0040-5795/05/3901- © 2005

MAIK “Nauka

/Interperiodica”0103

Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2005, pp. 103–104.Translated from Teoreticheskie Osnovy Khimicheskoi Tekhnologii, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2005, pp. 106–107.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Zaikov.

The VI Turkish National Chemical EngineeringCongress was held on September 7–10, 2004, at theEge University, Izmir, Turkey. The Organizing Com-mittee of the congress included leading Turkish scien-tists in chemistry and chemical engineering from theAnadolu University, Ankara; Ege University, Izmir;Izmir Institute of Technology, Izmir; Ataturk Univer-sity, Erzurum; Istanbul University, Istanbul; and a num-ber of research centers of Turkish and internationalfirms. Approximately 400 scientists from 28 Turkishresearch centers participated in the congress. In addi-tion, scientists from the United States, Russia, andIsrael presented plenary reports as invited speakers.About 200 section reports were heard, and 120 postersessions were presented.

The chairwoman of the Organizing Committee ofthe congress was Prof. Dr. Suheyda Atalay (Ege Uni-versity). She opened the congress, emphasizing the top-icality of the subjects to be considered at the congressin the context of advances in chemistry and chemicalengineering.

The first general plenary report was presented byProf. G.F. Froment (Department of Chemical Engineer-ing, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas,USA). His lecture was devoted to kinetic modeling ofprocesses on complex catalysts. Particular attentionwas given to petrochemical processes, in particular,production of hydrocarbons from petroleum raw mate-rial: paraffins, olefins, naphthalenes, and aromatic com-pounds of different structure. The report consideredsuch industrial processes as catalytic reforming, cata-lytic cracking, hydrocracking, alkylation, isomeriza-tion, and methane conversion into olefins. Numerousstudies of the kinetics of these processes were pre-sented in plenary and section reports and poster ses-sions.

The plenary lecture delivered by Prof. G.E. Zaikov(coauthored with S.M. Lomakin) from the EmanuelInstitute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy ofSciences, Moscow, Russia, was devoted to environ-mentally pure antipyrenes—substances that decreasecombustibility and are used to create polymeric andcomposite materials. The overwhelming number ofantipyrenes produced and used practically are slightlytoxic; however, some products of their pyrolysis andcombustion (for example, dioxins) are highly toxic.This is the reason why the question of the search fornew environmentally pure antipyrenes arose. Thereport presented proposals of how to do it. New classesof antipyrenes based on nanocomposites are particu-larly promising. The subjects considered in Zaikov’s

report were further considered in many section reportsand poster sessions given by Turkish scientists andengineers.

The plenary lecture delivered by Prof. V. Shacham(Chemical Engineering Department, Ben-Gurion Uni-versity of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel) dealt with theapplication of computers in chemistry and chemicalengineering for data processing and modeling of vari-ous complex chemical reactions and technological pro-cesses. Prof. Shacham gave specific examples of solv-ing such problems in petrochemistry, organic synthesis,polymerization, polymer processing, redox processes,etc. As in the two previous plenary lectures, the ideasproposed by Shacham were supported by numeroussection reports and poster sessions.

The last plenary lecture on new trends in universityengineering (in particular, chemical engineering) edu-cation in the United States and Western Europe wasdelivered by Prof. Yu.A. Cengel (Department ofMechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno,Nevada, USA). The lecture had a general character andcaused no broad discussion. However, it should benoted that future technologies will require a deeperknowledge of computer facilities and business.

The further work of the congress was divided intosix simultaneous sections: chemical engineering, unitoperations and equipment, reactions and reactivity, cat-alytic processes and chemical technology, petrochemi-cal processes, and nanocomposites and nanotechnol-ogy. Note the huge number of subjects considered at thecongress. The overwhelming majority of the reportsdealt with specific problems. The concurrent work ofsix sections prevented me (a single representative ofRussia at the congress) from acquainting myself withthe work of the congress in great detail. In my opinion,of particularly great interest at the congress werereports on how zeolites produced from Turkish naturalraw material are used in various chemical and chemicalengineering industries of Turkey and also on studies ofaging, degradation, stabilization, and combustion ofpolymers, polymer mixtures, and composites.

A large set of reports dealt with secondary process-ing of polymers and investigation of the properties ofmaterials obtained from secondary polymer raw mate-rial. This subject was logically related to the problemsof compatibility (mutual solubility) of polymers inpolymer mixtures, the search for ways of improving thecompatibility, and the investigation of the effect of thecompatibility on the physicochemical properties ofpolymer mixtures and composites.

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The participants at the congress were particularlyinterested in reports on the creation of nanostructures,the synthesis of nanocomposites, and their use in a widerange of scientific and practical applications, in partic-ular, for reducing the combustibility of polymeric mate-rials.

A considerable fraction of the reports on polymerswere devoted to polymer processing, extruder design,the use of polymers in electronics, and the creation ofelectrically conducting polymer systems and polymer-based semiconductors.

Unfortunately, it turned out that Turkish scientistsand engineers are very poorly acquainted with theworks of Soviet and Russian scientists and often

attempt to reproduce results that have already long beenobtained in Russia. Those at fault are likely to be notonly Turkish scientists but also Russian researcherswho do not publish their results in leading internationaljournals with a high citation index.

The congress demonstrated significant progress invarious areas of chemistry and chemical engineering.The theoretical and practical topicality of such studiesis undoubted. The upcoming VII Turkish NationalChemical Engineering Congress will be held in earlySeptember 2006 in Ankara.

G.E. Zaikov