Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2008, 47, 7965–7966
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Preface: Juan Antonio Delgado Oyague (1943-2007) This issue of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Juan Antonio Delgado Oyague, who passed away in July 2007. All of the articles included in this special issue were written by friends and colleagues who have worked, more or less directly, with Dr. Delgado during his vast professional career. Dr. Delgado was born in Spain in January 1943. He graduated with a degree in Chemistry at Universidad Complutense (Madrid) in 1965, and also he obtained a Petroleum Chemistry and Technology Diploma at Escuela de Ingenieros de Minas (Madrid) in 1970. In 1968, he joined a Spanish petrochemical company called Empresa Nacional Calvo Sotelo (in those days) in the research department. In 1973, he obtained his Ph.D. Degree in Chemistry at Universidad Complutense. From his start with the company until 2001, his professional career developed in the research department, independent of the different names the company has had through the years: Calvo Sotelo, Enpetrol, EMP, Repsol Quı´mica, and, currently, Repsol YPF. All his efforts have been directed to research in a wide range of fields such as olefin polymerization, rubber synthesis, hydrogenation, and oxidation reactions.
In the last period, he had a special dedicated interest in the field of propylene oxide synthesis, not only in the coproduction of propylene oxide and styrene process (Repsol YPF has two industrial production plants operating in Spain), but also in the new process that implies propylene oxide synthesis via the reaction of propylene with hydrogen peroxide. Indeed, he encouraged the protection (in the form of patents) of some developments achieved by his team, regarding hydrogen peroxide synthesis from methylbenzyl alcohol oxidation, using molecular oxygen, as well as the epoxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide (obtained as described) and the integration of these two processes (oxidation and epoxidation). Some of us still can remember the days when some colleagues said that those types of processes were neither technically nor industrially feasible, whereas Juan Antonio convincingly defended the opposite. During his stay with the company, Juan Antonio was the author of several patents in a wide range of fields, such as sulfonates preparation, olefins oligomerization and copolymerization, acrylates and methacrylates synthesis, additives for lubricants, rubber synthesis, and propylene oxide synthesis. He is also the author of several articles in the same fields.
10.1021/ie800967n CCC: $40.75 2008 American Chemical Society Published on Web 10/29/2008
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After 2001, and until his premature death, Juan Antonio continued to collaborate with Repsol as an external consultant, working within Prof. J. L. G. Fierro’s team. His dedication and ideas have had a very important impact on the work done by this team for Repsol, and certainly all the group members are very grateful for his work. As a result of his demise, we have lost a very versatile man. He was able to think with both an academic and an industrial mind, mixing a practical mentality with a good
knowledge of the theoretical aspects of the chemistry. He has demonstrated that this is difficult but not impossible. Finally, we want to say that Juan Antonio not only remained scientifically active until his very last days, but he also maintained his personal life. His wife, his two sons, and his three grandchildren, without any doubt, are the people who most deeply influenced his life and knew him better than anyone, especially his wife, Maria Cruz.
M. Pilar de Frutos and Ana Padilla* Senior Scientific Researchers, Repsol Technology Centre, Móstoles 28931, Madrid, Spain IE800967N
