Petrochemical - Definition and Overview

A petrochemical is any chemical derived from fossil fuel. These include purified fossil fuels such as methane, propane, butane, gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, aviation fuel, or fuel oil, and also include many agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, and other items such as plastics, asphalt and synthetic fibers. Also a wide variety of industrial chemicals are petrochemicals.