Reflection (Part 3) - Chemical principles/instruments/concepts & plant/industry (Excerpts)

Chemical Principles ⇆ Industry & Corporations

"Unlike research labs in university, where often expensive instruments are required to take very precise instruments, profit-driven corporations would use much simpler and faster methods, often mechanical, to achieve the same target. This demonstrates the discrepancy between theoretical and practical work, where the latter values price and speed over extreme precision.

Thomas 

"The visits to different firms have offered me a lot of insights about chemistry-related occupations. Before coming to the UK, I had always considered being a Chemistry teacher in the future. There are too few opportunities for Chemistry graduates to utilize their talents in Hong Kong. However, after the two industry visits, I realized that we could take up a variety of positions in chemical companies. We could either be an R&D Department Manager or a sales representative."

Adrian

"Surface science plays an important role in development of the paint and coating in AkzoNobel. AkzoNobel tested how well their paintings attach to a metal (usually steel) under different conditions (temperature, sunshine, humidity). Also, they developed some ultra smooth coating that can prevent marine organisms from sticking on the boat surface. These kinds of coating are much environmentally friendly than traditional method which using poisonous substance to prevent fouling."

Watson

Visit to AkzoNobel

"AkzoNobel makes use of the idea of viscosity and bio bacteria to produce coating products. A machine is used to regulate the viscidity of paint to produce different products like automotive coatings, specific tools for the car repair, as well as, marine coatings."

Ashley 

Visit to Palintest

"Palintest sells a number of testing kits which enable users to do water testing in terms of chlorine, hardness, pH, Zinc, etc. The packages and even the strips in them are so multifunctional that one strip can give a few chemicals testing, bringing much convenience to the handlers. The testing is similar to pH, both of which can be seen visually."

Kevin 

"Palintest's products are tablets and strip which can be used to test chemicals like phosphate, nitrogen, phenol and other substances in water. Their chemical principle is similar to pH paper and pH meter. For strips, they are just like pH paper. Add a drop of sample solution to it and then color change can be observed. For a tablet, it is similar to a pH meter. Put a tablet into a sample solution and you can obtain a precise result by a machine."

 

Victor 

Meeting with the experts from Palintest