Person
Varcoe, Graeme Laurence (1937 - )
- Born
- 13 November 1937
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Research scientist and Industrial chemist
Summary
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 resources
Resources
- 'Varcoe, Graeme Laurence (19371113-)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476473. Details
See also
- Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_v.html. Details
Rosanne Walker
Created: 25 May 2001, Last modified: 26 March 2007
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