Control nineteenth century technology

The principal technological developments in the control of air pollution by engineering during the nineteenth century were the stoker for mechanical firing of coal, the scrubber for removing acid gases from effluent gas streams, cyclone and bag house dust collectors, and the introduction of physical and chemical principles into process design. 

The progress of chemistry, associated with the industrial revolution, created a new scope for the preparation of novel polymeric materials based on renewable resources, first through the chemical modification of natural polymers from the mid-nineteenth century, which gave rise to the first commercial thermoplastic materials, like cellulose acetate and nitrate and the first elastomers, through the vulcanization of natural rubber. Later, these processes were complemented by approaches based on the controlled polymerization of a variety of natural monomers and oligomers, including terpenes, polyphenols and rosins. A further development called upon chemical technologies which transformed renewable resources to produce novel monomeric species like furfuryl alcohol. 

It is important to emphasize that the development of fiber optics technology is a fundamental cornerstone that allowed for the development of real in-line and in-situ monitoring spectroscopic techniques, as the sampling device can be placed at very harmful environments, while the spectrometer still sits in a process control room. Without the support of fiber optics technology, samples have to be prepared and placed inside the illuminated chambers (as performed in the lab since the nineteenth century) or pumped through sampling windows (as performed in advanced systems intended for process and product development, such as automatic continuous online monitoring of polymerization reactions (ACOMP) [37- 1] in order for spectral data to be obtained. 

The association of the chemical industry with pollution is not something that started only in the 1970s, however it is as old as the chemical industry itself In the nineteenth century, struggles between local populations and polluting dye factories, for example, were successfully kept under control thanks to a robust faith in the potential of scientific and technological progress. Prior to the Second World War, the Faustian deal struck... 

In the late 1960s, the Institute of Gas Technology (IGT) exhibited a Home for Tomorrow said to be powered by reformed natural gas, a new super active form of natural gas. An illustrated four-page color brochure described new types of illumination, portable appliances, flameless wall-panel heaters, total climate control, and electricity generated in the house by means of fuel cells. The super active form of natural gas was simply a hydrogen-rich mixture, similar to the manufactured town gas or coal gas of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Whereas town gas typically had up to 50 percent hydrogen, reformed natural gas would have contained about 80 percent hydrogen, 20 percent C02, and less than 0.5 percent CO. 

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