Recticel

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Recticel

• Polyurethane Manufacturer

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About Me

• Operations Manager responsible for
• Production
• Purchasing
• Logistics
• Transport fleet
• Health Safety and Environment

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My History

• A level Maths Physics Chemistry
• University Natural Sciences
• Army
• Brick Manufacture
• Paper Manufacture
• Rubber manufacture
• Polypropylene manufacture
• Polyurethane manufacture

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What is polyurethane

• A polymer made from isocyanate and polyols
• Foam cushions
• Artificial sponges
• BMW dashboards
• Shoe soles
• Viscoelastic foams

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Chemistry
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TDI

• Toluene di-isocyanate
• Bhopal (100T MDI)
• Alarmed at 4 parts per billion (ppb)
• 1 drop unsafe for two days 20 ppb
• Apart from being poisonous also causes
  sensitisation

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Bhopal

• On the night of Dec. 2nd and 3rd, 1984, a Union
  Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, began leaking 27
  tons of the deadly gas methyl isocyanate. None of
  the six safety systems designed to contain such a
  leak were operational, allowing the gas to spread
  throughout the city of Bhopal.1 Half a million
  people were exposed to the gas and 20,000 have
  died to date as a result of their exposure. More
  than 120,000 people still suffer from ailments
  caused by the accident and the subsequent
  pollution at the plant site. These ailments
  include blindness, extreme difficulty in
  breathing, and gynecological disorders. The site
  has never been properly cleaned up and it
  continues to poison the residents of Bhopal.

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Chemistry

• OHROH OCNRNCO gt
• Polyol     Polyisocyanate gt 
• CONHR-NHCOOROn     
•   Polyurethane              

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Who are Recticel

• 100 factories in 20 countries
• A Belgian group
• 11,000 employees
• 1,200,000,000 turnover
• 4 divisions
• Flexible foam
• Bedding
• Automotive
• Insulation

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Recticel Alfreton

• my Factory
• 80 employees
• 14,000,000 turnover
• 2.4 km of foam a day (2m x 1m)
• For
• Furniture
• Automotive
• Specialist

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Organisation
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Organisation 2
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Production managers job

• Degree level chemist responsible for
• Formulations
• People management
• HSE
• Labour utilisation
• Production management
• HSE
• Yield
• Quality

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Organisation 2
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Lab Technician Job

• Testing
• Fire test
• Elongation
• Tensile
• Hardness
• Dry compression
• Wet compression
• Raw material testing

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Lab technician

• Often straight from University with science
  degree
• Get promoted into production management jobs or
  technical (research jobs)

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Organisation 2
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Foaming assistant job

• To monitor all controls (computer)
• Science A level
• Need to gain 3-5 yrs experience
• Promoted within production

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Organisation3
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Chemical Process Operator

• Normally GCSE Science English Maths
• Highest paid hourly paid workers
• Load and unload chemicals
• BA trained
• Prepare chemicals
• Operate machine (manually)
• Clean up

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Geographical Spread
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UK Foaming Location
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WHY
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All UK Locations
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Foaming Plant
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Block handling
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Web Resources

• http//www.chem.leeds.ac.uk/delights/texts/expt_31
  .html
• http//recticel.co.uk
• http//www.recticel.com
• http//www.synetix.com/polyurethanes/whatispolyure
  thane-chemistry.htm
• http//www.bhopal.org/whathappened.html