Hydrocarbon Processing - May 2022 - 71

History of the HPI
duction line at the Corunna site in 1976,
followed by licensing the SCLAIRTECH
process worldwide in 1980-the technology
can produce a range of products
from LLDPE to HDPE.124
DuPont Canada's
PE business, including the St. Claire
PE plant, was eventually purchased by
Nova Chemicals in 1994.
In the 1970s/1980s, several other
companies began to produce their own
LLDPE resins. These included Dow
Chemical, Union Carbide and bp Chemicals,
among others. Union Carbide's
LLDPE technology's origins emerged
from research and development on a
low-pressure, gas-phase fluidized bed
process to produce HDPE. This process-known
as the UNIPOL PE process
(now licensed by Univation Technologies)-came
to fruition
in 1968
with the startup of the G-1000 plant in
Seadrift, Texas (U.S.). The UNIPOL
process extended its reach into LLDPE
production in 1977.125
By the late 1980s,
more than 70% of the world's LLDPE
production was produced via gas-phase
polymerization-the basis of the UNIPOL
process.123
Today, several additional
companies license their own LLDPE process,
including Borealis, Chevron Phillips
Chemical, INEOS and LyondellBasell,
among others. LLDPE is used in many
consumer goods such as plastic grocery/
trash bags, shrink wrap, toys/playground
and plastic gardening equipment, tubing,
flooring and many other applications.
Over the past 60 yr, the LLDPE market
has significantly expanded, with forecasts
showing the global LLDPE market will
exceed $65 B by the mid-2020s and increase
to more than $85 B by 2030.126,127
Gore-Tex. In the late 1950s, Bill Gore
left his job at DuPont to pursue detailed
research and analysis on the untapped potentials
of PTFE.128
The polymer PTFE
was discovered by accident in the late
1930s by Roy Plunkett who was working
at DuPont at the time. This discovery
eventually led to the development of
Teflon-the discovery of PTFE and the
subsequent creation of Teflon was detailed
in the History of the HPI segment
published in the February issue of Hydrocarbon
Processing.
In 1969, Bill's son Robert (Bob) conducted
experiments by heating rods of
PTFE and stretching the material. However,
on one such occasion, primarily
out of frustration, he yanked the heated
PTFE rod, causing it to stretch about
800%. After analysis, he noticed that
the resultant material was incredibly
strong, microporous (the structure was
approximately 70% air), and contained
several key benefits, such as low water
adsorption and good weathering properties.128,129
The
expanded PTFE (ePTFE)
was given the name Gore-Tex and sold
commercially in the 1970s as a breathable,
waterproof and windproof fabric
for clothing (e.g., jackets).129
(ePTFE) found use in many applications
over the ensuing decades, including in insulation,
medical implants, high-performance
fabrics, gloves, footwear and even
on astronauts' spacesuits.
The PLC revolutionizes industrial
automation. The invention of the
PLC originated within the automotive
industry. In the late 1960s, Bedford Associates-from
Bedford, Massachusetts
(U.S.)-was awarded a contract from
GM Hydramatic [the automatic transmission
division of General Motors (GM)].
GM wanted to replace its hardwired relay
systems with a better electronic device.130
Hardwired relay systems had several disadvantages:
several relays were needed to
control a single device, improper wiring of
only one relay could cause the machine or
entire system to shut down, systems were
hard to troubleshoot and fix, and needed
changes to the system often required reconfiguring
the entire system.131
In 1968, the founder of Bedford Associates,
Richard (Dick) Morley (known
as the father of the PLC), unveiled the
world's first PLC, the Modicon 084
(FIG. 5)-the technology was named
Modicon (MOdular DIgital CONtroller)
084 since it was the company's
84th project.132
The creation of the PLC
meant that large banks of relays could be
replaced by a single device. It also contained
enough memory to retain loaded
programs in the event of a power outage
and worked well in harsh conditions.131
Bedford Associates soon adopted the
company name Modicon and began to
market PLCs. The company was also responsible
for the invention of the Modbus
in the late 1970s-Modus is a data
communications protocol that enables
electronic devices to communicate with
each other.133
Modicon was acquired by Gould
Electronics in 1977 and then by AEG in
106
Gore-Tex
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Complete literature cited available online at
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 2022 71
1989. The company eventually became
part of Schneider Electric in 1994 with
the merger of AEG and Groupe Schneider-the
merger took the name Schneider
Electric in 1999.134
The invention of the PLC created a
new era in automation technology. Today,
PLCs are incorporated into refining
and petrochemical plant operations to
help monitor plant equipment, among
other production actions.
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