Industrial Chemistry An Intensive Short Course Made Possible through the Cooperation of Area Chemical Industry Donald L. Gumprechi and Joseph S. Thrasher University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
It is a widely held belief that chemistry majors (both undermaduate and eraduate students) noine into industrv have fttle knowledge of what they will c e confronted with. This o~inionhas been voiced in a recent article (1)as well as from personal observations over 37 years in various industrial positions by one of us (DLG).I t has also been estimated (2)that at least 50%of chemistry undergraduates and 75%of graduate students go into the chemical industry. The vast majority of these students have never worked in the chemical industry and have little or no concept of industrial processes and eauinment or the tvoe of work that industrial chemists and kngineers do (3).6dnsequently they are poorly prepared to enter a job market in which they have to compete with more experienced professionals. A number of good a~vroacheshave been made toward solving this problem at other institutions (4). In order to assist our own graduates to be better prepared in industry, a course was developed in an attempt to remedy this situation. At one time an Industrial Chemistry course was offered at the University of Alabama, but the course was discontinued with the retirement of the instructor in ca. 1974. Consequently, the present course outline was developed by the authors starting from ground zero. The development of the course took advantaee of two situations that make it unique. The first was that the course was assigned to he taueht durinrr the Interim Term (between the end of the springsemesterand the beginning summer school). The second was the varied backgrounds of a large number of industrial contacts available to us, both local and out of state. The Interim Term covers a three-week period in which 3 hours of credit are granted. Consequently, it is a very intensive course covering 2% hours of lecture daily, plus two, 3-h "lab" periods twice a week. Students can only take one course durine the Interim Term. a fact that allowed for a somewhat flexible schedule. consequently the "lab" periods were devoted to on-site visits at a number of varied industrial chemical operations-sometimes two in one afternoon, depending on travel times required. In addition to the visits to chemical operations, we were able to obtain the services of a number of invited guest speakers who are experts in their various fields. We received an amazing amount of cooperation from all the companies and individuals involved to the extent that all travel expenses for out-of-town speakers were covered by the companies. The only out-of-pocket expenses incurred were lunch for one speaker and use of a university van. Incidentally, the entire class was invited to lunch by two of the companies visited, in addition to receiving company brochures, technical bulletins, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS's), and souvenir pens and hats. Of d l the companies contacted to provide visits or speakers, we received only one refusal. Tahles 1and 2 show the companies visited and the topics and background of the speakers. Additionally, two of our faculty members having current or previous industrial experience were called on as guest lecturers.
In addition to guest speakers and plant visits, the course included in-house lectures on various chemical processes that are more or less standard items in a course of this nature. On the first day of class each student was given a list and allowed to nick a tonic for a 10-15-min oral renort and a topic for a 10112-p &tten report, both to be bresented during the last week of class. In a few cases the student had Table 1.
Companles Furnlshlng Speakers andlor On-Slte Vlslts
1. SOTECH kc.. Tuscalwsa. AL 2. Chy of Tuscalwsa Water and Wastewater Treatmem Plams 3. Vista Chemlcal Company. Aberdeen. MS 4. Southem lonlcs Corp., West Point. MS 5. Goatings Consultams Inc.. Tuscalwsa. AL 6. Merichem Corp., Tuscalwsa. AL 7. Tuscalowa Testing Labs Inc.. Tuscalawa, AL 8. Hunt Oil Company. Tuscalwsa. AL 8. Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire and Rubber Company. Tuscalwsa, A1 10. Wenoha hc.. TuscaI~sa.AL 11. Georgla-Pacific Resin Cap.. Atlanta. GA 12. Bakelite Thermosets Ltd.. Tuscalwsa. AL 13. Gulf States Paper Corp., Demopolis, AL 14. Borden Chemical Co.. Louisville. KY, and Demopolis. AL 15. Chemical Waste Msnagemem bc.. Emelle. AL
of
Table 2.
Credentials of Speakers and Lecture Toplcs
1. F
2.
3.
4. 5. 0.
7.
8. 9, 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15.
m vice prwsldwnt of chemical sales-now head of consulting company-Sodlum Sulfite and Related Compounds. F m r swnlor sales representatlve--00w head of a surface coatings consulting company-Paint. Varnlsh. Lacquer-Surface Coatings. Current plant manager of a chemlcal mmpany-Chemical Plant Operations. A middle manager of a private analytical lab-Operating a Private Lab. Laboratory manager of a peholevm refinery-Petmleum Refining. Former Dlant manaoer of a chemical olam-now owner of a chemlcai 1-lnp mmpany-Manag ng e Chemical Plant. F m e r vice president of mahetlng and tschnlcal director-4hemical Mahetbg. Currem national sales manager-Chemical Sales. Current vice president of manufacturing and current technical dlrector of a paper mill-Pulp and Paper Technology. Current plant manager of a small resin plant and cunent technlcal m i c e representative of same company--Resin Plant Operations and Technical Service. C ~ n e n upper t level manager ot a waste disposal wmpany-Haw d l l q 01 Cnemical Wastes. Manager of water and wastewater treatment facilles-Water Treatment. Training dlrector of large tire and rubber plam4ubber Chemistry and Tire Manufamwe. Sales manager of small inorganic chemical oompany-Alum and Sdium Aluminate. Engineers horn large poly(vlny1chlwlde) manufacturingplam-Polylvinvl chloridel Manutactwe.
Volume 67 Number 4 April 1990
321
Table 3. Industrial Chernlstw C o u n e Schedule 1 Dav --
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4 Day 5
m y6
Day 7
A.M.: General todcs. assian industrial O~Pntunities, - reoons. . .. oatch YS.cominuo~soperation. w i t p(ocesses. nit operations. emtrgy. quai ly control, informstlonsources, major chemicals. major companies, palemr-Stan. P.M. Sod um Sulfiteand Related Compounds-Guest Lecturer. Visit Chemical p ant (MarichemCarp I and industrial lab IBTL Corp.). A.M.: Industrial Gases--oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, flualne, etc.-Faculty. P.M.: Glass lndusby-raw materials, composition, manufacture, special glasses, fiberglass-Staff. Quiz A.M. Chem cals from Coai--coal gas, ma1w. light oil, corn. d i ~ t ~ l lon. a t col ng, chsm cals ootained-Stan. P.M.: Vsit City of Tusca 0058 Water Tre81mem and Wastewater Treatment Plants. A.M.: Vlsn to Vista Chemical Company. P.M.: Vislt to Southern ionics Corp. A.M.: Paint, Varnish, Lacquer, Pigments. Vehicles. SolventsOUBst Lecturer. P.M. Sulfur and Sulfuric Acid--mining. Frasch p r o w s , aher sources, manufacturingprocesses. Baume', oleurn, spent acids-Stan. QUIZ A.M.: Petrochemlcals-raw materials, chemicals from memane, elhylene, propyiene, BTX, unit proceses-Stan. P.M.: Operation of a Private Analytical Lab-Guest Lecturer. Visit TUSC~~ODIB Testing Labs. A.M.: Rubber Chemisby-natural rubber, rymhetic rubber, styrene-butadiene, isoprene, acrylonitriie, thlokoi. neoprene-Staff. P.M.: Chior-alkali Industries-NaOH, C.i Na~C03,NaHC03, bleaching powder, unlt operations and unlt processes-Staff,
had some experience such as a summer job in industry or a co-op job and was allowed to give the oral report on a topic related to his or her experience. Additionally, there were five 15-20-min quizzes (the lowest grade was dropped) and a final exam covering the entire course. The course achedule is
... -----.
ahnurn in Tahl. ll W " .
. A .
A
The text used for the course (5) was considered to he an excellent source for a survey of chemical industries. Additional sources ( 6 )were a listing of the top 50 chemicals that included many simple flow diagrams. The course was available to juniors, seniors, and graduate students, and we intend to offer i t in alternate years in the future. As an added benefit resulting from a large number of visiting experts in industry, all students and faculty were
~ a 8y
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
A.M.: Petroleum Refining--crude 011. wnstituems of penoleum, natural gas, ligM distillates, intermediate distillates. heavy dlstillates waxes, residues-Guest Lecturer. P.M.:VisitUniroyal-GoodrlchTire and Rubber Co.. Visit Hunt Oil Reflnerv. A.M.: Resins and Plastics-phenolic, urea, melamine. polyester, alkyd, epoxy, polyelhyiene, polypropylenlhermets, thermoplastics-Staff. P.M.: Chemical Manufacturing and Chemical Plant Management--Guest Lecturer. A.M.: Symhetic Fibers-polyester, nylon, a q i l c , spandex, vinyls-Faculty. Quiz P.M.: Chemical Marketing-techniques. quailflcations,job oppwtunities, strategies-Guest Lecturer. A.M.: Industrial Environmsnt-career oppmtunities, what chemists do, degree advantages. CBENews Salary Survey-Staff. QUIZ P.M.: Chemlcal Sales-baining, travel, oppwtunities, technique-Guest Lecturer. A.M.: Pub Bnd Pmer ManufacNm-raw materials, Kran. sulfits. semichemical. black iiauar oroblems-Two ~~.~~ Guest Lecturers. Technical Service In Synthetic Resinscustomer problems, types of resln, problem solving-Guest Lecturer. P.M.: Visit Oulf States Paper Carp. Plam. Visit Borden Chemical Plant. Handling Chemical Wastes--containment structures, solidihling. pretreatment, problemsGuest Lecturer. P.M.: Visit Chemical Waste Management Inc. Treahnent Facility. Studem h a 1 Presentations. Hand in Wrltlen Presentations. Final Exam.
~~.
DBV12
~
Day 13
Day 14 Day 15
. .
invited to attend lectures given by outside speakers. One final note showing the value of personal contacts: one of our students was invited to an employment interview by one of the companies visited. Literature Clted
i &win, G. T. Shreuea Chemicd Process Industries.
5th ed.; McGraw-Hill: Naa. York.
."".. 6. la1 Chang,R.;Tikkanen, W.The TopFiffyInduslriolChsmicds: Random House: No.oa"
Yolk. 1988. lb) Chem.Ena.Npwa. 1989,67(151,11-14.
A Journal for High School Student Research Precollege students looking for a media in which t o publish the results o f their research may wish to submit articles t o the Journal of High School Student Research edited by Mike Farmer, J.H.S.S.R., P.O. Box 193, Tigerville, SC 29688.
322
Journal of Chemical Education
