Sources for Chemical Prices for Chemical Plant / Process Design (ChE161.1)
Library Contact: Carol Salomon e: salomo@cooper.edu t: 212-353-4187
Your course textbook refers you to the journal Chemical Market Reporter (CMR) for bulk chemical prices. However, since CMR ceased publication in 2006, the following alternative sources are suggested:
ICIS Chemical Business is supposed to be the successor to Chemical Market Reporter. The Cooper Union Library began subscribing to the print version of this publication in September 2007. Toward the back of each issue, in a section titled Markets Trends & Data, is a listing of Key Indicators that shows spot bulk prices and contract bulk prices for a selective list of about 15 widely-used chemicals. ICIS Chemical Business also has a section called Chemical Profile, which spotlights a different chemical each week To search for a specific chemical profiled in ICIS Chemical Business, use EBSCOhost MasterFILE Select (see Article Databases below).
ICIS historical chemical prices for student use: Until July of 2007, ICIS Chemical Business regularly published a list of prices for about 80 chemicals. Because of complaints from educational institutions about the loss of this list, ICIS has now made a price list freely available for student use. The prices were originally from August 2006, but many have been updated to reflect prices for the first quarter of 2007: http://www.icis.com/StaticPages/a-e.htm
Sigma-Aldrich: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com - lists prices for thousands of chemicals, albeit in very small amounts. You will need to extrapolate the price to get a figure that could be used in designing a chemical plant or process. Suppliers listed may also be willing to provide a free quote to a student for larger quantities.
Article Databases
The following databases can be used to search business and chemical journals for recent articles that mention recent prices or trends. Some may link directly to the full text of the article; in other cases you may have to track down the print journal.
EBSCOhost MasterFILE Select:
Cooper Library subscription, available campuswide and via Off-Campus Access login. This index will find articles profiling specific chemicals in ICIS Chemical Business and many other journals, but it will not necessarily find individual chemicals in a published list or table.
ABI-INFORM: At NYU. Indexes journals in business, trade and industry. Has the full text of ICIS Chemical Business, as well as over 4000 other titles. You can search for chemicals featured in articles, but you need to be aware that the contents of some tables of chemicals will not be keyword searchable, and you may need to do a more general search (for example: searching for the terms “chemicals” and “bulk prices”).
Business Source Premier: At NYU, via EBSCOhost interface. Provides full text for more than 7,400 scholarly business journals and other sources. Coverage includes virtually all subject areas related to business. Updated daily.
LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe: At NYU. Nearly 5,000 publications on the service span news, financial, medical, and legal information. The vast majority of the titles on LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe are available in full text, with a limited number available in abstract form.
TableBase: At NYU. Provides access to tabular information on companies, products, industries, countries, and markets, and in most cases links back to the full text of the article from which the tables/charts were obtained.
Datastream: At NYU, 6th floor Reference area, standalone terminal. An online database providing data on the financial markets of the world, comprehensive company data, commodity prices, foreign stock and bond indices, and time series from the IMF and OECD. Updated daily.
IF ALL ELSE FAILS (really): The Cooper Library has access to pay-per-search databases that only the librarians can search. Contact Carol Salomon (e: salomo@cooper.edu t: 212-353-4187).
Last updated December 3, 2007