• Hydroponics
Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture, the method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the mineral solution, or the roots may be supported by an inert medium, such as perlite or gravel. The nutrients in hydroponics can be from fish waste, duck manure, or normal nutrients. That there are countless methods and variations of hydroponic, some of these methods are the wicks or passive systems in which nutrient solution is drawn up through a number of wicks into the growing medium (figure 49). There is also the water culture system in which the roots of the plant are totally immersed in the water which contains the specific…show more content… Numerous other herbs can also be grown hydroponically, including oregano, rosemary, watercress, dill, parsley and sweet marjoram.
6.2.4 Petrochemical Industry
The petrochemical industry is related to oil and gas industry. It directly interfaces with the downstream sector of petroleum industry. Important petrochemicals include benzene, ammonia, acetylene, and polystyrene. Petrochemicals are used to produce a wide variety of materials, such as plastics, explosives, fertilizers, and synthetic fibers.
Petrochemical sector is considered as one of the major sectors in Kuwait as there are very well reputed companies in this field that have a strong presence in the middle east market and even the international market. There are many famous petrochemical companies in Kuwait such as Petrochemical Industries Company KSC, EQUATE Petrochemical Co and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company. Table 17 gives an overview of petrochemical industry in Kuwait.
Table 17 Main Petrochemical Companies in Kuwait (Source: www.meed.com).
Company Name Products Commercial Production
Equate Petrochemical Company Ethylene oxide, Ethylene glycol, Ethylene, Polyethylene 1997
Kuwait Paraxylene Production Company Benzene, Paraxylene…show more content… Kuwait’s economic growth is expected to increase the demand for manufactured products. The total size of value added of manufacturing sector in 2012 is estimated at $US7.7 billion. The chemicals sector represented 10% of manufacturing value add in 2012 or $US0.77 billion (Gulf Petrochemicals & Petrochemical Association, 2012). Figure 51 indicates manufacturing sector and petrochemical contribution to Kuwait economy. Figure 51 Kuwait GDP by main economic sectors (Source: GPCA, 2012).
Figure 52 indicates the market share of manufacture sector components including petrochemical industry. Figure 52 Manufacturing GDP by Sub-Sector (Source: GPCA, 2012).
Despite the fact that Kuwait economy is oil-based to a large extent, the contribution of petrochemical sector to the economy is well below the average compared with GCC countries. Table 18 shows the contribution of manufacturing sector and petrochemical sub-sector to the GDP of GCC countries.
Table 18 Manufacturing sector & Petrochemical sub-sector contribution to GGC countries (Source: GPCA,2012).
Country Manufacturing % share in GDP Petrochemical % share in GDP
Saudi Arabia 10.1 3.8
Oman 10.1 4.6
Qatar 9.9 3.5
Bahrain 15