《化工专业英语翻译华东理工大学胡鸣版.docVIP

Unit 1 Chemical Industry 化学工业 1.Origins of the Chemical Industry Although the use of chemicals dates back to the ancient civilizations, the evolution of what we know as the modern chemical industry started much more recently. It may be considered to have begun during the Industrial Revolution, about 1800, and developed to provide chemicals roe use by other industries. Examples are alkali for soapmaking, bleaching powder for cotton, and silica and sodium carbonate for glassmaking. It will be noted that these are all inorganic chemicals. The organic chemicals industry started in the 1860s with the exploitation of William Henry Perkin’s discovery if the first synthetic dyestuff—mauve. At the start of the twentieth century the emphasis on research on the applied aspects of chemistry in Germany had paid off handsomely, and by 1914 had resulted in the German chemical industry having 75% of the world market in chemicals. This was based on the discovery of new dyestuffs plus the development of both the contact process for sulphuric acid and the Haber process for ammonia. The later required a major technological breakthrough that of being able to carry out chemical reactions under conditions of very high pressure for the first time. The experience gained with this was to stand Germany in good stead, particularly with the rapidly increased demand for nitrogen-based compounds (ammonium salts for fertilizers and nitric acid for explosives manufacture) with the outbreak of world warⅠin 1914. This initiated profound changes which continued during the inter-war years (1918-1939). 1． 化学工业的起源 尽管化学品的使用可以追溯到古代文明时代，我们所谓的现代化学工业的发展却是非常近代（才开始的）。可以认为它起源于工业革命其间，大约在1800年，并发展成为为其它工业部门提供化学原料的产业。比如制肥皂所用的碱，棉布生产所用的漂白粉，玻璃制造业所用的硅及Na2CO3. 我们会注意到所有这些都是无机物。有机化学工业的开始是在十九世纪六十年代以William Henry Perkin 发现第一种合成染料—苯胺紫并加以开发利用为标志的。20世纪初，德国花费大量资金用于实用化学方面的重点研究，到1914年，德国的化学工业在世界化学产品市场上占有75%的份额。这要归因于新染料的发现以及硫酸的接触法生产和氨的哈伯生产工艺的发展。而后者需要较大的技术突破使得化学反应第一次可以在非常高的压力条件下进行。这方面所取得的成绩对德国很有帮助。特别是由于1914年第一次世界大仗的爆发，对以氮为