Hydrocarbon Processing - February 2022 - 54

History of the HPI
Over the next several years, ICI perfected
the process and found practical
uses for the material (the first item ever
made with PE was a walking stick28
)
that would not only produce products
to modernize society but also aide the
Allies in WW2.
ICI produced the first ton of PE in 1938
(FIG. 1). In 1939, the first commercialscale
PE plant went into operation. The
100,000-tpy plant was instrumental in
producing PE on an industrial scale. Within
the next few years, many PE plants went
into operation, primarily to aide in the
allied war effort. PE was used extensively
as insulating material for radar cables during
WW2. The material was lightweight,
which enabled Britain to install radar in
their fighter planes, providing a significant
technical advantage in long-distance air
warfare.27,28
Due to this wartime advantage,
the production of PE for insulated
cabling was highly-secretive. It was not
until post WW2 that the production of
PE was commercialized. Within several
years, PE production capacity significantly
increased and would later become the
world's most used thermoplastic.
New chemical discoveries with lasting
legacies. Several new chemical discoveries
took place in the 1930s that have
provided the global population with new
products to improve standards of living.
These included the discovery and production
of polystyrene, polyepoxide, nylon,
polyester and neoprene.
Polystyrene. Although
discovered
FIG. 1. A commemorative sample of the first
ton of PE produced by ICI in 1938. The initials
G. F. are that of George Feachem, a chemist
that was on duty the night PE was produced
in laboratory tests in 1933. According to family
members, Mr. Feachem kept this token in his
wallet until his death. Photo courtesy of BBC
History of the World.
in the late 1830s, styrene-which would
lead to the production of polystyrene-
would not be commercialized for nearly
100 yr. In 1839, German chemist/pharmacist
(referred to as an apothecary)
Eduard Simon distilled an oily substance
from storax, a resin from a sweetgum tree.
He noticed several days later that the material-which
he called styrol-thickened
into a jelly-like substance. Thinking
the reaction was due to oxidation, Simon
termed the substance styrol oxide.29
However,
it was not until 80 yr later that a practical
use was found for the material.
In the 1920s, research/writings by German
chemist Hermann Staudinger led to
the invention of polystyrene. Staudinger
demonstrated that thermally processing
styrol produces macromolecules, which
he characterized as polymers. His technical
research/writings would eventually
lead Staudinger to be awarded the Nobel
Prize for Chemistry in 1953.
Commercialization of styrene polyFIG.
2. Carothers demonstrates the elasticity
of neoprene. Photo courtesy of the Science
History Institute.
54 FEBRUARY 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
mers began in the early- to mid-1930s by
IG Farben in Germany and Dow Chemical
in the U.S.-styrene production increased
significantly in both Germany
and in the U.S. during WW2 to produce
synthetic rubbers to aide in the war effort.
In the late 1930s, Dow Chemical engineer
Ray McIntire was experimenting
with a polystyrene process developed by
Swedish inventor Carl Munters. By accident,
McIntire created foam polystyrene
which expanded approximately 40 times
in size.30
Dow would later commercialize
this discovery as expanded polystyrene,
better known and marketed under the
name Styrofoam.
Neoprene and nylon. While focusing
on research conducted by Staudinger and
Belgian-born priest and chemistry professor
Julius Nieuwland, Wallace Carothers'
polymers research group at DuPont discovered
two major chemical applications:
neoprene and nylon. While a professor
of chemistry at the University of Notre
Dame (U.S.), Nieuwland focused his research
on acetylene chemistry, which led
to the discovery of divinyl acetylene-a
jelly-like substance that hardens into an
elastic compound similar to rubber.31
DuPont
purchased the patent rights to this
new discovery, and Nieuwland joined
Carothers' research team to conduct further
research and testing on practical applications
for this and other polymer applications.
One of Carothers' colleagues,
Arnold Collins, discovered neoprene
while conducting further research on
divinyl acetylene. Through several testing
methods, Collins soon discovered a mixture
that produced a clear homogeneous
mass that bounced. The product-chloroprene-was
used to produce the polymer
polychloroprene, which later became
the new synthetic rubber neoprene.
Neoprene was first marketed in 1931
under the name DuPrene; however, the
product was re-envisioned since it contained
an odor due to the manufacturing
process. By the mid- to late-1930s, the
improved product-suitable for many
applications (construction, automotive,
medical equipment, fabrics, electrical
equipment, textiles, among others) and
marketed under the generic name neoprene-generated
substantial revenues
for DuPont.
After the discovery of neoprene,
Carothers' team turned their sights on
producing synthetic fibers. By the mid1930s,
Carothers produced fibers comprised
of amine, hexamethylene diamine
and adipic acid. However, water produced
during the condensation reaction process
would fall back into the mixture, preventing
the creation of more polymers. After
adjusting the process, Carothers pro
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