Biographical entry
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Bright Sparcs
Biographical entry
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Varcoe, Graeme Laurence (1937 - ) |
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| Research scientist and Industrial chemist | |
| Born: 13 November 1937 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | |
| Graeme Laurence Varcoe worked out how to dehydrogenate pyridine as a step in the production of diquat, a broad spectrum herbicide. This concept also provided the basis for design of the full scale plant. Responding to the rapidly accelerating demand for urea formaldehyde resins for the particle board industry in the sixties, he radically modified the production process to achieve a ten-fold gain in productivity. Varcoe obtained an early patent on the oxychlorination of ethylene to vinyl chloride, which led to the world’s first commercialisation of the process, at ICIANZ Botany site, for which he was the plant commissioning superintendent. |
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Published by The University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre on ASAPWeb, 1994 - 2007 Originally published 1994-1999 by Australian Science Archives Project, 1999-2006 by the Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre Disclaimer, Copyright and Privacy Policy Submit any comments, questions, corrections and additions Prepared by: Acknowledgements Updated: 26 February 2007 http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P004027b.htm |