Editorial

An Irish success story

The chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Ireland is a major success story whose growth over the past 30 years rivals the electronics and computer industry, whose growth in Ireland is more recent. Much publicity has been given to the rapid growth in electronics and computing, and rightly so, since it has created thousands of jobs. The chemical industry, as Sharon Galvin's article shows, has produced steady growth over a long time and a steady increase in employment. Electronics and pharmaceuticals make a comparable contribution to Ireland's exports. No major chemical company has closed in Ireland in that period, an exception being the Asahi fibres plant in Ballina, which is on the fringe of the industry. Almost all the major multinationals in Ireland continue to expand production and employment. Losses in the traditional 'heavy' chemical industries like fertilisers have long been overtaken by the growth in fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The four main articles in this issue feature industrial chemistry in Ireland and were given at ChemEd-Ireland last October. They should provide the chemistry teacher in Ireland with good reasons to encourage students to take chemistry at school and pursue it at third level. The continued growth of the chemical industry requires a steady supply of trained personnel, and this supply cannot be taken for granted. The jobs are highly-paid, working conditions are good and 30-50% of the jobs require third-level qualifications. Articles in previous issues have highlighted the numbers of jobs being advertised each year in the chemical industry. It is indeed one of the Ireland's most unsung success stories.

Promoting chemistry in schools

When do students choose or reject chemistry? They do so in the Junior Certificate years, particularly in 3rd. year when subject choices are made, or in the Transition Year when this is done. This is when we need to make an effort to promote chemistry as an interesting and doable subject, and as the key to many interesting rewarding careers and courses. It would appear that this is where we are failing. In the last issue I printed an article by Michael Davis, an American exchange student at the University of Limerick, who was offering to take a chemical magic show around to schools. His offer was taken up by many schools and between January and April he had a full diary, with many engagements around the country. All the feedback I have had has been positive but I would like to hear from schools who hosted his chemical magic show, how it went and whether it has helped to promote chemistry. In one school enrolments in LC Chemistry went up from 9 to 27 as a result of his visit. Did this happen anywhere else? If it did, then we need to use this approach again. He was sponsored by the Department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences. If this venture was successful then Dr. John Mullane, the Head of Department, would be keen to continue it next year. Please let us know what you think. It seems to me that sending someone around schools to promote chemistry, either a successful chemistry teacher or an enthusiastic graduate, would be a great way to promote chemistry and to help tip the balance back in its favour.

International Chemistry Year 1999

The American Chemical Society is promoting an International Chemistry Year in 1999, culminating in International Chemistry Week 17-23/10/99 and International Chemistry Day on the 23rd. October (Mole Day!). Why not start thinking about this now and what you could do during the year or during the week to promote chemistry. I hope this will be taken up by the Irish Association for the Promotion of Chemistry and by the chemical industry. The last national chemistry week was in 1990! Forfas is also sponsoring another National Science Week this year from November 7-14 1998.

Peter E. Childs

Hon. Editor

Disclaimer

The views expressed in Chemistry in Action! are the views of the authors and the Editor is not responsible for any views expressed. Chemistry in Action! does not represent the official views of any institution, organisation or body. Any unsigned articles or items are the responsibility of the Editor and if reprinted the Editor should be credited. If any errors of fact are published or anyone's views are misrepresented, then the Editor will be glad to publish a correction or a reply.

The Editor is not responsible for any actions taken as a result of material published in Chemistry in Action!. Any experiments or demonstrations are done at your own risk and you should take all necessary precautions, including eye protection.

Teachers may copy materials from Chemistry in Action! freely, without permission, for use in their schools. Articles and other material in Chemistry in Action!, except those originating in other publications, may be used freely in other educational publications without prior permission. Please acknowledge the source and author and send a copy of the publication to the Editor. Prior permission is needed if material is being used in commercial publications.

Contributions on any matter of interest to second-level chemistry teachers is welcome. Normally the results of research are not published.

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Book now for next year's ChemEd-Conference in Limerick!

Cover: Minister Noel Treacy presenting Kelly Hanna, St. Louis Grammar School, Ballymena, Co. Antrim with the ISO-Chemistry Trophy.

ChemEd-Ireland 1997

Industrial Chemistry and the L.C. Chemistry Syllabus

October 18th. 1997

University of Limerick

PROCEEDINGS

_____________________________________________________________________

The 16th. annual ChemEd-Ireland Conference was held on Saturday October 18th. 1997 in the University of Limerick. The programme for the conference is shown below and the list of previous ChemEd-Ireland conferences is also shown. The Proceedings of most of these have been published in past issues of Chemistry in Action!.

Whether it was the topic or the date, the numbers at this conference were lower than in previous years and only about 60 teachers attended. Teachers were polled as to their preference for next year's topic and the majority opted for "Practical Work", with "IT and Chemistry" scheduled for 1999. ChemEd-Ireland 1998 is booked for Saturday October 17th. at the University of Limerick, at the usual cost of £15. You can book now, but suggestions for speakers and topics to be covered would be welcome.

The talks ranged from an overview of today's chemical industry, which is one of Ireland's major success stories (Ms. Sharon Galvin) , to the early history of the chemical industry in Ireland (Dr. Peter Childs). Environmental aspects of chemical production, and the drive to cleaner, greener technology were discussed by Dr. Jim Barry. Reg McCabe talked about the Irish plastics industry and Peter Desmond talked about fertiliser production at IFI, Marino Point Cork. Dr. Gary Walsh surveyed the newest arm of the chemical industry, biopharmaceuticals, where biology and chemistry meet. The talks gave an excellent overview of the chemical industry in Ireland, as preparation for the expanded section in the new syllabus. Teachers went away better informed, and with a collection of free materials and publications from the bookstall.

The Proceedings contain nearly all the talks given at ChemEd-Ireland and I would like to thank the speakers for taking the trouble to prepare their talks for publication. The conference and publication of the Proceedings was supported financially by a grant from the Ireland Region of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Education Division.

P.E.Childs

ChemEd-Ireland 1997

"Industrial Chemistry and LC Chemistry"

Saturday October 18th. 9.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m.

Programme

9.00 a.m. Registration and coffee

9.30 a.m. Welcome and Introduction

Dr. Peter E. Childs

10.00 a.m. The chemical industry in Ireland

Ms. Sharon Galvin,

Irish Pharmaceutical & Chemical Manufacturers Federation

10.45 a.m. Coffee break; Bookstalls

11.15 a.m. Polymer science: the transitional dimension

Mr. Reg McCabe,

Plastics Industries Association

12.00 Cleaning up the chemical industry

Dr. Jim Barry, Roche Ireland Limited12.45 p.m. Lunch in the Stables; Bookstalls

2.00 p.m. Video: SmithKline Beecham, Cork

The pilot scheme on assessment

Declan Kennedy

2.20 p.m. The early chemical industry in Ireland

Dr. Peter E. Childs, University of Limerick

3.00 p.m. Chemistry, biotechnology and pharmaceutical products

Dr. Gary Walsh, University of Limerick

3.45 p.m. Forum on industrial visits

4.15 p.m. Tea break

4.30 p.m. Fertiliser manufacture at Marino Point

Mr. Peter Desmond, IFI, Marino Point, Cobh

5.15 p.m. Close of conference

****

The talks were set against the background of the new L.C. Chemistry syllabus, first proposed in 1994 and still awaiting implementation. The latest news seems to be that it will be introduced in the year 2000, or 1999 at the earliest. The aims, objectives and philosophy of the syllabus stress the relationship of chemistry to everyday life and the chemical industry (see below). In addition, there is a specific section in one of the options that deals with industrial chemistry). The relevant extracts from the syllabus are given below as background to the papers.

The new L.C. Chemistry course

The Leaving Certificate Chemistry syllabus is designed to incorporate the following components:

•  
  • Science for the enquiring mind or pure science to include the principles, procedures and concepts of the subject as well as its cultural and historical aspects,

•  
  • Science for action or the applications of science and its interface with technology,

•  
  • Science which is concerned with issues - political, social and economic - of concern to citizens.

The above three components should be integrated within each science syllabus with the first component having a 70% weighting. The remaining 30% should be allocated to the other two components, on the basis of a 3 to 1 ratio.

The syllabus, which is offered at two levels, Higher and Ordinary, will have approximately 180 hours of class contact time over a two year period. It should be practically and experimentally based in its teaching.

CONTENTS

Preamble

Introduction

Core

Periodic Table and Atomic Structure

Chemical Bonding

Stoichiometry, Formulae and Equations

Volumetric Analysis

Fuels and Heats of Reaction

Rates of Reaction

Organic Chemistry

Chemical Equilibrium

Environmental Chemistry: Water

Option 1

Additional Industrial Chemistry

Atmospheric Chemistry

Option 2

Materials (Crystals, Addition Polymers, Metals)

Additional Electrochemistry and the Extraction of Metals

Appendix

INTRODUCTION

Aims

The aims of the syllabus are:

•  
  • To provide a relevant and modern course for those students who will end their study of chemistry at this level;

•  
  • To provide a modern foundation course in chemistry for those students who will continue their studies in chemistry or in related subjects;

•  
  • To encourage an appreciation of the scientific, social, economic, environmental and technological aspects of chemistry, and an understanding of the historical development of chemistry;

•  
  • To stimulate and sustain students' interest in, and enjoyment of, chemistry;

•  
  • To illustrate generally how humanity has benefited from the study and practice of chemistry;

•  
  • To develop an appreciation of scientific method and rational thought;

•  
  • To develop skills in laboratory procedures and techniques carried out with due regard for safety, together with the ability to assess the uses and limitations of these procedures;

•  
  • To develop skills of observation, analysis, evaluation, communication and problem-solving.

Objectives

The objectives of the syllabus are:

1. Knowledge

Students should have knowledge of:

- Basic chemical terminology, facts, principles and methods;

- Scientific theory and its limitations;

- Social, historical, environmental, technological and economic aspects of chemistry.

2. Understanding

Students should understand:

- Scientific information in verbal, graphical and mathematical form;

- Basic chemical principles;

- How chemical problems can be solved;

- How the scientific method applies to chemistry;

- How chemistry relates to everyday life.

3. Skills

Students should be able to:

- Follow instructions given in suitable form;

- Perform experiments safely and cooperatively;

- Select and manipulate suitable apparatus to perform specified tasks;

- Make accurate observations and measurements;

- Interpret experimental data and assess the accuracy of experimental results.

4. Competencies

Students should be able to:

- Translate scientific information in verbal, graphical and mathematical form;

- Organise chemical ideas and statements and write clearly about chemical concepts and theories;

- Report experimental procedures and results in a concise, accurate and comprehensible manner;

- Explain both familiar and unfamiliar phenomena by applying known laws and principles;

- Use chemical facts and principles to make chemical predictions;

- Perform simple chemical calculations;

- Identify public issues and misconceptions relating to chemistry and analyse them critically.

5. Attitudes

Students should appreciate:

- Advances in chemistry and their influence on our lives;

- That the understanding of chemistry contributes to the social and economic development of society;

- The range of vocational opportunities that use chemistry, and how chemists work.

The special topic on Industrial Chemistry in Option 1 is outlined below, in order to show what is needed.

OPTION !

A. ADDITIONAL INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY

It is strongly recommended that students should visit a particular local chemical plant. This visit should be a structured one.

1A.1 GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Time needed = 5 class periods)

Content:

Characteristics of effective and successful industrial chemical processes in terms of

(i) feedstock (raw materials, preparation)

(ii) rate (temperature and pressure variables, catalyst)

(iii) product yield (temperature and pressure variables, catalyst)

(iv) co-products (separation of, disposal or sale)

(v) waste disposal and effluent control (waste water treatment, emission control)

(vi) quality control

(vii) safety (location of site, on-site training, monitoring of hazards, safety features)

(viii) costs (fixed costs, variable costs; cost reduction by use of heat exchangers, catalysts, recycling and selling of useful co-products; costs of waste disposal)

(ix) site location

(x) suitable materials for the construction of chemical plant (unreactive, resistant to corrosion).

Batch and continuous processes.

Activities:

Calculations involving tonne quantities.

Social and Applied Aspects:

Awareness of the contributions of chemistry to society, e.g.:

Provision of pure water, fuels, metals, medicines, detergents, enzymes, dyes, paints, semi-conductors, liquid crystals and alternative materials such as plastics and synthetic fibres. Increasing crop yields by the use of fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides. Food processing.

1A.2 CASE STUDIES

(Time needed = 5 class periods) Content:

A case study A case study based on the Irish chemical industry. ONE of the three following processes should be studied, using the principles outlined in 1A.1 above insofar as they are relevant to the process:

(a) Ammonia manufacture from natural gas, water vapour and air, and its conversion to urea. Equations required for

(i) hydrogen production

(ii) removal of carbon dioxide

(iii) ammonia formation

(iv) urea synthesis

(b) Nitric acid manufacture from ammonia, and its use to make fertilisers. Equations required for:

(i) oxidation of ammonia

(ii) oxidation of nitrogen monoxide

(iii) formation of nitric acid

(iv) formation of ammonium nitrate.

(c) Magnesium oxide manufacture from sea water. Equations required for

(i) conversion of calcium carbonate to calcium oxide

(ii) conversion of calcium oxide to calcium hydroxide

(iii) formation of magnesium hydroxide

(iv) formation of magnesium oxide.

Social and Applied Aspects:

Awareness of the range and scope of the Irish chemical industry (2 examples of products produced by this industry other than those referred to in the case studies).

In addition there is industrially-related material in other parts of the course e.g. on the extraction of metals, oil refining and fuels, polymers etc.. The section given above represents a significant change and increase in emphasis on Industrial Chemistry.

*****

ChemEd-Ireland Conferences

1982 #1 Chemical Education in Ireland*

1983 #2 Practical Work in School Chemistry*

1984 #3 Mixed Ability Teaching in Science*

1985 #4 Teaching about Industrial Chemistry at School*

1986 #5 Everyday Chemistry*

1987 #6 Environmental Chemistry+

1988 #7 The History of Chemistry

1989 #8 Chemistry and Materials*

1990 #9 Chemistry in the Junior Science Course+

1991 #10 Improving The Image of Chemistry+

1992 #11 Health and Safety in School Chemistry+

1993 #12 Chemistry in the Transition Year+

1994 #13 The New L. C. Chemistry Syllabus+

1995 #14 Environmental Chemistry II+

1996 #15 Analytical Chemistry+

1997 #16 Industrial Chemistry II#

1998 #17 Practical work II

* Proceedings published as separate volumes

+ Proceedings published in Chemistry in Action!

# Proceedings to be published in Chemistry in Action!

The Chemical Industry in Ireland

Sharon Galvin

Irish Pharmaceutical & Chemical Manufacturer's Federation, Confederation House, 84/86 Lower Baggott Street, Dublin 2

_____________________________________________________________________

Introduction

According to statistics published by the European Chemical Council (CEFIC) Ireland possesses the fastest growing chemical industry in Europe and probably the entire world (Graph 1). In terms of our world ranking Ireland is fifteenth in output terms lagging behind only such major economic forces as Germany, Japan, the United States and the UK. To place this ranking in context it is useful to see where Ireland lies internationally in terms of the absolute size of its economy and also its population.

The International Institute for Management (IMD) regularly ranks 46 countries on the basis of world competitiveness in the World Competitiveness Yearbook. The 1996 ranking placed Ireland's gross domestic product 40 out of 46 and its population as 42 out of 46. This coupled with the nearly complete absence of raw materials necessary for a thriving chemical industry makes Ireland's performance quite extraordinary. It is interesting to study the history of the development of a sector which has become an integral part of the Irish economy in the 1990s. Just how and why did it emerge?

Pre- and Post- Second World War Era

Chemical manufacturing first began to appear in Ireland early in the 19th century. In 1898 there were 2 Alkali plants, 17 chemical manure plants, 11 plants for sulphate and ammonia and 11 for the extraction of salts from brine registered under the Alkali Act. However, the growth of the chemical industry in Britain resulted in a rapid decline in the industry in Ireland and by 1930 only two of the manufacturers listed in 1898 still survived.

The First World War, the Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s and the effects of the Second World War resulted in a further depression of the Irish economy and the period post World War II saw exports low and the imports of essential materials severely reduced. In the period just after the War when this history commences Ireland's economy was dominated by food, drink, tobacco and textiles and there was little evidence of a chemical or pharmaceutical industry to speak of.

Figure 1 Growth of the chemical industry (1985-94)

This is clearly illustrated by examining the figures for industrial output from the time. The total output of what was then called chemicals and drugs industry was just over £1 million, the majority of this was for the home market and consisted distribution, preparation and compounding of medicines, soaps, detergents, etc. There was little evidence of any manufacturing or chemical industry per se with the exception of the production of industrial alcohol from potatoes and the manufacture of fertilisers with associated Sulphuric Acid manufacture.

Industrial Alcohol Production in Ireland

In 1938, a company was established under the Industrial Alcohol Act to manufacture alcohol from potatoes. Five factories were built in fairly remote areas to use up surplus potato crops generated through overproduction or by the presence of disease. Petrol companies were obliged by the 1938 Act to blend the alcohol with petrol to make up PAB or petrol alcohol blend which at the time was considered a premium blend of motor fuel.

Legislation was passed to change the name of the Industrial Alcohol Company to 'Ceimici Teoranta' and to extend its powers so as to investigate the manufacture of other chemical products. This resulted in starch and glucose being manufactured at some locations.

All industry in Ireland was protected by tariff barriers and that industry which did establish did so in this environment. Burgess Galvin established a facility in Dublin around 1950 which manufactured putty for the building industry and adhesives for the packaging industry. They then specialised in paints and a range of specialised detergents for the emerging hygiene requirements of the food industry.

One of the largest companies of the time was Gouldings who operated a number of fertilizer manufacturing plants around the country.

However, it was not until the initiation of the first program of economic expansion of 1958 that a truly concerted effort was made to establish a substantive manufacturing base in chemicals.

Establishment of Irish Refining

In June 1957 a decision was taken to set up an oil refinery in Ireland. Irish Refining Company Limited was established as a consortium of three companies, The Californian Texas Oil Corporation, The Esso Petroleum Company Limited and Shell Mex and BP Limited. The building of the refinery was justified on the basis of an expanding domestic market which would consume enough petroleum products to economically justify the amount of capital needed to establish the operation. The refinery, located at Whitegate, Co Cork was designed with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum.

The introduction of the refinery was a very important stage in the development of the Irish industry, especially in the Cork region, as it was from this refinery that many of the skilled people came who went on to work in and help develop what is now such a thriving industry in the Cork area came.

1960s

In 1957 Leo Laboratories, the Danish pharmaceutical company, established a facility in Dublin, mainly to supply the UK and home markets. This was followed by the establishment of Loftus Bryan Chemicals Limited by two German entrepreneurs at Rathdrum in Co Wicklow in 1960-61. Loftus Bryan manufactured active ingredients for generic medicines at the Co Wicklow site until it was taken over in January 1981 by the US based Schering Plough Corporation who renamed the company, Avondale Chemical Company, after the nearby birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell, Rathdrum's most famous son.

In 1963 the Government appointed Commission of Industrial Organisation which was charged with the task of examining the difficulties that possible entry into the Common Market might create for existing Irish industry. This Commission produced a detailed report on the Irish chemical industry. The report concluded that at the time there essentially was no basic chemical industry apart from four plants manufacturing sulphuric acid for the fertilizer industry. This was attributed

to lack of native raw materials and lack of capital available for such investment. What the survey did identify was a secondary chemical industry producing paints, inks, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents for the consumer market employing approximately 2,800 people and generating about £6 million per annum of production. The report noted that out of the 2,800 employed in the secondary chemical industry only 52 were chemists reflecting a very low level of development work carried out in the industry at the time. Exports were negligible and the industry operated in a highly protected home market providing products nearly exclusively for domestic consumption.

In the same year Squibb Linson established a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant at Swords, Co Dublin. 1965 saw the start up of the Nitrigin Eireann Teoranta (NET) plant at Arklow to manufacture calcium ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate fertilisers. Plants to manufacture sulphuric acid, ammonia and phosphoric acid as raw materials for fertilisers were also started up at the Arklow site. This allowed the manufacture of complete combined fertilizer (N, P, K) at the plant.

1979 saw the establishment of combined ammonia and urea plant at Marino Point at Cork using the natural gas from the Kinsale Field. In the early 1980s the Arklow plant changed from making CAN and CCF fertilisers to just making CAN which necessitated the shutting down of phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid and CCF plants at

the Wicklow site. NET ceased to make ammonia at the Arklow site in 1980.

1969 - 1989

The twenty year period between 1969 and 1989 saw a rapid expansion of the pharmaceutical and chemical industry in Ireland and it is the investment that took place in this period which is responsible for the strength of the sector in Ireland in the 1990s. During this period the Industrial Development Authority of Ireland (IDA) specifically targeted those industries which would benefit most from the type of incentive package that they could offer in terms of grant aid and tax incentives. The type of industry which the IDA needed to attract was one that did not depend greatly on a convenient source of raw materials or was not too dependent on transportation to get their product to market. This resulted in the IDA identifying fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals as being one of the key sectors for development along with electronics, information technology and instrumentation. The basic or bulk industry with its high level of capital investment and recourse to scale was deemed unsuitable.

The IDA proceeded to aggressively market Ireland as an investment location for these types of industries, one of the prime targets for the IDA executives being the United States of America. The results of the IDA's strategy are plainly evident today. The expansion of the sector has been extraordinary and a cursory glance at one or two key indicators will clearly demonstrate this. For instance, between 1973 and 1995 exports grew from œ79 million to over œ5 billion which represents an overall growth rate of 6,373% (See Table 1).

Table 1

Ireland is now a net exporter of pharmaceutical and chemical products. The so-called Balance of Payments figure increasing by 2,200% from the figure of £110 million in 1982 to a figure of £2.457 billion in 1995. Currently there are some 220 companies or distribution outlets engaged in pharmaceutical, chemical associated product manufacture and distribution. In value terms in 1995 the sector was the second most important to the Irish economy counting for some 18% of total exports from this State. At this stage it should be noted that during this period of rapid development Ireland's mainly indigenous fertilizer industry contracted. The availability of cheaper raw materials from the UK heralded the eventual closure of such major manufacturing concerns as Gouldings Fertilizer Company.

Development of the Irish Pharmachem Sector

As already mentioned there was some development of the pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies taking place in the 1960s but the real inflow of companies commenced probably in 1969 with the establishment of citric acid manufacturing plant by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Production Corporation in Ringaskiddy. The IDA identified two development areas for the industry in Cork, one at Little Island and the other in Ringaskiddy. In 1972 Pfizers also established a pharmaceutical production facility at their Ringaskiddy site. Pfizers were followed into Ringaskiddy by Penn Chemicals, now SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals in 1975. Quest Biocon the Dutch parent company established their food ingredient plant in Carrigaline in 1976. In the early 1980s Angus Fine Chemicals developed a chemical synthesis plant, now owned by Hickson PharmaChem, just across the harbour from Pfizer in Ringaskiddy. Major investment in Ringaskiddy culminated with the announcement by Sandoz in 1989 that it was to establish a major pharmaceutical chemical synthesis facility there.

Meanwhile Irish Fher now Irotec, Henkel, Gaeleo (now Pharmacia & Upjohn), Mitsui Denman, FMC International, Plaistow, Cara Partners, Janssen Pharmaceuticals were all establishing sites at Little Island, not to mention Eli Lilly, then Elanco who established their facility outside Kinsale in 1981 and Schering Plough who took over the Chembiotica, antibiotic plant at Innishannon in 1983 to manufacture biotechnology products such as Interferon-A.

Site facilities were being established at Tipperary by Merck Sharp & Dohme in 1976, Sterling Drug (now SmithKline Beecham) in Dungarvan and in Dublin where Warner Lambert, Organon, Armour Pharmaceuticals (now Reheis), and Loctite, all established facilities. Meanwhile in the Mid-West in the early 1980s Syntex, SIFA, PGP, Devcon and Aughinish Alumina all established facilities in or close to the Shannon development area.

1989 - 1997

The 1990s has seen a significant slowdown in new investment into the country (with only Helsinn, Organon, Wyeth Medica, and Grelan announcing major greenfield investments). There are a number of reasons why this has occurred.

Ireland has been a victim of its own success with regard to attracting successful pharmaceutical and chemical companies to Ireland. Examination of the league table of the top ten pharmaceutical companies by sales in the world in 1996 reveals that 8 out of the top ten companies have plants in Ireland (See Table 2). So it is likely that the IDA has simply run out of obvious targets to encourage to invest in Ireland.

The world-wide pharmaceutical and chemical industry is currently going through a period of dramatic change which is being characterised by rationalisation and a process of mergers and acquisitions of the major pharmachem corporations resulting in a number of plant closures with consequent job losses. In such an environment new investment becomes more difficult to win. Other locations are now competing aggressively for the companies that Ireland would have competed for back in the 1970s and 1980s. Locations such as Singapore, parts of Europe (Holland, Belgium and some Eastern European countries) are making competition for inwards investment far more difficult.

Table 2 Top 10 Pharmaceutical Companies

(by 1996 sales: Source Pharmaceuutical World Review)

There has been relatively little growth of the indigenous industry in Ireland with some notable exceptions such as Arran Chemicals, Iropharm, Newport Pharmaceuticals, Plaistow and some generic drug companies.

There is one theory that the vociferous scaremongering engaged in by some environmental lobby groups has caused companies to not consider Ireland as a potential location for investment. This certainly would have been the case with Merrill Dow who were due to establish a pharmaceutical plant in Killilea outside Youghal in east Co Cork. It is difficult to gauge how much influence the activity of such lobby groups has had although undoubtedly some of the more high profile activities which took place in the late 1980s did not help Ireland in its attempts to attract further investment to the sector, especially in Cork.

However, all this having been said the existing sector does continue to grow strongly (see and recent surveys carried out by the Irish Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturers Federation (IPCMF) show employment still continues to grow at 6% - 7% per annum. Examination of the list of new investments announced in 1996 and 1997 (See Table 3) shows ample evidence of continued strong growth in the existing sector. This is particularly encouraging given the difficulties being experienced by the industry globally. It is likely that forward integration into pharmaceutical production will be more characteristic of the sector in the future.

Table 3 Expansions announced in chemical companies 1996-97

Characteristics of the Sector Today

As a result of the strategy pursued by the IDA in the early 1970s a quite original pharmachem sector has developed in Ireland. The sector is dominated by fine chemical and pharmaceutical companies, all relatively new, mostly being less than 25 years old. This has allowed a high-tech sector with extremely good standards of quality and environmental performance to develop.

The industry is mainly centred in Dublin, Cork with some other companies scattered around the western seaboards and some midland areas. In total, the sector employs approximately 18,600 individuals (1995 CSO - see Table 4) which is an increase of 18.8% on the figures generated in 1992 (see Table 5). Not only is the sector a fast growing employer it is also a very important employer of graduates and it is estimated that around 30% of the total workforce is drawn from third level institutions.

Table 4 Total Employment Figures

(CSO, March 1995)

(These figures have increased significantly since 1995)

Ireland has had significant success in attracting foreign direct investment. In fact in 1993, it attracted 12% of all of the FDI in the European Union. This is as a result of the mix that Ireland offers such as access to the European Market, competitiveness of our economy, the quality of skills in our labour force and our preferential corporation tax rate.

Table 5 Recent Employment Trends

(Chemical and Allied Products)

The high value nature of the sector which produces products not greatly dependent on infrastructural support suits Ireland well. The pharmaceutical and chemical sectors have been identified by FORFAS in their document Shaping Our Future as important for the future creation of employment and wealth in this country.

Basic chemical production is limited to fertilizer manufacture, oil refining, alumina production and the extraction of magnesia from sea water by Premier Periclase.

Though the industry has had its problems in the past, with a perception that the industry has caused environmental damage, it is now generally accepted by most of those involved in administration of environmental policy that the sector is committed to environmental protection and its commitment to waste reduction and clean technology is duly recognised. A recent report published by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1996 entitled State of the Environment Report 1996 states that:

"Sectors with the highest profile in terms of their capacity to inflict environmental damage are also the most conscious of the impact of these issues on their business. Eighty percent of companies surveyed had invested in environmentally friendly technologies and over two-thirds have changed processes to minimise waste."

A survey of the Cork pharmachem industry commissioned by the industry and carried out by Ove Arup and the state agency FORBAIRT pointed out that the sector has a compliance rate of 99.4% with their environmental licences in the Cork area. It is now accepted by the industry that most of the work needs to be done in communicating their performance to the public rather than actually changing their performance. It seems likely that the Irish PharmaChem industry will continue to be a major contributor to the Irish Economy well into the next century - perhaps the future of the sector is readily encapsulated by a headline that appeared in The Irish Times on 4 March 1994 which reads "The Chemical Industry now offers Clean, Green Employment".

The Irish Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturing Federation (IPCMF)

The IPCMF became a sector within the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) in 1994. It was set up in order to represent the needs of the pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing industry in Ireland. Currently representing approximately forty-five companies the IPCMF is the lead representative body for the manufacturing sector of this industry.

The main aim of the IPCMF is to enhance the environment for further development of the sector in Ireland. In order to assist in this process the Council of the IPCMF decided in 1997 to prepare a formal 5 year business plan which would set the direction for the Federation until the year 2002.

The implementation of the business plan is managed through a Council drawn from the membership of the Federation. The strategic objectives are realised through a number of specialist working groups, the chairpeople of which are drawn from the membership of the Council. Currently the federation operates the following working groups:

•  
  • Environment Working Group

•  
  • Health and Safety Working Group

•  
  • Quality / GMP Working Group

•  
  • Human Relations Working Group

•  
  • Responsible Care Working Group

•  
  • Communications Working Group

•  
  • Sub-Supply Linkage Working Group

Business Links Programme

IPCMF member companies are involved in an IBEC initiative which develops partnerships between business and second level schools. The IBEC program was devised in the realisation that human resources are the key to competitiveness in today's world.

The aims of the links being developed between IPCMF member companies and schools are as follows:

•  
  • To get students to think about the impact of chemistry and the Pharmaceutical and Chemical industry on their lives.

•  
  • To inform them of the nature and extent of the industry in Ireland

•  
  • To increase the students knowledge and understanding of the industry and the standards to which it must comply.

To give an appreciation of the company operating in their community in terms of the products that are made, the standards used to manufacture their products and the contribution the company makes to the local community.

References

1. O'Donnell J P - The Chemical Process Industries in Ireland - Achievements and Prospects - Chemical Engineering Department, University College Dublin.

2. Cathcart, C., The Irish Chemical Industry Federation of Irish Chemical Industry, 1984.

3. The World Competitiveness Yearbook, 1996 - International Institute for Management.

4. The European Chemical Industry in a Worldwide Perspective, European Chemical Industry Council, November 1996.

5. Central Statistics Office, various bulletins.

6. Irish Refining Company Ltd, Brochure, September 1959.

7. Childs,P.E., 'The Chemical Industry in Cork', Chemistry in Action!, Autumn 1995.

8. O'Brien, C., 'Chemistry in Ireland: Avondale Chemical Company', Chemistry in Action!, Autumn, 1991.

9. Shaping Our Future, A Strategy for Enterprise in Ireland in the 21st Century, FORFAS, May 1996.

10. Van Der Lee, G., The Chemical Industry and National Development, Paper read to Association of Higher Civil Servants, December 1956.

11. W & H N Goulding Ltd, Dublin Ireland, 1856 - 1956 - A short history of the firm.

12. IPCMF 5 year Business Plan 1997 – 2002., IPCMF 1997

Sharon Galvin graduated with a B.Sc., followed by an M.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Limerick in 1993. She was employed by Elan Corporation, Athlone as a Validation Scientist for 3 years. In October 1996 she joined the Irish Pharmaceutical and Chemical Manufacturer's Federation (IPCMF) as an executive. In addition, she provides Secretariat support to the Irish Chemical Marketer's Association (ICMA).

*****

Thomas Henry (1781): address to the Manchester Philosophical and Literary Society

"Nor is the utility of chemistry more confined, or less connected with manufactures than mechanics. Indeed chemistry may be, not improperly, be called the corner-stone of the arts ... To show the advantage arising from this science in all the arts through which they may be traced, would carry me far beyond the limits of my present design. It may be sufficient to point out the connection which subsists between chemistry and those manufactures that are the pride and glory of this respectable commercial town. Bleaching is a chemical operation. The end of it is to abstract the oily and phlogistic parts from the yarn or cloth, whereby it is rendered more fit for acquiring a greater degree of whiteness, and absorbing the particles of any colouring materials to which it may be exposed. The materials for this process are also the creatures of chemistry, and some degree of chemical knowledge is requisite to enable the operator to judge of their goodness. Quicklime is prepared by a chemical process. Potash is a product of the same art, to which also vitriolic and all the acids owe their existence. The manufacture of soap is also a branch of this science. All the operations of the whitster, the steeping, washing and boiling in alkaline lixiviums, exposing to the sun's light, scouring, rubbing and blueing, are chemical operation, or founded of chemical principles."

Quoted on p. 449 in Science for the Citizen Lancelot Hogben London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.,1938

Waste Reduction in the Chemical Industry

Dr. Jim Barry

Roche Ireland Ltd., Clarecastle, Co. Clare (formerly with Henkel Ireland Ltd.)

To many members of the general public the chemical and pharmaceutical industry is synonymous with the worst aspects of environmental pollution and waste generation in our time. The extent to which the luxuries and indeed, the necessities of today are dependent on that industry is something of which many are totally unaware. Public and media focus instead is on issues of environmental damage attributed to man-made chemicals and the dangers of irreversible damage to the ecosystem and to health itself. Thus, we hear daily of issues such as holes in the ozone layer, global warming, rising sea levels, unprecedented storms, loss of biodiversity, the rise of 'superbugs' and many more. Some people appear to be unaware that the industry produces useful products at all, such is the emphasis that is currently placed on hazardous wastes and dangerous chemicals.

There is another story, however, and a more cheerful one. I refer to the remarkably successful campaign which the chemical industry itself has been waging against waste generation, energy and resource mismanagement and the over-reliance on environmentally incompatible chemicals. The more advanced of the environmentally-aware chemical companies have been systematically introducing improvements into their operations, products, plants and processes for almost twenty years now. Today there is no company in the industry that is not acutely aware of the need for safe and environmentally friendly operation and that is not striving for improvement. If there were one, it would not survive for long.

This paper is devoted largely to the approach of one company to environmental improvement and waste reduction and the success it has had over the last decade and a half. The company is Henkel Ireland in Cork, which I know particularly well, having worked there for many years. This is, however, by no means a unique story, as many other companies have also had similar successes.

The Henkel company and its products

The parent company, Henkel KGaA, of Duesseldorf in Germany was founded about one hundred and twenty years ago. The original products were simple inorganic household chemicals such as bread soda. One of the company's main claims to fame was that it produced the world's first washing powder. This revolutionary product was called Persil. It is still sold today and is thriving although ninety years old.

Henkel is today the fourth largest chemical company in Germany and produces literally thousands of products, many of which are household names even here in Ireland. The company's main raw materials are natural oils and fats and many of its products are in the body care and homecare areas.

Henkel Ireland products

Henkel Ireland is a relatively small operation. Total capital investment is about £350million and there are 130 employees. Annual turnover is about £345 million.

In a discussion on the Irish chemical industry and environmental issues, the product lines of Henkel Irl. make an interesting topic in their own right. The company produces two distinct types of products. The first, known as Liquid Ion Exchange (LIX) reagents consists of a family of specific metal-extraction formulations. The market for these products is the copper and nickel mining industry worldwide.

LIX reagents,which are recycled in use, have the advantage that they can be used to seperate copper from the widely available oxide ore which is not susceptible to traditional smelting processes.

Using LIX extraction technology and electrowinning, copper of very high purity (99.99+%) is produced directly at the mine site. The cheapest copper in the world today is produced by LIX extraction technology.

LIX reagents are also used to regenerate pure metals from scrap. This use is likely to be of increasing significance as time goes on.

The second product line in Henkel Ireland is based on a material known as TAED:

(TetraAcetylEthyleneDiamine). TAED, which is produced in a variety of granular and spheronoid forms, is an important ingredient in many modern washing powders. The essential contribution of TAED to the washing process is that it catalyses the bleaching action of sodium perborate at low wash temperatures. Thus it is possible to achieve a clean white wash at quite low wash temperatures where previously near boiling temperatures were necessary.

The motive force for the discovery and application of TAED in washing powders was the oil crisis of the early seventies when the world first became conscious of the finite nature of energy resources and the need for conservation.

Waste emissions from chemical plants

The principal waste outputs from chemical plants can be summarised as follows:

• VOC's (volatile organic compounds)

• Dissolved organic waste in effluent water streams (BOD/COD)

• Dewatered biomass sludge from effluent treatment

• Inorganic filter cakes

• Process by-products such as still-bottoms

• Spent packaging materials.

While some of these materials may not be very amenable to reduction or recovery strategies, others may be. There exists today, a well defined waste management hierarchy, which can be outlined as follows:

• Avoid creating the waste in the first place

• Reuse the waste for its original purpose,after treatment if necessary

_ Use the waste as a raw material for another process

• Use the waste as a source of energy if possibleNeutralise any hazardous properties of the waste using chemical or physical treatment

• Incinerate the waste

• Landfill the waste if no other appropriate option is available.

We will see how this hierarchical strategy is followed in the Henkel waste reduction programme. While the original development at Henkel Ireland contained all the necessary environmental infrastructure such as the effluent treatment plant and air emission scrubbers, which were state-of-the-art at the time, the beginnings of the company's existing Environmental Improvements Programme can be traced back to 1984.

In that year the company set about replacing its original aging generation of products with new and better ones. The first product together with its process technology was purchased from another European multinational company. As the old plant had to be extensively rebuilt and brought back into production within a very short timeframe, Henkel Ireland personnel had an unusual opportunity to contribute from the outset to the re-design of the process. Previously such work would have been the sole responsibility of the Process Engineering Department of the parent company. As was commonplace at the time, improvements to the process would have been made in isolation by the Process Development chemists and engineers and presented as a fait accompli to the manufacturing site, in this instance Henkel Ireland.

It quickly became apparent that the process as purchased could be improved. Consumption of energy and water could be reduced and process variations could be introduced to lower the quantity of aqueous waste going to the effluent treatment plant. In particular it was noted that the new process relied heavily on the use of chlorinated solvents. As there was a new awareness of the potential of chlorinated solvents for environmental damage, Henkel Irl. requested that the process be completely re-designed to use only non-chlorinated materials. Changes were also introduced to reduce energy and water requirements and the quantities of waste generated.

The period 1989-1992 was one of rapid expansion for the Cork site. A large new TAED plant was built, a new LIX plant was added to run another new process and various infrastructural items including a new boiler, new laboratories and new offices were installed.

Each new process was now studied intently with regard to its environmental demands and requirements. Not only were the proposed plants themselves evaluated but the implication of any possible foreseeable increase in output was studied in detail. Wherever feasible, processes were being modified to reduce both utility inputs and effluents and emissions.

Emissions of VOC's to atmosphere also received careful scrutiny. The variety of techniques used to reduce VOC emissions include condensation, scrubbing, carbon adsorption and thermal oxidation. All of these techniques were used wherever appropriate, to minimise atmospheric emissions.

The main vehicle for environmental impact evaluation was an Environmental Impact Study carried out in 1988 by Eolas (Forbairt) with and on behalf of the company. The EIS considered every aspect of the potential impact of the site's expanded operation on the environment. Included were emissions to air and water, solid waste disposal both hazardous and non-hazardous and noise emissions. Pilot plant studies were carried out to assess the biodegradability of the process effluents and the capacity of site and off-site infrastructures to handle the new demands. Conformance to new and upcoming E.C. and Irish environmental legislation on emissions and waste was an important part of the EIS programme.

One obvious challenge posed by the large increase in production was the limited capacity of the site's effluent treatment plant to treat the corresponding increase in effluent load.

The treatment plant was sized to treat an effluent load up to a capacity of 47 tonnes per week, measured in units of COD (chemical oxygen demand). This capacity was ample for the production output on site up to the mid eighties, but was inadequate for the demands which were to follow.

Arising from the EIS and from another study which preceded it, an engineering programme was set in motion to increase the capacity of the treatment plant and the flexibility of the plant to deal with variations in effluent. The main elements in this programme which cost roughly three quarters of a million pounds, were the following:

Flow balancing tank to even out the feed to biological treatment.

Segregation and separate treatment systems for two problematic streams.

The effect of the upgrade programme was to increase the capacity of the effluent treatment plant by 25% to a new level of 60 tonnes per week (of COD).

Initially it was anticipated that the new capacity would be just sufficient to handle the extra load. At the same time arrangements were made to divert part of the effluent to an off-site facility, should the capacity of the treatment plant be exceeded.

Circumstances were to change dramatically however in the next few years. As demand for the site's products increased rapidly, the production output between 1989 and 1993 increased by a factor of four. By 1993, hed waste reduction measures not been taken in the meantime, the weekly effluent COD output would have reached 106 tonnes and topped the upgraded treatment plant capacity by 77%. This is shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Effluent Data Summary

Waste reduction and recovery

During 1988 and1989, even while the treatment plant was being extended, options for reducing the quantities of raw effluent requiring treatment were being studied. At issue were the limitations on increasing the size and capacity of the treatment plant but also two other factors. These were the cost of treatment, which was rising all the time, and secondly the issue of landfilling the dewatered sludge which is the product of the biological treatment plant. Industrial companies in the Cork area have been under great pressure in recent years to reduce sludge output because of the shortage of landfill capacity. At the same time landfill charges have been increasing. A better option for companies would be to avoid effluent treatment and attendant sludge generation, if at all feasible to do so.

At Henkel, a detailed analysis of all the individual effluent streams from the processing plant and their origins were undertaken with a view to determining if any were amenable to recovery operations or perhaps even to elimination by means of process changes.

The analysis showed that approximately two thirds of all the process effluent consisted of acetic acid. The acetic acid was to be found in many of the streams but was particularly concentrated in five of them. The five in question contributed 60% of the site's total COD output. An R&D project was immediately set up to explore how the acetic acid could be recovered from the five streams and how the recovered material should be treated to convert it back into a product with commercial value.

A sixth effluent stream also contained a high percentage of acetic acid and in addition had a high concentration of the solvent methanol, which in itself accounted for 12% of the site effluent load.

Having considered various chemical and physical operations it was decided that solvent extraction was the best and most cost effective option for the recovery of both acetic acid and methanol. Both could be distilled to a high degree of purity and could be reused in the site production processes. A ready market existed with a satisfactory price for the greater portion of acetic acid which was surplus to site requirements.

At this point an important R&D breakthrough occurred. It was discovered that a process change was possible whereby acetic acid, methanol and other COD contributors could be eliminated from the sixth stream. As a significant added benefit, costly organic raw materials could be replaced with sodium carbonate (washing soda) and water. After further investigation to ensure that the quality of the product would not be impaired, the process change was quickly introduced.

This simple change which required no capital investment and minimal change in operating procedures resulted in a very significant reduction in effluent COD, amounting to 18 tonnes per week, equivalent to 17% of the total effluent load.

The Kuehni company of Basle were commissioned to engineer and subsequently to build a plant to re

cover high quality acetic acid from the five concentrated effluent streams. The drawing in Diagram 1 outlines the process involved. Up to 50 tonnes per week of acetic acid are recoverable in this plant.

The capital cost of the plant in 1993 was œ33.7 million. Acetic acid sales amounting to well over a half million pounds have been achieved each year. Annual waste treatment cost savings have exceeded œ30.8 million each year. A schematic of the plant is shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2 shows the increase in production and change in effluent COD (1990-95).

Figure 1 Acetic Acid recovery Plant

Figure 2 Production and COD Loads (1990-95)

Utilisation of process residues

The preceding discussion dealt with the reduction of water-soluble COD loadings in raw effluent from the production plants which also automatically reduces effluent treatment costs and costs incurred in the transport and landfill of dewatered sludge.

A second type of waste generated in large quantities at Henkel Ireland is what is termed process residues. These are materials which are left behind when process materials are purified by distillation in evaporators or distillation columns. Typically these materials are generated under conditions of high temperature and high vacuum and when allowed to cool under atmospheric conditions will set into a solid form.

While significant quantities of such materials have been safely landfilled for many years, the company has long regarded such disposal as an unnecessary waste of resources. In addition, EC and Irish legislation is making it increasingly difficult to landfill these types of materials. The raw materials and intermediates used on the site are mainly petrochemical in nature and as a result have high calorific value. This is no less true of the process residues. Typically the residues have about 90% of the calorific value of heavy fuel oil (HFO) which is the main fuel used on site. Furthermore being sulphur free, they generate no sulphur dioxide when burned and consequently would be a cleaner fuel than HFO.

The company has been investigating the burning of residues to raise steam for a number of years. The impediment to progress has been the viscous properties of the material, even at relatively high temperatures, which makes it difficult to feed to a boiler in a consistent way. These problems have now been overcome. A specialised boiler was installed in 1994 which had the necessary facilities for satisfactory residue combustion. This boiler can consume about 60% of the available residues on site along with the staple fuel, low sulphur heavy fuel oil. A second specialised boiler is currently being installed and is now nearing completion. With this boiler in operation, all of the remaining residue will be utilised. The new boiler is also a combined heat and power (CHP) unit and will be capable of providing half of the sites electricity requirement. When the new boiler is up and running, close to 25% of the site's total heating requirement will be generated from process residue which was previously thrown away. The relevant data are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Figure 3 shows how the waste treatment costs have fallen over the period 1991-1995.

Figure 3 Waste Treatment Costs/t of Product (1991-1995)

Table 2 Principal Solid Wastes for Disposal

Table 3 Costs of disposing of waste

Further developments

To date, Henkel Ireland has made substantial progress in tackling both effluent and solid wastes and in the efficient use of scarce resources such as fuel oil, electricity, water and raw materials. These advances have been made in a variety of ways, some through large projects which required big capital investment and others by means of relatively simple innovations in operating procedures and plant design. There are at present other live projects aimed at reducing further the quantities of waste being produced. There is every prospect that the next few years will see further advances in waste reduction.

Dr. Jim Barry is a graduate of University College, Cork, where he obtained a PhD in Chemistry in 1968. Following a short period of research in North America he returned to Ireland in 1971 and joined Pfizer's in Ringaskiddy. He has worked in the Irish chemical industry since that date. He was with Henkel Ireland in Cork for over 20 years, where he held the position of technical manager. His responsibilities included care for the environment and waste reduction programmes. He joined Roche Ireland in Clarecastle in early 1997, where he is Director of Safety and Environment. From 1996-1998 he was President of the Irish Science Teacher's Association.

Gary Walsh

Dept. of Chemical and Environmental Sciences, University of Limerick

Introduction

Pharmaceutical drugs form the backbone of modern medicinal therapy, and the pharmaceutical industry represents one of the largest and most powerful industrial sectors in existence. Currently there are well in excess of 10,000 pharmaceutical companies in operation, manufacturing in the region of 5,000 individual pharmaceutical substances. The estimated annual world sales value of such drugs is in excess of $200 billion. Most drugs can be categorized into one of four groups depending upon their method of production: (a) those manufactured by direct chemical synthesis, (b) those manufactured by semi-synthesis, (c) pharmaceuticals extracted directly from biological tissue and, (d) pharmaceutical products of biotechnology. Much of the remainder of this article will focus upon discussing selected examples from each of these four categories.

Growth of the Pharmaceutical Industry

The first stages of development of the modern pharmaceutical industry can be traced back to the turn of the century. At that time (apart from folk cures), the medical community had at its disposal only four drugs which were effective in treating specific diseases.

• Digitalis (extracted from foxglove) was known to stimulate heart muscle and, hence, used to treat various heart conditions.

• Quinine obtained from the barks/roots of a plant (Cinchona species) was used to treat malaria.

• Pecacuanha (active ingredient is a mixture of alkaloids) used for treating dysentery, was obtained from the bark/roots of the plant species Cephaelis.

• Mercury, for the treatment of syphilis.

The lack of appropriate safe and effective medicines contributed in no small way to the low life-expectancy characteristic of those times.

Developments in biology (particularly the growing realization of the microbiological basis of many diseases), as well as a developing appreciation of the principles of organic chemistry, helped underpin future innovation in the fledgling pharmaceutical industry. The successful synthesis of various artificial dyes, which proved to be therapeutically useful, led to the formation of pharmaceutical/chemical companies such as Bayer and Hoechst in the late 1800s

Despite these early advances, it wasn't until the 1930s that the pharmaceutical industry began to develop in earnest. The initial landmark discovery of this era was probably the discovery and chemical synthesis of the Sulpha drugs. These are a group of related molecules derived from the red dye, Prontosil rubrum. These drugs proved effective in the treatment of a wide variety of bacterial infections (Figure 1).

Figure 1 The sulpha drugs

The medical success of these drugs gave new emphasis to the pharmaceutical industry, which was boosted further by the commencement of industrial-scale penicillin manufacture in the early 1940s. Around this time, many of the current leading pharmaceutical companies (or their forerunners) were founded. Examples include Ciba Geigy, Eli Lilly, Wellcome, Glaxo and Roche. Over the next two to three decades, these companies developed drugs such as tetracyclines, corticosteroids, oral contraceptives, anti-depressants and many more.

Drugs Manufactured by Chemical Synthesis

The bulk of pharmaceutical substances currently available for therapeutic use are manufactured by direct chemical synthesis. Many such substances (or derivatives thereof) are produced naturally by living organisms. However, their low levels of biosynthesis precluded their widespread clinical application until methods facilitating direct chemical synthesis were developed. Direct chemical synthesis also allowed chemists to manufacture structurally modified forms of such drugs, many of which display increased biological activity or additional desirable characteristics (e.g. acid stability which facilitates their oral administration). Aspirin and testosterone, two

notable drugs produced by direct chemical synthesis, are discussed below.

The manufacture of aspirin

Few drugs have gained such widespread use as Aspirin. The story of aspirin begins in the annals of folk medicine, where willow bark and certain flowers (e.g. Spirea ulmaria) were used to relieve rheumatic and other pain. The bark of the white and black willow was subsequently found to contain salicin (Figure 2), which is metabolized to salicylic acid when ingested by humans.

The flowers of Spirea ulmaria (meadowsweet) were also found to contain salicylic acid. This possesses anti-pyretic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Although it is an effective pain reliever, it irritates the stomach lining, and it was not until its modification to acetylsalicylate by Bayer chemists that it found widespread medical application (Figure 2). Bayer patented its acetylsalicylate drug under the tradename 'Aspirin' in 1900.

Aspirin is manufactured by direct chemical synthesis from phenol. Sodium phenoxide (derived from phenol) reacts with carbon dioxide under pressure, yielding an intermediate keto acid anion. This enolizes, yielding salicylic acid (an o-hydroxybenzoic acid). In the presence of acetic anhydride, salicylic acid is in turn converted into acetyl salicylic acid (aspirin, Figure 3).

Figure 2 Structure of aspirin and related molecules

Figure 3 Synthesis of aspirin

Although now competing with additional analgesics such as paracetamol, aspirin is still produced in appreciable quantities. The annual consumption rate in the USA alone still stands at some 80 million pills, representing in the region of 16,000 tons of product. While acting as an analgesic at lower concentrations, higher doses induce anti-inflammatory effects. Such effects are prompted at least in part by aspirin's ability to block prostaglandin synthesis in the body. Prostaglandins are hormone-like molecules which mediate effects such as pain and inflammation. Some prostaglandins also play a role in blood clot formation - hence the more recent practice of administering aspirin to heart attack victims in an attempt to prevent recurrent clot formation.

Testosterone and other steroids

Testosterone is the primary male steroid sex hormone. It functions to promote sperm production as well as the development and maintenance of male secondary sexual characteristics. It also exhibits more generalized anabolic (growth-promoting) effects. The potential medical applications of this steroid was first highlighted by experiments carried out in the 1880s, by a noted (elderly) French physiologist, Professor Charles Brown-Sequard. Professor Sequard claimed that repeated self- administration (by injection) of liquid extracts from dog's testicles reversed his age-related decline. He claimed the treatment increased his physical strength and intellectual capacity, as well as having many additional admirable effects, such as relieving his constipation and lengthening the ark of his urine flow. Testosterone was first chemically synthesized from cholesterol in 1935. This facilitated medical evaluation of its clinical potential, and since then, this steroid has found application in the treatment of male hypogonadism. It is also used to initiate puberty in boys experiencing developmental delay, and to treat impotence in some cases. Testosterone and related anabolic steroids have also found illegal application as performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Body-builders first began experimenting with testosterone in the 1950s and it is currently estimated that there are in excess of one million steroid abusers in the USA alone. Anabolic steroids such as stanozolol have been detected in several athletes during Olympic and other high-profile sporting events (Figure 4).

The international black market in synthetic androgens is believed to be in excess of one billion dollars. Female sex hormones such as oestrogens and progestins are now also chemically synthesized. These steroid hormones regulate (female) sexual development/fertility, and early pregnancy, respectively. In addition, direct chemical synthesis has facilitated the development of synthetic oestrogens (e.g. ethynylestradiol) and synthetic progestins (e.g. norethindrone, Figure 4). These have found widespread application as constituents of oral contraceptive pills.

Figure 4 Structures of the sex hormones

Table 1

Some pharmaceuticals which may be obtained by direct extraction rom biological source material. (Note that some of these products are now manufactured by genetic engineering, as discussed later)

Drugs produced by/extracted from Biological Sources

A wide range of important therapeutic drugs are obtained by direct extraction from their biological source material (Table 1). Insulin for example may be extracted from the pancreatic tissue of slaughterhouse animals, particularly pigs. (The quantity of purified insulin obtained from the pancreas of one pig would satisfy the requirement of one diabetic for 3 days). Moulds such as Penicillium Notatum have been used since the 1930s to produce natural penicillins such as penicillin G and penicillin V.

One disadvantage associated with the therapeutic application of substances derived from biological systems is the potential for the accidental transmission of disease. The infection of haemophiliacs with HIV and Hepatitis B (and C) via contaminated blood products serves as one good such example. The transmission of Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease via infected human growth hormone preparations serves as an additional example. Because of this, many (protein-based) drugs are now being produced by genetic engineering, as discussed later.

Semi-Synthesis

Many drugs are manufactured by a semi-synthesis approach. This normally entails extraction of a specific substance from its native biological source, with subsequent chemical modification of this substance, yielding the final drug product. Examples include the production of taxol, semi-synthetic antibiotics and some steroids.

Taxol is a diterpenoid, first isolated from the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia) in the late 1960s. Its complete structure was elucidated by 1971 (Fig. 5). In-vitro tests suggested that taxol could selectively induce the destruction of some cancer cell lines, and large-scale clinical trials proved its efficacy as an anti-cancer agent. It was first approved for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer in 1992.

Direct extraction from the bark of Taxus brevifolia yielded virtually all of the taxol used clinically up to almost the mid-1990s. The yield of active principle ranged from 0.007% - 0.014%. Huge quantities of bark were thus required to sustain taxol production (almost 30,000 kg of bark were extracted in 1989 to meet requirements during large-scale clinical trials). A major (late) intermediate in the biosynthesis of taxol is 10-decacetylbaccatin (10-DAB, Figure 5). This can be obtained from the leaves (needles) of many species of yew, and at concentrations in excess of 0.1%. Chemical methods have been developed allowing synthesis of taxol from 10-DAB, and much of the taxol now used therapeutically is produced in this way. Semi-synthesis of taxol also facilitates generation of taxol analogues, some of which have also generated clinical interest. Although semi-synthesis of taxol is relatively straight forward, its total de-novo synthesis is extremely complex. The cost of achieving de-novo synthesis ensures that this approach will not be adopted for commercial production of this drug.

Figure 5 Structure of taxol and related molecules

Products of Biotechnology

The term biopharmaceutical refers to biologically-based drugs manufactured by modern biotechnological techniques, most notably genetic engineering. The bulk of these biopharmaceuticals are protein-based regulatory molecules which are synthesized naturally by the body. In many cases (e.g. interferons) their potential therapeutic application was recognized for decades, but their actual application was rendered impractical due to the extremely low levels at which they are produced naturally.

Other proteins which were previously available by direct extraction from biological source material are now also produced by genetic engineering for reasons of safety. Notable examples include blood factor VIII and human growth hormone, as previously mentioned.

Genetic engineering thus overcomes problems of source availability and accidental transmission of disease. Some biopharmaceuticals currently on the market are listed in Table 2. While these have proven to be safe and effective in treating their target condition, products of biotechnology are expensive to produce, and for most products, the annual cost of treatment per patient is in excess of $10,000.

Table 2 Some major biopharmaceuticals currently approved for clinical use, and their annual; global market value

Gene Therapy

By the next decade or so, an additional class of biomolecule - nucleic acid - is likely to become an important new category of therapeutic substance. Gene therapy in particular will likely find medical application. The fundamental principle underlining gene therapy is the stable introduction of a gene into the genetic complement of a cell, such that subsequent expression of the gene achieves a therapeutic goal. Well over 4,000 genetic diseases have been characterized to date. Many of these are caused by lack of production of a single gene product, or are due to the production of a mutated gene product incapable of carrying out its natural function. Gene therapy represents a seemingly straightforward therapeutic option which could correct such genetic-based diseases.

Several technical difficulties, however, must be overcome before the treatment of genetic diseases via gene therapy becomes a reality. For the majority of genetic diseases the gene responsible remains to be identified. Furthermore, the introduction of genes into targeted cell types, along with achieving stable gene incorporation in the cells genome - and ensuring subsequent long-term gene expression - is proving technically challenging.

Despite such difficulties, the industry is confident that gene therapy will become a medical reality before the second decade of the next century. In addition to treating genetic diseases, this therapeutic approach will likely find use in treating additional conditions, including cancer and infectious diseases.

Conclusions

The global pharmaceutical industry continues to grow - a fact reflected in the continued expansion of the sector within Ireland over the last 2-3 decades. Currently the Irish pharmaceutical sector employs over 11,000 people, almost half of whom are graduates.

While most drugs are manufactured by direct chemical synthesis, an increasing proportion of newly developed drugs are products of biotechnology. Both chemical- and biological-based production methods will thus likely play equally important roles in providing mankind with the drugs of the future.

Dr.Gary Walsh is currently a lecturer in Biochemistry in the department of Chemical and Environmental Sciences at the University of Limerick. He did his first degree and Ph.D. at University College Galway and has worked for several years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. His first textbook Protein Biotechnology was printed in 1994 and his second book, related to the topic of this article, Biopharmaceuticals: Biochemistry and Biotechnology, will be published in 1998.

The Ammonia Process and Fertilizer Synthesis at I.F.I., Cork

Peter Desmond

I.F.I., Marino, Point, Cork

The Company

Irish Fertilizer Industries Ltd. is Ireland's only remaining fertilizer manufacturer and is jointly owned by NET and ICI. The company operates three factories at Arklow, Belfast and Cork and markets its fertilizer products in Western Europe.

The business of the IFI company is high nitrogen fertilizers and it is will have been 10 years in existence in October 1997. In that period the company invested over œ80 million in projects to improve efficiency, safety, competitiveness and environmental performance. The annual turnover is œ165 million and the total number of employees is 600.

The energy required to produce 1 tonne of ammonia has reduced through the century. Figure 1 shows that 6 tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) was required in 1900, this was reduced to 3 tonnes in 1913 when the Haber Bosch process was first used in Germany. Steam reforming of natural gas reduced the energy requirement to 1 toe in the 1970's. This tonne, when converted to its equivalence in energy as gigajoules, shows that natural gas conversion by the ammonia plant at IFI has reduced its energy demand from 43 gigajoules per tonne of ammonia in 1981 down to 37 gigajoules/tonne in 1997. This reflects the investment in energy-saving projects in this period.

(1000 Standard Cubic Feet of natural gas is equivalent to 1.065 gigajoules)

A famous Dublin man once said and I quote:

"And he gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before,

would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together".

Jonathan Swift.

That is a positive statement which challenges those who can do better to do so!

Figure 1 Energy demand for ammonia production (1900-1970)

Environmental History

Few, if any, of the students from schools visiting the IFI factory at Marino Point in 1997 were born before the Factory commenced operation. The major dates in the history of the factory are as follows:

• Planning permission was granted in 1974.

• Production commenced in 1979.

• Licence for water discharge 1983.

• Licence for emission to atmosphere 1989.

• Granted IPC Licence in 1996.

Base-line surveys covering air, water and noise were carried out before production commenced in 1979 and the results of the work carried out then have been used many times since then in co-operation with other study groups and consultants.

Water Monitoring

The water study consisted of a major survey on the upper Lee Estuary by IIRS (now Forbairt) covering:

1. Chemical analysis of the Estuary between Cobh and Cork for metals, ammonia, BOD., DO., salinity, ATP, chlorophyll and suspended solids.

2. A study of the Benthic organisms which populate the sediments in the Harbour.

Air Monitoring

On the atmospheric side the air quality was surveyed at three main sample stations around the proposed plant, covering Passage West, Fota and the Belvelly area closest to the site. These stations are still operating with two additional stations at Carrigaloe and Little Island. One real-time ammonia monitor reads continuous ground-level ammonia concentrations at an elevated site in Passage West, which was selected by mathematical modelling. This unit is using up-to-date technology with facilities for calibration in situ and is linked to the factory by telephone line.

Noise Monitoring

Three continuous noise monitors are now operating at three points around the perimeter of the factory, and results are relayed directly to the laboratory.

European Consumption of Fertilisers

The consumption of fertilizers in Europe has declined from over 11 million tonnes in 1990 to slightly more than 9 million tonnes in 1993, where it has remained with very little movement over the following 5 years. Many fertilizers are now customised and are applied more precisely and only as required, when the crop is at a stage that it can efficiently utilise the nutrients and so minimise leaching or environmental damage. This has reduced fertilizer demand. Table 1 shows the quantities of fertilizers produced at the three IFI plants in Ireland.

Table 1 IFI Production in Tonnes

Raw Materials for Ammonia production

The raw materials used in making ammonia are:

Natural Gas - Fuel and Process -H₂

Water - Steam generation and Process-2

Air - Source of Nitrogen - N₂

The declining European market means that the need to improve efficiency is essential for survival and in order to compete in the fertilizer market. The prime target in ammonia production is to use as little natural gas (99% methane) as possible as fuel and so maximise the availability of gas as process feed stock to make hydrogen. The improvement in gas conversion since 1979 is a result of numerous projects and modifications to the basic plant, leading to lower energy usage and higher outputs from the same quantity of process gas. This paper describes the operating improvements necessary and reactions which must be avoided to improve efficiency.

Energy Saving Projects at Marino Point

Hydrogen Recovery Unit

Argon is the largest constituent of the inert gases in the air used in the process and this builds up in the synthesis converter where the ammonia is formed. The ammonia is continually liquefied and sent to storage but the argon builds up within the plant and must be removed. In the original plant, this purge gas was burnt as fuel but the valuable hydrogen in it was also consumed. The first major project was to install a hydrogen recovery system which utilises the high molecular permeability of hydrogen to affect the separation of hydrogen from the less valuable constituents of the purge gas. This allows the hydrogen to be recovered and used to make extra ammonia.

Synthesis Converter

In 1993 the synthesis converter which holds 185 t of iron catalyst was modified to operate using a catalyst of smaller particle size, which was contained in porous vessels. These allowed the gases to flow radially in the modified converter compared to the axial flow through the catalyst in the original vessels. This increased the conversion to ammonia from 13.5% to 17% for each pass through the catalyst (a 25% improvement in conversion).

The real benefit, however, was in the reduction in power brought about by a lower flow rate through the catalyst and a reduction in the pressure drop across the catalyst bed. One 40 bar boiler which was used to supply 500 t/day of steam is now shut down and used only during plant restart after a complete shutdown. The benefit from this and other projects carried out in 1993 equate to an extra 28,000 t of ammonia produced per annum for the same gas intake.

Waste Heat Recovery Improvement

One engineer recently examined the flame patterns in the heat recovery section of the main furnace in the primary reformer. This section also has gas burners to supplement the waste heat. He has shown that the heat recovery coils were under-used due to poor flow distribution and in order to attain the required plant conditions, the gas burners were being used excessively.

Using the latest laser technology coupled with photography, he could plot the flow of "weightless" dust through the flue gas chamber. New baffles and modified heat recovery coils are now installed and operating at an improved level of heat transfer, where the temperature of the combustion gases emitted to atmosphere have been reduced by 50⁰C, based on the modelling profile of the flow as shown up by the laser analysis, thus saving energy.

Reduction in Nitrogen Discharges

Water is a precious and expensive raw material and in striving to reduce effluent discharges a number of fundamental steps were taken that had a lasting effect. In this Marino Point the chemicals we manufacture are the main constituents in the effluent i.e. ammonia and urea. In 1993 the factory discharge levels were running at 840 kg N per day. The reduction in water usage helped to focus on individual plant effluent sources. This brought a continuous drop in nitrogen discharges down to the most recent annual discharge rate of 390kg N/day for 1997.

This has been achieved by a combination of projects, particularly in the urea plant. Waste reuse was improved, and improved training, regular reviews of performance and improved plant process control technology all contributed. Figure 2 shows the reduction of nitrogen discharges at Marino Point.

Figure 2 Liquid discharges of nitrogen from Marino Point

Catalysts

There is a continuous effort being made in the world of catalysts to improve performance. Catalysts in the ammonia process have a useful operating life of 3 to 7 years and are then replaced with a fresh batch of essentially the same catalyst.

SHIFT REACTION:

CO(g) + H₂O(g) V CO₂(g) + H₂(g)

Exothermic reaction

In 1996 the Low Temperature Shift catalyst was replaced by an improved reactivity catalyst, which gave better CO to CO₂ conversion. It also gave a reduction in the quantity of unwanted by-products, in particular of methanol which, although present in parts per million, causes increased levels of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) in the final liquid effluent from the factory.

PRIMARY REFORMER REACTIONS

BASIC:

CnHm(g) + nH₂O(g) = nCO(g) + (2n+m)/2H₂(g) Endothermic reaction

PREFERRED:

CH₄(g) + H₂O(g) = CO(g) + 3H₂(g)

Endothermic reaction

CO(g) + H₂O(g) = CO₂(g) + H₂(g)

Exothermic reaction

UNWANTED:

CH4(g) + CO2(g) = CO(g) + H2(g) + H2O(g) + C(s)

2CH₄(g) = C₂H₄(g) + 2H₂(g)

The possibility of the formation of carbon in the primary reformer illustrates the importance of having sufficient steam to allow the desired reforming reactions. A steam to gas ratio of 3.6:1 is the ratio under the conditions of operation when the plant was first operated. This has been reduced to 2.9:1 by the installation of a modification to the carbon dioxide removal system, coupled with the new low temperature shift catalyst and the installation of a water injection 'desuperheater' to reduce the inlet temperature of the gases entering the low temperature shift reactor.

ILAB Accreditation

In 1991 the company applied for ILAB accreditation which resulted in the Laboratory being granted Accreditation in May 1992. The scope of the Accreditation totalled 15 tests, including analysis of all products as per specification tests for quality and effluent analysis. The advantage of Accreditation is the validation of the results obtained and the development of a culture of regular calibration and maintenance of the laboratory equipment and materials.

The Future

Global trends in population tell us that the population of the earth will increase to 8 billion by the year 2020. The grain yield to maintain that population will rise to almost 10 tonnes per hectare. The requirement for nutrients to meet this yield will be met by a combination of

1. Soil reserves

2. Manures

3. Manufactured fertilizers

The contribution of soil reserves and manures relative to fertilizers is shown below in Table 2.

Table 2

Soil Reserves & Manures Fertilizers

1990's 50% - 60% 40% - 50%

2020's 30% - 35% 65% - 70%

The future for fertilizers is directly related to the food requirements of the world population but the emphasis on energy saving and environmental protection gives plenty of opportunity for innovation and development in the chemical and production processes to satisfy the needs and preserve environment.

Peter Desmond is Laboratory Manager with responsibility for process quality and environmental monitoring at IFI's Marino Point factory, where he is the Senior Chemist. He moved to Cork in 1979 after working for Eolas (now Forbairt) for eleven years. Previous to that he spent eight years in the Public Analyst's Laboratory in Cork.

*****

Remaining papers:

The paper by Reg McCabe on the Irish Plastics Industry is not available for publication. Dr. Childs' talk on "The History of the Irish Chemical Industry" will be printed in the next issue (#55) along with Dr. Philip Ryan's article on the "History of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland". Both these articles have previously appeared in issues of Irish Chemical News.

The Chemical History of a Candle (1861)

Michael Faraday at the age of 61

INTRODUCTION

(This is the introduction to an edition published in 1961 to commemorate the centenary of the first publication of The Chemical History of a Candle.)

There are unfortunately too few examples in science of lectures, which achieve greatness both by their style of presentation as well as by their scientific content. Possibly the greatest of these is The Chemical History of a Candle, a series of six lectures given by Michael Faraday to a juvenile audience at the Royal Institution in Albemarle Street, London. Faraday gave these lectures together with a number of experiments several times, the last occasion being at Christmas in the year 1860.

We might well ask what manner of man was Michael Faraday and what is the Royal Institution in which he gave this lecture? To find the answer we must first consider two equally interesting man. The Royal Institution in Albemarle Street was founded by Benjamin Thompson later Count Rumford, who was born in 1753 at North Woburn, Massachusetts, a village ten miles from Boston. Thompson was a man remarkable for his scientific as well as for his international activities. Indeed, he was considered by President Eliot of Harvard to be one of the greatest of the American scientists, even greater than his contemporary, Benjamin Franklin.

He was in Boston in the year 1770 when the Boston Tea-party took place and the Boston merchants commenced a boycott of English goods. Thompson, who was an employee in a shop at the time, consequently lost his post and took up teaching in a school at Concord. His life underwent a dramatic change when on his honeymoon he visited Portsmouth, the capital of New Hampshire, and met Governor Wentworth, who offered him a commission in the New Hampshire regiment. It has never been fully established whether he supported the English or the rebels but the fact that he was supposed to be responsible for the passing of information concerning military activities to the Governor, General Gage, in the form of a secret letter, rendered him suspect in his community. As a result he found it expedient to leave America and sailed for England with Governor Gage who had been driven out by Washington. He studied in England for fifteen years during which time he carried out scientific experiments and made the acquaintance of that remarkable President of the Royal Society, Sir Joseph Banks, at whose suggestion he was made a Fellow of the Society.

Thompson then returned to America for two years until the peace treaty between England and the Thirteen Colonies was signed in 1783, but on his return to England he found that Americans were not very popular in London. He accordingly asked for permission to visit the Emperor at Vienna, and on the way he had the opportunity of visiting Munich.

Maximilian, the Elector of Bavaria, was so impressed by Thompson that he took him into his services and gave him practically carte blanche to reorganise the army. Thompson remained ten years in Bavaria and carried out not only a remarkable series of reforms in the army and civic life but also there performed his well-known experiments on the heat generated by boring a cannon.

He was made a count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1791, selecting for his title the Maine township where the family of his first wife lived. Count Rumford became ill in 1792, and we find him in London again writing essays. It was in one of these that he drew up 'a proposal for forming by subscription in the Metropolis of the British Empire a Public Institution for diffusing the knowledge and facilitating the general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improvements and for teaching by courses of philosophical lectures and experiments the application of science to the common purposes of life.'

This suggestion appealed so strongly to his friend Mr. Bernard and also to Sir Joseph Banks that an outline of the proposals was printed and circulated before a general meeting held on March 7th, 1799. A committee of managers was elected and, as the result of a charter granted by His Majesty King George III on January 13th, 1800, the Royal Institution of Great Britain came into existence.

When a private house in Albemarle Street had been suitably converted into lecture rooms and laboratories to serve the purposes of the Institution, Rumford, with the consent of the managers, engaged as the first professor, Dr. Thomas Garnett, a thirty-year-old scientist working in Professor Anderson's Institution in Glasgow. Garnett's lectures became very popular and fully justified Rumford's idea that science could be made fashionable.

In the same year a friend of Rumford sent him an essay on Chemical and Philosophical Researches by a Mr. Humphry Davy who at the age of nineteen had been appointed superintendent of the 'Pneumatic Institution' of Dr. Beddoes in Bristol. During his investigations he had discovered the interesting properties of nitrous oxide, 'laughing gas'. Rumford was so impressed by Davy's essay that he summoned him to London and asked him to give a trial lecture in the Royal Institution. Rumford and the managers were delighted with the result and Davy was on February 16th, 1801, engaged in the service of the Royal Institution in the capacities of 'Assistant Lecturer in Chemistry, Director of the Laboratory and Assistant Editor of the Journals of the Institution'. Davy's first lecture in the Royal Institution took place on April 25th, 1801.

Humphry Davy, famous for his discovery of the anaesthetic properties of laughing gas, inventor of the miner's safety lamp and responsible for laying the foundations of the science of electrolysis, was at the same time a brilliant lecturer. Indeed it is recorded that the carriages conveying the fashionable audience to the Royal Institution were so numerous that Albemarle Street was proclaimed a one-way street, possibly the first of its kind in the world. Davy's experiments on the isolation of the alkali metals by electrolysis of the fused salts had brought him and the Institution world-wide recognition.

This then is the background of the scene into which Michael Faraday entered.

Faraday's father was a blacksmith in Clapham in Yorkshire, near the Westmorland border, apparently not a very successful one, since he and Margaret his wife decided to move to London in 1791. They found a home in Newington Butts and there their third child, Michael, was born on September 22nd of that year.

When Michael was five years old the family moved from Newington Butts to rooms over a coach house in Jacob's Well Mews, Charles Street, Manchester Square, London. There the young Faraday went to school and played with other boys in the street until the age of thirteen he entered his first employment with a Mr. Riebeu, a bookseller, in Blandford Street, first as a messenger boy and later as an apprentice to the trade of bookbinder and stationer. During the thirteen years that Michael lived in Jacob's Well Mews he read a number of books on natural science and attended lectures on natural philosophy given by a Mr. Tatum in Dorset Street. Towards the end of the year 1809 the family moved from their home to 18 Weymouth Street, near Portland Place, where in the following year his father, who had been ailing for some time, died.

It is interesting to note that already at the age of nineteen Faraday commenced making notes concerning the books, which interested him and performed simple experiments 'as could be defrayed in their expense by a few pence per week'. At Mr. Tatum's lectures, which extended over a period of almost two years he met a number of congenial people some of whom, especially a Benjamin Abbot, became his lifelong friends. In the spring of 1812 there occurred a significant event in Faraday's life. A customer of Mr. Riebeu, by name Mr. Dance, had noted Faraday's great interest in science and being a member of the newly founded Royal Institution gave Faraday four tickets to attend the last four of a series of lectures by Sir Humphry Davy in the spring of 1812. These were on the subject of metals and of special interest to the audience since Davy had just received his Knighthood. These lectures so excited Faraday's imagination that he took copious notes of Davy's words, and completed a set of drawings of the experiments, all of which, comprising over 380 pages, he carefully bound into a quarto volume. He also mentioned in letters to his friend Benjamin Abbot how he had made a simple voltaic pile and showed that he could decompose sulphate of magnesia with its aid. He indeed went to the length of writing to Sir Joseph Banks, the President of the Royal Society, seeking scientific occupation. No answer was returned.

Faraday's tenure with Mr. Riebeu was running out and in October 1812 he engaged himself to a Mr. De la Roche, but his desire to pursue a scientific career was so strong that he took the liberty of writing to Sir Humphry himself, enclosing the notes he had taken of the lectures.

Davy, on receipt of this letter, mentioned it to a friend of his named Pepys, one of the original managers of the Royal Institution, who suggested that he should take him on. Davy accordingly wrote to Faraday to visit him in Albemarle Street but instead of offering him a post he merely encouraged Faraday to continue his bookbinding, and offered to entrust the binding of the books of the Royal Institution to him. These can be seen in Albemarle Street, where they are carefully preserved.

A few weeks later, however, an assistant at the Royal Institution, Mr. Payne, was dismissed and Davy remembered Faraday's application. There followed a significant entry in the minutes of the Manager's meeting held on March 1st, 1813.

"Sir Humphry Davy has the honour to inform the Managers that he has found a person who is desirous to occupy the situation in the Institution lately filled by William Payne. His name is Michael Faraday. He is a youth of twenty-two years of age."

Faraday was engaged as assistant for 25s. a week salary and the use of two rooms at the top of the Institution building.

On March 8th he wrote to his friend Abbot that he was already installed and assisting in a lecture on mechanics. Next month we find him reporting that he and Sir Humphry had been severely cut by the explosion of nitrogen trichloride which they had been investigating.

Towards the end of the year Sir Humphry decided to make plans for a tour of Europe. Although Britain and France were at war, Napoleon readily granted a free passage to this well-known scientist. Davy decided to take Faraday with him. Their adventures and observations were duly recorded by Faraday in his journal from 1813 to 1815. Faraday had to resign his post in the Royal Institution but Davy had promised to reinstate him on their return. This promise Davy fulfilled and Faraday was, within a fortnight of their return, on May 7th, 1815, appointed assistant in the laboratory and mineralogical collection and superintendent of the apparatus. His wages went up by 5s. a week!

One of the most important of Davy's discoveries was made in this year, namely the principle 'that fire damp would not explode in tubes or feeders of a certain small diameter' resulting in the construction of the miners' safety lamp. In his communication to the Royal Society on November 2nd he states that he was 'indebted to Mr. Michael Faraday for much able assistance'. This was Faraday's first public recognition and came from a man for whom he had the greatest admiration.

Early in 1816 Faraday gave his first lecture to the City Philosophical Society and also saw his first paper on the analysis of native caustic lime published in the Quarterly Journal of Science. From now on we find him busy giving lectures and writing papers. In 1820 his first communication to the Royal Society was published and the following year he married Sarah Barnard, the daughter of the silversmith, who, like Faraday, was a member of the Sandemanian Church, and the couple took up their residence in the royal Institution. Thus commenced 'a wedded life of nearly half a century's duration and of unclouded love'.

It was in the same year that Faraday commenced his experiments on electromagnetism. Dr. Wollaston had attempted to show that a wire carrying a current would, if free, rotate about its own axis. Faraday repeated the experiments and showed that Dr. Wollaston was wrong; he did, however, make the great fundamental discovery that a wire in a voltaic current would rotate about a magnet and a magnet around the wire. Davy thought that Faraday had got the idea from Wollaston and refused to nominate Faraday for Fellowship of the Royal Society. Nevertheless, his certificate was read in 1823 and he was elected that year, though black-balled by Davy. Wollaston's signature was the first one on the certificate.

In 1824 Faraday gave his first lecture in the Royal Institution, and apparently Davy had completely recovered from his disagreement with him for we find the latter recommending Faraday to be Director of the Laboratory 'under the superintendence of the Professor of Chemistry'. It was after this appointment that Faraday commenced the practice of inviting members of the Institution to evening meetings in the laboratory to show them matters of interest.

In 1826 there commenced the now well-known Friday evening discourses. There were seventeen that year, six of them being given by Faraday himself.

For the next few years Faraday was busy investigating optical glass and published a number of papers. He had the complete confidence of the managers, and when Sir Humphry Davy died in 1829 he was invited to attend the meetings of the managers.

Faraday was completely at home in the Royal Institution, receiving many honours from English and Continental Societies and refusing many outside tempting offers, including a professorship in London University.

In 1831 Faraday resumed his researches on electromagnetism, and it was on this work that he received acclaim as one of the world's greatest scientists.

Faraday initiated the Christmas juvenile lectures, the first of which he gave in 1827 and the last in 1863. During the remainder of his life he gave nineteen of these courses. The first series consisted of six lectures on chemistry, in the first of which he had no fewer than eighty-six experiments.

Late in 1839 Faraday began to suffer from overwork and had to take more prolonged holidays, although he continued to add to his series of 'Experimental Researches', and in the next year he went on a three-months' trip to Switzerland, accompanied by his wife and his brother. Indeed, it was not until 1845 that Faraday became really active again. He then gave frequent lectures in the Royal Institution, in 1849 giving for the first time his famous lectures on 'The Chemical History of a Candle'.

He worked at the Royal Institution, taking long weekends at the sea, until 1858, when he was presented by the Queen, at the instigation of the Prince Consort, with a house of grace and favour at Hampton Court. For nearly ten years he lived there, making frequent journeys to the Institution and delivering numerous lectures on Friday evenings and the juvenile lectures as well. However, during the last two years of his life he gave up all work and, as he expressed it, the time was passed 'in waiting'.

On August 25th, 1867, he passed quietly away sitting in his chair in his study at Hampton Court. Thus ended the life of one of the world's greatest scientists. A man deeply religious, humble and kind, he had the greatest sympathy for young people. He did not seek wealth or position; indeed, he stated once that a Fellowship of the Royal Society was the only honour that he had ever sought.

ERIC K. RIDEAL.

July 22nd, 1960

"The Chemical History of a Candle"

Michael Faraday (1861)

In this issue we present the original preface and the first of Michael Faraday's famous lectures on "A Chemical History of A Candle". The other lectures will be presented in subsequent issues. Pages 26-28 gives an introduction to this book and the children's Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution on which they were based.

PREFACE

(to the original 1861 edition)

From the primitive pine torch to the paraffin candle, how wide an interval! between them how vast a contrast! The means adopted by man to illuminate his home at night, stamp at once his position in the scale of civilisation. The fluid bitumen of the Far East, blazing in rude vessels of baked earth; the Etruscan lamp, exquisite in form, yet ill adapted to its office; the whale, seal, or bear fat, filling the hut of the Eskimo or Lap with odour rather than light; the huge wax candle on the glittering altar; the range of gas lamps in our streets - all have their stories to tell. All, if they could speak (and after their own manner they can), might warm our hearts in telling, how they have ministered to man's comfort, love of home, toil, and devotion.

Surely, among the millions of fire-worshippers and fire-users who have passed away in earlier ages, some have pondered over the mystery of fire; perhaps some clear minds have guessed shrewdly near the truth. Think of the time man has lived in hopeless ignorance: think that only during a period which might be spanned by the life of one man, has the truth been known!

Atom by atom, link by link, has the reasoning chain been forged. Some links too quickly and too slightly made have given way, and been replaced by better work; but now the great phenomena are known, the outline is correctly and firmly drawn, cunning artists are filling in the rest, and the child who masters these Lectures knows more of fire than Aristotle.

The candle itself is now made to light up the dark places of nature: the blowpipe and the prism are adding to our knowledge of the earth's crust, but the torch must come first.

Among the readers of this book some few may devote themselves to increasing the stores of knowledge; the Lamp of Science must burn. 'Alere flammam.'

W. CROOKES

LECTURE I

A CANDLE: THE FLAME - ITS SOURCES -

STRUCTURE - MOBILITY - BRIGHTNESS

I propose, in return for the honour you do us by coming to see what are our proceedings here, to bring before you, in the course of these lectures, the Chemical History of a Candle. I have taken this subject on a former occasion, and were it left to my own will I should prefer to repeat it almost every year; so abundant is the interest that attaches itself to the subject, so wonderful are the varieties of outlet which it offers into the various departments of philosophy. There is not a law under which any part of this universe is governed which does not come into play and is touched upon in these phenomena. There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy, than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle. I trust, therefore, I shall not disappoint you in choosing this for my subject rather than any newer topic, which could not be better, were it even so good.

And before proceeding, let me say this also: that though our subject be so great, and our intention that of treating it honestly, seriously, and philosophically, yet I mean to pass away from all those who are seniors amongst us. I claim the privilege of speaking to juveniles as a juvenile myself. I have done so on former occasions and, if you please, I shall do so again. And though I stand here with the knowledge of having words I utter given to the world, yet that shall not deter me from speaking in the same familiar way to those whom I esteem nearest to me on this occasion.

And now, my boys and girls, I must first tell you of what candles are made. Some are great curiosities. I have here some bits of timber, branches of trees particularly famous for their burning. And here you see a piece of that very curious substance taken out of some of the bogs in Ireland, called candle-wood; a hard, strong, excellent wood, evidently fitted for good work as a register of force, and yet withal burning so well that where it is found they make splinters of it, and torches, since it burns like a candle, and gives a very good light indeed. And in this wood we have one of the most beautiful illustrations of the general nature of a candle that I can possibly give. The fuel provided, the means of bringing that fuel to the place of chemical action, the regular and gradual supply of air to that place of action - heat and light - all produced by a little piece of wood of this kind, forming, in fact, a natural candle.

But we must speak of candles as they are in commerce. Here are a couple of candles commonly called dips. They are made of lengths of cotton cut off, hung up by a loop, dipped in melted tallow, taken out again and cooled, then re-dipped, until there is an accumulation of tallow round the cotton. In order that you may have an idea of the various characters of these candles, you see these, which I hold in my hand - they are very small and very curious. They are, or were, the candles used by the miners in coal-mines. In olden times the miner had to find his own candles, and it was supposed that a small candle would not so soon set fire to the fire-damp in the coal-mines as a large one; and for that reason, as well as for economy's sake, he had candles made of this sort - 20, 30, 40, or 60 to the pound. They have been replaced since then by the steel-mill, and then by the Davy-lamp, and other safety-lamps of various kinds. I have here a candle that was taken out of the Royal George,¹ it is said, by Colonel Pasley. It has been sunk in the sea for many years, subject to the action of salt water. It shows you how well candles may be preserved; for though it is cracked about and broken a good deal, yet when lighted it goes on burning regularly, and the tallow resumes its natural condition as soon as it is fused.

Mr. Field, of Lambeth, has supplied me abundantly with beautiful illustrations of the candle and its materials; I shall therefore now refer to them. And, first, there is the suet - the fat of the ox - Russian tallow, I believe, employed in the manufacture of these dips, which Gay Lussac, or someone who entrusted him with his knowledge, converted into that beautiful substance, stearin, which you see lying beside it. A candle, you know, is not now a greasy thing like an ordinary tallow candle, but a clean thing, and you may almost scrape off and pulverise the drops which fall from it without soiling anything. This is the process he adopted:² The fat or tallow is first boiled with quicklime, and made into a soap, and then the soap is decomposed by sulphuric acid, which takes away the lime, and leaves the fat rearranged as stearic acid, whilst a quantity of glycerin is produced at the same time. Glycerin - absolutely a sugar, or a substance similar to sugar - comes out of the tallow in this chemical change. The oil is then pressed cakes, showing how beautifully the impurities are carried out by the oily part as the pressure goes on increasing, and at last you have left that substance which is melted, and cast into candles as here represented. The candle I have in my hand is a stearin candle, made of stearin from tallow in the way I have told you. Then here is a sperm candle, which comes from the purified oil of the spermaceti whale. Here also are yellow bees-wax and refined bees-wax, from which candles are made. Here too is that curious substance called paraffin, and some paraffin candles, made of paraffin obtained from the bogs of Ireland. I have here also a substance brought from Japan since we have forced an entrance into that out-of-the-way place - a sort of wax which a kind friend has sent me, and which forms a new material for the manufacture of candles.

And how are these candles made? I have told you about dips, and I will show you how moulds are made. Let us imagine any of these candles to be made of materials which can be cast. 'Cast!' you say. 'Why, a candle is a thing that melts, and surely if you can melt it you can cast it.' Not so. It is wonderful, in the progress of manufacture, and in the consideration of the means best fitted to produce the required result, how things turn up which one would not expect beforehand. Candles cannot always be cast. A wax candle can never be cast. It is made by a particular process which I can illustrate in a minute or two, but I must not spend much time on it. Wax is a thing which, burning so well, and melting so easily in a candle, cannot be cast. Here is a frame, with a number of moulds fastened in it. The first thing to be done is to put a wick through them. Here is one - a plaited wick, which does not require snuffing³ - supported by a little wire. It goes to the bottom, where it is pegged in - the little peg holding the cotton tight and stopping the aperture, so that nothing fluid shall run out. At the upper part there is a little bar placed across, which stretches the cotton and holds it in the mould. The tallow is then melted, and the moulds are filled. After a certain time, when the moulds are cool, the excess of tallow is poured off at one corner, and then cleaned off altogether, and the ends of the wick cut away. The candles alone then remain in the mould, and you have only to upset them, as I am doing, when out they tumble, for the candles are made in the from of cones, being narrower at the top than at the bottom; so that what with their form and their own shrinking, they only need a little shaking and out they fall. In the same way are made these candles of stearin and of paraffin. It is a curious thing to see how wax candles are made. A lot of cottons are hung upon frames, as you see here, and covered with metal tags at the ends to keep the wax from covering the cotton in those places. These are carried to a heater, where the wax is melted. As you see the frames can turn round; and as they turn, a man takes a vessel of wax and pours it first down one, and then the next, and the next and so on. When he has gone once round, if it is sufficiently cool, he gives the first a second coat, and so on until they are all of the required thickness. When they have been thus clothed, or fed, or made up to that thickness, they are taken off and placed elsewhere. I have here, by the kindness of Mr. Field, several specimens of these candles. Here is one only half finished. They are then taken down and well rolled upon a fine stone slab, and the conical top is moulded by properly shaped tubes, and the bottoms cut off and trimmed. This is done so beautifully that they can make candles in this way weighing exactly four, or six, to the pound, or any number they please.

We must not, however take up more time about the mere manufacture but go a little further into the matter. I have not yet referred you to luxuries in candles (for there is such a thing as luxury in candles). See how beautifully these are coloured; you see here mauve, magenta, and all the chemical colours recently introduced, applied to candles. You observe, also, different forms employed. Here is a fluted pillar most beautifully shaped; and I have also here some candles sent to me by Mr. Pearsall, which are ornamented with designs upon them, so that as they burn, you have as it were a glowing sun above, and a bouquet of flowers beneath. All, however, that is fine and beautiful, is not useful. These fluted candles, pretty as they are, are bad candles; they are bad because of their external shape. Nevertheless, I show you these specimens sent to me from kind friends on all sides, that you see what is done and what may be done in this or that direction; although, as I have said, when we come to these refinements, we are obliged to sacrifice a little in utility.

Now as to the light of the candle. We will light one or two, and set them at work in the performance of their proper functions. You observe a candle is a very different thing from a lamp. With a lamp you take a little oil, fill your vessel, put in a little moss or some cotton prepared by artificial means, and then light the top of the wick. When the flame runs don the cotton to the oil, it gets extinguished, but it goes on burning in the part above. Now, I have no doubt, you will ask, how is it that the oil which will not burn of itself gets up to the top of the cotton where it will burn? We shall presently examine that; but there is a much more wonderful thing about the burning of a candle than this. You have here a solid substance with no vessel to contain it; and how is it that this solid substance can get up to the place where the flame is? How is it that this solid gets there, it not being a fluid? or, when it is made a fluid, then how is it that it keeps together? This is a wonderful thing about a candle.

We have here a good deal of wind, which will help us in some of our illustrations, but tease us in others; for the sake, therefore, of a little regularity, and to simplify the matter, I shall make a quiet flame, for who can study a subject when there are difficulties in the way not belonging to it? Here is a clever invention of some costermonger or street-stander in the market-place for the shading of their candles on Saturday nights, when they are selling their greens, or potatoes, or fish. I have often admired it. They put a lamp-glass, employed in the same way, you have a steady flame, which you can look at, and carefully examine, as I hope you will do, at home.

You see then, in the first instance, that a beautiful cup is formed. As the air comes to the candle it moves upwards by the force of the current which the heat of the candle produces, and so it cools all the sides of the wax, tallow, or fuel, as to keep the edge much cooler than the part within; the part within melts by the flame that runs down the wick as far as it can go before it is extinguished, but the part on the outside does not melt. If I made a current in one direction, my cup would be lop-sided, and the fluid would consequently run over - for the same force of gravity which holds worlds together holds this fluid in a horizontal position, and if the cup be not horizontal, of course the fluid will run away in a guttering. You see, therefore, that the cup is formed by this beautifully regular ascending current of air playing upon all sides, which keeps the exterior of the candle cool. No fuel would serve for a candle which has not the property of giving this cup, except such fuel as the Irish bogwood, where the material itself is like a sponge and holds its own fuel. You see now why you would have had such a bad result if you were to burn these beautiful candles that I have shown you, which are irregular, intermittent in their shape, and cannot, therefore, have that nicely formed edge to the cup which is the great beauty in a candle. I hope you will now see that the perfection of a process - that is, its utility - is the better point of beauty about it. It is not the best looking thing, but the best acting thing, which is the most advantageous to us. This good-looking candle is a bad burning one. There will be a guttering round about it because of the irregularity of the stream of air and the badness of the cup which is formed thereby. You may see some pretty examples (and I trust you will notice these instances) of the action of the ascending current when you have a little gutter run down the side of a candle, making it thicker there than it is elsewhere. As the candle goes on burning, that keeps its place and forms a little pillar sticking up at the side, because, as it rises higher above the rest of the wax or fuel, the air gets better round it, and it is more cooled and better able to resist the action of the heat at a little distance. Now, the greatest mistakes and faults with regards to candles, as in many other things, often bring with them instruction which we should not receive if they had not occurred. We come here to be philosophers, and I hope you will always remember that whenever a result happens, especially if it be new, you should say, 'What is the cause? Why does it occur?' and you will in the course of time find out the reason.

Then there is another point about these candles which will answer a question - that is, as to the way in which this fluid gets out of the cup, up the wick, and into the place of combustion. You know that the flames on these burning wicks in candles made of bees-wax, stearin, or spermaceti, do not run down to the wax or other matter, and melt it all away, but keep to their own right place. They are fenced off from the fluid below, and do not encroach on the cup at the sides. I cannot imagine a more beautiful example than the condition of adjustment under which a candle makes one part subserve to the other to the very end of its action. A combustible thing like that, burning away gradually, never being intruded upon by the flame, is a very beautiful sight; especially when you come to learn what a vigorous thing flame is - what power it has of destroying the wax itself when it gets hold of it, and of disturbing its proper form if it only comes too near.

But how does the flame get hold of the fuel? There is a beautiful point about that - capillary attraction.⁴ 'Capillary attraction?' you say - 'the attraction of hairs.' Well, never mind the name; it was given in old times before we had a good understanding of what the real power was. It is by what is called capillary attraction that the fuel is conveyed to the part where combustion goes on, and is deposited there, not in a careless way, but very beautifully in the very midst of the centre of the action, which takes place around it. Now I am going to give you one or two instances of capillary attraction. It is that kind of action or attraction which makes two things that do not dissolve in each other still hold together. When you wash your hands, you wet them thoroughly; you take a little soap to make the adhesion better, and you find your hand remains wet. This is by that kind of attraction of which I am about to speak. And what is more; if your hands are not soiled (as they almost always are by the usages of life), if you put your finger into a little warm water, the water will creep a little way up the finger, though you may not stop to examine it. I have here a substance which is rather porous - a column of salt - and I will pour into the plate at the bottom, not water as it appears, but a saturated solution of salt which cannot absorb more; so that the action which you see, will not be due to is dissolving anything. We may consider the plate to be the candle and the salt the wick, and this solution the melted tallow. (I have coloured the fluid that you may see the action better.) You observe that, now I pour in the fluid, it rises and gradually creeps up the salt higher and higher; and provided the column does not tumble over, it will go to the top.

If this blue solution were combustible, and we were to place a wick at the top of the salt, it would burn as it entered into the wick. It is a most curious thing to see this kind of action taking place, and to observe how singular some of the circumstances are about it. When you wash your hands you take a towel to wipe off the water, and it is by that kind of wetting, or that kind of attraction which makes the towel become wet with water, that the wick is made wet with the tallow. I have known some careless boys and girls (indeed, I have known it happen to careful people as well) who, having washed their hands and wiped them with a towel, have thrown the towel over the side of the basin, and before long it has drawn all the water out of the basin and conveyed it to the floor, because it happened to be thrown over the side in such a way as to serve the purpose of a siphon⁵. That you may the better see the way in which the substances act one upon another, I have here a vessel made of wire gauze filled with water, and you may compare it in its action to the cotton in one respect, or to the piece of calico in the other. In fact, wicks are sometimes made of a kind of wire gauze. You will observe that this vessel is a porous thing; for if I pour a little water on to the top, it will run out at the bottom. You would be puzzled for a good while if I asked you what the state of this vessel is, what is inside it, and why is it there? The vessel is full of water, and yet you see the water goes in and runs out as if it were empty. In order to prove this to you I have only to empty it. The reason is this - the wire being once wetted, remains wet; the meshes are so small that the fluid is attracted so strongly from the one side to the other, as to remain in the vessel although it is porous. In like manner the particles of melted tallow ascend the cotton and get to the top; other particles then follow by their mutual attraction for each other, and as they reach the flame they are gradually burned.

Here is another application of the same principle. You see this bit of cane. I have seen boys about the streets, who are very anxious to appear like men, take a piece of cane and light it and smoke it, as an imitation of a cigar. They are enabled to do so by the permeability of the cane in one direction, and by its capillarity. If I place this piece of cane on a plate containing some camphin (which is very much like paraffin in its general character), exactly in the same manner as the blue fluid rose through the salt will this fluid rise through the piece of cane. There being no pores at the side, the fluid cannot go in that direction, but must pass through its length. Already the fluid is at the top of the cane: now I can light it and make it serve as a candle. The fluid has risen by capillary attraction of the piece of cane, just as it does through the cotton in the candle. Now, the only reason why the candle does not burn all down the side of the wick is that the melted tallow extinguishes the flame. You know that a candle, if turned upside-down, so as to allow the fuel to run upon the wick, will be put out. The reason is, that the flame has not had time to make the fuel hot enough to burn, as it does above where it is carried in small quantities into the wick, and has all the effect of the heat exercised upon it.

There is another condition which you must learn as regards the candle, without which you would not be able fully to understand the philosophy of it, and that is the vaporous condition of the fuel. In order that you may understand that, let me show you a very pretty, but very commonplace experiment. If you blow a candle out cleverly, you will see the vapour rise from it. You have, I know, often smelt the vapour of a blown-out candle - and a very bad smell it is; but if you blow it out cleverly, you will be able to see pretty well the vapour into which this solid matter is transformed. I will blow out one of these candles in such a way as not to disturb the air around it, by the continuing action of my breath; and now, if I hold a lighted taper two or three inches from the wick, you will observe a train of fire going through the air until it reaches the candle. I am obliged to be quick and ready, because if I allow the vapour time to cool, it becomes condensed into a liquid or solid, or the stream of combustible matter gets disturbed.

Now, as to the shape or form of the flame. It concerns us much to know about the condition which the matter of the candle finally assumes at the top of the wick, where you have such beauty and brightness as nothing but combustion or flame can produce. You have the glittering beauty of gold and silver, and the still higher lustre of jewels like the ruby and diamond; but none of these rival the brilliancy and beauty of flame. What diamond can shine like flame? It owes its lustre at night-time to the very flame shining upon it. The flame shines in darkness, but the light which the diamond has is as nothing until the flame shine upon it, when it is brilliant again. The candle alone shines by itself and for itself, or for those who have arranged the materials.

Now, let us look a little at the form of the flame as you see it under the glass shade. It is steady and equal, and its general form is that which appears in the diagram, varying with atmospheric disturbances, and also varying according to the size of the candle. It is a bright oblong, brighter at the top than towards the bottom, with the wick in the middle, and besides the wick in the middle, certain darker parts towards the bottom where the ignition is not so perfect as in the part above. I have a drawing here, sketched many years ago by Hooker, when he made his investigations. It is the drawing of a flame of a lamp, but it will apply to the flame of a candle. The cup of the candle is the vessel or lamp; the melted spermaceti is the oil; and the wick is common to both. Upon that he sets this little flame, and then he represents what is true, a certain quantity of matter rising above it which you do not see, and which, if you have not been here before, or are not familiar with the subject, you will not know of. He has here represented the parts of the surrounding atmosphere that are very essential to the flame, and that are always present with it. There is a current formed, which draws the flame out, for the flame which you see is really drawn out by the current, and drawn upwards to a great height, just as Hooker has here shown you by that prolongation of the current in the diagram. You may see this by taking a lighted candle, and putting it in the sun so as to get its shadow thrown onto a piece of paper. How remarkable it is that that thing which is light enough to produce shadows of other objects can be made to throw its own shadow on a piece of white paper or card, so that you can actually see streaming round the flame something which is not part of the flame, but is ascending and drawing the flame upwards. Now I am going to imitate the sunlight, by applying the voltaic battery to the electric lamp. You now see our sun, and its great luminosity; and by placing a candle between it and the screen, we get the shadow of the flame. You observe the shadow of the candle, and of the wick; then there is a darkish part, as represented in the diagram, and then a part which is more distinct. Curiously enough, however, what we see in the shadow as the darkest part of the flame is, in reality, the brightest part; and here you see streaming upwards the ascending current of hot air, as shown by Hooker, which draws out the flame, supplies it with air, and cools the sides of the cup of melted fuel.

I can give you here a little further illustration, for the purpose of showing you how flame goes up or down according to the current. I have here a flame - it is not a candle flame - but you can, no doubt, by this time, generalise enough to be able to compare one thing with another - what I am about to do is to change the ascending current that takes the flame upwards into a descending current. This I can easily do by the little apparatus you see before me. The flame, as I have said, is not a candle flame, but it produced by alcohol, so that it shall not smoke too much. I will also colour the flame with another substance⁶, so that you may trace its course, for with the spirit alone you could hardly see well enough to have the opportunity of tracing its direction. By lighting this spirit-of-wine, we have then a flame produced, and you observe that when held in the air it naturally goes upwards.

You understand now, easily enough, why flames go up under ordinary circumstances - it is because of the draught of air by which the combustion is formed. But now, by blowing the flame down you see I am enabled to make it go downwards into this little chimney, the direction of the current being changed. Before we have concluded this course of lectures we shall show you a lamp in which the flame goes up, and the smoke goes down, or the flame goes down and the smoke goes up. You see, then, that we have the power in this way of varying the flame in different directions.

There are now some other points that I must bring before you. Many of the flames you see here vary very much in their shape by the currents of air blowing around them in different directions; but we can, if we like, make flames so that they will look like fixtures, and we can photograph them - indeed, we have to photograph them - so that they become fixed to us, if we wish to find out everything concerning them. That, however, is not the only thing I wish to mention. If I take a flame sufficiently large, it does not keep that homogeneous, that uniform condition of shape, but it breaks out with a power of life which is quite wonderful. I am about to use another kind of fuel, but one which is truly and fairly a representative of the wax or tallow of a candle. I have here a large ball of cotton, which will serve as a wick. And, now that I have immersed it in spirit and applied a light to it, in what way does it differ from an ordinary candle? Why, it differs very much in one respect, that we have a vivacity and power about it, a beauty and a life entirely different from the lightpresented by a candle. You see those fine tongues of flame rising up. You have the same general disposition of the mass of the flame from below upwards, but, in addition to that, you have this remarkable breaking out into tongues which you do not perceive in the case of a candle. Now, why is this? I must explain it to you, because when you understand that perfectly, you will be able to follow me better in what I have to say hereafter. I suppose some here will have made for themselves the experiment I am going to show you. Am I right in supposing that anybody here has played at snapdragon? I do not know a more beautiful illustration of the philosophy of flame, as to a certain part of its history, than the game of snapdragon. First, here is the dish; and let me say, that when you play snapdragon properly you ought to have the dish well warmed; you ought also to have warm plums, and warm brandy, which, however, I have not got. When you have put the spirit into the dish, you have the cup and the fuel; and are not the raisins acting like the wicks? I now throw the plums into the dish, and light the spirit, and you see those beautiful tongues of flame that I refer to. You have the air creeping in over the edge of the dish forming these tongues. Why? Because through the force of the current, and the irregularity of the action of the flame, it cannot flow in one uniform stream. The air flows in so irregularly that you have, what would otherwise be a single image, broken up into a variety of forms, and each of these little tongues has an independent existence of its own. Indeed, I might say, you have here a multitude of independent candles. You must not imagine, because you see these tongues all at once, that the flame is of this particular shape. A flame of that shape is never so at any one time. Never is a body of flame, like that which you just saw rising from the ball, of the shape it appears to you. It consists of a multitude of different shapes, succeeding each other so fast that the eye is only able to take cognisance of them all at once. In former times, I purposely analysed a flame of that general character, and the diagram shows you the different parts of which it is composed. They do not occur all at once; it is only because we see these shapes in such rapid succession, that they seem to us to exist all at one time.

It is too bad that we have not got further than my game of snapdragon; but we must not, under any circumstances, keep you beyond your time. It will be a lesson to me in future to hold you more strictly to the philosophy of the thing than to take up your time so much with these illustrations.

References:

¹The Royal George sunk at Spithead on August 29th, 1782. Colonel Pasley commenced operations for the removal of the wreck by the explosion of gunpowder, in August 1839. The candle which Professor Faraday exhibited must therefore have been exposed to the action of salt water for upwards of fifty-seven years.

²The fat or tallow consists of a chemical combination of fatty acids with glycerine. The lime unites with the palmitic, oleic, and stearic acids, and separates the glycerine. After washing, the insoluble lime soap is decomposed with hot dilute sulphuric acid. The melted fatty acids thus rise as an oil to the surface, when they are decanted. They are again washed and cast into thin plates, which, when cold, are placed between layers of cocoa-nut matting and submitted to intense hydraulic pressure. In this way the soft oleic acid is squeezed out, whilst the hard palmitic and stearic acids remain. These are further purified by pressure at a higher temperature and washing in warm dilute sulphuric acid, when they are ready to be made into candles. These acids are harder and whiter than the fats from which they were obtained, whilst at the same time they are cleaner and more combustible.

³A little borax or phosphorus salt is sometimes added in order to make the ash fusible.

⁴Capillary attraction or repulsion is the cause which determines the ascent or descent of a fluid in a capillary tube. If a piece of thermometer tubing, open at each end, be plunged into water, the latter will instantly rise in the tube considerably above its external level. If, on the other hand, the tube be plunged into mercury, a repulsion instead of attraction will be exhibited, and the level of the mercury will be lower in the tube than it is outside.

⁵The late Duke of Sussex was, we believe, the first to show that a prawn might be washed upon this principle. If the tail, after pulling off the fan part, be placed in a tumbler of water, and the head be allowed to hang over the outside, the water will be sucked up the tail by capillary attraction, and will continue to run out through the head until the water in the glass has been sunk so low that the tail ceases to dip into it.

⁶The alcohol had chloride of copper dissolved in it: this produces a beautiful green flame.

CHYMISTS: that strange class of mortals

Caricatures of famous chemists #2:

Joseph Priestley (1733-1804): "Gas"

Dr. William B. Jensen, Oesper Collection, University of Cincinnati

1998 Chemistry Olympiad

Michael A. Cotter

ISO Director, Dublin City University, Dublin 9

The first IBM / DCU Irish Science Olympiad took place in Dublin City University on the 31st January and 1st February 1998. Over two hundred finalists in the four disciplines, Biology, Chemistry, Informatics and Physics were competing for National Awards and for a place on Irish Science teams which will represent Ireland at the International Science Olympiads during the summer.

In November every Post-Primary School in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland received a package including the ISO Rules and Regulations, the Round One Questions, a Poster and an Application Form. In the CHEMISTRY section one hundred and thirty eight students from schools in twenty three counties replied and the top eighty were invited to attend the two-day final at DCU. Each finalist was presented with a certificate. (The ISO - Chemistry now incorporates the former All Ireland Schools Chemistry Competition established in 1996).

Following registration on Saturday at 1.00 pm the finalists were presented with a four hour Theory Examination. At 6.30 pm while the academic staff of the Chemistry Department led by Drs. Paraic James, Mary Pryce and Mary Meaney were busy correcting the papers the students were invited to a meal in the main DCU restaurant. On Sunday at 9.00 am the finalists were in the laboratories doing the practical test.

The prize-giving ceremony on Sunday evening was attended by Dr. Carl O'D laigh (Deputy Chief Inspector), Dr. David Nash ( Science Inspector ), Dr. Danny O'Hare (DCU President), Professor Han Vos and Professor Albert Pratt ( Chemistry Dept. DCU ) and Mr. Pat O'Connor (IBM-Ireland). Minister Noel Treacy TD, Minister for Science, Technology and Commerce presented the Chemistry trophy and medals to the top students.

Minister Noel Treacy stressed the importance of science and science teaching and he thanked IBM and DCU "for providing this splendid opportunity to our most talented young scientists from the North and the South to test their scientific skills in friendly competition". He congratulated their teachers and parents and he wished those who will represent Ireland at the International Chemistry Olympiads in July the best of luck.

Fionnula O'Brien and Paul Flannagan getting ready for the practical test

Medal winners:

The ISO - Chemistry is also the mechanism for selecting the team to represent Ireland at the International Chemistry Olympiad. (The cover of Chemistry in Action!, Summer 1997, had a photo on Noel O'Boyle, Ballina, Co. Mayo - Ireland's first IChO medal winner in 1997.)

Mairead Green (Ennis) at the practical test.

The top ten finalists including the medal winners above and the following students:

Fiona Begley, Mean Scoil Muire, Swinford, Co. Mayo

Tom Branigan, Institute of Education, Dublin 2

Ryan McCaughey, St.Patrick's Academy, Dungannon, Co.Tyrone

Fiona McFerran, Loreto College, Coleraine, Co. Derry

Jessica Whelan, St.Mary's College, Arklow, Co.Wicklow

- are now appointed to a panel from which the Irish team (of four) to represent Ireland at the IChO in Melbourne, Australia will be selected. These ten students will receive special correspondence tuition from the ISO Chemistry Committee and will undergo a further test on April 18th . The top four will receive a week long intensive training programme prior to their departure for Melbourne on June 30th.

The IBM / DCU Irish Science Olympiad is also supported by the Department of Education and Science and by the Science Awareness Programme of Forf s.

Teachers wishing to be included on the mailing list for the 1999 Chemistry Olympiad should write to the Director or to Dr. Paraic James, Chairman, ISO Chemistry Committee, DCU, Dublin 9. Dr. James would also welcome suggestions on how to improve the Chemistry Olympiad.

Useful WWW Sites:

http://iso.dcu.ie/~iso

http://www.raci.org.au/icho/

Careers information

We have put together a package of careers information, taken from articles in newspapers and magazines, which promote chemistry. These are printed on thick card to make them more permanent. Any other careers posters we have in stock will also be included. If you would like a set to put on a noticeboard please send a cheque/PO for £1.50 to:

Marie Walsh,

Careers Pack, SICICI,

University of Limerick, Limerick.

*****

"A presbyterian divine once said that a man who plays golf neglects his business, neglects his wife, and neglects his God. Many of the elder statesmen of science hold that if a younger one writes a book which can be read painlessly, he neglects his students, neglects his laboratory, and neglects his golf."

Lancelot Hogben, Science for the Citizen 1938 p.10

Chemistry and Society Part 2

Dr. Martin Knox

Roche Ireland Ltd., Clarecastle, Co. Clare

In the last article in this series I set out in summary form the uses for solvents in the home and industry. This time I would like to present, in summary form also, the major fields of economic activity that derive from the practice and understanding of chemistry. It is hoped that in future articles I will make it apparent the extent to which the human race is dependant on this kind of activity for economic advancement and physical and mental well-being.

The use of chemistry to generate economic activity is a fairly modern phenomenon; it is no more than 100 years old. By the early 1970s there were more than 1,000,000 individuals working on chemical problems in independent, academic, industrial and governmental laboratories throughout the world for a myriad of personal, social, economic and political reasons. There were still many more individuals who depended on the activities of these people to generate the novel and useful compounds that have now become so very much part of life.

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica describes the relationship between chemistry and society thus:

"Advances in chemistry extend comprehension of the nature of physical and biological systems and the processes by which they change. In so doing, they enhance the dignity of humanity as intellectual beings. These same advances provide much of the knowledge on which technological societies are based, and that knowledge has been applied to extend the lifespan and to change the manner in which mankind lives. Such knowledge also enables societies to make choices on the development of technologies and the controls to be placed upon them. With the advances in scientific knowledge, the number of options open to society increases, and the choices it makes increasingly reflect the value judgements of that society.

The most obvious distinction between the developed and developing nations is the level of technology. Scientific and technological knowledge is a necessary condition for technological development. The priorities set by each society, as well as the economic limitations and political stability of that society, also influence the rate and direction of development."

The economic activities to which the term chemical applies is of its nature limited by the meaning of the word "chemical". The boundaries of the chemical industry are not altogether clear cut and there is not universal agreement as to the scope or denotation of the term "chemical". Some would contend that the steel industry is part of the chemical industry, others would disagree. In any event, the classification which follows is a personal application of the meaning of the word "chemical".

The following are the main categories of human activities which could be said to form the basis of economic and technological advancement through an understanding of chemistry.

1. Heavy Chemical Industries

Production of hydrochloric and sulphuric acids together with the production of caustic soda and sodium carbonate. (The largest single product of the chemical industry is sulphuric acid).

Production of fertilisers and halogens (fluorine, chlorine, bromine and iodine) and their compounds such as freons and PVC.

Organic chemicals for the production of solvents, ethylene, acetylene,polymers, elastomers and films, carbon black and raw materials for other industries.

2. Soaps and Detergents

The manufacture of synthetic detergents.

3. Dyes

The manufacture and uses of dyes in the food and other industries.

4. The Pharmaceutical Industry

The products of the pharmaceutical industry and the preparation of dosage forms.

5. Rubber

Manufacture and uses.

6. Paints and other coatings

Manufacture and uses.

7. Explosives

Types and uses.

8. Paper-making

9. Man-made fibres

10. Plastics and resins

11. Herbicides and Pesticides

The above divisions of the chemical industry are in a sense arbitrary and a personal choice. The industry could also be broadly classified into two components depending on the scale of the operation: heavy chemical industry and light chemical industry. We would then be left with the problem of deciding what was heavy and what was light. Such divisions also lack clarity and specificity. Nevertheless in the US alone it is projected that by the end of the century there will be at least 50 chemicals whose annual tonnage will exceed 500,000 tonnes. And the interesting thing about these compounds is that they will not be consumed by the general public. The commonly known compounds that belong to this group are:

•  
  • sulphuric acid

•  
  • phosphoric acid

•  
  • sodium hydroxide

•  
  • sodium carbonate

•  
  • nitric acid

•  
  • gaseous nitrogen, oxygen and chlorine

•  
  • lime

•  
  • ethylene

•  
  • alcohols

These compounds can be used by a variety of industries because of their versatility.

Since the beginning of the twentieth century there has been an enormous increase in the understanding of chemistry and as a result new products and inventions appeared which enrich our lives and extend our life expectancy. It is difficult now to imagine a world without cars, paint, pharmaceuticals, carpets, detergents, light bulbs, pesticides and the like. It is surely now unacceptable for the human race to revert to medieval conditions, where the population of the planet was much lower than it is today and when human suffering and disease were rampant. Yet, there are people in our midst who appear to advocate this reversion in order to 'save the planet'. It is indeed ironic that some of these individuals continue to enjoy the fruits of technology and do not appear to be able to take the leap of imagination to a world ignorant of science and scientific method: the world of the dark ages.

As we approach the end of a century which saw very many advances to the human condition resulting from technological developments the concern now is for damage to the planet which may follow such developments. The chemical industry has responsibilities to the planet and these will be met through proper and enlightened legislation and by building on the knowledge we already possess. Reversion to the conditions that prevailed before we acquired our present level of knowledge is out of the question.

The place of experiments in teaching science

"If we wish to lay a good foundation for a philosophical taste, and philosophical pursuits, persons should be accustomed to the sight of experiments and processes in early life. They should, more especially, be early initiated in the theory and practice of investigation, by which many of the old discoveries may be made to be really their own; on which account they will be much more valued by them. And, in a great variety of articles, very young persons may be made so far acquainted with everything necessary to be previously known as to engage (which they will do with peculiar alacrity) in pursuits truly original."

Joseph Priestley

March 1779

Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air, vol. 4

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So experiment-based, discovery learning is not new nor was it invented by H.E. Armstrong. In Priestley's day science was referred to as "philosophy" or "natural philosophy".

Chemical and Mining Industry News

Edited by Marie Walsh, SICICI

Employment and Business Review of the Year: 1997

Sunday Business Post 21-28/12/97

January Irish Fertiliser Industries reported strong growth in 1996, with pretax profits up from £18.4 million to £18.7 million, after restructuring costs of £1.7 million.

February Elan Corporation, the pharmaceutical development group which has its worldwide headquarters in Athlone, announced an after tax profit for year end of $30.9 million. The row between Bula and Tara mines ended. The claims of the Bula Mines directors were rejected by the High Court, which severely admonished them for taking the case in the first place. Irish Fertiliser industries announced a £32.5 million investment to help safeguard 200 jobs at its Belfast plant. The IDA contributed £4.4 million. Abbott Labs, Sligo announce 50 new jobs in diagnostics manufacturing.

March Boston Scientific announced Galway as the location of a new medical devices plant which will employ up to 1,000 people. Tullow Oil announced that profits almost doubled in 1996. £35 million was raised in new capital for development and exploration.

April Irish Distillers announced group profits of £49.2 million and a 9% increase in sales. Statoil (having taken over Aran Energy in November 1995) started its drilling programme off the Galway coast. Carbery Milk Products announced an 8% increase in profits over the previous year. Ennex shareholders announced the £1 million acquisition of Oranmore resources.

May Alltracel Pharmaceuticals announced a £4.5 million investment to buy Franklin Pharmaceuticals of Trim, Co. Meath.

June The Lisheen mining development near Thurles in Co. Tipperary was finally granted planning permission. Intel said its plant at Leixlip (see feature article in Chemistry in Action! No. 53) would produce the next generation of computer chips, at up to three times the speed of currently available chips by July or August 1998. Bord Gais reported a 22% increase in pre-tax profits. Navan resources announced a fall in its profits due to the fall in the price of copper and stagnant gold prices. Irish Marine Oil announced the acquisition of Minco Ireland and Irish Base Metals Ltd. Waters announced the development of a plant for manufacture of HPLC analytical instruments at Drinagh in Waterford.

July The first integrated Pollution Licence for a mine in Ireland was granted to Minorco Lisheen and Ivernia West for their proposed new mine near Thurles. United Drug made an approved offer for Dublin Drug.

August The High Court refused to order Lough Neagh Exploration to give the State seismic field tapes relating to potential oil and gas deposits off the north-west coast bordering Mayo, Sligo and Donegal. ARCON shareholders voted to establish a separate oil and gas company to permit ARCON to focus exclusively on its mineral interests. Bord na Mona announced a 50% increase in profits its highest earnings in 10 years.

September Statoil abandoned its test programme off the Connemara coast at a cost of over £1 million. Warner Lambert announced 100 new jobs at pharmaceutical plants in Ringaskiddy and Little Island, Co. Cork.

October Bausch & Lomb announced a £43 million investment at its contact lens manufacturing plant in Waterford. This will increase employment at the plant by 650 over the next three years. Takeda Industries announced its takeover of Grelan Pharmaceuticals in Bray, Co. Wicklow.

November Navan Resources shareholders voted unanimously in favour of a $30 million investment by Homestake Mining. Navan Resources and Tara Mines signed a joint venture agreement to explore zinc-lead deposits covering a large area in the midlands and west.

December Cambridge Mineral Resources, the company with mineral interests in Co. Donegal said that it was seriously considering a flotation on the developing companies market in Dublin. The company has been prospecting for diamonds at various locations in Co Donegal. Athlone based Elan Corporation made an offer of £258 million for Sano, an American drug delivery company. Warner Lambert announced a further 200 jobs at its tabletting plant.

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Ranking of Irish companies

On Friday January 2nd, 1998 the Irish Times published its list of Public Companies 97, in order of turnover/pre-tax profits. Extracted here are companies with chemical and related or mining interests. The names are preceeded by their placing in 1997. The previous year's placing follows in brackets.

3 Elan Corporation (5)

4 CRH (3)

6 Kerry Group (6)

12 Greencore (8)

13 Waterford Wedgewood (10)

19 Tullow Oil (24)

20 Galen Holdings pharmaceuticals

24 Dragon Oil (40)

39 ARCON International (36)

44 Ivernia West (52)

45 United Drug (46)

50 Tuskar Resources (64)

51 Navan Resources (35)

55 Ardagh (51) glass

56 Aminex Resources (59)

57 Ennex International (69)

64 Bula Resources (53)

72 Glencar Exploration (55)

73 Kenmare Resources (57)

75 Minmet Resources (71)

77 Providence Resources (-)

84 Celtic resources (72)

85 Ovoca Resources (79)

86 Ormonde Mining (78)

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Top Safety Award goes to Olin Chemicals

HORIZONS February 1998

Olin Chemicals of Swords, Co. Dublin received the Supreme Award at the National Safety Award Scheme for 1997. This was the third major award in the year for Olin Chemicals, which has a magnificent record of thirteen years (or more than one million man hours) without a lost time accident at the plant. The company has achieved these awards against a background of continual expansion, the latest of which is a œ6 million capital investment at the plant which will create an additional 19 jobs bringing the total workforce to 75.

Other award winners in the Pharmachem Safety Awards for 1997 were as follows:

Gold Awards: Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Janssen Pharmaceuticals

Medium Company: Mallinckrodt Medical Imaging

South: Schering Plough (Brinny)

South east: Norton Waterford

Highly Commended: Swords Laboratories, Helsinn Chemicals

Certificate of Merit: SIFA Ltd., Newport Synthesis, Irotec Laboratories.

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DuPont plant closure to cost 218 jobs

Irish Times 6/2/98

The DuPont Neoprene plant which has been on the outskirts of Derry since 1960 has announced that it is to close by summer 1998 with the loss of 218 jobs. The closure is taking place because of continued fall in demand for the plant's product, Neoprene - a synthetic rubber used in the automotive, construction and wire and cable industries. The company's Lycra plant which operates on an adjacent site continues to operate successfully and indeed plans to expand its production - creating some hope for redeployment of some workers from the Neoprene plant.

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Elan records 52% profit increase

Irish Times 6/2/98

Elan Corporation showed a strong 52% increase in pre-tax profits to £126 million last year. The company hopes for continued success and is very confident about the potential of the latest product under development, a drug to treat Alzheimer's disease (called A-Beta 42) which has been shown to remove traces of plaque from the brain.

Elan has also announced that it is seeking a new site in Dublin for a new drug research centre to employ between 200 and 250 people. It currently employs 700 at its manufacturing base near Athlone and a further 100 in Dublin.

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Ivernia buys Ballinalack

Irish Times 12/2/98

Ivernia has reached agreement with Celtic Resources to acquire the Ballinalack zinc/lead deposit in Co. Westmeath. The deposit contains 7.83 million tonnes of lead/zinc with a grading of 7.4%. If the minerals at Ballinalack are mined they could be processed at Ivernia's new mine at Lisheen, Co Tipperary. However, a three year exploration programme is planned first to assess the feasibility of the mine.

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Agreement on Tara Mines

Irish Times 10/2/98

An agreement which should secure the future of Tara Mines for the next 10 years has been reached by management and unions at the mine near Navan which employs 600 people. Following the settlement the company hopes to restore production to pre-dispute level and also to deepen the mine to develop new ore resources currently being explored from the surface.

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ICI may sell stake in IFI

Irish Times 4/3/98

ICI is believed to be considering selling its last remaining fertiliser interest, its 49% stake in Irish Fertiliser Industries (IFI). The remaining shares in the company are held by the State, but it is unlikely that the State would be interested in buying out ICI's share. The company has seen a dramatic fall in profits over the last two years, largely due to a sharp fall in fertiliser prices, although IFI claims to have held on to its share of home and export markets. However, the outlook is for a continued fall in prices and it is possible that the future could see a diversion of interests and/or privatisation for IFI.

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New Fermanagh glass plant may employ 329

Irish Times 4/3/98

The Sean Quinn group's new glass manufacturing plant at Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh is to create 329 jobs over the next five years. The new plant, only the second glass manufacturing plant in Ireland, will manufacture glass containers, largely for export markets. The state-of-the-art plant has met with mixed reaction from other glass manufacturers, mainly because of the detrimental effect it might have on job numbers in the UK and Dublin.

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US firm buys Asahi

Irish Times 4/3/98

A giant American corporation specialising in the purchase and sale of used process plant and equipment has bought out the Asahi plant and site in Co. Mayo and the company's chemical terminal at Dublin Port. The company plans to find a purchaser for the Killala site which will have the potential to employ the local workforce, which is trained in synthetic fibre processing.

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Arcon dispute settled

An industrial dispute with the union SIPTU closed the new Arcon mine at Galmoy in Co. Kilkenny for 3 months this year. Production of ore was stopped and the dispute was finally settled at the beginning of May and production was due to resume within a week of the resumption of work. The dispute was over pay and a 27% pay rise over 4 years was agreed.

Irish Environmental News

City Manager calls for debate on waste crisis

Irish Times 6-7/1/98

Dublin city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, said that Dubliners need to have a "rational, sane and sensible" debate about the capital's growing waste crisis "without getting tied up in vexed arguments" about incineration and service charges. He was commenting on the MCCK consultants' review of waste management in Dublin, and anticipating the recommendations in the review which would cause most controversy.

The report recommends the construction of a £100 million thermal treatment plant (incinerator) which will deal with 25% of the city's waste, but that this plant will not come onstream until 2004 to coincide with the expiry of the kill, Co. Kildare dump. No location has been recommended for the proposed plant.

The other major recommendation of the report is that people should minimise, recycle or recover as much as possible from waste. In addition, the report recommends continuing to levy a charge for waste disposal, given that the total cost of waste management looks set to double in the next five years. The report has been criticised as "deeply flawed" by socialist party T.D. Mr Joe Higgins.

According to the MCCK consultant's report, a major public education programme is required over the next two years to "prepare Dublin for waste management in the new millennium". They claim that they have discovered that many people do not see waste as a problem, in spite of the fact that most express a desire to support extensive door to door collection of recyclables. What the consultants feel needs to be done is the generation of a clear linkage between cost and service - in other words people should be prepared to financially support new waste management schemes. They recommend that up to £5 million be spent over the next two years, in setting up new structures for waste planning, regulation and public education - together with significant community-based initiatives in waste reduction and minimisation. In addition local authorities should support initiatives such as the Global Action Plan, under which households agree voluntarily to minimise the waste they produce, as well as producing videos and regular information leaflets.

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Soil Quality is Examined

Teagasc Today Autumn 1997

Pollutant levels in agricultural soils in the south-east of Ireland have been examined as part of a comprehensive environmental research programme at Teagasc's Johnstown Castle Centre. The study shows low concentrations of organochlorine pesticide residues, PCBs and the trace elements cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and zinc. However, DDT residues and the trace elements lead, mercury and zinc were higher in town garden soils. A surprisingly high proportion of soils had a high concentration of one or more metals and in particular the heavy metals cadmium, arsenic and nickel. These were associated with Irish Sea glacial drift. The conclusion of the study is that the absence of heavy metals cannot be taken for granted in any soil.

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New dump in Kildare is a clean machine

Irish Times 5/2/98

Most readers will be familiar with the controversies which raged over the establishment of the new landfill site at Kill, Co. Kildare. The landfill started operating in October 1997 and was visited by Irish Times Environment Correspondent on February 4th as a prelude to the article from which this is extracted.

The first thing which struck him on his visit was the absence of circling seagulls which normally signal a landfill - South Dublin County Council pays a company £40,000 a year to fly falcons at the site to keep the seagulls at bay! The new site has been developed to the highest environmental standards. Before accepting any waste £2.3 million was spent on engineered remedial measures at the former Roadstone quarry to isolate and contain the residue of illegal toxic waste dumping to ensure that there would be no groundwater contamination. A deep concrete wall nearly a kilometre in circumference was set around the site. The planning permission specifies that the site may only accept baled waste and £6 million was spent creating a fully lined cell to accept the baled waste. The double lining includes impermeable polythene sheeting again to prevent groundwater contamination.

Waste destined for the new site is first brought to a factory at Ballymount, where it is compressed into two tonne bales, at a rate of one bale every two minutes. The bales are automatically fed into 24-tonne sealed containers and brought via road to Kill. The only drawback to this superb example of environmental management is the cost, £29 per tonne compared to £6 per tonne at the more typical municipal dumpsites.

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Refinery faces prosecution

Irish Times 27/1/98

The EPA is to prosecute Whitegate Oil refinery following a spillage of 31 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into Cork Harbour in November 1997. The seepage occurred from a faulty pipe as a tanker was being loaded, and unfortunately the area worst affected was relatively inaccessible to clean-up teams. The total cost of the clean-up ran to over œ1 million and this has been borne by the refinery.

The EPA report on the incident says that there will be no long term damage to the environment. However, it says that there was invertebrate death due to the spillage and that an estimated 1,500 birds were killed. It claims that the Whitegate inspection regime was not up to standard and that as part of an application for an integrated pollution licence, the oil company must produce plans for secondary containment and automatic leak detection, as well as a review of the existing Oil Spill Contingency plan.

The report and the EPA's decision to bring the oil company to the district court rather than the high court has been criticised by Cork Environmental Alliance (CEA).

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£185m water and sewerage projects

Irish Times 3/2/98

Announcing water and sewerage projects costing a total of £185 million, the Minister for the environment said that the programme indicated Ireland was ensuring a dramatic improvement in its water and sewerage services by maximising the use of EU supporting capital. In addition to 61 new water and sewerage schemes starting in 1998, 61 schemes will continue construction and 81 will be advanced through planning. The Minister pledged his support for integrated water quality management to meet the growing environmental threat from modern practices and economic development. He said that while the quality of public water supplies is fundamentally good, we are continuing to make good progress in providing secondary treatment of waste water to the areas which require it by 2000. In addition we are actively addressing problems with lake and river quality through a comprehensive catchment management strategy. this has already seen positive results in Loughs Derg and Ree.

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EPA says 1 in 10 water supplies are polluted

Irish Times 6/2/98

More than one in ten water supply systems in Ireland in 1996 were found to contain coliform bacteria according to the EPA's annual report into the quality of drinking water in Ireland. Out of 14,064 samples, 1,707 (12%) were found to exceed the maximum admissible concentration of coliforms. These bacteria, which include E.coli, are considered to be indicators of faecal pollution, although the EPA stresses that non-faecal varieties were found in many cases.

Overall, the findings have most implications for those who receive their water from group or other private schemes, which had the highest number of samples above the legal limit when numbers of supplies were taken into account. However, there were still many instances of coliform contamination in public supply schemes, even if many of these were non-faecal in origin. These were due largely to a combination of treatment anomalies or contamination in the distribution network "rather than the omission of the vital disinfection phase". Where fluctuation in quality occurred it was deemed mostly because of "natural or seasonal variations in raw water sources, or because of 'one-off' contamination incidents". The findings have been greeted with calls for improved funding for group water schemes.

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Cleaner production at SIFA and Mallinckrodt

HORIZONS February 1998

SIFA of Shannon and Mallinckrodt Medical Imaging of Mulhuddart have been chosen to take part in a £1.6 million cleaner production programme to be managed by the EPA. The programme's aim is to promote environmentally friendly production through the application of cleaner systems, techniques or technology. The SIFA project involves isolation of a waste product (sodium acetate) from the waste water stream, which not only reduces effluent loading but also isolates a marketable product for the UK dyestuffs industry. It is hoped that the results of the projects will be an inspiration to other companies.

Meanwhile, Yamanouchi Ireland of Mulhuddart has added to its list of environmental standards by becoming only the second Irish pharmachem sector member to be certified to the European Community's Eco Management and Audit Scheme, EMAS.

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ENFO Website launched

ENFO has launched a new website which gives access to information on ENFO and the full text of its leaflets. It also allows internet users to search ENFO's extensive database of environmental references and to read the full text of environment bulletin. The website has a special section for children where ENFO leaflets specifically designed for the younger user can be downloaded. The website address is www.enfo.ie

Original Page Design & Layout by Stephen Childs

Web Site Maintained By Darina Slattery,

Dept. of Computer Science & Information Systems,

University of Limerick.

(November 2000)

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