INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY

Abstract

This module starts by defining industrial chemistry and then gives a view of the chemical industry, its position in the general economy, and its classification in terms of the chemical processes that characterize it. To enable the study of selected chemical processes, unit operations and unit processes, especially those that are relevant in later learning actvities, are then covered in Unit 2. With this background, it will be easy to study industrial inorganic and organic chemical industries. The study of extractive metallurgy in Unit 3 draws on the knowledge of size reduction and separation unit operations learnt earlier, as well as chemical conversions that take place during pyroprocessing. The extractive metallugy of iron, copper and aluminium is included. In Unit 4, we focus our attention on some basic inorganic industrial processes that synthesize products from a variety of raw materials derived from the natural environment. They include manufacture of chlorine and sodium hydroxide from brine, ammonia from methane and nitrogen, sulphuric acid from sulphur, fertilizer and cement from mineral ores. The study of organic industrial chemistry then starts with petroleum refining followed by the manufacture of selected petrochemicals and polymers. The module closes with the study of ethanol, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents. These are high value-added products, some of which are produced through the fermentation route.