Written by an author with over 38 years of experience in the chemical and petrochemical process industry, this handbook provides an analysis of the process steps for producing industrial hydrocarbons from various raw materials. It is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the external factors that influence production, such as costs, availability, and environmental legislation. An A-Z list of raw materials and their properties is presented along with comments on costs and availability. The specific processing operations described in the book include distillation, thermal cracking and coking, catalytic processes, hydro processes, thermal and catalytic reforming, isomerization, alkylation processes, polymerization processes, solvent processes, water removal, fractionation, and removal of acid gases. Flowcharts and descriptions of more than 250 innovative process technologies are also included.