Fundamental of applied chemistry

Applied Chemistry:
Applied chemistry is the application of the principles and theories of chemistry to answer a
specific question or solve a real-world problem, as opposed to pure chemistry, which is
aimed at enhancing knowledge within the field. The investigations of properties of chemicals
and use of these chemicals for the betterment of human life. Applied chemists are more
concerned with the chemistry that have some sort of commercial, technical or medical use
doing basic researches and their applications.

Chemical industry development in Nepal is very crucial. Chemical industry contributes

indirectly to almost every sector of every economy. The products of the chemical industry
can be divided into three categories:

i) Basic chemicals: They are commodity or bulk chemicals produced in large volumes and
purchased on the basis of chemical composition, purity, and price. For eg: ethanol, polymers,
fertilizers, pesticides, etc.

ii) Functional chemicals or specialty chemicals: These are of a specific categories used in
further manufacture and covers very high valued chemical and sold at a very high margin or
profit. For eg: flavorings, perfumes, premiums, cosmetics, adhesives, industrial gases,
electronic chemicals, etc.

iii) Fine chemicals or consumer chemicals: Specialized finished products are transformed
from raw materials by undergoing various chemical processes in the chemical plants. For eg:
detergents, drugs, paints, soap, cosmetics, etc.

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY AND ITS IMPORTANCE

 The industries which are involved in the production of various chemical products through
chemical reactions and their trades are the chemical industries.

 Various professionals like scientists, chemical engineers, technicians, chemists are involved
in such industries.

 Chemical industries manufacture a large number chemical materials used in various fields
like agriculture, food, polymers, plastics, pharmaceuticals, petro-chemicals, fertilizers,
pesticides, dyes, constructions etc.

 Agriculture & Food, Petro-chemistry, Biochemistry, Forensics, Paints, Inks, Pigments and
Coatings, Automobiles, Construction, Personal Care, Biotechnology, Pharmaceuticals,
Chemical Engineering etc. are the fields of Applied Chemistry.

 Applied chemistry is increasingly important in solving environmental problems and

contributing to the development of new materials, both of which are key issues in the
21st century.

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  It uses simple and cheap raw materials and turns it to valuable items. The products of
chemical industry are always importance to human life. It is the sign of economic
development of country.

Stages in Producing a New Product

i) Idea generation: The first step of product development is an idea generation. Idea of
producing new products is due to the collective brainstorming ideas through internal and
external sources.

ii) Screening: The second step is an idea screening. This stage is concerned with selecting the
best and most feasible idea among the ideas generated at the first step.

iii) Concept development and testing: At this step, the selected idea is moved into

development process. For the selected idea, different product concepts are developed.

iv) Business analysis: During this step, the market strategies are developed to evaluate

market size, product demand, growth potential, and profit estimation for initial years.

v) Product development: The concept, further, moves to production of finalized product. Here
the research and development department plays a key role in developing a physical product
for commercial production.

vi) Market testing: Now the product is ready to be launched in the market with a brand name,
packaging, and pricing. Before full scale launching, the product is exposed to a carefully
chosen sample of the population, called test market.

vii) Commercialization: During this phase the product is produced in bulk on a continuous basis
and launched across the target market with a proper marketing strategy and plan. This is the
stage from which the product diffusion phase begins.

Economics of production:-
When a new company is established then first the economics of the plant is considered.
Economics of a company depends on main two factors-

Inputs - Raw materials, energy, support services like research, quality control, transport,
security etc. and Output – Product(s) and side product(s)

Cost of production may be divided into two types

i) Fixed costs:- Labor, Maintenance, Safety, Lab services, depreciation etc.

ii) Variable costs:- Raw materials, Energy, Packaging, Transport etc.

Variable cost changes with the amount of product made whereas fixed cost do not change
with the amount of product made.

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 The annual loss in value is called depreciation.

 Indicators of production:- To track output of a company three metrics are used.

1. Total product(TP):- Total quantity of product units that an industry can produce per unit
time.

2. Marginal product(MP):- Number of additional units that can be produced when an

industry has access to one additional unit of certain factor of production. It can be calculated
using the relation,

Where, TP1= TP at time 1, TP0= Initial TP , K0= Initial no. of units of the factor of production

K1= No. of units of the factor of production at time1

3. Average product(AP):-

Total product divided by the number of units of a certain factor of production. It can be
calculated using the relation,

Cash flow in production cycle

 The cash flow in the production cycle is the time it takes a company to turn raw
material into cash. It is also known as the cash conversion cycle which refers to the
time between purchasing the raw materials used to make product and collecting the
money from selling the product.
 When a company start manufacturing a product, until the final product reaches into
the market the company spends money. For the money, burrow from bank or profit
from previous year.
 Company must take patents. Patent is the detailed description of the product and its
method of manufacture. Once a patent is registered, another company or individual
cannot use the method described in the patent to make the same product.
 A company will also take out the copy right on a brand name. Patent has definite life
time (generally 15 to 20 years). After running the patent act, other companies can
enter the market using the method developed by original copy.

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Fig: Graph showing how cash flow
changes during the life of project
Graph shows the trend how cash flow in
the production varies through the life of
project. Here, a negative cash flow means
the company is spending out more money
than it is getting in. In this figure the
graph reaches a minimum (y) at four
year. This is the time taken for the
research, development and construction
of plant. Company can make product to
sell only after this period. After ‘y’ the
graph usually climb upwards as profit are
made. The profits being used to reduce
the overdraft run up in first four years. It
is seen that only after seven years(z) the
graph rises to show a positive cash flow.
This is the point where true profits are
made. After patent is run out, competition
brings decline the profit.

Running a Chemical Plant

 A chemical plant is an industrial plant that manufactures chemical by chemical

reactions which uses specialized equipments, units and technologies for the
manufacture of chemicals. For running a chemical plant, a chemical plant manager
always aspires to hire the creative individuals who can think for themselves, analyze a
complex problem and solve it quickly.

 Manufacturing processes frequently involve high temperature, pressure, and reactions

which may be dangerous unless carefully controlled.

 The chemicals used and manufactured may be toxic, combustible, corrosive,

explosive. So special precautions, control measures and security measures should be
taken while running a chemical plant.

Running a chemical plant is divided into following parts:-

1. Process control:-

Process controllers are the instruments that gather all the information signals and send
automatically to control room from where the operations of the plant are conducted. In
control room all the parameter like temperature, pressure, concentration of chemicals flow
rates etc. are displayed.

2. Workers:-

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Varieties of workers organized into departments, sections etc. work in an industry . Workers
include engineers, plant operators, maintenance technicians, chemists, administrative staffs,
labors etc.

3. Transport:- Huge amounts of raw materials enter and products leave the industry daily.
For this a sound transport system is made. Some of the materials are transported through
pipelines as well.

4. Maintenance:- Two types –

i) Routine maintenance:- include regular inspections, sensors, replacement of exhausted

catalysts, mechanical parts etc.

ii) Non-routine maintenance:- Include investigating problems then fixing the issues like
leaks, mechanical failure of valves, pumps, compressors etc.

5. Statutory and regulatory compliance:- The major concern on running a chemical plant is
safety of all working in the plant. Different legislation mandates are followed by a chemical
plant to run it smoothly. The legislations include material safety, toxic substance control,
hazardous materials handling etc.

Designing a Chemical Plant

 While designing a chemical plant which is profitable, engineers consider about all
possible aspects of designing like piping, instruments, layout drawings, equipment
capacity calculation, safety studies, constructions of civil structures, equipment
installation, leak and pressure managements etc.

 Chemists study about the chemical reactions involved in the industry and other
chemical principles in the lab.

 Information’s collected by chemists are used by chemical engineers to convert into a

chemical process and increase the batch size or capacity.

 While designing a plant, the units of the plant are sized for the maximum capacity.

 All the requirements like pipes, pumps, compressors and other related equipments are
selected on the basis of flow capacity they have to handle.

 While designing a chemical plant chemical engineers use flow sheet diagrams to show
the sequence of equipments and unit operations in the overall process.

 The flow sheet is the key document or road map in the process design which may be
divided into three general types viz. Qualitative, Quantitative and Combined detail.

 Flow sheets are important because they show i) The streams concentrations, flow
rates & compositions ii) The operating conditions iii) Operating performance.

While running a chemical plant, there are two ways of processing

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1. Continuous processing 2. Batch processing

Continuous processing Batch processing

It is applied for such product whose 1.
demand is large and constant.
The continuous flow reactors are used
and less number of human resources are
needed.
The part of plants are automated with
less human interventions and they are
stopped only at the emergency and
maintenance.
For construction, huge capital
expenditure is required.
It is suitable for small quantities of
chemicals for research pharmaceuticals,
biochemical product
It is applied for product whose demand
is very less and is required at very high
level of purity.
2. The batch reactors are used and more
number of human resources are needed.
3. The parts can be maintained and
stopped time by time. It allows fine
control of conditions to produce
chemical of high purity.
4. For construction, small capital
expenditure is required.
5. It is suitable for highly demanded
chemicals like sulphuric acid, ammonia,
nitric acid, fertilizers etc

Environmental Impact of the Chemical Industry

Main group of chemicals

1. Potentially harmful inorganic elements such as arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury
(Hg) and lead (Pb), chemical elements such as gallium (Ga), and indium (In) and
oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and oxides of sulphur (SOx) are harmful and toxic gases.

2. Radioactive substance including naturally occurring radioisotopes, such as 238U

and its decay products 226Ra and 222Rn, isotopes like 137Cs and 90Sr, 243Am and 240Pu
affect the environment and human health because of their radiological and chemical
toxicity.

3. Synthetic chemicals like dichloro diphenyl tri-chloro-ethane (DDT), polychlorinated

biphenyls (PCBs) and poly brominated-diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are characterized by
their persistence and bio-accumulation properties.

4. Human and veterinary pharmaceuticals are endocrine disrupting chemicals

(EDCs), capable of disrupting animal and human hormone systems (including sex
and thyroid).

Chemicals in human life are essential and have adverse impacts on the environment
including pollutions, ocean acidifications, global warming, climate change, ozone
depletion, genetic modification of crops, non-biodegradability of inorganic chemicals,
dyes, paints and so on.