l’actualité chimique canadienne canadian chemical news ACCN
October|Octobre • 2009 • Vol. 61, No./n o 9
The Waste Issue
What's In Your Cell Phone? Making the Most of Throwaway Electronics Recycling Paint Dealing with Nuclear Waste
A Publication of the Chemical Institute of Canada and Constituent Societies / Une publication de l’institut de chimie du canada et ses sociétés constituantes
October|Octobre • 2009 • Vol. 61, No./n o 9
Contents
Features
Revival 16 Paint How an Alberta business is bringing old paint back to life
20 14 Departments 4
16 Techie's Trash, Another Company's Treasure 20 One Recovering the riches inside tossed-out electronics
Guest Column Chroniqueur invité By Jodi Di Menna
6 14
Chemical News Actualité chimique Chemfusion
By Joe Schwarcz
26
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés
36
Conference Beat Pouls du congrès
the Burden 22 Burying One chemist’s view on nuclear waste
ACCN
Guest Column Chroniqueur invité
Executive Director/Directeur général Roland Andersson, MCIC Editor/Rédactrice en chef Jodi Di Menna, MCIC
From the editor
Graphic Designer/Infographiste Krista Leroux
By Jodi Di Menna
I
recall a time a decade ago when I witnessed first hand the tremendous influence of science and technology on the world. I was a new geology graduate, spending the summer digging sediment samples for diamond prospecting in the tundra of the Northwest Territories. It was an overwhelming vista, the willows that blanketed the undulating hills already turning red at the end of August. I peered out of the helicopter’s windshield as we flew over one of the first diamond mines in Canada. The enormity of it — the vast hole, the network of roads and infrastructure that surrounded it, the huge machines trundling about — was almost as staggering as the landscape that framed it. I imagined the other mines that would eventually crop up, the incredible know-how required to locate and establish them, the mark they would inevitably leave on the land, but also the impact they would have on the economy and the communities that would benefit from the jobs they would create. It became clear to me how many sides there are to every story, how complex is the relationship between people and industry and industry and science and how many shades of grey exist when humankind pushes the limits of innovation. The next fall I went to journalism school with the idea of communicating the complexity of science — both how people have come to understand the functioning of nature and the reverberating consequences of the application of that understanding on the world — to a popular audience. In the ensuing years, I have been part of many discussions on the topic of how to close the gap between the scientific world and those who communicate its undertakings. Assuming the role of editor of this magazine, I feel like I have stepped onto the front lines of that battle; communicating science to scientists. I am excited by the breadth of stories that this magazine can encompass — everything from energy to the environment to pharmaceuticals — a reflection of the broad scope of issues that the chemical professions touch on. Magazines are a powerful medium because they combine visuals and words in a way that provokes thought, stimulates discussions and builds community. Perhaps the stories herein will evoke a feeling of pride in your profession, make you feel intrigued by the work of your peers, inspire you to pursue a new area of study or empower you to build your business. Above all, I hope the pages of this magazine will be a mirror for your profession, reflecting the intricate intersection of chemical scientists and engineers with society. ACCN
Write to the editor at editorial@accn.ca
Communications manager/ Directrice des communications Lucie Frigon Marketing Manager/ Directrice du marketing Bernadette Dacey Staff Writer/rédactrice Anne Campbell, MCIC Awards and Local Sections Manager/ Directrice des prix et des sections locales Gale Thirlwall Editorial Board/Conseil de rédaction Joe Schwarcz, MCIC, chair/président Cathleen Crudden, MCIC John Margeson, MCIC Milena Sejnoha, MCIC Bernard West, MCIC Editorial Office/ Bureau de la rédaction 130, rue Slater Street, Suite/bureau 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 613-232-6252 • Fax/Téléc. 613-232-5862 editorial@accn.ca • www.accn.ca Advertising/Publicité advertising@accn.ca Subscription Rates/Tarifs d’abonnement Non CIC members/Non-membres de l’ICC : in/au Canada CAN$60; outside/à l’extérieur du Canada US$60. Single copy/Un exemplaire CAN$10 or US$10. L’Actualité chimique canadienne/Canadian Chemical News (ACCN) is published 10 times a year by the Chemical Institute of Canada / est publié 10 fois par année par l’Institut de chimie du Canada. www.cheminst.ca. Recommended by the Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC), the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC), the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE), and the Canadian Society for Chemical Technology (CSCT). Views expressed do not necessarily represent the official position of the Institute or of the societies that recommend the magazine. Recommandé par l’Institut de chimie du Canada, la Société canadienne de chimie, la Société canadienne de génie chimique et la Société canadienne de technologie chimique. Les opinions exprimées ne reflètent pas nécessairement la position officielle de l’Institut ou des sociétés qui soutiennent le magazine. Change of Address/ Changement d’adresse circulation@cheminst.ca Printed in Canada by Gilmore Printing Services Inc. and postage paid in Ottawa, ON./ Imprimé au Canada par Gilmore Printing Services Inc. et port payé à Ottawa, ON. Publications Mail Agreement Number/ No de convention de la Poste-publications : 40021620. (USPS# 0007-718) Indexed in the Canadian Business Index and available on-line in the Canadian Business and Current Affairs database. / Répertorié dans la Canadian Business Index et accessible en ligne dans la banque de données Canadian Business and Current Affairs. ISSN 0823-5228
4 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
www.accn.ca
Continuing Education for Chemical Professionals
INDOOR AIR QUALITY course 2009 Schedule November 19–20
British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT)— Burnaby Campus Registration fees
$495 CIC members $695 non-members For more information about the course and locations, and to access the registration form, visit:
www.cheminst.ca/ profdev
T
he Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) and the Canadian Society for Chemical
Technology (CSCT) are presenting a two-
day course designed to enhance the knowledge
1
• Overview of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Issues • Typical IAQ Parameters: carbon
and working experience of chemical technologists
monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons,
and chemists. This course will provide a range
formaldehyde, moulds, total particulates,
of material which will enable the participants
temperature and relative humidity.
to understand the transformations that take
A-typical parameters such as asbestos,
place in air when pollutants are present, and
radon, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides
to familiarize themselves with the analytical techniques currently used for air testing. Upon completion of this short course, the participants will be able to perform some of the laboratory
and trace metals. • Sources of indoor contaminants, chemistry and possible transformations. • Health effects of indoor pollutants:
analyses for the major atmospheric contaminants
carbon monoxide, organic contaminants,
as required by engineering consulting firms,
particulates, formaldehyde, airborne
private laboratories, and government laboratories involved in pollution analysis.
moulds and others. • Industrial pollutants: sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides: sources, effects and detection methods. • Sampling techniques and instrumentation
Instructor Joffre M. Berry, MCIC British Columbia Institute of Technology. Berry received his BSc in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, a doctorate in chemistry and a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of British Columbia. Today he heads the Environmental Chemistry and Waste Management Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and is an adjunct professor for the departments of chemistry and kinesiology at Simon Fraser University. Berry is also president of JMB Research Ltd., an environmental consulting firm, where he has managed numerous scientific projects and has applied research programs in the areas of organic chemistry, environmental chemistry and waste management.
Day
Canadian Society for Chemical Technology
used for IAQ studies. Demonstration of several portable analyzers, their principle of operation and limitations. • Participant use of IAQ instruments in a laboratory setting. Including calibration of air flow meters, sampling for carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, total particulates, airborne asbestos, formaldehyde, trace metals, surface moulds and airborne moulds.
Day
2
• Participant use of IAQ instrumentscontinued. • IAQ case studies, interpretation and possible solutions. • Open Discussion. Note: the above schedule includes two coffee breaks and a one-hour lunch on each day.
Chemical News Actualité chimique
Toxin Detection as Close as an Inkjet Printer
DNA Sleuths University of British Columbia researchers have developed a new way to extract DNA and RNA from small or heavily contaminated samples that could help forensic investigators and molecular biologists get to “the truth.” “By exploiting the physical traits of DNA — electric charge, length and flexibility — we’ve been able to extract DNA from samples that would otherwise not produce enough clean DNA for analysis,” says UBC biophysics professor Andre Marziali. The technique is being commercialized through Boreal Genomics, a UBC spin-off company, and is expected to have broad applications from basic life-science research to forensic sample analysis, bio-defence and pathogen detection for food safety and clinical diagnostics.
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The research team, which includes scientists from UBC and BC Cancer Agency’s Genome Science Centre, details the technique in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Extracting DNA by conventional methods — which rely on the molecules’ chemical properties — has proven challenging when there are only trace amounts of DNA or when the source sample has contaminants with similar chemical traits. “We’ve found that DNA and RNA respond to electric fields in a way that is very different from other molecules,” says Marziali. “By exploiting this unique property, we were able to extract high quality DNA from a highly contaminated sample from the Athabasca oil sands.” The team also successfully tested the technique on samples provided by the RCMP.
If that office inkjet printer has become just another fixture, it’s time to take a fresh look at it. Similar technology may soon be used to develop paper-based biosensors that can detect certain harmful toxins that can cause food poisoning or be used as bioterrorism agents. In a paper published in the July 1 issue of Analytical Chemistry, John Brennan and his research team at McMaster University, working with the Sentinel Bioactive Paper Network, describe a method for printing a toxin-detecting biosensor on paper using FujiFilm Dimatix Materials Printer. The researchers demonstrated the concept on the detection of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors such as paraoxon and aflatoxin B1 on paper using a “lateral flow” sensing approach similar to that used in a home pregnancy test strip. The process involves formulating an ink like the one found in computer printer cartridges but with special additives to make the ink biocompatible. An ink comprised of biocompatible silica nanoparticles is first deposited on paper, followed by a second ink containing the enzyme, and the resulting bio-ink forms a thin film of enzyme that is entrapped in the silica on paper. When the enzyme is exposed to a toxin, reporter molecules in the ink change colour in a manner that is dependent on the concentration of the toxin in the sample. This simple and cost-effective method of adhering biochemical reagents to paper is expected to bring the concept of bioactive paper a significant step closer to commercialization. The goal for bioactive paper is to provide a rapid, portable, disposable and inexpensive way of detecting harmful substances, including toxins, pathogens and viruses, without the need for sophisticated instrumentation. The research showed that the printed enzyme retains full activity for at least two months when stored properly, suggesting that such sensor strips should have a good shelf life. Portable bio-sensing papers are expected to be extremely useful in monitoring environmental and food-based toxins, as well as in remote settings in less industrialized countries where simple bioassays are essential for the first stages of detecting disease.
The University of British Columbia
McMaster University
Chemical News Actualité chimique
CIC can help with your career!
It's in the pit Life in the fruit bowl is no longer the pits, thanks to a University of Alberta (U of A) researcher. Christina Engels has found a way to turn the throwaway kernels in mangos into a natural food preservative that could help prevent listeriosis outbreaks like the one that killed 21 Canadians last year. The findings can also apply to other fruit seeds like grapes, said Engels, who conducted the research to earn her master’s degree from the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the U of A. Tannins, a plant component extracted by Engels from otherwise useless mango kernels, have proven inhibitory effects against various strains of bacteria including Listeria, a potentially deadly pathogen that infected some packaged meats and caused an outbreak of disease in Canada in 2008. “You could put the extract in the water that you use to wash fresh-cut lettuce,” she said. “Or, you can put it directly in food like dairy products or fruit juices as a natural preservative.” Engels’ research focuses on a way to recycle the wood-like mango kernels, which are usually thrown away or burned. “By processing the
kernels for their tannins, businesses have a way to completely utilize all fruit parts and therefore increase their profit,” she said. Currently, mangos are one of the main fruits marketed globally, ranked fifth in world production among the major fruit crops. And, with current market trends leaning towards natural and organic products, Engel hopes to see her research through to store shelves. “I can see this product from all-natural sources having a real impact on consumers,” she said. “I’m not saying that other products aren’t any good. The mango extract will have to go through all the same health and safety restrictions as any other product on the market, but I think people are more interested now in products that come from nature.” University of Alberta
ACCN Send the latest
Being a member of one of the CIC Societieshas its advantages during uncertain times: • If you lose your job, and have been a full-fee member for at least one year, the CIC will waive your membershipfees. This optionis available for up to two years; • Unemployed members can attendthe annualCSC or CSChE conferencesat the same price as an undergraduate student. They can stay informed on what’s going on in the scientific community and participate in careerbuilding events; • Local Section activities are valuable networking opportunities. Most positions are not advertised; • Take advantage of our range of CareerServices. See details at
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news to editorial@accn.ca
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 7
Chemical News Actualité chimique
International Wire
What’s in a name? That which we call copernicium, by any other name would still be the newest and heaviest addition to the periodic table. Chosen by the German team who created the first atom of the element, the name honours Nicolaus Copernicus who was the first to assert that the earth revolves around the sun. The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry began the process of approving the name this summer. A 2000-year old bronze statue of ancient Greek athlete, Apoxyomenos, recovered from the floor of the Adriatic Sea in 1998, has given scientists valuable insight into the processes of biomineralization. The artifact was encrusted with plants and animals that had used the minerals from the bronze substrate to form shells and bone. By studying the mineral layers and the organisms attached to the statue, researchers gathered insight into the effects of biocorrosion and how certain mineral deposits slowed the deterioration of the bronze. It’s information that could prove useful in finding ways to prevent metal corrosion and permanently store nuclear waste. In other news from the bottom of the sea, Italian authorities found a ship containing 180 barrels of toxic waste, possibly including heavy metals and radioactive elements, under 500 meters of water in the Tyrrhenian Sea this September. The discovery was made after a mafia turncoat confessed to having sunk the boat with explosives. It is one of more than 30 vessels believed to be sunk off the country’s southern coast by mafia groups. Tighter environmental regulations introduced in the 1980s have made illegal waste disposal a lucrative business for organized crime. Microscopic traces of glycine, an amino acid which is one of the fundamental building blocks of proteins was discovered on a comet for the first time by NASA spacecraft Stardust 390 million kilometres from Earth. The find supports the theory that the raw ingredients for life on earth came from outer space. Samples from the tail of the comet were collected in January 2004 and returned to Earth two years later in a canister parachuted into the Utah desert. Scientists in South Korea have found a new way to produce putrescine, a four-carbonchain diamine that is widely used in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries. The team has engineered the bacterium E. coli to produce the chemical at levels needed for industry. Traditionally produced using non-renewable petrochemicals and expensive catalyst systems, the chemical is increasingly in demand. One humble arylmethylidene heterocycle had its moment in the limelight this fall as it became the 50 millionth substance registered by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) in Columbus, Ohio on September 7. Only 9 months earlier, CAS registered its 40 millionth compound. Its 10 millionth compound was registered in 1990 after 33 years. The accelerating growth of the CAS registry has been interpreted by some to represent the rate of scientific progress. Broken down, it means that a novel substance has been isolated or synthesized every 2.6 seconds around the world for the past year. ACCN
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More White Paint Could Mean Economy is Out of the Red Kronos Worldwide Inc. announced in September that it would raise prices for titanium dioxide sold outside of North America and Europe by at least $150 per metric ton on October 1. It should be welcome news for those looking for evidence that the global economy is rebounding. Titanium dioxide is used as a white pigment in paint for everything from house paints, to cars, washing machines, railway cars, buildings and airplanes. The theory goes that if the price of titanium dioxide is going up, then more white paint is selling, indicating that economic activity is increasing. Earlier this year, major producers of the pigment, including Kronos and DuPont, had been cutting back production and closing plants because of the recession. JD
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News  9
Chemical News Actualité chimique
Yesteryear’s Cutting Edge Fades After 74 years of capturing some of the world’s most memorable photographs, including the notorious green-eyed “Afghan girl” on the cover of National Geographic, Eastman Kodak Company announced in June
Science Under Study Students in a new graduate program at York University will study the role that science and technology has played in our lives, past and present, using the tools of the social sciences, philosophy and history. “You can’t escape the impact of science on contemporary life — we are so used to seeing it everywhere that it becomes almost invisible to us and we don't even notice it,” says York humanities professor Bernard Lightman, the program’s founder and director. “Science and technology play a role in almost everything we do, or use, from the smart phone that delivers our email to the stain-resistant fabrics in our shirts.” The Science and Technology Studies GraduateProgram is devoted to understanding this role, how and why science and technology came to play a role in so much of daily life, and the consequences we live with as a result, both good and bad, says Lightman.
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that the days of Kodachrome film have come to an end. The 35 mm film was introduced in 1935. With the dawn of the digital age, it has gone from being favoured by many notable photographers, to being a relic heralded only by a small group of film enthusiasts. Kodak will also discontinue production of the developing solution, a specialized mix of 20 different chemicals.
Another antiquated innovation — the incandescent lightbulb — is fading away in the face of more energy efficient alternatives. General Electric Co. announced plans in June to close their Oakville, Ont. factory, the only plant in Canada that still makes the bulbs. A month earlier, GE announced the closure of their last U.S. plant making household incandescent bulbs. JD
The first of its kind in Canada, York’s new Science and Technology Studies Graduate Program will go beyond studying the history and philosophy of science, employing a broader interdisciplinary perspective to examine four areas of science and technology: biosciences and biotechnologies; humanmachine interactions; public science; and physical systems. Thirty-five professors at York will contribute to the program, including faculty who have graduated from top science and technology programs at MIT, Cornell and Harvard. In the biosciences and biotechnologies field, students will explore subjects such as the geopolitical significance of epidemics. Within the field of human-machine interactions, they will examine wearable technologies, cyborgs and mind-controlled devices to explore the future of humanity’s relationship with machines. In the area of public science, they will study how scientific innovations are communicated to the
public, and the impact of these innovations, as well as the legal and ethical dimensions of scientific and technological issues. Finally, they will examine the interconnectedness of physical sciences, within disciplines such as astronomy, physics, and chemistry, to discover how matter, energy, ideas, communicative strategies and technological processes have converged to create physical systems and the disciplines that probe them. Enrolment in the new program will start at about 16 students this year, and is expected to grow in the future, says Lightman, due to increasing recognition of the enormous role that science and technology play. Graduates may be expected to meet the growing need for experts who are able to translate scientific terminology into plain English, he says, and to play important roles in academia, government policy making, elementary and secondary school education, science journalism and the media. York University
Chemical News Actualité chimiquE
Industrial Briefs
Cascades Inc. completed the acquisition of the tissue division of Atlantic Packaging Products Ltd. last August. The company is headquartered in Kingsley Falls, Que. and produces green packaging and tissue products. Umoe Solar will open a plant in Miramichi, N.B. to produce polycrystalline silicon, a component of computer chips and solar panels. The Norwegian company will convert a shuttered UPM paper mill beginning this spring. It expects to begin production in two years. CCR Technologies announces the appointment of Peter D. Graham of Houston, Texas, as president and chief executive officer. Graham has also been appointed to the board of directors. The company purifies process chemicals and sweetens sour gas through the use of separation technologies. Their Canadian office is in Calgary. Xebec Adsorption Inc. has become a certified vendor of natural gas dehydration equipment to two Chinese energy companies, Sinopec and CNPC. The company is based in Blainville, Que. and designs and manufactures equipment for the purification and dehydration of natural gas for natural gas vehicle refueling stations IBC Advanced Alloys announced the appointment of James Malone, formerly vice president, Nuclear Fuels for Exelon Generation, to its advisory board. IBC manufactures and distributes beryllium-based alloys and related products to the nuclear energy, automotive and telecommunications industries. They are headquartered in Vancouver.
Palate Pleaser Researchers at Brock University may have found an answer to the unsavoury “ladybug taint” that puts off the palates of many a wine lover. When ladybugs find their way into a winery’s crushed grapes, they create a green-vegetable taste caused by molecules of alkyl-methoxypyrazines. The team at Brock in St. Catherines Ont. added methoxypyrazines to red and white wines and stored them for 18 months in box cartons and bottles sealed with natural and synthetic corks and screw tops. The boxes reduced the levels of methoxypyrazines by up to 45 per cent. The researchers suspect that the aluminum seal on the box absorbs the chemicals. JD
Virtual Disaster The Canadian Standards Association is taking on the video gaming world to help companies train their employees to handle emergencies like chemical spills, industrial explosions and train derailments. A series of interactive games challenge trainees in real-world situations such as handling hazardous materials and assessing risks to prevent disasters, like avoiding an explosion at a gas station, for example. The games are available at the association’s website. ACCN JD
Compiled by Jodi Di Menna
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LAB Research Inc. announced three new agreements with industry leaders in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and agro-chemicals. LAB is a non-clinical contract research organization with state-of-the-art facilities in Denmark, Hungary and Laval, Que. Sonic Technology Solutions Inc. announced the appointment of Richard Wadsworth as their new chief executive officer. Headquartered in Vancouver, the company uses industrial scale, low-frequency sonic energy technology in various petroleum and waste applications. New West Energy Services Inc. announced the appointment of Ro H. W. Riley to their board and audit committee. The company, headquartered in Vancouver, sells chemicals and provides engineering services to oil and gas exploration and production companies. Chemaphor entered into a second agreement with the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program worth $271,000. The funding is to help develop the company’s OxBC product in a variety of dosage forms for canines. The work will take place in the company’s laboratory in Charlottetown. The company develops products for the animal health, skin care, human nutraceutical, aquaculture and specialty chemical markets. Nexen Inc. announced the appointment of Catherine Hughes to the position of vice president, Operational Services and Technology. Headquartered in Calgary, the company specializes in full-cycle oil and gas exploration and development. ACCN
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News  13
Chemfusion Joe Schwarcz
Sweet Delusions
A
“
white crystalline substance is known to be either glucose or fructose. How would you identify it?” That has been a standard question asked on organic chemistry exams for over a hundred years. Glucose and fructose are both simple sugars with exactly the same chemical composition, C6H6O12, but slightly different molecular structures. Fructose is found mostly in fruits, while glucose is the fundamental building block of starches. Ordinary table sugar, sucrose, is composed of a molecule of glucose chemically joined to one of fructose. While the question about identifying a sample as glucose or fructose may have remained the same, the answers have changed
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over the years. Up to about fifty years ago, the correct answer would have been to apply the Seliwanoff test. Dissolve the crystals in water, add a solution of resorcinol in concentrated hydrochloric acid, and watch for the formation of a deep cherry-red color indicative of fructose. Today, students would offer a simpler, albeit more expensive, answer. Use a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer! Indeed the printout from this instrument would immediately identify the sample as glucose or fructose. But if this question were posed to certain naturopaths, chiropractors or some other practitioners of “alternative medicine,” a decidedly different answer might be forthcoming. According to them, fructose, a “good” sugar can be distinguished from glucose, a “bad” sugar by “applied kinesiology.” It seems the human body is an instrument that can tell the difference between good and evil. Here’s the procedure. A volunteer lies on his back and raises one arm vertically. The “ther apist” then places a drop of the substance to be tested on the subject’s tongue and tries to push his arm down, the subject being told to resist as much as possible. If he cannot resist, the test material is “bad” for the body. If resistance is successful, the substance is “good.” And no, I’m not making this up. It certainly sounds bizarre, but as Hamlet said, there are more things in heaven and earth than dreamt of in our philosophy. So, can chiropractors who claim to be able to distinguish between glucose and fructose by arm wrestling really do it? Ray Hyman and Wallace Sampson decided to investigate. Hyman is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon and is worldrenowned for his investigations of “unusual” phenomena, while Sampson is a retired oncologist and champion of evidence-based medicine. Both were skeptical of applied kinesiology but, like any good scientist, were not ready to dismiss the idea without investigation. Hyman and Sampson sought out chiropractors who used the technique in their practice and asked if they would be willing to demonstrate their abilities under controlled conditions. Confident that their technique was sound, they agreed. First, they would display their skill by whatever method they chose, and then Hyman and Sampson would devise a double-blind challenge to test the claims. The chiropractors began by placing a drop of glucose on the tongue of volunteers
and easily pushed the raised arm down. But when fructose was applied to the tongue, they struggled and struggled unsuccessfully! It was as if the volunteers had been weakened by glucose and energized by fructose. As far as the chiros were concerned, the case had been proven. They saw no need to explain how such a tiny amount of a substance could have such a dramatic effect even before it had time to circulate through the body. Of course, this juvenile experiment didn’t prove anything, and wouldn’t even have passed muster at a high school science fair. Next, Hyman and Sampson had a nurse place solutions of glucose or fructose in coded vials. Nobody except the nurse, who was not present during the trials, knew which vials contained what. As before, the chiropractors applied the drops to the volunteers’ tongue, and also as in the earlier experiment, sometimes they found resistance, sometimes not. When the trials were over, they thought they had successfully identified the samples, but when the vials were decoded, it turned out that the results were totally random. Sometimes glucose caused resistance, sometimes it was fructose. And what was the head chiropractor’s interpretation of the experiment? Hyman recorded the direct quote: “You see, that is why we never do double-blind testing anymore. It never works!” The chiropractors “knew” that applied kinesiology works, so it must be the testing method that was defective. The chiros made some observations and came to the wrong conclusion. What they were really experiencing was an unconscious muscular action in response to a suggestion or expectation, commonly known as the ideomotor effect. The movement of pointers on Ouija boards, tables during séances, or rods in the hands of dowsers are also examples of ideomotor activity. Hyman puts it very well: “honest people can unconsciously engage in muscular activity that is consistent with their expectations.” As for me, I think when it comes to distinguishing glucose from fructose, I would trust an NMR spectrometer more than applied kinesiology. And incidentally, the notion that pure glucose is “bad” sugar and pure fructose is “good” is pure nonsense. ACCN Joe Schwarcz, MCIC, is the director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society. He hosts the Dr. Joe Show on Montréal’s radio station CJAD and Toronto’s CFRB. The broadcast is available at www.CJAD.com.
Feature: Innovation
Paint Revival
How an Alberta business is bringing old paint back to life
The company processes nearly 50,000 containers of used paint each year, producing 135,000 kilograms of latex paint.
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A worker unloads palettes of post-consumer paint from the City of Calgary
Once paint enters the facility, it is sorted based on the label on the can or pail. Anythinglabeled as latex goes into the recycling stream where it is opened with a pneumatic opener (above) and inspected to see if it passes the company’s protocol for recycling. The rest — including alkyd paints and containers with no label — goes into the waste stream for bulkingand is sent out for proper disposal. In order to correctly identify the colour of the feedstock paint, a pneumatic drill is used to stir each can in case the pigment has settled out.
That pile of half-empty paint cans in your garage isn’t garbage to one Alberta company who is taking advantage of the leftovers of many a decorating project. Of the 30 million litres of paint sold each year in Alberta, five to 10 per cent ends up as waste, which not only presents health and environmental concerns once it’s disposed of, but contains real value in the ingredients. Calibre Environmental Ltd. collects thousands of disowned paint cans from residences and contracting businesses and recycles the remnants in its Calgary plant. The company launched to the retail market in the spring of 2005. The start of the Alberta Paint Stewardship program three years later meant a readymade feedstock for the operation to better keep pace with demand. The limited palette of only 14 colours might not attract many interior designers, but the inexpensive, high-quality product with an environmental conscience is increasingly a big hit with landlords, school boards, governments and other institutions that paint on a regular basis.
Paint cans are rested in a trough to drain completely before they are wiped clean.
The feedstock is sorted by colour and poured into 1,000-litre totes.
Once the containers are dry, they are baled and shipped for recycling. The plant produces between 400 and 500 kilograms of metal cans for recycling each day.
The company produces 14 different colours of premium quality, high-hide interiorand exterior latex paint.
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 17
Feature: Innovation
Each 1,000-litre tote is mixed with a Cowles mixer (right) before adding it to a 10,000-litre batch mixing tank (far right). The paint is mixed in such large batches in order to maintain a consistent colour palette from batch to batch. Only fungicides and biocides are added.
The end product, which is filtered to better-than-industry standard, is poured into 18.9- and 10-litre pails. The idea behind such unconventionally large containers is that, since an averageroom requires about 10 litres of paint, the consumer can avoid buying several one-gallon cans and hoping they are all tinted the same. The larger pails are convenient for commercial painters and larger jobs.
A bedroom is decorated in rhubarb and wheatfield shades. Once the paint has gone through the recycling process, some of the water has evaporated off, leaving behind a paint with a higher solid content than most virgin paints, resulting in excellent coverage, leveling and flow qualities. Although the colour consistency of each batch is constant, the makeup of the paint is variable. ACCN
Palettes of finished product await shipping
Want to share your thoughts on this article? Write to us at editorial@accn.ca 18 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
Nominations are now open for
The Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
2010AWARDS Act now!
Do you know an outstanding person who deserves to be recognized?
The Bantrel Award in Design and Industrial Practice is presented to a Canadian citizen or a resident of Canada for innovative design or production activities accomplished in Canada. The activities may have resulted in a significant achievement in product or process design, small or large company innovation, or multidisciplinary designdirected research or production. The achievement will relate to the practice of chemical engineering and/or industrial chemistry whether in research and development, process implementation, entrepreneurialism, innovation, production or some combination of these. It may be via a well-known, long-standing reputation for translating chemical engineering principles into design and industrial practice and, through this, contribute to the profession as a whole. Sponsored by Bantrel. Award: A plaque and a cash prize.
The D. G. Fisher Award is presented to an individual who has made substantial contributions to the field of systems and control engineering. The award is given in recognition of significant contributions in any, or all, of the areas of theory, practice, and education. Sponsored by the department of chemical and materials engineering, University of Alberta, Suncor Energy Foundation, and Shell Canada Limited. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize and travel expenses.
The Process Safety Management Award is presented to a person who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to the Process Safety Management (PSM) Division of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering, recognizing excellence in the leadership and dedication of individuals who have led Canada in the field of process safety and loss management (PSLM). Sponsored by AON Reed Stenhouse Inc. Award: A framed scroll and a cash prize.
The R. S. Jane Memorial Award is presented to an individual who has made new significant contributions to chemical engineering or industrial chemistry in Canada. Sponsored by the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. Award: A framed scroll, a cash prize and registration fee to the CSChE Conference.
The Syncrude Canada Innovation Award is presented to a resident of Canada who has made a distinguished contribution to the field of chemical engineering while working in Canada. Nominees for this award shall not have reached the age of 40 years by January of the year in which the nomination becomes effective. Sponsored by Syncrude Canada Ltd. Award: A framed scroll and a cash prize.
Deadline
The deadline for all CSChE awards is December 1, 2009 for the 2010 selection.
Nomination Procedure Submit your nominations to: Awards Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering 130 Slater Street, Suite 550 Ottawa, ON K1P 6E2 Tel.: 613-232-6252, ext. 223 Fax: 613-232-5862 awards@cheminst.ca
Nomination forms and the full terms of reference for these awards are available at www.chemeng.ca/awards
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 19
feature: Enterprise
Recovering the riches inside tossed-out electronics
I
n the southwestern Ontario city of Cambridge, one of Canada's largest collectors and recyclers of used electronics, cell phones and print cartridges — Greentec — has been growing steadily since its inception in 1995. Established as a home-based business trading in used technology products, Greentec now operates out of a 90,000 squarefoot facility that houses its recycling operations. The company achieved 1S0 14001 registration in 2002 and received environment ministry approval in 2007. The company finds sustainable solutions and audits downstream partners to ensure no waste electronics or electrical equipment materials are sent to landfill or developing countries for processing. Greentec manages collection, transportation, sorting, asset recovery, recycling, environmental reporting, and even collection events. Processes can be customized to meet individual customer needs; since 1997 Greentec has secured over 2,000 contracts from 700 customers in 15 countries. One department of a local municipality diverted
20 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
By Guy Crittenden 7,479 pounds of e-waste from landfills in one month by partnering with Greentec. The company also collects consumer in-store returns and end-of-life electronics from national retailers and original equipment manufacturers.
Plant and operations When electronic waste, cell phones or cartridges come into the facility, they're first examined to determine whether they can be reused or refurbished. If not, they're ground down so plastics and metals can be recovered by downstream partners. Greentec collects six million toner and ink cartridges annually, close to 90 per cent of which are reusable, and processes more than 200,000 cell phones. Depending on whether the client wishes to recover value, Greentec will pay for items that can be reused. The company has a testing and remarketing team with a network of secondary market buyers that allows them
to maximize value recovery on a broad selection of items. Since 1997 sales revenue has grown by almost 700 per cent. If the client does not want to have any of their products reach a secondary market, the company offers secure destruction. Items are ground down and destroyed in accordance with environmentallegislation and electronics recycling standards. Says Tony Perrotta, president of Greentec, “Most people are concerned about their personal information getting out there. We make sure that when we get a product in, we wipe it of any personal information, including computer equipment. Their hard drives are cleared according to U. S. Department of Defense Standards.” With the Ontario e-waste stewardship program in effect, business is growing. During one Earth Week collection event alone, the company saw 60,000 pounds come through the facility just from the Cambridge region. Greentec's closed-loop system is composed of an initial feed conveyor for delivery of e-waste to a two-shaft industrial shredder. This slow speed, high torque shear shredder delivers more than 80,000 pounds of cutting force and torque, easily capturing and reducing these materials to an initial size of about an inch-and-a-half wide by about two to six inches long (and smaller). Material leaving the first shredder is transported via a sort conveyor complete with magnetic head pulley to the secondary reduction side. Operators manually remove stainless steel shafts and any other materials not destined for additional processing. The magnetic head pulley automatically extracts the majority of ferrous materials to a separate container. At this point the general shredded e-waste may be diverted to stock pile (simple destruction) or be allowed to pass to the secondary reduction side via an enclosed feed conveyor. A separate gaylord tipper is also included at this location for the introduction of waste toner cartridges to the secondary shredder. The fully enclosed feed conveyor transports these toner cartridges (and shredded e-waste) to the four-shaft shredder to be reduced to particles of less than one-and-ahalf inches. When processing cartridges, the stainless steel feed hopper is under a constant high-pressure water mist spray to eliminate any sparking issues or chance of fire or explosion. All materials exiting the shredder fall directly to a stainless steel vibrating dewatering screener below. This screener is completely sealed to the shredder and downstream removal conveyor for dust collection and fines containment. Runoff water is collected at this point, then filtered and disposed of in an environmentally sound and approved way. A secondary removal conveyor from the screener transports the shredded materials to the separation module. Material exiting this conveyor is subjected to an additional vibratory screen for removal of fines and at the same time for the removal of any missed minor ferrous by a cross belt magnet. This vibratory screener also serves as a feeder to a rare earth eddy current separator, which in turn removes any aluminum to a collection container. Final separation of the remaining mixed red metals and circuit boards from the plastics is completed by an all-metal sorter. This unit takes the mixed stream from the eddy current unit and effectively separates any metal-bearing material from the plastic content. Greentec also has a horizontal baler that can compact corrugated, plasticsand light metals bails of 1,500 pounds. ACCN Reprinted with permission from the June/July 2009 issue of Solid Waste & Recycling magazine, where Guy Crittenden is editor.
Want to share your thoughts on this article? Write to us at editorial@accn.ca
By Anne Campbell We live in an age of waste — everything gets thrown away. Electronics top the list of disposable items as we constantly upgrade and discard what has been rendered worthless from advancements in technology. Is there still value in our broken cell phones, older MP3 models and obsolete computers? The typical personal computer is a mass of silicon, plastics, iron, aluminum, copper, lead and other materials including valuable metals, albeit in minute amounts. Although they contribute minimally to the total mass of a personal computer, precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum can all be recovered. In fact, more gold can be recovered from 1,000 kilograms of electronic scrap from personal computers than could be recovered from 17,000 kilograms of gold ore. Just as the mass of discarded electronics has been increasing significantly over the past 10 years, so has the price of gold. At an increase of nearly 400 per cent since September 1999, today gold is selling at CAN$34.73 per gram. The most expensive precious metal on the market is platinum selling at CAN$49.24 per gram and can be found in the circuit boards of your personal computer. However, to obtain these values from an obsolete computer, the metals must be collected, concentrated and refined just like ore. A majority of the volume of personal computers is from a variety of plastics, which, if recovered properly, can have some value. For instance a price of $840 is possible per tonne of clean, flaked polypropylene. Cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, now filling landfill sites everywhere, contain approximately 25 per cent glass. The value in these monitors is from silica, the main component of the glass, which is a required fluxing agent in the process of separating metals. Many companies getting in on the computer recycling business, originally developed in response to environmental concerns, are now cashing in on their concealed value. October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 21
Q&A: Energy
QA &
Q & A with
David Shoesmith
W
Burying the Burden One chemist’s view on nuclear waste
hen it comes to the refuse of society, few types of waste generate as much heat — of the public concern type, that is — as that from nuclear reactors. After nearly 40 years of nuclear power, Canada is contending with more than two million bundles of used fuel, each the approximate size and shape of a fireplace log and weighing 24 kilograms. The three provinces with nuclear reactors — Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick — are currently storing their waste on site in temporary facilities. The next challenge will be to pinpoint a site where all of Canada’s spent fuel can be disposed of long-term — for up to 100,000 years. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization aims to do this by 2035, and has recently been visiting communities to gauge their response to locating a disposal site nearby, raising the ire of environmental groups opposed to a central facility. ACCN spoke with David Shoesmith, the NSERC/Ontario Power Generation Industrial Research Chair in nuclear fuel disposal chemistry at the University of Western Ontario to get his take on the contentious and lingering question of what to do with our nuclear waste.
22 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
ACCN: Is nuclear waste a problem in Canada? D.S.: It’s an industrial problem in the sense that the generating stations have to deal with it. It’s not a public problem because it’s very safely contained and nobody’s exposed to it.
ACCN: How satisfactory are our current methods of storing nuclear waste? D.S.: Storage is not an issue. Reactors have been going in Canada since the 1960s. We have approximately 40 years of nuclear-generating experience. All of that waste has been stored either in pools under the reactor or in above-ground storage containers and to my knowledge there hasn’t been any significant issue with storage. It’s all within the perimeter fence of nuclear locations and therefore it’s in secure storage. It’s very safe.
ACCN: So the issue really lies with disposal?
ACCN: Will the public accept this plan?
D.S.: Yes, the public perception is that we have a million-year problem. They fear we may be able to store it safely now in the short term, where knowledgeable people are monitoring it and looking at it all the time and making sure that it’s secure, but once we dispose of it, we could forget about it and then we would have a long-term assurance problem. I think that’s what people are concerned about. In Canada, we do not dispose of the fuel yet because we don’t have to. Our storage capacity is not full. Also, it is not necessarily waste, but a potential recyclable resource.
D.S.: I don’t know that they necessarily will, but I hope so. The public relations effort is well under way by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization but I don’t think there is a consensus of opinion that people have accepted this scenario.
ACCN: What is Canada’s plan for disposal of nuclear waste? D.S.: These things can change, and therefore there is no set-in-stone plan. However, one scenario that has been looked at in major detail is storage in granitic rock. You would drill 500 to roughly 1,000 meters underground in rock. And these rocks are big. They can be up to ten kilometers across and five to six kilometers deep. The reason [to drill so deep] is because all the biological and oxygen activity and convective water flow is close to the surface. The deeper you go, the more stagnant the groundwater becomes and the less of it there is. Also, there’s no oxygen down at those locations. Then you would drill tunnels or holes. You would place the waste in corrosionresistant containers, put them in the holes and then back-fill the holes with clay and the aggregate that you dug out in the first place. The scientific way of viewing this is that you would have multiple barriers, none of which could fail by the same mechanism, meaning that if you really miscalculated on one, you’ve got four more. And since they can’t all go wrong by the same mechanism, you can statistically calculate that the probability of a significant overall failure is extremely low. It is a cover-your-butt scenario built on multiple barriers of which you need about five to get statistical certainty you will not have a problem. You can never understand anything perfectly: it would be very arrogant of any scientist to claim that. But the defense against uncertainty is this multiplebarrier scenario. If you’re not absolutely sure about the details of one, that uncertainty will not lead to catastrophic failure through all of the barriers.
ACCN: Should the public be afraid? D.S.: No. I don’t see any reason whatsoever why they would be afraid. I think they should be informed and aware that this is a major hazard if you don’t look after it carefully, but I don’t see why this particular hazard gets any more attention than many other much more uncontrollable hazards. We’re not in control of smog in cities, we’re not necessarily in control of flu epidemics, we’re not in control of global warming. We are in control of nuclear waste.
ACCN: Why do you think it gets the kind of attention that it does? D.S.: The nuclear industry itself has always been effectively a prisoner to the initial use of nuclear devices in bombs and warfare and people commonly don’t make the separation between weapons and the civil nuclear power industry. This dilemma has pervaded the industry since its conception. People are aware, as they should be, of how toxic nuclear waste is when it is first discharged from a reactor. It is lethal; they are well aware of that. They are also aware of the disposal scenarios that scientists discuss, which involve time scales of hundreds of thousands of years. So their perception is that we have a hazard which is lethal for a hundred thousand to a million years. Of course, that’s not the case, since the rate of radioactive decay reduces the radiotoxicity rapidly on a time scale of tens to hundreds of years. After a few thousand years the levels are very low. Containment is still required, since regulatory limits are very strict, but it isn’t the extremely toxic hazard which is the perception that a lot of people have. ACCN: Will the public ever be satisfied? D.S.: I think so. In Ontario, 50 per cent of the electricity comes from nuclear power. Every time anyone turns on a light switch or opens
the fridge door, half of that electricity is coming from nuclear. So, while people say this is the power generator’s problem, it’s not. It’s everybody’s problem in the sense that we’re all beneficiaries of the electricity that comes from this power source. So I think people will accept that there is a technical problem that has to be dealt with, and they will listen when people try to explain how to deal with it.
ACCN: How much of the burden of the public perception of nuclear waste falls on the shoulders of scientists? D.S.: I think more than we probably accept. The great majority of scientists and engineers are people like me who wander around labs in lab coats, sit at desks doing calculations, go to technical scientific conferences where we talk to our peers, but spend very little time thinking that we have to explain our activities beyond that sphere. We have no right to be surprised when people say “We have no idea what you’re doing and we don’t trust you.” I think there is an obligation to inform people of the scientific and technical issues.
ACCN: Do you have any advice to offer to your peers to deal with the public perception? D.S.: I think if you offer the necessary information and allow people to question you, they will figure out very quickly whether you know what you’re talking about irrespective of whether or not they are experts in your area. The thing is to be available, to accept the questions, and not to dismiss the fears. Fears are natural. For instance, I have a fear of deep water. I hate being in deep water, but I can swim. So why would I be afraid? I think we should accept the obligation and engage in as much dialogue as people require, especially if you’re asking them whether or not they would accept a site for disposal. I think they have a right to question you right down to the last detail.
ACCN: Take me through what you’re working on. D.S.: We are electrochemists and material scientists. We research the properties of possible waste containers, which are generally metal, how they would corrode and potentially fail when exposed to groundwater, how you October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 23
Feature: Energy can design them to stop them failing, what the failure mechanisms would be, and then, if the container failed, what the consequences of failure would be. We also study the behaviour of the nuclear fuel exposed to groundwater inside a failed container. We have to use simulated fuel because you can’t do it with the real thing. We then develop computational models to assess what the consequences of container failure would be for the fuel within certain time frames. We can then say “In the unlikely event the container fails after only 100 years, you will have this problem and it’s this big, these are the fuel corrosion and radionuclide release processes that would be important, and this is the rate at which you might expect them to occur. Based on this information we can then assess the consequences for the subsequent barriers in the multiple barrier system.” Then, on a different time scale, you can say, “If the
container lasts 1,000 years, these are the issues: you have a much smaller problem since some radionuclides have decayed to insignificant radioactive levels, but these others, with longer half lives, remain radioactive. We go through a whole series of potential failure scenarios, looking at the properties of the materials and their corrosion resistances.
power. It’s almost an inevitability that baseline power will shift to nuclear from coal. That’s not to say that other generating systems like wind should be abandoned; I just don’t think they can reach the required capacity on the time scale required.
ACCN: How do you envision the future of nuclear power in Canada? D.S.: My general gut feeling is that it’s inevi-
D.S.: There is a whole series of new reactors
table that we will build new reactors. Presently in Ontario 50 per cent of our electricity comes from nuclear power. New Brunswick also has a strong dependence on nuclear power. Ontario has promised to close down coal-fired stations and we will have to replace that generating
ACCN: Are we ready for that? which are designed to rectify the problems discovered in the original designs. People can always look back and say “look at the problems you had with the last generation of reactors” but like other technologies, and the automobile is a perfect example, the next generation will undoubtedly be improved. ACCN
Want to share your thoughts on this article? Write to us at editorial@accn.ca
Ichikizaki Fund for Young Chemists The Ichikizaki Fund for Young Chemists provides financial assistance to young chemists who show unique achievements in basic research by facilitating their participation in international conferences or symposia.
Eligibility: • • • •
be a member of the Canadian Society for Chemistry or the Chemical Society of Japan; not have passed his/her 34th birthday as of December 31 of the year in which the application is submitted; have a research specialty in synthetic organic chemistry; be scheduled to attend, within one year, an international conference or symposium directly related to synthetic organic chemistry. Conferences taking place in January to March of each year should be applied for a year in advancein order to receive funding in time for the conference.
Deadline: December For more details:
31, 2009
www.chemistry.ca/awards
24 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News  25
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés Current Issues
Living Safely with Liquefied Natural Gas Funding Chemical Education Call for Proposals Deadline: December 15, 2009
S
aint John, N.B. officially became home to Canada’s first liquefied natural gas terminal at the end of September with the opening of the only new land-based LNG receiving and regas terminal built on the east coast of North America in three decades. Consisting of three football-field-sized tanks, the facility — which will move natural gas to homes and businesses in Canada and the United States through a 145-kilometre long pipeline — expects up to three LNG ships to offload every week once it is in full operation. It’s a development that makes one of the outcomes of the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, hosted by the CSChE in Montréal in August, all the more timely. During the week of meetings, the CSChE and The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) held a topical conference on the subject of the safe-siting of LNG import terminals. Seventeen technical papers were presented by an international group of experts describing the current status of government guidance and regulations, identification of credible hazardous events (events that could possibly occur, either due to accident or malicious cause), and determination of safe separation distances from such events to ensure public safety. The results of the conference included agreements to post the presentations on the CSChE and AIChE websites as soon as possible and to expedite a white paper based on the presentations and discussions at the conference. It will identify actions necessary to reduce uncertainty in the current scientific knowledge which is required to provide assurance of the public safety. “This conference was intended to identify areas where important questions remain about the adequacy of current regulatory requirements to provide for safety of the public in the surrounds of LNG import terminals,” says Jerry Havens, director of the Chemical Hazards Research Center at the University of Arkansas and chair of the topical conference. “I believe that the record of the conference will prove helpful to that end.” ACCN
26 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
The CIC Chemical Education Fund (CEF) is looking to support original and innovativechemical-related educationalprojects. The CEF has sponsoredstudent conferences, science fairs, chemical outreachprograms, a Summer Institute, and more.
For more information, contact info@cheminst.ca or visit
www.cheminst.ca/cef.
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés Recognition Mike Baird, FCIC, Queen’s University, Departmentof Chemistry, won the 2009 Canadian Catalysis Lectureship Award, sponsored by The Canadian Catalysis Foundation. Levente Diosady, FCIC, University of Toronto, Department of Chemical Engineering, was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology. Andrew Hrymak, FCIC, and Amit Chakma, MCIC, joined the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at The University of Western Ontario. Hrymak is the new dean of engineering and Chakma is the new president of the university.
Gregory Jerkiewicz, FCIC, Queen’s University, Department of Chemistry, was appointed editor-in-chief of Electrocatalysis, a new, international journal dedicated to electrochemical reactions. Hadi Mahabadi, FCIC, vice president of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the national institution through which the country’s most distinguished engineers provide strategic advice on matters of critical importance. Raymond E. March, FCIC, professor emeritus, Trent University, Department of Chemistry, was selected by the Canadian Society for Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy (CSASS) as the 2009 recipient of the Gerhard Herzberg Award.
Ruth Signorell, MCIC, University of British Columbia, Department of Chemistry, received the Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectroscopy Award for 2009. ACCN
Saviez-vous Toutes les éditions d’ACCN parues avant 2009 peuvent être lues gratuitement sur le Web à www.accn.ca?
Canadian Society for Chemical Technology
Nominations are now open for
The CanadianSociety for Chemical Technology
2010AWARDAct now!
Do you know an outstanding person who deserves to be recognized?
The Norman and Marion Bright Memorial Award is awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution in Canada to the furtherance of chemical technology. The person so honoured may be either a chemical sciences technologist, or a person from outside the field who has made a significant and noteworthy contribution to it advancement. Award: A medal and a cash prize.
Deadline
The deadline for this CSCT award is December 1, 2009 for the 2010 selection. Nomination forms and the full terms of reference for this award is available at www.chem-tech.ca/awards.
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 27
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés Local Section Dispatches
Science Meets Art By Daniel Leznoff, Vancouver Local Section Chair
C CMembership
VANCOUVER – Robin J. H. Clark, the Sir William Ramsay professor of chemistry at University College London and a world-authority in using spectroscopic techniques (particularly Raman) to examine ancient and not-so-ancient art, gave an open-to-the-public presentation at the Vancouver Museum entitled “The Scientific Examination of Pigments in Art and Archaeology” in June. The audience was taken on a fascinating Renaissance-style journey that touched on the identification of pigments on manuscripts, paintings, papyri, postage stamps, icons, ceramics and archaeological artifacts, leading to the establishment of artists’ palettes at different periods and in different localities. The relationship between the art world and the important contribution chemists can make to it was made clear in terms of restoration, conservation and possible dating of artifacts and, a matter of wide public interest, the rapid detection of forgeries. Clark punctuated his points with beautiful slides of famous artwork and artifacts that his lab had studied, including examples from the British Museum and high-profile forgeries by “the Spanish Forger” housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The following day Clark gave a different lecture, at Simon Fraser University, targeting the more chemical side of pigment identification, entitled “Inorganic Pigments: from Mixed-Valence Compounds to Anatase.” ACCN
JOIN TODAY! • Network with fellow science and engineering professionals.
28 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
Chemical Institute of Canada
• Exchange cutting-edge information. • Participate in the enhancement of your profession. • Engage the next generation.
www.cheminst.ca/membership
octobre 2009
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News  29
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés Scholar’s Scoop
Student Showdown
A
pproximately 400 undergraduate students attended the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering in Montréal in August. Two international and two national competitions were part of the student program, which attracted crowds. Student awards were presented at the Student Banquet on August 25 (see “Conference Beat” on pages 36 to 39 for photos). The 2nd International ChemE Car Competition, sponsored by FQRNT (Le Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies) started off the week. Ten teams designed and constructed a chemically-powered vehicle within certain size constraints. This vehicle was designed to also carry a specified cargo. The teams were told at the time of the competition the distance that the car must travel and the specified cargo that the vehicle will carry. The team whose car stopped closest to the finish line was the winner. COKI Racing Team from the University of Puerto Rico came first, with a perfect first run, Louisiana State University from Baton Rouge, Louisiana placed second and Scuderia Cooper Union from New York City placed third.
30 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
By Gale Thirlwall
Louisiana State University also won best poster for this competition. The SNC-Lavalin Plant Design Competition, sponsored by SNC-Lavalin Inc., highlights design projects carried out by students in their final year of a chemical engineering program. This award encompasses both a written design proposal and an oral presentation. The judging of the written proposal took place in advance to choose the top three teams to compete in Montréal. These teams presented orally before their peers and a panel of judges on August 24. Standings for the competition were as follows: F i rs t p l a c e : O k l a h o m a S t a t e U n i ve r s i t y, S t i l l wa t e r, O k l a . , U SA . C o a l t o Methanol. Aleisha McCabe, Grant McCool, Derek Sumner. S e c o n d p l a c e : M o n a s h U n i v e r s i t y, Melbourne, Australia. Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Power Station with Carbon Capture and Storage for Gladstone, Queensland. Tarrant Falcke, Blake Stewart, Soma Bharatiya, Curtis Landon, Reshma Pandher, Sachie Welikala.
Third place: The University of Western Ontario, London, Ont. Manufacture of Polylactic Acid — Biodegradable Plastic from Renewable Sources. Suanne Mahabir, Karen Lenkiewicz, Luke McIntyre. The Robert G. Auld Student Paper Competition, sponsored by the Robert G. Auld Fund and Imperial Oil Ltd., gives students the opportunity to discuss their work in different aspects of chemical engineering. This can include design, research and engineering practice. Jennifer Kwong, University of Calgary, won top prize. University of Toronto students Supraja Sridharan and Ankeeta Tadkase came second and third. The Reg Friesen Student Oral Competition, sponsored by the CIC Chemical Education Division, encourages students to present papers of general interest concerning the following: critical evaluation of their educational experiences; innovative learning/ teaching strategies and materials; other topics that address chemical engineering education. First place went to Eric Arsenault, University of Toronto. Jennifer Morrison, University of Alberta, placed second. ACCN
Continuing Education for Chemical Professionals
Risk assessment course
T 2009 Schedule
he Chemical Institute of Canada (CIC) and the Canadian Society
for Chemical Engineering (CSChE)
are presenting a two-day course designed to enhance the knowledge and working experience of safety, environmental and
October 19–20 Toronto, ON
process safety professionals. This course is geared to those whose responsibilities include: risk assessment, development of management systems, and providing advice
October 26–27
to decision makers. The learning objective
Edmonton, AB
is to reach a thorough understanding of
Registration fees
management principles and techniques.
$845 CIC members $995 non-members $100 student members For more information about the course and locations, and to access the registration form, visit:
www.cheminst.ca/ profdev
integrated risk assessment and During the course, participants will be provided with a broad overview of the technical tools available to assess risk in industrial environments and shown how these tools fit in the broader risk management systems.
Instructor Ertugrul Alp, PhD, PEng, MCIC, principal, Alp & Associates Incorporated, has over 20 years experience in assessment and management of risks to environment,
Day
• Introduction • Major Historical Accidents in Process Industries • Risk Concepts: How to Estimate Risk and Evaluate it’s Acceptability • Integrated Risk Management: Success Factors for High Performance • Risk Management Process • Techniques for Risk Analysis • Qualitative Techniques: Hazard Identification with hands-on applications • Index Methods • Frequency Analysis Techniques, SVA, LOPA (Fault and Event Trees) • Practical Hazard Awareness in Operating Plants
Day • • • • • • • • • • •
health, safety, property and reputation. His experience covers a number of industrial sectors including: chemical, energy, pulp and paper, mining, steel, transportation, and government.
1
• • • •
2
Quantitative Techniques Fault and Event Trees Fire, Explosion, Dispersion Modeling Damage/Vulnerability Modeling Risk Estimation and Risk Presentation Applications to Plant Layout Design Health Risk Analysis Risk Evaluation and Decision-Making Risk Cost Benefit Analysis Elements for Process Safety Management with Reference to US OSHA PSM Regulations Emergency Management with Reference to Environment Canada and other Canadian Legislation Land Use Planning Risk Monitoring Stakeholder Participation Summary and Conclusion
ACCN
Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 31
Society News Nouvelles des sociétés Upcoming Events
Canada
Conferences May 9–12, 2010. 21st Canadian Symposium on Catalysis, Banff, Alta., www.21csc2010.ca May 29–June 2, 2010. 93rd Canadian Chemistry Conferenceand Exhibition, Toronto, Ont., www.csc2010.ca August 4–6, 2010. Fundamentals and Applications, Ottawa, Ont., www.international-aset.com (click on “Conferences”) August 15–19, 2010. 3rd International IUPAC Conference on Green Chemistry, Ottawa, Ont., www.icgc2010.ca October 24–27, 2010. 60th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference, Saskatoon, Sask., www.csche2010.ca
U.S. and Overseas Conferences
September 27–30, 2009. Engineering our Future, Perth, Australia, www.chemeca2009.com December 15–20, 2010. Pacifichem 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii, www.pacifichem.org
AC
CN
GetNOTICED
November 8–11, 2009. Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology & Bioenergy, Honolulu, Hawaii, www.bio.org/pacrim ACCN
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32 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
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Society News Nouvelles des sociétés In Memoriam
William Taylor Appleton, FCIC October 20, 1927 – August 5, 2009
Bill was a founding member of the CSChE in 1966 when it was transformed from a division of the CIC to a Constituent Society, and he served as treasurer of the Toronto Local Section at that time. He enjoyed showing people the little black book in which he used to keep the section accounts, and telling them the story of how he once had to loan the insolvent section $10 (which was later repaid). He was chair of the section from 1970 to 1971 and again from 1974 to 1975 and 1980 to 1981. Appleton was born in England and educated at Barrow Grammar School and Hull University, after which he went to work at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment first at Harwell (where he was involved in a joint British and Canadian project on plutonium separation, for which the plutonium was provided by Chalk River) and then at Windscale. Later he became alkylation plant superintendent for Texaco in Trinidad, before coming to Canada to work on the research and development of detergents for Lever Brothers in Toronto. He obtained his Master of Engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1978 and became a fellow of the CIC in 1981. He had many hobbies and abilities. He enjoyed cycling and riding motor bikes, and he was an active member of the Toronto Hydroplane and Sailing Club. He had an extraordinary ability to fix all sorts of things, including antique case clocks, and he helped to renovate a Lancaster bomber that had languished for years on the lakeshore in Toronto. Appleton also did voluntary work with the Archives and Museum Committee of the Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto, where his memorial service took place. The Toronto Local Section will miss this kind and helpful member who had a lovely sense of humour, and we extend our condolences to his family and friends. Written by Leslie Barton, past chair, CIC Toronto Local Section
34 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009
Walter Franklin Mackenzie Brown, FCIC
September 18, 1914 – September 2, 2009 Walter Brown grew up on a farm in Erindale, Ont. (which is now part of Mississauga) and died there at almost 95 years old. He joined the CIC in 1944, became a fellow in 1977, and a 50-year member in 1994. He was a founding member of the CSChE in 1966 when it was transformed from a division of the CIC to a Constituent Society. He became chair of the Toronto Local Section and was still serving on the executive 40 years later. He was the first national chair of the CIC Environment Division and served on its executive for many years; he acted as the Environment Division representative on the CSChE Board from 1988 to 1991. He was also a founding member of the Association of the Chemical Profession of Ontario (founded 1963) where he served on the executive for many years and was instrumental in obtaining provincial certification for the Chartered Chemist designation in 1984. He is survived by his wife Dorothy, who many have met, as both were regular attendees at conferences and seminars. Walter was a student at Port Credit High School and the teachers’ college at Toronto Normal School. He taught in a one-room schoolhouse near Shannonville, Ont. He attended the University of Toronto and then the Ontario Agricultural College at the University of Guelph where he graduated with a degree in chemistry and chemical engineering in 1940. He was awarded his Professional Engineer’s papers (P. Eng.) in 1959; his thesis topic was the extraction of oil from tar sands. Walter worked as a chemist for the War Supply Board in Trois-Rivières (munitions) and for Dominion Rubber in Montréal. Later he worked for the newly formed Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, first as chief chemist at the Island Water Filtration Plant and then as head of the newly formed Environmental Branch where he wrote Toronto’s first industrial pollution bylaw. After that he worked for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment as senior approvals engineer where he was the
resident expert in brewery and pulp mill waste. He was an entrepreneur, helping to develop electronic descaling for boilers and developing, mixing and selling his own line of chemical boiler water treatments. He consulted to industry on industrial waste water issues up to the age of 92. Fielding Chemical in Mississauga was his most loyal client. As chair of the Toronto Local Section fundraising committee at the time of the CIC silver anniversary in 1972, Walter was instrumental in establishing a scholarship trust fund and an annual seminar. This led to him co-founding Innovation Canada, a non-profit organization that continued to support numerous CIC activities throughout the years. Walter had many other interests: he was active in local politics, canvassing door to door in elections from Diefenbaker to Harper (he was a life-long member of the Progressive Conservative Party, both federal and provincial). He devoted many years to Scouting (serving as Cub Master for 6th Port Credit / 23rd Mississauga) and volunteered generously with several other organizations. In 1970 he fulfilled a lifelong dream by acquiring a farm of more than 300 acres in Ramara near Orillia, Ont. where he had Angus and then Hereford cattle for over 30 years. Walter will be sorely missed by all who knew him. ACCN Written by Ian Brown, son of Walter Brown
The CIC also wishes to extend its condolences to the families of Peter Dyne, FCIC, Edward Brian Tinker, FCIC and Eric Tollefson, FCIC.
Chemical Institute of Canada
October 2009 Canadian Chemical News 35
Conference Beat Pouls du congrès
Going
Global Chemical engineers from around the world meet in Montréal
By Lucie Frigon
Close to 2,800 chemical engineers from 60 countries met in Montréal, Que., August 23–27, 2009, for the 8th World Congress of Chemical Engineering. Their goal: share their research and discuss solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues in terms of energy, environment and health. In total, 2,500 presentations and posters awaited participants. To kick-start exchanges, 13 plenary lectures were presented by prominent, highly respected professionals selected for their distinctive vision of the future. Among the notable speakers, Ernest Moniz,
Yale University’s Mark Saltzman, one of 13 plenary speakers, talks about using to delivercancer drugs.
part of Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology, took on the subject of the policy and technology of climate change while Milena Sejnoha of Natural Resources Canada gave the perspective of how chemical engineers could help Canada find future energy solutions. “There are many challenges to address in this changing world and we clearly need to unite forces, to build bridges between sciences and to destroy the walls in our own disciplines,” said Philippe Tanguy, chair of the congress, at the closing ceremony. Reflecting on the theme of the congress — Challenges for a Changing World — he commented that “We need to work together to reconstruct the planet, to re-engineer our way of life in a really sustainable manner and find solutions. Not only challenges, but solutions. Energy, water, food and healthcare for every human is an ethical requirement and there is no compromise.”
L uc-André Nadeau of SNC-Lavalin congratulates Suanne Mahabir and Karen Lenkiewicz from The University of Western Ontario. Their projecttitled Manufacture of Polylactic Acid — Biodegradable Plastic from Renewable Sources placed third at the SNC-Lavalin International UndergraduatePlant Design Competition. Team member Luke McIntyre was not present.
Conference Beat Pouls du congrès
biodegradable nanoparticles
At the 2nd International ChemE Car Competition, teams of students were challenged to design and construct a chemically-powered vehicle within certain size constraints (it had to fit in a shoe box!). To increase the level of difficulty, teams were informed only minutesbefore the competition of the distance the car had to travel and the cargo to carry. The goal: travel the distance and stop as close to the finish line as possible, without any braking mechanism.
More than 400 posters were presented at the poster sessions.
Montréal’s Palais des congrès proved to be a prime venue for the global event.
Conference Beat Pouls du congrès
Participants network with organizations from around the world during a coffee break in the exhibition hall.
Visitors from the U.K. and Australia embrace the Quebec
Select Canadian and intern of Montréalin the end-of-
G ala guests were invited onstage to dance with the Cirque du Soleil artists. It was only the beginning for many of the 1,400 participants who later ventured out to experience Montréal’s vibrant nightlife.
Conference Beat Pouls du congrès
joie de vivre. Congress participants engage in animated discussions at the opening reception as they gear up for four days of presentations.
ational delegates mingle at the CSChE awards receptionwith a remarkable backdrop day sunshine. The gathering was to honour top Canadian chemicalengineers.
Cirque du Soleil artists mingled with the crowd at the gala reception. They later offereda breathtaking private performance that included a human-sized fishbowl, a South-Pacific-style fire dancer and an acrobat suspended inside a giant spherical frame reminiscent of the Rutherford-Bohr model of the atom from firstyear chemistry. ACCN
For more photos from the event, visit www.wcce8.org
PM40021620
40 L’Actualité chimique canadienne
octobre 2009