Historiography of the chemical industry: Technologies and products versus corporate history

Travis, Anthony S.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128610 Copy

Description

Title

Historiography of the chemical industry: Technologies and products versus corporate history

Author(s)

Travis, Anthony S.

Issue Date

2022-01-01

Keyword(s)

• Chemistry
• History
• Industry
• Products

Abstract

In the twentieth century, the chemical industry was, in terms of innovation, among the most quickly changing of all industries. What remained constant, at least until the turn of the century, was its control by Western behemoths, such as Du Pont, ICI, and BASF. However, over the past two decades, driven by fragmentation and globalization, there has been a complete transformation of the industry. Thus Du Pont has merged with Dow, and ICI has ceased to exist. BASF remains one of the few survivors of the large, old corporations. The outcome is that historiography of chemical industry according to the model built mainly around these corporations has become complex, if not redundant. What if the historical analysis of corporations is shifted to an analysis of the interactions and transitions between technologies, within the industrial and global contexts, by revisiting and building on past achievements? Here such an approach is taken using as examples of industrial practice a single sector, synthetic ammonia: ICI’s technologies, which includes manufacture of hydrogen, and the ceding of the role of high-pressure catalytic process plant design away from chemical companies to chemical engineering contractors. This enables a discussion of ICI’s fall, and the complexity of what followed, to be tempered by the legacy of innovation in a sector that through the hydrogen economy is today receiving unprecedented attention.

Publisher

Division of the History of Chemistry

ISSN

1053-4385

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

article

Language

eng

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/128610

DOI

https://doi.org/10.70359/bhc2022v047p050

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Division of the History of Chemistry

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