In the world, anything that we can touch, smell, taste, and see is made up of different chemicals. Some of these chemicals are naturally present, and most are manufactured in laboratories.
Chemistry is the branch of natural science that deals with the complete study of matter, how it interacts with each other, energy, and the comprehensive analysis of the sub-atomic or fundamental particles that make it up.
In the world, anything that we can touch, smell, taste, and see is made up of different chemicals. Some of these chemicals are naturally present, and most are manufactured in laboratories.
The most recent studies and research in the field of chemistry have enabled humans around the world to make more reliable, safer, and more efficient industrial products. In this article, the knowledge of chemistry in different industry types for beneficial purposes has been described below.
Industrial Applications of Chemistry
Leather Industry:
Leather is a material that is obtained by tanning or chemical treatment of animal skin. The sector where leather is made is called the leather industry. We are delivering different types of goods used by humans, like leather shoes, jackets, gloves, bags, belts, etc.
In this process, various chemicals are used in each step of making the final form of leather. For example, in the soaking or curing process, we use a mixture of chemicals including detergents, sodium sulphide, sodium arbonate or bicarbonate, and protease enzyme.
On the other hand, we use different chemicals depending on the tanning type. Like in vegetable tanning, we use the pods of Acacia nilotica and water. In alum tanning, we use aluminium sulphate, and chromium sulphate is used in mineral tanning.
Food Industry:
In this industry, a branch of natural science called chemistry plays an essential role in food preservation, giving it flavour and color. We use chemicals in food processing like food additives, preservatives, antioxidants, flavoring agents, synthetic sweeteners, and dyes to enhance the life span and quality of food.
For example, we use sucrose as a preservative in jams and marmalades; NaCl and vinegar for other food preservation; Allura Red as a synthetic dye for giving a dark red color to food items; and benzaldehyde-bitter as a chemical to give a different taste to food.
Detergent and soap industry:
It is an industry where we use natural or synthetic materials with a necessary chemical treatment for the product used for cleaning purposes for human skin, household items, and instruments at the industrial level. Soap is made from natural fats and oils that have been obtained from plants and animals, and it is used for cleaning skin and clothes.
To make soap, we first boil the raw material to separate the fatty acids and glycerin, and then add the caustic soda that makes the sodium fatty acid salt (soap).
On the other hand, detergents are prepared from artificial compounds like fatty alcohols and ethylene oxide with chemical treatment for cleaning purposes in houses, the textile industry, and parts of machinery used in industries.
We produce the detergents by sulphonation reactions, in which raw materials are treated with sulphur trioxide and detergent is made.
Fertilizer Industry:
Fertilizers contain essential nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) required for proper plant growth.
The fertilizer industry is now producing three types of fertilizers: ammonia, phosphorous, and potassium-based fertilizers by treating the raw material with chemicals at optimal temperature and pressure conditions. Through this application of chemistry, the farmers are producing the crop in large quantities to meet the world’s shortage due to overpopulation.
Pharmaceutical Industry:
Chemistry plays a vital role in the production of drugs by pharmaceutical companies by using different chemicals. Chemistry helps us identify the drug’s activity and its preparation methods. And these drugs are used to cure various diseases.
For example, analgesics are painkillers, tranquillizers are used to control stress, and antiseptics are used for external treatments; these are all amazing products of chemistry.
Cosmetic Industry:
The branch of natural science called chemistry helps us produce different cosmetic substances like lotions, creams, and fragrances. These substances are solutions or mixtures of one or more chemicals. These products are used to maintain skin quality and for many other fruitful results.
Textile Industry:
In textiles, we use wool, silk, cotton, polyester, acrylic, and nylon as raw materials that are synthetic chemicals and convert them into useful products like clothes, bags, carpets, etc.
We use different chemical processes for different purposes; dying is a chemical process during which a chemical substance (dye) is produced in the chemical laboratory to give the product the required color. Other chemical processes, such as bleaching, scouring, printing, and finishing, also use specific chemicals in the textile industry to maintain product quality.
Arms Industry:
With the help of a significant branch of natural science, chemistry knowledge, scientists have discovered many chemicals of explosive nature like TNT, RDX, HMX, and gunpowder used to make bullets and war weapons. Nowadays, we are producing these chemicals synthetically.
Nuclear chemistry is a well-known chemistry branch that studies nuclear reactions. With the help of nuclear chemistry principles, we are developing more dangerous nuclear weapons, like atomic bombs.
Electric Power Industry:
Chemistry has a couple of applications in the electric power industry. It plays an essential role in designing the different chemical operations used to produce electrical energy from materials that are naturally occurring or synthetically prepared, like natural gas and bagasse, respectively.
On the other hand, it also plays an essential role in designing the batteries that store an instant source of electrical energy. It also helped us select materials for the battery to store more energy and make reactions more eco-friendly by using catalysts, less toxic reaction media, and practical materials for producing energy.
Paint Industry:
The branch of natural science called chemistry has a vital role in the production of paint. Because knowledge of colour chemistry helps us choose the pigments (like for white: TiO2, ZnO, and for red: Pb3O4, Fe2O3) for the desired color they are mixed with drying oil (solvent).
We also added additive chemicals like binders (oxidizing resins and silicon resins) and thinners (aromatic hydrocarbons, pine oil, and lacquer) to improve the critical function of the paint and to give it unique colour, strength to bear harsh environmental conditions, and resistance against chemicals, corrosion, and radiation.
Paper Industry:
In the paper-making process, we prefer the chemical pulping process instead of simple pulping. Simple pulping produces low-quality paper, but chemical pulping produces high-quality paper. And the most commonly used chemicals in this type of pulping are NaOH and sodium sulphide.
We use different bleaching agents like chlorine, hypochlorite, and hydrogen peroxide, which chemists produce in the laboratory.
Other additive chemicals are also added, like alkyl ketene dimer and alkenyl succinic anhydride for sizing the surface of paper; epichlorohydrin; melamine to give strength in wet conditions to paper (tissue paper); and cationic starch and polyacrylamide to give paper dry strength. Therefore, chemistry has been playing a vital role in improving paper quality.
Steel industry:
In the steel manufacturing process, we remove a large quantity of carbon and other impurities (sulphur and elements) from iron by using chemicals and gases like oxygen and analytical chemistry techniques.
Later, iron (0.04%–2.5%) is mixed with other transition metal atoms of manganese, chromium, nickel, tungsten, and vanadium to prepare alloys with unique properties. It is a chemical process that is an application of chemistry.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we are utilizing the knowledge of chemistry in chemical laboratories and every type of industry, especially those that follow the chemical process and use the chemicals for certain additives to enhance the quality and quantity of products.
With the help of advancements in our knowledge of chemistry, we can make chemical reactions more environmentally friendly to control environmental pollution at a safe level.