Went to a steel plant yesterday. It was quite an experience, seeing things (you've only known beforehand through Wikipedia.org and textbooks) up close.





Conference room where we listened to a lecture from one of the plant's chemical engineers


The steel in the Union Galvasteel plant is imported, but the zinc treatment (the so-called galvanization process so as to make the alloy corrosion resistant) and painting are the main operations of the plant.




Mechanical arm lowering one of the finished rolled sheets of steel...


...Into neat stacks such as these. The steel made here is made for roofing and, when coupled with insulation, can also be used to make building walls.



In the plant there was this conference room. The white board was full of physical chem equations. The chemical engineer said they did computations for ideal temperature, ideal pressure, desirable steel composition, etc. on a daily basis. For me, it was refreshing to see that all the hard work I did learning physical and analytical chem will indeed one day translate to real situations while on the job. If I pass the board exam and actually get hired as a chemist (and not an odd job) that is.


Waste water treatment. The pH (the waste water was apparently too basic) and oxygen content of the water had to be adjusted, as well as other treatments.


The finished product. Colored tiles and roofing and such. Gah, bad picture. Moving on.



I'm the big guy with glasses and a red shirt, in the back row.