Town – Gown Seminar: Chemistry: Bedrock of Economic

EmpowermentCurrent Situation in Town (Industries):

Almost all the existing Industries around thecountry are into conversion of tertiary rawmaterials to finished products.

Processes: Mixing/Blending, Milling, Heating,Drying, Granulation, Sieving, Compression,Blowing, Baking, Dilution, Filling, Printing,Packaging/re-Packaging – majority of operationsin our industries.

Machines

• All the machines, equipment andinstruments used for these conversionsin all our industries were all imported!

• From Production to Quality Assessmenteven to Administrative equipment.Simple thermometer and gauges, the A4paper and Toner!

Personnel.• Chemists (Scientists) are found in these major

Departments:– Production - processing and line monitoring– Quality – Heart of the Business– Marketing / Sales – Awareness and ReturnsStandard Operating Procedures are followed to bring

out the products down to the consumers.

Rewards / Remunerations:Normally, 10% of annual Turn-over is supposed to bespent on staff as salaries, allowances, pension, staffwelfare, training. But this is not in Practice.

Personnel cont’d.• In many Companies, Man (Personnel) is the

least considered among the components oforganization.

• Poor welfare, lack of training so no exposure,our dear Scientists are at the receiving endbecause we, the Scientists are NOT doingwhat we are trained to do – only scratchingthe surface. But there are ways out of thiscurrent situation.

Chemistry: Bedrock of Economic Empowerment

• The Economic Empowerment lies inCHEMICAL INDUSTRY.

• Chemical Industry consists of all companiesengaged in converting raw materials obtainedfrom the environment (air, ore, petroleum,trees, crops, etc.) into chemical intermediates.

• In conversion of basic elements/materialsfrom environment lies the power of Chemists.

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• Already, many things have been discovered,processes established, there are equations ofreactions that proved these discoveries; theend products are everywhere – things we see,use, touch, smell and feel.

• All we need to do to be empowered (to befinancially free, to make impact economically)is to simply follow the defined procedure withtechnology transfer.

We all know that:• Chemistry is the study of matter and the changes

it can undergo. Matter is anything that has massand occupies space. Which is to say, anything youcan touch or hold.

• Matter is composed of various combinations ofbasic elements such as hydrogen, oxygen,chlorine, silver, and copper. When these basicelements are combined, they make somethingnew and unique.

• Understanding the basic properties of matter andlearning how to predict and explain how theychange when they react to form new substancesis what chemistry and chemists are all about.

.• Matter

Chemical Changes: Reactions, Conversions of Matter, Cracking, Heating, etc 1°

• Materials

Separation, Distillation, Synthesis, Polymerization, Physical Change, etc 2°

• Intermediates

Extrusion, Molding, Blending, Dilution, Heating, Sub-division, Packaging ** 3°

• Final Products

Group the Following:

• Inorganic chemicals• Petrochemicals

– Synthetic resins and plastics– Textile fibers– Synthetic rubber

• Pharmaceuticals and drugs – (Plants and Synthesis)• Soap, detergents, and cosmetics• Paint, varnishes, and printing inks• Fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals• Adhesives and sealants• Dyes and pigments• Paper• Glass

.• The empowerment so far in Industries has beenin production of end / final products e.g. toothpastes, soaps, detergents, juices, cosmetics,polishes, pharmaceuticals, etc.

• All the Raw-Materials for the above are allimported! – This is a critical period in our Nationnow because of FOREX.

• The real ISSUE that needs to be tackled lies in theavailability of Raw Materials to makeintermediate and end products. THIS IS WHERETHE POWER & STRENGTH OF CHEMISTS LIEINCLUDING OTHER SCIENTISTS.

Core Area of Empowerment

• Production of chemicals – inorganic, organicfrom natural resources.

• Synthetic chemicals prototyped in thelaboratories. Chemists have a major role toplay here especially in the synthesis of APIs –Active pharmaceutical ingredients.

• Materials conversion – especially from Plants

origin – APIs, Perfumery, Tea, Herbal etc.

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.• Four of the above chemicals are isolated directlyor indirectly from the air we breathe – soinexhaustible! The other ones also haveinexhaustible raw materials.

• Inorganic Chemicals are the real heart ofChemical industry – this is contrary to the beliefthat the industry is primarily based on organicchemicals i.e. carbon containing, by virtue ofwhat we use daily like plastics, drugs, syntheticfibers etc, these have organic raw materials.

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.• Sulphur is a yellow, relatively low melting solid.

• It is obtained from underground deposits where it ismelted in place with steam and then pumped out in afairly pure state.

• Newer sources are metal ores or natural gas where thesulfur exists in a chemically combined state.

• In the most common process for making sulphuric acid,sulphur is burned at a very high temperature in dry airto make sulphur dioxide, which is then reacted withmore oxygen over a catalyst to make sulphur trioxide.

• Reaction of sulphur trioxide with water producessulphuric acid.

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.• Nitrogen has very good use as an inert gas –chemically inactive.

• The exception to this, is its reaction with hydrogen athigh temperature over a catalyst to make ammonia(NH3). This is called nitrogen fixation.

• It is one of the most important processes in thechemical industry because it provides the nitrogencontained in almost all synthetic chemicals containingchemically combined nitrogen and all non-organicfertilizer.

• The nitrogen compounds, such as ammonia, thatfarmers use to stimulate crop growth come indirectlyfrom the air.

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.• Used in Oxidation processes e.g. burning ofwood or natural gas, with the evolution ofheat and light.

• If iron is heated in pure oxygen to the point ofrapid oxidation, a temperature high enough tomelt concrete can be achieved. Whether theoxidation goes slowly or rapidly, the amountof heat given off in the combination of thesame amount of iron with oxygen is the same.

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.• The original source of hydrogen for chemical

purposes is the splitting of water into itscomponents (oxygen and hydrogen) withelectricity (electrolysis);

• But hydrocarbons from natural gas orpetroleum are cheaper.

• It can be used as energy source - fuel cellproduces electricity when the hydrogen fuelcombines with oxygen from the air. Theexhaust is only water so fuel cells are non-polluting.

High Volume Organic Chemicals• All organic chemicals are based on chemicals

derived from living matter.

• Thus, the ten highest-volume commercialorganic chemicals are all made from startingmaterials obtained from petroleum (oil) andnatural gas, which are believed to have beenformed by the microbial decomposition ofancient marine plants and animals.

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Raw Materials Sources• Petroleum and Natural Gas - 90% of all organic

chemicals produced are obtained from Petroleumand natural gas and they are nonrenewablesources.

• Coal - It is more difficult to process than oilhowever, it is nonrenewable.

• Biomass - (Carbohydrates) Biomass includeschemicals obtained from wood, sugar, grain, etc., atotally renewable source.

• Animals and Vegetable Sources - Chemicals fromanimal and vegetable oils are known as “fatty acid”products. This is a renewable source.

Cracking Diagram

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Agriculture & Chemistry

• There is a great deal of Active PharmaceuticalIngredients (APIs) from plant origin –Peppermint Leaves - (Menthol, Peppermintoil, dill oil, etc); Aloe Vera – (Forever LivingProducts); the Alkaloids Plants (controlled),Tea & Herbal Products; Corn/Maize Starch; etc

• Perfumery (from flower plants)

• Refined Vegetable Oils packaging

.• Food Chemistry

–Cocoa and its products – Beverages,chocolates

–Drinks – all kinds (alcoholics, non-alcoholics, carbonated, non-carbonated)

–Diary Products

–Candies and Sweets

–Animals / Poultry Stuffs Packaging

Paths to Economic Growth - Individual

Laboratory work• Project - Project work may become the prototype of

what you’ll eventually capitalize on – a Passion• Unit (Stage) Operations – Refinery, Petrochemicals (the

department can go for 1 or 2 barrels of crude oil to startwith; then isolate as much raw materials you can. Whenyou get to the levels of isomers go further.

• Limestone from Ewekoro or Dangote Cement factory andprocess it to get Quick Lime, Slaked Lime.

• From Salt – (Dangote Salt) process it to get Caustic Soda.• Purification - local gin (Ogogoro) purify this further to get

good Ethanol (confirm the purity on GC).• Palm Oil, Kernel oil, Sunflower oil, etc – what and how

did the Indonesians get to the level of exportingvegetable Oils?

Paths to Economic Growth – Individual Contd.

• Processing of Corn Starch from maize

• Peppermint oil from the plant – Menthol,Eucalyptus oil, fennel or dill oil etc.

• There is sugarcane at Papalanto –evaporation/crystallization come into playresulting to sugar crystals.

• Herbal Products: There are some herbs that canbe processed by drying, grinding, etc andpackaged for different ailments – (cough,diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, etc)having carried out the Phytochemical screening.

Paths to Economic Growth

• Individual:– Have your growth - plan on Paper – write it down.

CBN Policy: (Govt)– Banks in growing Nations do take up good project from

paper to completion, they provide the Project Managersmostly on Contract, to follow the projects through, Fundsare not given directly to the Process Owner who is a JointOwner with the Bank.

– The Fund is given in Stages– The Business starts as Unit Operation since you will be

processing as the Project goes on.

Government / Institutions:– Land: There are areas mapped out for Industries and they

have grades, if you cannot afford Grade 1 then you go forlower grades. There are no land Speculators

Paths to Economic Growth – Govt./Institutions Contd.

• Facilities: water, road, energy are necessary.

• Tax/Levies: Immediately you register a companyin our Nation, you’re expected to start makingReturns a year after. The Policy should be relaxedon this, except the company is a trading outfit.

• Requirements for Premises Registration should beminimal.

• There should be Cushion-effect in times of crises.

• There are some Plants that need to be introducedto the Farmers at least Palm Kennel was takenfrom Nigeria to Indonesia.

Paths to Economic Growth – Govt./Institutions Contd.

• Crude Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Industry(Refer to Cracking Diagram)

• Nigerian Paper Mill, Iwopin (and in Jebba)

• Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill – why Rolling andnot Sheet?

For all the above National Establishment tomeet potentials, there is one solution to applyand this is Mathematical Simplification - UnitOperations.

Paths to Economic Growth –Govt./Institutions Contd.

• Government should give license to privatecompanies to process various stages ofrefining crude oil.

Food for Thought

• How many of Oil Blocks Allottees haveCompanies in Nigeria?

• Why is it that Government Businesses alwayscollapse either before take-off or within fewyears of starting?

Paths to Economic Growth – Others

Agriculture: Most farmers cannot afford mechanizedfarming, somehow they can rear 2 to 4 cows, withploughs, harvesters and the like from our Engineers,they will do more.

• Hydroponics - Planting without Soil: Good money canbe realized with this practice while working on yourproject. Use this to cultivate Tomatoes, cucumber,etc. This will pay your rent in Lagos, change yourvehicle, pay for your holiday, or buy the first set ofmachines you need for your chemical industry. Moreso, it only requires small space.

Comparative Analysis• India – 3rd world like Nigeria.

– Population

– Human Resources – Scientists / Engineers

– Technology – Vehicles, Industrial Machines,

– Chemicals

– Raw Materials especially Active PharmaceuticalIngredients and Excipients, Resins (polymers)

– Agriculture – Fantastic! so also the RawMaterials / Products from plant

– Financial / Technical Support

– Enabling Environment

.• There are other areas Chemists – Scientists canexcel apart from chemical changes in theindustries.

• Areas like:– Regulatory & Registration

– Marketing of Products

– Recycling of Wastes

– Services – Quality Control Laboratory, Consultancy,Water Treatment, Training, etc

– Teaching – (if you must teach science please make itinteresting.

– Research – This is Very IMPORTANT

.• If you must take up an appointment after

graduation please make plan for another sourceof income particularly in your area ofspecialization.

• You can go for the tertiary raw materialsconversion to finished (consumer) products likecosmetics, daily need things e.g toothpaste/powder, mouth wash, detergents/soaps;insecticides/repellants; wipes; deodorants;Drinks, yoghurts; dry pap/custards; spices,Foodstuffs packaging – Gari, Poundo, yampowder, chips; Cookies/Biscuits; etc.

• Think and plan on how you can process your rawmaterials / chemicals.

.Note:• Good and strong business starts small

• Business needs commitment, dedication andnurturing.

• Business owner must be passionate and prudent.

Finally, we cannot continue in Sin (as we are –consumer Nation) and expect Grace (Growth -Wealth) to abound. Romans 6:1

• God has already blessed us as a Nation all weneed to do is to start taking the right ACTION.

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Thank you for listening

•Mrs. Hannah A. Oluyemi

•PrincipalConsultant/QualityPersonnel

•Delpha Integrated QualityServices Ltd, Otta.