I&EC REPORTS & COMMENTS Advanced chemical technology and the new engineers Spinodal transformation and phase change
Advances in Chemical Technology: Industry’s and Educators’ Challenge
9D
The problem of creating creative technical men to fulfill the changing need of the chemical process industry’s changing technical effort is vexing academic circles, industrial firms, professional societies, and technical publishers. We are reaching the point where we need to unite the intense physical insight of the scientist with the pragmatic assessment of the engineer to fulfill the process industry’s R&D needs. One imperfect answer to this problem is the “Ph.D. syndrome”; other more balanced solutions must be sought. So implied C. M. Cooper of Du Pont a t a recent ASEE panel discussion, where he declared the need for re-examination of chemical engineering education. Cooper suggests that more effort is warranted to present chemical engineering as a rewarding and creative function rather than one performed by graduate technicians. H e questions whether or not present commoncore engineering curricula can foster development of creative engineers and speculates that scientist-trained types may continue to shift careers and perform the creative engineer’s function. Basic to the problem of educating the kind of engineers needed are: a misalignment of new fundamental knowledge with practice, a resistance of some process industries to emerge from tradition, and a related lack of emphasis on modern chemical technology. A measure of progress is manifest in the activities of technical publishers, professional societies, and the academic spheres. An example is Pierre Le Goffs reappraisal of chemical technology which gives a new fundamental view of chemical engineering [I&EC,
56 (2)’ 18 (1964)l. Another sign is the AIChE progress in response to the 1961 Report of its Committee on Goals. Still another is the redesign of some chemical engineering curricula to emphasize chemical and physical kinetics, and to relate molecular structure to properties of solids. Industry’s Role. But, if these efforts are to be of avail, industry must keep pace with development of new technology, and hence must utilize the new breed of chemical engineer. Signs of progress are manifest in industry.as they are in other spheres. Many companies are emerging from the traditions set by the early petroleum processing trade, to which we may attribute the development of the unit operations. These firms are turning away from marginal innovations of physical technology to profit-yielding advances in chemical technology. N. MacLeod of Edinburgh University notes this trend [Brit. Chem. Eng. 10 (6), 397 (1965)l and queries just how educators are going to train innovators for the era of chemical technology. Chemicals and materials producers are today solving this problem both here and abroad. For example, the traditional paint industry of yesterday has become the sophisticated protective coatings industry of today (see p. 52), and the rubber industry is the center of great polymer progress (see p. 70). The shift of emphasis from process to product engineering is striking, as chemists, mathematicians, and physicists are joining forces with the new breed of engineers to formulate better materials to fulfill marketing opportunities. Manufacturers of equipment for
the process industries have been less successful in utilizing the new breed of chemical engineer. One major chemical process equipment supplier admits to I&EC that he finds it impossible to use new graduates in his new-equipment development program, because the job to be done involves new ways of applying traditional physical technology rather than chemical ways of applying new technology. This supplier hopes for progress in heavy-equipment and systems development as manufacturers collaborate with chemical manufacturing customers in research and development. Process control systems suppliers are shining examples of such performers. Educators’ Role. Inevitably, the problem falls back into the lap of the educator, as he must supply the new breed of chemical engineer to cope with the new problems of the process industries. Exactly how do you teach creativity, and what tools do you give the blossoming engineer so he can work with the physicist and the chemist to achieve innovations? Other formidable problems are how to cram the expanding chemical technology into a workable curriculum and how properly to relate advancing chemical technology to the more mature physical technology. As these and other hurdles are attacked, academic and industrial thinking will be unavoidably, yet hopefully temporarily, dislocated. This dislocation is already obvious at society meetings, in industrial standards of technical excellence, in curriculum revamping, and in changed publication philosophies. The current content and philosophy of I&EC seek to deal with these realities. VOL. 5 7
NO. 8
AUGUST 1965
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Westfalia’s OEP for wash -extraction of
polymer-solvent stream$ If you need high volume separation of “sticky” acid-oil, acid-solvent or causticsolvent mixtures, the new WESTFALIA OEP heavy duty “Liquid-SEAL” Separator is your answer. The OEP is fast (up to 2650 gph), and lets you handle corrosive materials with ease. Compare the slow-poke output of settling tanks with a single- or multi-stage installation of OEPs. And the “Liquid-SEAL” OEP is good news for users of hermetic centrifuges: Now you can forget about corroded-out mechanical seals (carbon-stellite and others) ,not to mention hours of downtime for seal replacement, Since the “Liquid-SEAL’’ design of the OEP permits enclosed low pressure feed and pressure discharge, you can also forget about oxidation, foaming and liquid losses inherent in open systems. For help with your extraction or separation problems, write, wire or call Centrico, Inc., distributors of the complete line of world-famous WESTFALIA centrifuges.
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A growing application of the OEP is multi-stage wash-extraction in poly. mer production plants. Here the light phase liquids (caustic, acid and water) are introduced in successive stages into the heavy phase (solvent), through a unique integral mixing head. There is no limit to the number of stages,
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INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
I&EC R E P O R T S
Spinodal Transformation versus Nucleation The important role that spinodal transformation may play in physical separation operations was the subject of very active discussion at the I&EC Division’s Symposium on Nucleation Phenomena last month in Washington, D. C. Spinodal transformation involves spontaneous, nonactivated unmixing of homogeneous multicomponent phases into zones of slightly differing composition. Papers presented by D. R. Uhlman of Haryard University and J. Hilliard of Northwestern University direct particular attention to spinodal transformation. Symposium Chairman Alan Michaels of MIT points out that this phenomenon may play an important role in multicomponent distillation near critical conditions, in recrystallization processes in polymers, and in impurity-removal during fractional crystallization of organic and inorganic compounds. Spinodal transformation was first anticipated by J. Willard Gibbs, who also fathered many other relationships still used today to predict kinetics of nucleation phenomena. Also borne out a t the symposium was the large extent to which Gibbs’ relationships still provide the thermodynamic foundation for nucleation theory.
1965 MATERIALS OF CONSTRUC. TlON REVIEWS-43 PAGES The Annual Reviews on Materials of Construction appearing in this issue are available for $1 .OO as a combined reprint for your convenience in using and filing the important compilation of facts they contain. Order now from : Reprint Department ACS Publications 1155 Sixteenth Street N.W. Washington D. C. 20036
