CHEMISTS AND INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21119, 21 March 1934, Page 18

CHEMISTS AND INDUSTRY

NEED FOR CAREFUL TRAINING DR. DEXHAM'S ADDRESS The importance of training diem, ists so that they could take their pi aC a in industry fully equipped to take charge of the chemical side of an industrial plant was the subject of an address by Dr. H. G. Denham to th» New Zealand Institute of Chemistry in Wellington last week. The institute, of which Dr. Dcnharn is pres ,;. dent, held its annual meeting at Vie» toria University College. In introducing his subject, the president ventured the opinion that although the New Zealand University graduate in chemistry compared favourably in all respects but that of laboratory practice with these of other countries, there remained a great gap to be bridged before he became a competent works chemist. Industry was going to demand a greater measure of scientific control than ever, not only in highly-industrialised countries but also in a young country like New Zealand, which, in consequence of quotas and tariffs, would be driven more and more to depend upon her own resources. The university graduate passing into the world of industry has not learned to translate the results of test-tube practice into those of commercial practice, to consider the costs side of a chemical operation, nor to judge the length to which a process could be economically pushed. British and American Systems Professor Denham contrasted what may be called the British and American methods of training chemists technically for industrial work. The British system had been to implant, oh a general chemical training, a highlyspecialised course in some branch of intense local interest, for instance, metallurgy in Sheffield and textile chemistry in Leeds,'but the Professor held that such a system, which trained for one particular type of position, was not suitable to New Zealand conditions. The American method apparently offered a more suitable plan, since ft aimed at giving the student a thorough grounding in those fundamental principles common to all chemical industries; filtration, evaporation, problems of heat transference, handling of corrosive fluids, flow of liquids, and heat were all of utmost importance to every chemical engineer, whether in gas works, fertiliser works, or acid factory.

The recent successful development of a distillation process leading to production of 99.9 per cent, absolute alcohol at a cost of Is 6d over all had been rendered possible by the application of data supplied by the physical chemist.

In many works .the chemist remained a control tester, while every problem dealing with design and functioning of plant had to depend on the engineer. Our trained chemists lacked engineering sense and were not capable of handling such important matters as bulk time-flow sheets, power costing, labour, repairs, depreciation, etc. They had never thought along such lines, but left them to their "superior officer," the engineer, who just as surely lacked, in nearly every case, the scientific and technical knowledge necessary to attain maximum efficiency and economy.

Radical Change Desired Frofessor Denham said that the necessary engineering and technical courses could not be incorporated in the present New Zealand University course, but that a radical departure from it was essential. Referring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a five years' course was described, in the fourth and fifth years of which an intensive course of chemical and electrical engineering was the main feature, accompanied by investigations in factories and by machine design. Associated with this institute were five separate instructional stations for giving large scale experience in the manufacture of many products, varying from caustic soda to chemical dyestuffs, in each of which sections the undergraduate spends six weeki gaining valuable experience in factory methods and supplementing these with actual factory experience. In the University of Queensland a modified form of the Massachussets plan had been adopted, and the students so trained were eagerly sought after bv industrial concerns. A similar course obtained in Cape Town University. Although the demand for industrial chemists in New Zealand at present does not warrant so sweeping a change in univeristy practice. Professor Denham maintained that the time was ripe for constructional effort in the university, and therefore he ventured to outline what he considered a suitable university course for those New Zealand undergraduate* who contemplated training as industrial chemists. The address was followed by a cuecussion, in which Professor Evans ana Messrs Stewart, Keyes, Donovan, ana Glendirming took part.