Chemical Technicians' Ready Reference Handbook

by Jack Ballinger, Gershon Shugar

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071745920

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Book Description

Updated to reflect the latest developments in operational procedures for today's sophisticated chemical technologies, Chemical Technicians' Ready Reference Handbook, Fifth Edition, remains the undisputed classic in the field. Expanded to include coverage for process operators, this authoritative resource contains in-depth details on chemical safety, laboratory procedures, chemical nomenclature, basic electricity, laboratory statistics, and instrumental techniques. Step-by-step directions for performing virtually every laboratory task are also included in this practical guide.

COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE INCLUDES:

• Chemical process industry workers and government regulations
• Chemical plant and laboratory safety
• Chemical handling and hazard communication
• Handling compressed gases
• Pressure and vacuum
• Mathematics review and conversion tables
• Standard operating procedures
• Laboratory glassware
• pH measurement
• Basic electricity
• Sampling
• Laboratory filtration
• Recrystallization
• The balance
• Gravimetric analysis
• Preparation of solutions
• Process analyzers
• Plumbing, valves, and pumps
• Physical properties and determinations
• Extraction
• Distillation and evaporation
• Inorganic and organic chemistry review
• Chemical calculations and concentration expressions
• Volumetric analysis
• Chromatography
• Spectroscopy
• Atomic absorption spectroscopy

About the Author

Jack T. Ballinger, B.S, M.S., Ed.D., was a professor of chemistry and chemical technology at St. Louis Community College for 35 years, and is currently an adjunct faculty member with the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois. He serves as the Education and Workforce Development Coordinator and presents courses on ethanol process operations and courses training new process operators and laboratory technicians.

Gershon J. Shugar, B.S., M.A., Ph.D., was a professor of engineering technologies at Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey. In 1947, he founded a chemical manufacturing business that became the largest exclusive pearlescent pigment manufacturing company in the United States. In 1968, Dr. Shugar was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at Rutgers University, where he taught until his appointment at Essex County College.

Customer Reviews

Contains a lot of good practical information and a good addition to any chemistry library. Not perfect however, some information is incomplete or a little dated. Calomel reference electrodes are mentioned but not Ag/AgCl for example.

I recently purchased this textbook to serve as a refresher for undergraduate analytical chemistry and to supplement my job specific training as a chemical technician. The text covers a wide variety of topics and includes some material not normally covered in undergraduate analytical coursework. Overall, this text is a useful resource; however, there are some issues that should have been resolved by now, considering this text is in its fifth edition of print. After reading through two chapters, here are the errors that standout to me: (1) There are many grammatical errors and sentence structure mistakes. (2) Some common cations in the "Inorganic Chemistry Review" are named incorrectly, and (3) There are also some mislabeled cyclic hydrocarbons in the "Organic Chemistry Review" chapter.

I have only read through two chapters of this text thus far. Assuming there are no fundamental theory inaccuracies, I would still recommend this book to anyone who plans to work in the pharmaceutical or biotech industries. The topics covered in the first 8 chapters of this book are not generally covered in undergraduate coursework, or are often covered with minimal application. Although this training is typically provided by your employer, exposure to this material would serve as an advantage, especially in today's ever changing and competitive market.