Editing Chemical industry (section)

==History==
Although chemicals were made and used throughout history, the birth of the heavy chemical industry (production of chemicals in large quantities for a variety of uses) coincided with the beginnings of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

===Industrial Revolution===
One of the first chemicals to be produced in large amounts through industrial processes was [[sulfuric acid]]. In 1736 pharmacist [[Joshua Ward]] developed a process for its production that involved heating sulfur with saltpeter, allowing the sulfur to oxidize and combine with water. It was the first practical production of sulphuric acid on a large scale. [[John Roebuck]] and [[Samuel Garbett]] were the first to establish a large-scale factory in [[Prestonpans|Prestonpans, Scotland]], in 1749, which used leaden condensing chambers for the manufacture of sulfuric acid.<ref>{{cite book | author = Derry, Thomas Kingston |author2=Williams, Trevor I. | year = 1993 | title = A Short History of Technology: From the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900 | location = New York | publisher = Dover }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Sulfuric Acid: Pumping Up the Volume | author = Kiefer, David M. | year = 2001 | publisher = American Chemical Society | url = http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/tcaw/10/i09/html/09chemch.html | access-date = 2008-04-21}}</ref>

[[File:StRolloxChemical 1831.jpg|thumb|[[Charles Tennant]]'s St. Rollox Chemical Works in 1831, then the biggest chemical enterprise in the world.]]
In the early 18th century, cloth was bleached by treating it with stale [[urine]] or [[sour milk]] and exposing it to [[sunlight]] for long periods of time, which created a severe bottleneck in production. Sulfuric acid began to be used as a more efficient agent as well as [[lime (material)|lime]] by the middle of the century, but it was the discovery of [[bleaching powder]] by [[Charles Tennant]] that spurred the creation of the first great chemical industrial enterprise. His powder was made by reacting [[chlorine]] with dry [[slaked lime]] and proved to be a cheap and successful product. He opened the [[St Rollox Chemical Works]], north of [[Glasgow]], and production went from just 52 tons in 1799 to almost 10,000 tons just five years later.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Chemical Industries In The UK|publisher = American Chemical Society|url=http://the-environment.org.uk/bristish_isles/history_chemical_industry_UK.html|access-date = 2013-04-21}}</ref>

[[Soda ash]] was used since ancient times in the production of [[glass]], [[textile]], [[soap]], and [[paper]], and the source of the [[potash]] had traditionally been [[wood]] ashes in [[Western Europe]]. By the 18th century, this source was becoming uneconomical due to deforestation, and the [[French Academy of Sciences]] offered a prize of 2400 [[French livre|livres]] for a method to produce alkali from sea salt ([[sodium chloride]]). The [[Leblanc process]] was patented in 1791 by [[Nicolas Leblanc]] who then built a Leblanc plant at [[Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Denis]].<ref name="Aftalion11">{{Harvnb|Aftalion|1991|pp=11–13}}</ref> He was denied his prize money because of the [[French Revolution]].<ref name='Aftalion14'/>

In Britain, the Leblanc process became popular.<ref name='Aftalion14'>{{Harvnb|Aftalion|1991|pp=14–16}}</ref> [[William Losh]] built the first soda works in Britain at the [[Losh, Wilson and Bell]] works on the [[River Tyne]] in 1816, but it remained on a small scale due to large [[tariff]]s on salt production until 1824. When these tariffs were repealed, the British soda industry was able to rapidly expand. [[James Muspratt]]'s chemical works in [[Liverpool]] and Charles Tennant's complex near [[Glasgow]] became the largest chemical production centres anywhere. By the 1870s, the British soda output of 200,000 tons annually exceeded that of all other nations in the world combined.

[[File:Ernest Solvay.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[Ernest Solvay]], patented an improved industrial method for the manufacture of [[soda ash]].]]
These huge factories began to produce a greater diversity of chemicals as the [[Industrial Revolution]] matured. Originally, large quantities of alkaline waste were vented into the environment from the production of soda, provoking one of the [[Alkali Act 1863|first pieces of environmental legislation]] to be passed in 1863. This provided for close inspection of the factories and imposed heavy fines on those exceeding the limits on pollution. Methods were devised to make useful byproducts from the alkali.

The [[Solvay process]] was developed by the [[Belgium|Belgian]] industrial chemist [[Ernest Solvay]] in 1861. In 1864, Solvay and his brother Alfred constructed a plant in [[Charleroi]] Belgium. In 1874, they expanded into a larger plant in [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], France. The new process proved more economical and less polluting than the Leblanc method, and its use spread. In the same year, [[Ludwig Mond]] visited Solvay to acquire the rights to use his process, and he and [[John Tomlinson Brunner|John Brunner]] formed [[Brunner Mond|Brunner, Mond & Co.]], and built a Solvay plant at [[Winnington]], England. Mond was instrumental in making the Solvay process a commercial success. He made several refinements between 1873 and 1880 that removed byproducts that could inhibit the production of sodium carbonate in the process.

The manufacture of chemical products from [[fossil fuels]] began at scale in the early 19th century. The [[coal tar]] and [[ammonia solution|ammoniacal liquor]] residues of [[coal gas]] manufacture for [[gas lighting]] began to be processed in 1822 at the [[Bonnington Chemical Works]] in [[Edinburgh]] to make [[naphtha]], pitch oil (later called [[creosote]]), [[pitch (resin)|pitch]], lampblack ([[carbon black]]) and sal ammoniac ([[ammonium chloride]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=2019|title=Bonnington Chemical Works (1822–1878): Pioneer Coal Tar Company|journal=International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology|volume=89|issue=1–2|pages=73–91|doi=10.1080/17581206.2020.1787807|s2cid=221115202}}</ref> [[Ammonium sulphate]] fertiliser, [[Bitumen|asphalt]] [[road surface|road surfacing]], coke oil and [[coke (fuel)|coke]] were later added to the product line.

===Expansion and maturation===
The late 19th century saw an explosion in both the quantity of production and the variety of chemicals that were manufactured. Large chemical industries arose in Germany and later in the United States.

[[File:BASF Werk Ludwigshafen 1866.JPG|thumb|right|The factories of the German firm [[BASF]], in 1866.]]
Production of artificial manufactured [[fertilizer]] for [[agriculture]] was pioneered by Sir [[John Lawes]] at his purpose-built [[Rothamsted Research]] facility. In the 1840s he established large works near [[London]] for the manufacture of [[Monocalcium phosphate|superphosphate of lime]]. Processes for the [[vulcanization of rubber]] were patented by [[Charles Goodyear]] in the United States and [[Thomas Hancock (inventor)|Thomas Hancock]] in England in the 1840s. The first synthetic dye was discovered by [[William Henry Perkin]] in [[London]]. He partly transformed [[aniline]] into a crude mixture which, when extracted with alcohol, produced a substance with an intense purple colour. He also developed the first synthetic perfumes. German industry quickly began to dominate the field of synthetic dyes. The three major firms [[BASF]], [[Bayer AG|Bayer]], and [[Hoechst AG|Hoechst]] produced several hundred different dyes. By 1913, German industries produced almost 90% of the world's supply of dyestuffs and sold approximately 80% of their production abroad.<ref>{{Harvnb|Aftalion|1991|p=104}}, {{Harvnb|Chandler|2005|p=475}}</ref> In the United States, [[Herbert Henry Dow]]'s use of electrochemistry to produce chemicals from [[brine]] was a commercial success that helped to promote the country's chemical industry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/bromineproduction.html|title=Electrolytic Production of Bromine – National Historic Chemical Landmark – American Chemical Society|website=American Chemical Society|access-date=2016-10-10}}</ref>

The [[petrochemical]] industry can be traced back to the oil works of Scottish chemist [[James Young (Scottish chemist)|James Young]], and Canadian [[Abraham Pineo Gesner]]. The first plastic was invented by [[Alexander Parkes]], an English [[metallurgy|metallurgist]]. In 1856, he patented [[Parkesine]], a [[celluloid]] based on [[nitrocellulose]] treated with a variety of solvents.<ref>{{cite book |title=Patents for inventions |year=1857 |publisher=UK Patent office|page=255 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nCoU-2tAx8C&pg=PA255}}</ref> This material, exhibited at the 1862 London International Exhibition, anticipated many of the modern aesthetic and utility uses of plastics. The industrial production of [[soap]] from vegetable oils was started by [[William Lever]] and his brother [[James Darcy Lever|James]] in 1885 in [[Lancashire]] based on a modern chemical process invented by William Hough Watson that used [[glycerin]] and [[vegetable oil]]s.<ref name="watson">{{cite web |author=Jeannifer Filly Sumayku |url=http://www.thepresidentpost.com/?p=2621 |title=Unilever: Providing Enjoyable and Meaningful Life to Customers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215041539/http://www.thepresidentpost.com/?p=2621 |archive-date=2013-12-15 |url-status=usurped |work=The President Post |date=22 March 2010}}</ref>

By the 1920s, chemical firms consolidated into large [[conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]]s; [[IG Farben]] in Germany, [[Rhône-Poulenc]] in France and [[Imperial Chemical Industries]] in Britain. [[DuPont|Dupont]] became a major chemicals firm in the early 20th century in America.