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Chisso
The , since 2012 reorganized as JNC (Japan New Chisso), is a Japanese chemical company. It is an important supplier of liquid crystal used for LCDs, but is best known for its role in the 34-year-long pollution of the water supply in Minamata, Japan that led to thousands of deaths and victims of disease. Between 1932 and 1968, Chisso's chemical factory in Minamata released large quantities of industrial wastewater that was contaminated with highly toxic methylmercury. This poisonous water bioaccumulated in local sea life that was then consumed by the immediate population. As a result of this contamination, 2,265 individuals in the area were afflicted with what is now known as Minamata disease. 1,784 of those victims died as a result of the poisoning and/or the disease.Official government figure as of March 2001. Se"Minamata Disease: The History and Measures, ch2"/ref> Those who were afflicted with the disease developed skeletomuscular deformities and lost the ability to perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minamata Disease
is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease affects fetuses, causing microcephaly, extensive cerebral damage, and symptoms similar to those seen in cerebral palsy. Minamata disease was first discovered in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from a chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, which continued from 1932 to 1968. It has also been suggested that some of the mercury sulfate in the wastewater was also metabolized to methylmercury by bacteria in the sediment. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated and biomagnified in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minamata, Kumamoto
is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is on the west coast of Kyūshū and faces Amakusa islands. Minamata was established as a village in 1889, re-designated as a town in 1912 and grew into a city in 1949. As of March 2017, the city has an estimated population of 25,310 and a population density of 160 persons per km2. The total area is 162.88 km2. Minamata is known due to Minamata disease, a neurological disorder caused by mercury poisoning. The disease was discovered in 1956. A local chemical plant was blamed for causing the disease by emitting untreated wastewater into Minamata Bay. Lately, Minamata has focused on becoming a model environmental city. In 1999, the city obtained the ISO 14001 certification for Environmental Management. In 2001, Minamata became an official Japanese Eco-town. In 2004 and 2005, Minamata won the Japanese Top Eco-City contest. Minamata environmental disaster History The city is best known as the former site of an environme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shitagau Noguchi
was a Japanese entrepreneur who founded the Nichitsu ''zaibatsu''. Known as the father of electrochemical engineering in Japan, he invested heavily in the development of Korea under Japanese rule, Korea and Manchukou in cooperation with the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, Navy.Tokyo Shimbun, Aug. 9, 1999, p. 22 His company was dissolved under the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, American occupation after World War II, and its successor companies include the Chisso Corporation, and portions of Asahi Kasei, Sekisui Chemical Company, and Shin-Etsu Chemical. Biography Noguchi was born to a samurai class family in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. He studied electrical engineering at the Tokyo Imperial University and was hired by Siemens in 1898. He designed Japan's first commercial production plant for Calcium carbide in Sendai in 1903. In 1906, two Germans, A.Frank and N. Caro, invented a new method to produce calcium cyanamide to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemical Industry
The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, the chemical industry converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into commodity chemicals for industrial and consumer products. It includes industries for petrochemicals such as polymers for plastics and synthetic fibers; inorganic chemicals such as acids and alkalis; agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and other categories such as industrial gases, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Various professionals are involved in the chemical industry including chemical engineers, chemists and lab technicians. History Although chemicals were made and used throughout history, the birth of the heavy chemical industry (production of chemicals in large quantities for a variety of uses) coincided with the beginnings of the Industrial Revo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Imperial University
The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo period, pre-westernisation era institutions, its direct precursors include the ''Tenmongata'', founded in 1684, and the Yushima Seidō, Shōheizaka Institute. Although established under its current name, the university was renamed in 1886 and was further retitled to distinguish it from other Imperial Universities established later. It served under this name until the official dissolution of the Empire of Japan in 1947, when it reverted to its original name. Today, the university consists of 10 Faculty (division), faculties, 15 graduate schools, and 11 affiliated research institutes. As of 2023, it has a total of 13,974 undergraduate students and 14,258 graduate students. The majority of the university's educational and research facilities ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroelectric Power Station
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carbide
In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece. Interstitial / Metallic carbides The carbides of the group 4, 5 and 6 transition metals (with the exception of chromium) are often described as interstitial compounds. These carbides have metallic properties and are refractory. Some exhibit a range of stoichiometries, being a non-stoichiometric mixture of various carbides arising due to crystal defects. Some of them, including titanium carbide and tungsten carbide, are important industrially and are used to coat metals in cutting tools. The long-held view is that the carbon atoms fit into octahedral interstices in a close-packed metal lattice when the metal atom radius is greater than approximately 135 pm: *When the metal atoms are cubic close-packed, (ccp), then filling all of the octahedral interstices with carbon achieves 1:1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kumamoto Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to the northeast, Miyazaki Prefecture to the southeast, and Kagoshima Prefecture to the south. Kumamoto is the capital and largest city of Kumamoto Prefecture, with other major cities including Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, Yatsushiro, Amakusa, Kumamoto, Amakusa, and Tamana, Kumamoto, Tamana. Kumamoto Prefecture is located in the center of Kyūshū on the coast of the Ariake Sea, across from Nagasaki Prefecture, with the mainland separated from the East China Sea by the Amakusa Archipelago. Kumamoto Prefecture is home to Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in Japan and among the largest in the world, with its peak above sea level. History Historically, the area was called Higo Province; and the province was renamed Kumamoto during the Meij ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at Abundance of the chemical elements, seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System. At standard temperature and pressure, two atoms of the element chemical bond, bond to form N2, a colourless and odourless diatomic molecule, diatomic gas. N2 forms about 78% of Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant chemical species in air. Because of the volatility of nitrogen compounds, nitrogen is relatively rare in the solid parts of the Earth. It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772 and independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish at about the same time. The name was suggested by French chemist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keiretsu
A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings that dominated the Japanese economy in the second half of the 20th century. In the legal sense, it is a type of business group that is in a loosely organized alliance within Japan's business community. It rose up to replace the ''zaibatsu'' system that was dissolved in the occupation of Japan following the Second World War. Though their influence has shrunk since the late 20th century, they continue to be important forces in Japan's economy in the early 21st century. The members' companies own small portions of the shares in each other's companies, centered on a core bank; this system helps insulate each company from stock market fluctuations and takeover attempts, thus enabling long-term planning in projects. Origins The prototypical ''keiretsu'' appeared during the Japanese economic miracle which followed World War II, amid the dissolution of family-controlled vertical monopolies called ''za ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcium Carbide
Calcium carbide, also known as calcium acetylide, is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of . Its main use industrially is in the production of acetylene and calcium cyanamide. The pure material is colorless, while pieces of technical-grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of about 80–85% of (the rest is CaO ( calcium oxide), ( calcium phosphide), CaS ( calcium sulfide), ( calcium nitride), SiC (silicon carbide), C (carbon), etc.). In the presence of trace moisture, technical-grade calcium carbide emits an unpleasant odor reminiscent of garlic. Applications of calcium carbide include manufacture of acetylene gas, generation of acetylene in carbide lamps, manufacture of chemicals for fertilizer, and steelmaking. Production Calcium carbide is produced industrially in an electric arc furnace from a mixture of lime and coke at approximately . This is an endothermic reaction requiring per mole and high temperatures to drive off the carbon monoxide. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
