Chemical Process Industries, Origin and Growth

Definition: Any definition and description of the chemical process industries is bound
to be incomplete. Most processes in the chemical industries involve a chemical
change. The term chemical change should be interpreted to include not only
chemical reactions but also biochemical reactions and physicochemical changes, as
the separation and purification of the components of a mixture like petroleum crude in
the refinery. Purely mechanical changes are usually not considered part of the
chemical process, unless they are essential to later chemical/biochemical changes.
Perhaps a satisfactory definition of a chemical process industry is an industry
whose principal products are manufactured by processes based upon the
chemical/biochemical and physical principles included in the field of chemical
engineering. Basic purpose of chemical process industries is to start from an ore/raw
material and end up with a product through a series of chemical/ biochemical and
physical changes.
Origin and growth: The chemical process industries date back to pre-historic
period when man first attempted to control and modify his environment. Its growth
can be divided into two periods. Pre-scientific period which extended to the end of the
eighteenth century which was largely empirical, with little understanding of the basic
chemistry. In the scientific period of the last 200 years, the chemical process
industries have made phenomenal growth based upon the sound and organized
knowledge of chemical, biological and physical sciences.
Pre-scientific Chemical Industries:

Chemical process industries developed as any trade or craft.

Those who practiced the crafts were not of literate or learned class, so none of
the few remaining reports of early chemical process industries was written by
people actually involved in the craft.
More adequate reports are available from the beginning of the sixteenth
century.
No means of chemical analysis were available so the early craftsman had to rely
on previous art and superstitions.
Progress was slow and confusion great.
In the sixteenth century Oil of Vitriol was made from blue/green vitriol (now
known as cupric or ferrous sulfate).
In the same century, Oil of Sulfur was made by burning sulfur which was
initially much expensive than the former.
Probably the oldest chemical process industry is fermentation, although in its
earliest times it was more a folkcraft than an industry.
Ale, a type of beer used by Egyptians 3000 B.C. is the oldest fermented liquor.
Distillation began in the first century A.D., and by the 13th century its
application was a common place in Europe for distillation of fermented liquor.
Recovery and use of metals began before 4000 B.C. the first metals found were
gold and silver.

The first metal extracted from its ore was copper in Egypt and Mesopotamia
about 3500 B.C.
Vinegar( dilute acetic acid) was the earliest known acid formed on the oxidation
of fermented liquor
Nitric acid was made from saltpeter (KNO3) and ferrous sulfate by heating the
mixture and condensing the the distilled nitric acid.
Alkali found in ash was used as cleansing agent.
Soap was probably made by boiling ashes with a natural oil or fat.

Scientific Chemical Industries:

In late eighteenth-century, Europe interest in the scientific principles of chemistry
increased and there was great progress in the development of the industries.

In 1770-1773 oxygen was discovered by Swedish pharmacist independently and

by English Minister Joseph Priestley in 1774-1775.
At the same time French chemist Antone Lavoisier clarified the role of oxygen in
combustion.
Lavoisiers careful work in oxidation and other chemical fields did much to
establish chemistry on a sound quantitative basis.
During the year 1803-1808 John Dolton in England developed a workable
atomic theory which helped to explain how elements combined into molecules.
Thereby making it possible to consider chemical reactions on a quantitative
basis.
The increased understanding of chemical sciences led to improvements and
new developments in chemical processing.
The principal chemical industries in the early nineteenth century manufactured
alkalies, acids, and metals.
The organic chemical industries began to develop after 1850.
Cellulose was treated with nitric acid to produce nitrocellulose explosive.
Rubber was introduced in the early nineteenth century and was first vulcanized
the 1840s.
Ether and chloroform were made on a small scale for use as anesthetics.
Synthetic organic chemistry may be considered to date from 1828.
Wohler in Germany synthesized natural organic product urea from inorganic
ammonium cyanate.
The work of many great German chemists and William Perkin in England led to
the development of aniline dye industry.
In the mid of the nineteenth century (1857), the French Chemist Louis Pasteur
discovered role of microorganism in fermentation which played significant role
in the development of fermentation industries.
Now the industries are well-established and computerized and moving towards further
development.