The film "Bitter Harvest/' a fictionalized account of the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination of animal feed in Michigan, was filmed in Petaluma and started Hodgkins thinking about the possibility of starting an analytical laboratory specifically designed to serve the needs of a city like Petaluma, which has a population of about 34,000. "I am not an intense environmentalist/' he says. "I just don't like stupidity. In the film, there was no one the farmer could go to to have his feed analyzed. In real life, that's probably still true. You might be able to get feed analyzed for â specific compound, but if you just go in and say, 'Something is wrong with this feed/ it isn't likely that you are going to get an answer in any reasonable period of time." As the idea developed, Hodgkins became convinced that such a laboratory also needed to be a clinical lab with the capability of doing emergency toxicology. Consequently, Hodgkins studied and became licensed in clinical toxicology. The result was AC&BL, which opened for business Jan. 1 of this year. With an initial investment of about $150,000, most of which came from local investors, Hodgkins has set up a small, efficient, analytical lab. He points out that other labs in the area are equipped to do basic inorganic analyses, and he does not want to compete with those labs. So he has set up for organic analysis. As such, he has equipped the lab with a capillary gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer-based detector; a high-performance liquid chromatograph; infrared, near-infrared, visible, and ultraviolet spectrophotometers; computers to control the instruments and store a library of reference spectra; and an electronic ultramicrobalance. An example of the types of clients AC&BL is attracting is the small, local winery, so many of which are located in the rural areas north of San Francisco. Hodgkins is encouraging local vintners to have mass spec or capillary GC "fingerprints" taken of their wines. "It started out as a forensics problem," he says. Brokers often purchase a lot of wine based on testing at the winery. When they receive it in bottles, it sometimes doesn't
taste like the wine they bought. A fingerprint taken at the time of tasting can reveal subsequent adulteration. The utility of such fingerprints can go beyond that, however, Hodgkins says. "What I'd like to see is vintners fingerprinting their best wines. Then, when they put out a wine in the same class that nobody can drink, they can fingerprint that and have a chance of figuring out what went wrong. At present, only the very largest wineries have that kind of capability. We can give the smaller wineries a chance to compete." In addition to local industry and agriculture, Hodgkins says AC&BL and the city of Petaluma soon will sign a contract for the lab to work with various city agencies such as the police and fire departments. One feature of the contract is a 50% public service discount. One project Hodgkins is working on with the fire department is the establishment of a hazardous materials incidents procedure.
A recent incident illustrates AC&BL's usefulness. At midnight on a Friday night, Hodgkins says, the local police called him at home. They had in custody a young man exhibiting psychotic behavior and suspected an overdose of l-(l-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine (PCP). They wanted confirmation. "Libby went to the hospital and picked up a blood sample," he says. "The worst part of it was that I had just taken down the GC to work on it on Saturday. So I put it back together again. By 3 AM we gave them the report. There was a very high PCP concentration in the boy's blood." Hodgkins says his is the only lab in northern California that could have done the analysis on such an emergency basis. Hodgkins has dreams of franchising the idea. "Apparently there is a need," he says. "We're not rich yet, but we just opened and we're already close to reversing our cash flow from negative to positive. That's not bad for just three months." Rudy Baum, San Francisco
Treatment prevents resin-bead fouling How do you cure fouled-up ion exchange resin beads? Wash 'em, says Nalco Chemical. The company has just introduced a preventive maintenance program, Resin Rinse, said to provide longer runs between regenerations, to reduce the amount of water and chemicals needed for regeneration, and to prolong resin life. The savings can be impressive, Nalco adds. Resin beads can be fouled in at least three ways. For example, Fe 2+ or Ba 2+ ions present in the feed water can be held so strongly by cation exchange resins that they aren't removed by normal regeneration. In addition to "tying u p " exchange sites, the ions eventually build up to form particles that impede water diffusion and break down the resin backbone. Another mechanism is surface adsorption, where bacteria or mole- Cation gel resin beads ( top) are surcules form a condensed layer on the face-fouled with iron and bacteria. beads. These layers are generally Beads taken from the same bed after hydrophobic, so that water flows treatment with Nalco's Resin Rinse around rather than through the {bottom) are free of fouling May 2, 1983 C&EN
39
Technology
AIC AWARD
beads. As a result, Nalco says, more than 90% of the active sites can be bypassed. The third cause is inner matrix migration—the gradual penetration of insoluble ions or molecules into the pores of the resin beads. A normal backwash /regeneration cycle isn't long enough to remove all the contaminants that have accumulated during a service cycle of many hours, Nalco says. Organic fouling of anion exchange resins is an example of this last mechanism. Whatever the causes, the results are lower capacity, shorter runs between regenerations, and eventually the need to replace the entire resin bed. Sometimes, batch treatment with chemicals can restore some of the lost capacity, Nalco says, but the results are varied and usually only temporary. Prevention is a better approach. The Nalco method is to improve diffusion rates by removing foulants during the backwash cycle. A nonylphenol-type detergent is added "to change the hydrophobic properties of resin foulants to hydrophilic," Nalco says, while backwash turbulence helps remove adsorbed contaminants mechanically. Then, following the backwash treatment, better contact of régénérant with resin helps to remove ionic foulants. Repeated treatment also prevents foulants from migrating into the resin matrix and, over time, even will remove large molecules trapped in resin pores—so-called irreversible fouling. In addition to chemicals, Nalco provides a comprehensive program that includes on-site analysis to identify fouling problems, customdesigned feeding systems, operator training, and backup service. Results can be impressive, the company says, citing the case of a paper mill where fouling of demineralizer resins had cut run lengths from 300,000 gal to 150,000 gal in four and a half years, causing bed replacement to be contemplated. Batch treatment with the Resin Rinse program immediately increased run lengths to 180,000 gal. After one year of preventive treatment, runs increased to 227,000 gal. According to Nalco, the program paid for itself in about two months. D
Mary Good receives 1983 AIC Gold Medal
40
May 2, 1983 C&EN
Throughout her career, Mary Lowe Good has made outstanding contributions to chemistry—not only as a distinguished research scientist, but also as an effective teacher, a hardworking leader in professional society activities, and, lately, as a chemical industry executive. Last week the American Institute of Chemists took formal note of those contributions by awarding her its Gold Medal for 1983. The medal, AIC's highest award, has been given annually since 1926 to "a person who has stimulated activities of service to the science of chemistry or the profession of chemist or chemical engineer in the U.S.A." AIC notes that Good is the first woman to receive the award "by herself." (The 1929 Gold Medal was presented jointly to Francis P. and Mabel B. Garvan. Though the Garvans made many contributions to chemistry, neither was a chemist.) Good received her Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry at the University of Arkansas. In 1954 she began her teaching career at Louisiana State University. In 1958 she moved to the University of New Orleans, where she was named Boyd Professor of Chemistry. In 1979 she returned to LSU, this time as Boyd Professor of Materials Science in the division of engineering research. Then in 1981 she embarked on a new career in industry, as vice president and director of research at UOP Inc. Good's major fields of research have included materials characterization, solid-state and surface chemistry, marine corrosion, the study of transition metal complexes exhibiting low dimensional magnetic properties, the complex chemistry of ruthenium, and the characterization of supported ruthenium catalysts. Her work in these and other fields led to the publication of about 100 journal articles and a book. It also made her a logical choice for her current position at UOP. The medalist's services to professional organizations are too many to catalog here. Among others, she has held a succession of local and national offices in the American Chemical Society. In 1972 she was
elected to the ACS Board of Directors, of which she served as chairman in 1978 and again in 1980. Currently, Good is president of the inorganic division of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry, a member of the ACS Committee on Chemistry & Public Affairs, and vice-chairman of the National Science Board. In addition to the AIC Gold Medal, Good's honors and awards include the ACS Garvan Medal (1973), the Delta Kappa Gamma Teacher of the Year Award (1974), the ACS Florida Section Award for Outstanding Research, Teaching, and Public Service (1979), and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Arkansas (1979). In a recent interview at UOP's research center in Des Plaines, 111., Good talked of a number of things, including the transition from academic to industrial life. It hasn't been all that hard, she says. Of course, Good notes, she now has a bigger organization to direct. UOP's corporate research staff numbers about 400 people, of whom about half are "professional" and half are technical support personnel. In addition, UOP's various divisions have their own R&D operations.
