|
Harry Rehnberg
Harry Rehnberg (1910–1975) was an American chemist and businessperson most notable for being the founder of Halcon International and for inventing the revolutionary Halcon process. Early life Rehnberg was born in Everett, Washington, November 21, 1910, the son of Swedish immigrants Alex Rehnberg and Helen Rehnberg. Education He completed his degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. Career Austin Company His very first job out of college was at the Austin Company, where he assisted in the design and construction of tanks. Manhattan Project It was during World War II that he worked on the development of the atom bomb in the Manhattan Project at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It was in the course of his work on the Manhattan Project, that he met Ralph Landau, with whom he would go on to collaborate in many of his future business ventures. Halcon International In 1962 Ralph Landau and Harry Rehnberg discovered a novel process - the Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle approximately a decade after the city's founding. The university has a 703 acre main campus located in the city's University District, as well as campuses in Tacoma and Bothell. Overall, UW encompasses over 500 buildings and over 20 million gross square footage of space, including one of the largest library systems in the world with more than 26 university libraries, art centers, museums, laboratories, lecture halls, and stadiums. The university offers degrees through 140 departments, and functions on a quarter system. Washington is the flagship institution of the six public universities in Washington state. It is known for its medical, engineering, and scientific research. Washington is a member of the Association of American Univer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms. Chemists carefully measure substance proportions, chemical reaction rates, and other chemical properties. In Commonwealth English, pharmacists are often called chemists. Chemists use their knowledge to learn the composition and properties of unfamiliar substances, as well as to reproduce and synthesize large quantities of useful naturally occurring substances and create new artificial substances and useful processes. Chemists may specialize in any number of subdisciplines of chemistry. Materials scientists and metallurgists share much of the same education and skills with chemists. The work of chemists is often related to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halcon Process
In chemistry, the Halcon process refers to technology for the production of propylene oxide by oxidation of propylene with tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The reaction requires metal catalysts, which typically contain molybdenum: :(CH3)3COOH + CH2=CHCH3 → (CH3)3COH + CH2OCHCH3 The byproduct tert-butanol is recycled or converted to other useful compounds. The process once operated at the scale of >2 billion kg/y. The lighter analogue of propylene oxide, ethylene oxide, is produced by silver-catalyzed reaction of ethylene with oxygen. Attempts to implement this relatively simple technology to the conversion of propylene to propylene oxide Propylene oxide is an acutely toxic and carcinogenic organic compound with the molecular formula CH3CHCH2O. This colourless volatile liquid with an odour similar to ether, is produced on a large scale industrially. Its major application is its us ... fail. Instead only combustion predominates. The problems are attributed to the sensitivi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that designed the actual bombs. The Army component of the project was designated the Manhattan District as its first headquarters were in Manhattan; the placename gradually superseded the official codename, Development of Substitute Materials, for the entire project. Along the way, the project absorbed its earlier British counterpart, Tube Alloys. The Manhattan Project began modestly in 1939, but grew to employ more than 130,000 people and cost nearly US$2 billion (equivalent to about $ billion in ). Over 90 percent of the cost was for building factories an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Landau
Ralph Landau (May 19, 1916 – April 5, 2004) was a chemical engineer and entrepreneur active in the chemical and petrochemical industries. He is considered one of the top fifty foundational chemical engineers of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the 75 most distinguished contributors to chemical enterprise. He has published extensively on chemical engineering and holds a significant number of patents. In his 60s, he began a productive second career in economics at Stanford and Harvard Universities, examining economic theory, economic history and the application of technology in the chemical industry. His economic work focuses on understanding the political and economic environment necessary to encourage technological innovation. He published more than 143 papers and nine books. Ralph Landau won a number of significant awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (2003), the first Othmer Gold Medal (1997), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Propylene
Propylene, also known as propene, is an unsaturated organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CH=CH2. It has one double bond, and is the second simplest member of the alkene class of hydrocarbons. It is a colorless gas with a faint petroleum-like odor. Production Steam cracking The dominant technology for producing propylene is steam cracking. The same technology is applied to ethane to ethylene. These two conversions are the #2 and #1 processes in the chemical industry, as judged by their scale. In this process, propane undergoes dehydrogenation. The by-product is hydrogen: :CH3CH2CH3 → CH3CH=CH2 + H2 The yield of propene is about 85 m%. By-products are usually used as fuel for the propane dehydrogenation reaction. Steam cracking is one of the most energy-intensive industrial processes. The feedstock is naphtha or propane, especially in the Middle East, where there is an abundance of propane from oil/gas operations. Propene can be separated by fractional di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Propylene Oxide
Propylene oxide is an acutely toxic and carcinogenic organic compound with the molecular formula CH3CHCH2O. This colourless volatile liquid with an odour similar to ether, is produced on a large scale industrially. Its major application is its use for the production of polyether polyols for use in making polyurethane plastics. It is a chiral epoxide, although it is commonly used as a racemic mixture. This compound is sometimes called 1,2-propylene oxide to distinguish it from its isomer 1,3-propylene oxide, better known as oxetane. Production Industrial production of propylene oxide starts from propylene. Two general approaches are employed, one involving hydrochlorination and the other involving oxidation. In 2005, about half of the world production was through chlorohydrin technology and one half via oxidation routes. The latter approach is growing in importance. Hydrochlorination route The traditional route proceeds via the conversion of propene to propylene chlorohy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydroperoxides
Hydroperoxides or peroxols are compounds containing the hydroperoxide functional group (ROOH). If the R is organic, the compounds are called organic hydroperoxides. Such compounds are a subset of organic peroxides, which have the formula ROOR. Organic hydroperoxides can either intentionally or unintentionally initiate explosive polymerisation in materials with unsaturated chemical bonds. Properties The O−O bond length in peroxides is about 1.45 Å, and the R−O−O angles (R = H, C) are about 110° (water-like). Characteristically, the C−O−O−H dihedral angles are about 120°. The O−O bond is relatively weak, with a bond dissociation energy of , less than half the strengths of C−C, C−H, and C−O bonds. Hydroperoxides are typically more volatile than the corresponding alcohols: * ''tert''-BuOOH (b.p. 36°C) vs ''tert''-BuOH (b.p. 82-83°C) * CH3OOH (b.p. 46°C) vs CH3OH (b.p. 65°C * cumene hydroperoxide (b.p. 153°C) vs cumyl alcohol (b.p. 202°C) Misc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyurethane
Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) refers to a class of polymers composed of organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane is produced from a wide range of starting materials. This chemical variety produces polyurethanes with different chemical structures leading to many different applications. These include rigid and flexible foams, varnishes and coatings, adhesives, electrical potting compounds, and fibers such as spandex and PUL. Foams are the largest application accounting for 67% of all polyurethane produced in 2016. A polyurethane is typically produced by reacting an isocyanate with a polyol. Since a polyurethane contains two types of monomers, which polymerize one after the other, they are classed as alternating copolymers. Both the isocyanates and polyols used to make a polyurethane contain two or more functional groups per molecule. Global production in 2019 wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polymers
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part") is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic and natural polymers play essential and ubiquitous roles in everyday life. Polymers range from familiar synthetic plastics such as polystyrene to natural biopolymers such as DNA and proteins that are fundamental to biological structure and function. Polymers, both natural and synthetic, are created via polymerization of many small molecules, known as monomers. Their consequently large molecular mass, relative to small molecule compounds, produces unique physical properties including toughness, high elasticity, viscoelasticity, and a tendency to form amorphous and semicrystalline structures rather than crystals. The term "polymer" derives from the Greek word πολύς (''polus'', meaning "many, much") and μέρος (''meros'', meani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Styrene
Styrene () is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. This derivative of benzene is a colorless oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concentrations have a less pleasant odor. Styrene is the precursor to polystyrene and several copolymers. Approximately 25 million tonnes of styrene were produced in 2010, increasing to around 35 million tonnes by 2018. Natural occurrence Styrene is named after storax balsam (often commercially sold as ''styrax''), the resin of Liquidambar trees of the Altingiaceae plant family. Styrene occurs naturally in small quantities in some plants and foods (cinnamon, coffee beans, balsam trees and peanuts) and is also found in coal tar. History In 1839, the German apothecary Eduard Simon isolated a volatile liquid from the resin (called ''storax'' or ''styrax'' (Latin)) of the American sweetgum tree (''Liquidambar styraciflua''). He called th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tert-Butyl Alcohol
''tert''-Butyl alcohol is the simplest tertiary alcohol, with a formula of (CH3)3COH (sometimes represented as ''t''-BuOH). Its isomers are 1-butanol, isobutanol, and butan-2-ol. ''tert''-Butyl alcohol is a colorless solid, which melts near room temperature and has a camphor-like odor. It is miscible with water, ethanol and diethyl ether. Natural occurrence ''tert''-Butyl alcohol has been identified in beer and chickpeas. It is also found in cassava, which is used as a fermentation ingredient in certain alcoholic beverages. Preparation ''tert''-Butyl alcohol is derived commercially from isobutane as a coproduct of propylene oxide production. It can also be produced by the catalytic hydration of isobutylene, or by a Grignard reaction between acetone and methylmagnesium chloride. Purification cannot be performed by simple distillation due to formation of an azeotrope with water, although initial drying of the solvent containing large amounts of water is performed by adding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
