Germany chemical industry, development

High Pressure in the Chemical Industry. The use of high pressure in industry may be traced to early efforts to Hquefy the so-called permanent gases using a combination of pressure and low temperature. At about the same time the chemical industry was becoming involved in high pressure processes. The discovery of mauveine in 1856 led to the development of the synthetic dye industry which was well estabUshed, particularly in Germany, by the end of the century. Some of the intermediate compounds required for the production of dyes were produced, in autoclaves, at pressures of 5-8 MPa (725-1160 psi). 

An electrooxidation process was developed by Asahi Chemical Industry ia Japan, and was also piloted by BASF ia Germany. It produces high purity sebacic acid from readily available adipic acid. The process consists of 3 steps. Adipic acid is partially esterified to the monomethyl adipate. Electrolysis of the potassium salt of monomethyl adipate ia a mixture of methanol and water gives dimethyl sebacate. The last step is the hydrolysis of dimethyl sebacate to sebacic acid. Overall yields are reported to be about 85% (65). 

Although the current source of acetylene is petroleum, it can be manufactured from calcium carbide, a product of the reachon of limestone and coke (carbon). During World War II, Germany, having a shortage of petroleum, used the latter technology to develop a chemical industry based on acetylene. 

Houdry The first catalytic petroleum cracking process, based on an invention by E. J. Houdiy in 1927, which was developed and commercialized by the Houdry Process Corporation. The process was piloted by the Vacuum Oil Company, Paulsboro, NJ, in the early 1930s. The catalyst was contained in a fixed bed. The first successful catalyst was an aluminosilicate mineral. Subsequently, other related catalysts were developed by Houdry in the United States, by I. G. Farbenindustrie in Germany, and by Imperial Chemical Industries in England. After World War II, the clay-based catalysts were replaced by a variety of synthetic catalysts, many based on alumino-silicates. Later, these too were replaced by zeolites. U.S. Patents 1,837,963 1,957,648 1,957,649. 

For clean gaseous effluents, such as those from nitric acid plants, the preferred catalyst is mordenite. For flue-gases containing fly ash, the preferred catalyst is titania-vanadia. The process was developed in Japan in the mid-1970s by a consortium of Hitachi, Babcock-Hitachi, and the Mitsubishi Chemical Company, and by the Sakai Chemical Industry Company. It is widely used in power stations in Japan and Germany. See also SNCR. 

A development of interest to the chemical industry is the tubular precipitator of reinforced-plastic construction (Wanner, Gas Cleaning Plant after T1O2 Rotary Kilns, technical bulletin, Lurgi Corp., Frankfurt, Germany, 1971). Tubes made of polyvinyl chloride plastic are reinforced on the outside with polyester-fiber glass. The use of modem economical materials of construction to replace high-maintenance materials such as lead has been long awaited for corrosive applications. 

Association of the German Chemical Industry (VCI) (2002) Position paper about the further development in catalysis research in Germany (www.vci.de/fonds)... 

Germany s dominance in the chemical industry ended with the start of World War 1 in 1914. The war forced the European allies to abandon many German sources and develop their own chemical industries. Furthermore, chemical companies in coun-... 

Approximately 80% of acetylene production is used in chemical synthesis. In the United States approximately 100,000 tons are used annually. Acetylene saw much wider use in the past, especially in Germany where it was widely used as in chemical synthesis. During recent decades, greater use of ethylene as a chemical feedstock and the development of more economical chemical production methods that eliminate acetylene has reduced acetylenes use in the chemical industry. Since 2000, use in the United States has decreased by approximately... 

The history of the oxo reaction is also noteworthy. It was developed originally in Germany in the years following World War 1. At that time, the German chemical industry was faced with inadequate supplies of petroleum. Many German chemists therefore turned to research on ways by which hydrocarbons could be synthesized from smaller building blocks, particularly carbon monoxide and hydrogen derived from coal. The success achieved was remarkable and led to alkane and alkene syntheses known as the Fischer-Tropsch process ... 

In Germany, the chemical industry invests on average about eight percent of its revenues in research and development. It supplies other industries with highly innovative products and thus performs as an engine of innovation for them. 

A. Tanaka, H. Staudinger s research and the birth of the polymer industry in Germany. The research and development on polyvinylacetate by Staudinger and chemists in German chemical industries , Kagakushi Kenkyu, 1993, 20, 243-258 [in Japanese],... 

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