Ways of doing chemical production at cuf, "Companhia União Fabril" (1909-1972)

• Autores: Isabel Cruz Gallardo
• Localización: The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science. Barcelona, 18-20 November 2010 / coord. por Antoni M. Roca Rosell, 2012, ISBN 978-84-9965-108-8, págs. 1116-1123
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • When, in 1906, the Portuguese chemical enterprise Companhia União Fabril decided to establish its Barreiro works for a European-sized competitive production of phosphate fertilizers, the use of Portuguese pyrites was immediately selected as the S-source for the required sulphuric acid. Another important feature marks the chemical production at Barreiro, which is that from 1909 to 1950 all the sulphuric acid produced was “chamber acid”, obtained by the classical lead chamber process.

    With the approach of the end of World War II, there was a need to equate urgent technological reforms for the development of production of acid chemicals (sulphuric, hydrochloric, phosphoric), metals (cooper, lead, gold and silver) and fertilizers (phosphate and nitrogenous). Consequently, by the beginning of the 1950s several important facts happened in CUF, but we stress two among others: the adoption of the contact technology and the implementation of organizational and structural reforms.

    Progressing from the former industrial model where, with a simple structure, hierarchically made a centralized command, CUF introduced a dynamic where the technical performance of its employees was not desirable, but also inevitable. In the industrial frame, several Study Centres were introduced, where engineers carried out the specialized technical work to production activities, and a Documentation Centre was also created.

    The work which is being proposed aims at understanding the process of CUF’s technology adoption between the beginning of sulphuric acid production (1909) and the erection of the first contact plant with fluidization technology (1972), not only in terms of the technologic consumption concept, always present, but also in terms of development of its own technological capacities (Barreiro, chemical production) related with the structures and dynamics established in the meantime.