Chemical Engineering Economics

: These resources are available to UT-Austin students, faculty, and staff only.
All print materials

listed are in the Chemistry Library unless otherwise noted.
Entries marked with a

(star) are particularly useful.

JUMP TO: Trade News: Chemical Prices, Cost Indexes | Web Resources | Indexes: Business | Indexes: Technical | Books

Getting Started: General Reference Sources

Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of chemical technology. 5th ed.: Reference TP 9 K54 2004; Core information source presents a wealth of information on preparation, manufacturing processes, uses of materials, properties of chemical substances, and chemistry fundamentals. This should be your first stop when looking for process information for major chemical products. Chapters on important industrial products usually contain a section on economics, pricing, and production. Also available online.
Ullmann's encyclopedia of industrial chemistry. 7th ed.: Reference TP 9 U57 2011, 40 vols.; Comprehensive coverage of industrial chemistry topics. Complements Kirk-Othmer with more of a European focus.
Encyclopedia of chemical processing and design.: Reference TP 9 E66, 68 vols., 1976-99; Lengthy articles on chemical products and their processes, economics, equipment, and applications. The economic data are now way out of date, but figures may be extrapolated to current estimates by using the various cost indices.
Perry's chemical engineers handbook. 8th ed.: Handbook Table; Compendium of data tables and textual information on virtually every aspect of chemical engineering, including mathematics and physical/chemical data. Use the index as a starting point.
Kent & Riegel's handbook of industrial chemistry. 11th ed.: Reference TP 145 R54 2007; Handbook describing the chemistry and engineering principles underlying the chemical process industry; chapters cover specific segments of the industry.

Trade Magazines and Industry News

CHEMICAL PRICES:

There is no single, authoritative source of prices for bulk chemicals. The highest quality commercial sources are compiled for business subscribers and tend to be quite expensive, and are not available to an educational audience. Students must gather pricing information piecemeal from various trade publications and web searches. Some points to remember:

Some prices are volatile and change daily; others may be quite stable over long periods of time.
Prices for a commodity differ according to manufacturer, location, quantity, grade, delivery mode, time of year, and other variables.
For estimation purposes it is advisable to consider average prices over a period of several months, rather than today's price.
Long term contract prices are often lower than spot prices.
In some cases a direct quote from a supplier will be the only source of price information.
You should not use research-quantity prices for plant estimation purposes. (For laboratory-grade chemicals, see the Chemical Suppliers and Catalogs page.)

COST INDEXES:

The principal indexes used to estimate plant costs are published in the magazines listed below. They are: CE Plant Cost Index, Marshall & Swift, Vatavuk Air Pollution Control (in Chemical Engineering); Nelson-Farrar (in Oil & Gas Journal); ENR CCI (in ENR).

PUBLICATIONS:

The links in this section are to the home pages of these publications; access to most content requires a personal subscription. Some full text can be found via Business Source Complete, where noted in the descriptions. Print issues are shelved by title in the Chemistry Library except where noted. The

indicates a title useful for pricing news.

ICIS chemical business.

Weekly, 2005-forward print issues in Chemistry Library Journal Stacks

Some content (text only) is available online via Business Source Complete.

The Market Trends & Data column highlights current trends for selected chemicals and provides spot or contract bulk prices for a short list of major chemicals.

The Chemical Profile presents recent production and demand information for a particular product, including a price history. Profiles of about 50 chemicals are updated every 1-2 years and cover American, European, or Asian markets. We maintain a list of chemical profiles published since 2006.

ICIS offers a price report service for personal subscription. Some older sample reports are available free with registration. A static list of indicative prices from August 2006 is also freely available. [Reed Elsevier]

Chemistry Library Journal Stacks [Catalog Record]

Each month CE updates various cost indexes important for estimation purposes: Marshall & Swift, CE Plant Cost Index, Vatavuk Air Pollution Control Cost Index. CE publishes an annual Buyers' Guide directory each fall. [McGraw Hill]

Chemistry Library Journal Stacks

Some full text available online via Business Source Complete.

The weekly "CW Price Report" appeared in print until mid-2010, when it was split off into a separate online service called PriceWatch available for personal subscription. CW also publishes the annual Buyers' Guide directory. [IHS]

Chemical and engineering news.

Chemistry Library Journal Stacks

Weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society. C&EN does not report pricing data, but it publishes occasional profiles of industry segments as well as annual statistical features such as "Facts and Figures for the Chemical Industry" (usually in July) and employment and salary outlooks.
To search C&EN from August 1998 forward, use the search box on the magazine's home page. To search earlier content in the C&EN Archives, use the ACS Advanced Search form, specify C&EN in the publication list, and adjust the date ranges accordingly. UT-Austin no longer subscribes to C&EN Online, but the results of a search give you the citation to look up in our print collection. Some recent articles and features are freely accessible. [ACS]

Chemistry Library Journal Stacks

News and research from the petroleum refining industry. [Gulf Publishing]

TN 860 O4 Geology Library

Newsmagazine for the petroleum refining and exploration industries. Contains the Nelson-Farrar Cost Index for petroleum refinery construction. Follow the link from the Library Catalog to see options for full-text access. [PennWell]

TA 1 E6 Engineering Library

Newsmagazine for the engineering and construction industries. Contains a construction cost index. [McGraw Hill]

Web Resources

BuyersGuideChem: Based in Germany.
Chembargains.com: Online marketplace for chemical companies (most in China), manufacturers, importers, and buyers. This site can give you an idea of what specific chemicals are selling for currently in the international market.
ChemBuyersGuide.com: International meta-catalog site.
ChemicalBook: Chinese chemical product database with global supplier information.
Chemical Economics Handbook: Produced by IHS (formerly by SRI), the CEH is an important source of commercial chemical market analysis. Its periodic reports on major commodity chemicals are very expensive: a single report on a pay-per-view basis costs $3,000 and up. The abstracts are publicly available.
Chemical Engineering Buyers' Guide: Search for products or companies, or browse by category.
ChemicalRegister.com: An international "yellow pages" site listing thousands of chemical products and producers.
Chemical Week Buyers' Guide: Browse by type of service/product, and search by supplier, product, tradenames, etc.
ICIS Search: Searchable database of chemical products and suppliers. Includes the annual OPD Chemical Buyers Directory, which is also available in the library.
IHS Chemical: IHS has acquired most of the major chemical market intelligence companies in recent years, including Chemical Market Associates (CMAI), SRI Consulting, and the magazine Chemical Week.
London Metal Exchange: Current price and trading information for non-ferrous metals and plastics. Registration required to view some data.
LookChem: A trading site of chemicals from various suppliers, mostly in China.
ThomasNet: ThomasNet (formerly the Thomas Register) profiles North American companies that manufacture various products and commodities. Search by product name or browse in the chemical categories. Includes a White Paper library of market analyses and case studies.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: PPI: The BLS provides interactive tables of Producer Price Index data for commodities including chemicals.
U.S. Census Current Industrial Reports: Government data on production and shipment of important manufactures, including chemical.
U.S. Geological Survey Minerals Information: "Statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of minerals and materials essential to the U.S. economy, the national security, and protection of the environment." Includes annual reports on commodity minerals.
U.S. Petroleum Prices: Current and historical prices for crude oil, gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and propane, along with analysis and updates. [US EIA/DOE]

Indexes: Business and Trade Journals, Statistics, and News Sources

Business Source Complete: Indexing and full text to thousands of business and trade journals. The best way to search for price information on a particular chemical is to use an accepted trade/generic name or abbreviation for the chemical with the keyword pric*, and apply a recent date limit:
butadiene and pric*
Business and Company Resource Center: Provides access to company profiles, company brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies, and periodicals.
Factiva: Updated daily. A global information resource, providing full-text access to top national and international newspapers (including full text of the Wall Street Journal), newswires, business journals, market research reports, analysts reports and web sites. Contains over 8000 publications, with some coverage of chemical trade publications.
Lexis-Nexis Academic: Extensive business and financial news and data source.

Indexes: Technical Literature

SciFinder (Chemical Abstracts): Comprehensive indexing of the worldwide literature in all areas of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related disciplines. (CAS does not cover business/trade publications.)
Engineering Index: Coverage of the worldwide journal and conference literature in all fields of engineering.

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