy resources is growing. MX's annual energy demand is estimated at 11.7 billion tons of oil equivalent.

Thus, despite the use of progressive energy-saving technologies, energy consumption in the world is increasing: the expansion of global production and consumption also increases the need for energy (especially in developing countries).

However, in the 21st century. The overall demand for energy resources is expected to fall. Under the conditions of scientific and technical progress, the role of nuclear energy in the MX fuel and energy complex has increased (the development of this source is hampered by its unsafety for the environment).

The newest industries are high technology industries. They differ from the rest in their high knowledge intensity, that is, the highest level of costs for design, experimental, research and scientific work.

Such industries include: the creation of electrical equipment, microelectronics, the production of high-precision radio-electronic instruments, the production of computer equipment, computer science, the aviation and rocket industries, robotics, microbiological, space and nuclear industries and others.

The newest industrial sectors are classified as high-tech depending on how deeply people participate in the technological process. The less participation of the latter, the higher the technology is considered.

Latest high-tech industries

Among the newest high-tech industries, the following stand out:

• Social technologies. This industry is the sum of certain techniques and influences that are used to achieve set goals through social development. It is also designed to solve various social problems, change human consciousness and influence him. Examples of such goals, for example, in business are tasks for which technologies such as brainstorming, reflective gaming technology, and business games are used. In politics, such a goal may be ideological influence and influence on public opinion. On a national scale, these technologies are used to create country development plans.

• Electronics industry and physical research. The most important developments in these industries concern the study of electrons and electromagnetic fields, microworlds, ways to create methods for storing data using electromagnetic energy, and more.

• Microelectronics and the creation of artificial intelligence (in the form of computer programs and intelligent machines).

• Wireless technologies, telematics and telecommunications. This industry studies and creates ways to transmit information using laser, optical or other radiation.

• Robotics is the most important branch of development in the field of production intensification.

• – the field of fundamental and applied sciences, working with practical and theoretical methods of synthesis and analysis of methods for the production and use of products with a predetermined atomic structure.

• Alternative energy and energy saving are promising areas that study the production, transmission and use of energy. They are not yet widespread, but they are interesting due to the expected benefits in the future. This type includes nuclear, hydrogen, solar energy, waste recycling and water and air purification.

• Security systems are the field of study of biometrics and electronic analyzers.

• Navigation technologies – creation of tracking and data transmission systems.

• Defense and dual-use technologies. This type includes technologies that are simultaneously used for the manufacture of weapons and for enterprises in civilian industries. This group includes rocketry, spacecraft manufacturing, and aircraft manufacturing.

• Biotechnological disciplines, microbiology. Studying the possibility of using meth odes of genetic engineering.

• Nootropic research. Carrying out developments in the field of neurometabolic stimulants that change the functions of the higher parts of the brain: stimulating mental activity, improving memory, increasing learning ability, resistance to heavy loads and hypoxia.

• Bioindustry and pharmaceuticals. This is the sphere of production and study of the latest enzymes, antibiotics, and selection methods using genes.

Industrial geography is a branch of economic geography that studies the location of industrial production, its factors and patterns, conditions and features of the development and location of industry in various countries and regions.

For industrial geography, the following important features of industrial production are most significant:

• a clear and far-reaching division into industries, the number of which is constantly increasing, especially during the period of the modern scientific and technological revolution;
• the exceptional complexity of production, technological and economic relations, due to the versatility of types of industrial enterprises;
• variety of forms of social organization of production (combination, specialization, cooperation);
• the formation of local and regional production-territorial combinations (in socialist conditions, systematically, mainly in the form of complexes);
• high degree of production and territorial concentration (of all types of material production, industry is the least evenly distributed across the earth's territory), associated with the need for certain conditions for this type of production (availability of raw materials, energy, personnel, need for products, favorable economic and geographical location, provision of infrastructure etc.).

Industry (from Russian promyshlyat, trade) is a set of enterprises engaged in the production of tools, extraction of raw materials, materials, fuel, energy production and further processing of products. In geography it is considered as a branch of the economy.

Industry consists of two large groups of industries:

1. Mining.
2. Processing.

Since the 19th century, industry has been the basis for the development of society. And although today only about one in six workers works in industry, this is still a lot - approximately 17%. Industry is a vital part of the world economy, and at the national economic level it is an industry on which the achievements of the entire national economy of any state depend.

Depending on the time of their origin, all industries are usually divided into three groups: old, new and new industries.

Old industries: coal, iron ore, metallurgical, textile, shipbuilding.

New industries: automotive industry, aluminum industry, plastics production.

Latest industries(emerged in the era of scientific and technological revolution): microelectronics, nuclear and aerospace production, chemistry of organic synthesis, microbiological industry, robotics.

Currently, the role of new and innovative branches of industrial production is increasing. Leading countries in terms of total industrial production: USA, China, India, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Japan, France, Indonesia, Australia, Italy, etc.

Natural Gas Industry

By 1990, Eastern Europe became the leader in production, with the USSR playing a leading role. Significant gas production emerged in Western Europe and Asia. The result was a change in the geography of the world gas industry. The USA lost its monopoly position, and its share decreased to 1/4, and the USSR became the leader (now Russia has retained its leadership). Russia and the United States concentrate half of the world's natural gas. Russia remains stable and the world's most important gas exporter.

Coal industry

Coal is mined in more than 60 countries of the world, but over 10 million tons of them. 11 countries produce annually - China (Fu-Shun deposit), USA, Russia (Kuzbass), Germany (Ruhr), Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan (Karaganda).

Coal exporters are the USA, Australia, South Africa.

Importers - Japan, Western Europe.

Oil industry

Oil is produced in 75 countries of the world, the leaders are Saudi Arabia, Russia, the USA, Mexico, the UAE, Iran, Iraq, and China.

Electric power industry of the world

The role of the electric power industry is to provide electricity to other sectors of the economy. And its significance in the era of scientific and technological revolution, especially with the development of electronicization and complex automation, is especially great.

Over 100 billion kilowatts per hour are generated in 13 countries - the USA, Russia, Japan, Germany, Canada, Italy, Poland, Norway and India.

In terms of electricity generation per capita, the leaders are: Norway (29 thousand kWh), Canada (20), Sweden (17), USA (13), Finland (11 thousand kWh), with a world average of 2 thousand .kW h.

Metallurgical industry of the world

Metallurgy is one of the main basic industries, providing other industries with structural materials (ferrous and non-ferrous metals).

For quite a long time, the size of metal smelting almost primarily determined the economic power of any country. And all over the world they were growing rapidly. But in the 70s of the 20th century, the growth rate of metallurgy slowed down. But steel remains the main structural material in the global economy.

Forestry and wood processing industry of the world

The timber and wood processing industry is one of the oldest industries. For a long time, it has provided other industries with construction materials and raw materials. The main importers of wood are Japan, Western European countries, and partly the USA.

Includes: logging, primary forest processing, pulp and paper industry and furniture manufacturing

Light industry of the world

Light industry meets the population's needs for fabrics, clothing, footwear, as well as other industries with specialized materials.

Light industry includes 30 large industries, which are combined into groups:

• primary processing of raw materials;
• textile industry;
• clothing industry;
• shoe industry.

The main exporters are Hong Kong, Pakistan, India, Egypt, Brazil.

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest industries. But in terms of the number of employees and the value of products, it still ranks first among all sectors of world industry. Mechanical engineering determines the sectoral and territorial structure of industry and provides machinery and equipment to all sectors of the economy.

North America. Produces about 30% of all engineering products. Almost all types of products are present, but especially worth mentioning is the production of rocket and space technology and computers.

Foreign Europe. The volume of production is approximately the same as in North America. Produces mass production, machine tool and automotive products.

East and Southeast Asia. It stands out for its precision engineering products and precision technology products.

CIS. 10% of the total volume is allocated to heavy engineering.

Chemical industry of the world

The chemical industry is one of the vanguard industries that ensures economic development in the era of scientific and technological revolution.

There are 4 large regions of the chemical industry:

1. Foreign Europe (Germany leads);
2. North America (USA);
3. East and Southeast Asia (Japan, China, Newly Industrialized Countries);
4. CIS (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus).

The chemical industry has a significant impact on nature. On the one hand, the chemical industry has a wide raw material base that allows it to recycle waste and actively use secondary raw materials, which contributes to a more economical use of natural resources. In addition, it creates substances that are used for chemical purification of water and air, plant protection, and soil restoration.

On the other hand, it itself is one of the most “dirty” industries that affects all components of the natural environment, which requires regular environmental protection measures.