Phenol, bacteria, Consett Coke ovens

An example from my personal experience: At Consett Coke Ovens one of the waste streams was phenolic liquor. Once-upon-a-time it would have been dumped down a disused mineshaft! We treated it in an activated sludge plant (loads of bacteria). Pretty amazing that it worked at all considering that the old name for phenol is carbolic acid and it’s a disinfectant which kills just about anything. We had a “spike” in phenol concentration (the plant was old, some of the processes had problems and the control systems were partly f*cked). As a consequence the bacteria “went to sleep”. They weren’t actually dead, but they weren’t active. As a consequence, even after the phenol levels returned to normal, the activated sludge plant no longer worked. We couldn’t treat the phenolic liquor, we weren’t allowed to dump it and we had only limited storage capacity. In these circumstances the official solution was to get a tanker load of sludge full of adapted bacteria from another coke plant. The nearest one with a suitable plant was in Sheffield (probably Orgreave). Cost at the time – several hundred quid. We chose the cheapskate option: buy a lorry-load of steaming, fermenting farm-yard manure and dump it in the sludge tank. Cost – 50 quid. After a short time (not more than weeks, and within the limits of the buffer storage capacity) the activated sludge plant was back and operating to specification. BTW on that plant they described having too much liquor as being “embarrassed” – as in “an embarrassment of riches”. A nice turn of phrase, with a touch of irony - “an embarrassment of sh1te”.

I doubt there are bacteria in nature which actively use phenol as a food source. Thankfully there isn’t enough of it around. There are undoubtedly bacteria which can tolerate phenol up to a certain concentration. The moral of the tale is that given the opportunity, within a very short time, bacteria can adapt to use something which is an outright poison to them (phenol) and not simply tolerate it, but use it as a food source. How they do it is not clear to me, but they certainly do. That is amazing and scary! The rubbish-dump programme was another example of the same.

Letter from an Island in Winter

(I'm having a clear out. I want to retain the text of this and remove it from my hard-drive at the same time. It has been redacted to give people a little privacy. If you know, then filling in the details is easy enough. It was originally written on 23rd November 2012)

Xxxxxxx,

Isle of Xxxxxxx

Argyll

Scotland

23^rd November 2012

Dear Aaaaa,

                It’s a different address at the top. I’m up here for a week “chilling”. That’s chilling in both senses of the word! It’s beautiful but my goodness it can be cold.

                I’m staying with my cousin Qqqqq. “Xxxxxxx” is the name of the house where she lives, out in the wilds. It’s pronounced (locally,  so I suppose that must be right) “Cairn-na-xxxxx”. The first bit is obvious enough “Pile of stones of…” but nobody is sure what the rest means. The commonest explanation is that it is “xxxxx’s Cairn”, that fits the pronunciation, but not the spelling, and there is no known association of “xxxxx” with the island. There is general agreement that whatever the name is, it is a slamming together of Gaelic “Cairn-na-” and something else, probably from another language, and that could be English, Scots or Norse.  It’s one of life’s puzzles, and likely to remain so.

                Whatever it’s called, the view from the place is spectacular, in every direction: East and West I can see the sea, North and South Rocky hills. To the west is the island of Mmmm, very mountainous and to the east Kkkk.

                I don’t know whether I shall get this finished, printed and posted before I leave the island, but you will know by looking at the stamp: if it is UK, then it was posted in Scotland; if it is Irish then the letter came back to Ireland with me and was posted there.

                Like I said, I’m up here “chilling”.  I felt like a trip up here to see the relatives, and Qqqqq was happy to have me. She works at a poultry (egg) farm on the mainland. She gets a ferry at around 8 in the morning, drives 10 miles to work and then returns in the evening and gets home a little after 6. She has a car on the mainland and one here. It’s a long day and if the weather delays here on the island she can lose hours (or even a whole day’s pay). I haven’t asked her what will happen if she gets stranded on the mainland, and I’m not going to. It’s certainly not an easy life for a single woman. During the day I am left of my own devices. This is the house which Qqqqq was brought up in, and I can see the Farm which my Grandfather took out a lease on in 1916 (!), so you can see that the family connection with the area is pretty strong. The house is constructed from two stone buildings (one the original house, one a stone barn) joined together by a wooden “covered way” in an “H” shape. The house could really do with some serious maintenance. It isn’t falling down, but it is cold, draughty and damp. Qqqqq does a good job keeping the place clean, tidy and homely, but it must be a struggle. In the house end, the living room and the downstairs bedroom where Qqqqq sleeps are nice (although you have to think about how to keep the places you want to be at the right temperature). The kitchen is an ice-box, and the two bedrooms upstairs have been relegated to attics (even the electrics have been stripped out, and the stairs up there have been covered  at landing level to  keep downstairs warmer). In the barn end, where I sleep, only one of the 3 bedrooms is habitable (and is actually quite nice, if chilly). The bathroom is usable but…

 The work required on the house is real “building”, rather than the DIY and decorating which I’m up to. Qqqqq doesn’t have the money and the island Trust, which is her landlord doesn’t either, so she will just have to wait for things to improve. I had hoped to do a little maintenance work for her, but as it happens things weren’t ready so I’ve been excused that. I’m sorry, and not sorry at the same time. Sorry the work won’t be done (and I would probably have enjoyed doing it), but not sorry that I don’t have to mess about outside in the weather.

If the house was mine, and I had unlimited budget, I would give it a complete refurbishment. Probably hire Kevin McCloud as a consultant and find a local architect. It would make a good Grand Designs. I think the approach I would take is to re-furb each of the stone buildings in turn and then completely replace the covered way with something of similar appearance, but different construction. Given where it is, I would emphasise weather-proofing, insulation and self-sufficiency. The south facing roofs of the stone buildings are not visible from the road, so that gives scope for solar water heating and photovoltaic cells. We’re half-way up a hill, on an island, so a wind-turbine is an obvious possibility. Water is never going to be a problem! The end result would look very similar to way it does now. At the barn end, the ceiling height of the rooms is really way too high. Also the existing internal walls are all stud-work, so I would regard that as completely disposable. There is a wooden floor which I expect was used for levelling, but it isn’t great quality. I would take advice from an architect and consider lowering the ceiling height and creating more bedrooms upstairs. So, at present the house (both bits) has a total of 6 bedrooms, of which only 2 are really habitable. The others I would only give to real hard cases who had arctic, four-seasons sleeping bags and camp beds. I think there is potential for 9 to 12 bedrooms etc. It’s never going to happen that way, but I certainly enjoyed writing about it. Qqqqq has dreams of having a B and B here. The house just isn’t acceptable at the present (except to afore-mentioned hard-cases, and I suppose I may be included among them), but I hope she gets to something like it in the end. She deserves it.

(And it’s 13:35, and there’s the afternoon ferry to Yyyyyy in Xxxx passing)

Meanwhile back in Ireland,  Ssssss and Mmmm are doing “work experience” the week I’m away. Ssssss is helping out at the Infant’s school down in the town. On the day I left, she had drawn a giraffe on the wall (the giraffe is holding a measuring tape for “how tall am I”). Mmmm is at the garden centre across the road. So far, she has been watering plants in poly-tunnels and has learned how to operate the till. Ironically, I’ve been involved in creating two point-of-sale systems, but I’m not sure I could operate a shop till! Nnnnn is still working at the school. She seems to be endlessly marking books. They’re all fit and well and I hope they are feeding properly. They should be,  I left the fridge well stocked.

One of the things I’m doing while I’m away in Scotland is writing up a “business plan” for something over in Ireland. I have to confess I’m struggling, but it’s getting done. This is a good place to work. I may push the “go” button this month (for a January start).

As usual, I’ve included some clippings from the local papers:

David Bowie – Has continued to rise in my estimation: weird? yes, but undoubtedly creative and influential. It seems he may have decided to retire, or is this just another “stage persona”?

The Rolling Stones – They’re a good blues band, but I always said Jagger was more of an accountant than a rock star.

Curative Well – Well, what does one say? I hope they didn’t ever dose you with lithium. I always thought that lithium was more of a sedative and anti-psychotic, but maybe it has anti-depressant properties as well. By the way “TG4” is the Irish Language channel.

Fearless Felix -  What does one say? The kind of thing he does only goes wrong once.

Sulky Racing (*2) – What does one say?

Regards,

Old Boar

Sponsorship Interview – British Steel

Over the year leading up to my A Level exams I made a lot of trips on my own. The trip to Middlesbrough left a lasting impression. I think I interviews from other potential sponsors. I have an impression that I had an interview with Courtaulds, but I may be confusing it with an interview in my final year.

This is what I remember my interview for the sponsorship with British Steel. The journey north was an adventure. I took the train from Euston to Darlington and then changed to a diesel-multiple-unit to Middlesbrough. It would have been a train to Saltburn. I found the idea of actually visiting Darlington (as in “The Stockton and Darlington Railway”) interesting in itself. I remember looking at the structure of the station building.

My interview was an all-day affair. It was held in the Royal Exchange Building which was close to the railway station. The morning was lots of psychometric tests and the afternoon was some sort of board interview. I remember that the tests involved me doing all sorts of things, including some where I had to use my left (non-dominant) hand to draw lines. I don’t remember that much about the board interview, but I got the sponsorship which made my life at University financially secure.

(15th December 2016 – 219 words)

Daily “Memoirs” exercise for when I’m not doing anything which I regard as “creative”. This is written almost stream-of-consciousness and is not edited very much afterwards.

This would be in 1974 or 1975. I was 17 or 18.

Choosing a University Course and Job 

This is what I remember about how I chose a University and indirectly, my first job, The action would have taken place in 1974 and 1975. I was 17 or 18. Looking back, some of this thinking may have happened a little earlier. Things can get squeezed together by my memory.

The decision making process

Like most teenagers I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had formed the view that I wanted to go to university, but I didn’t know what course and I didn’t have a clear idea of what career I wanted to follow. I had filled in all the careers advice forms. What I remember of the careers process sounds rather negative, but it wasn’t unhelpful at the time.

The limited careers counselling I had convinced me that there were lots of things I didn’t want to do. There seemed to be a bias in the system to direct me towards what you might call “office work”, and that wasn’t what I wanted. Maybe I was simply being contrary, but I felt I didn’t want to be stuck behind a desk (although that is what happened in the end) and I didn’t want to be commuting into London (though that happened too).

Choosing a Subject

I remember that I had some kind of hankering to be involved in “engineering”. That is almost certainly because of my Father’s background. The subject I was best at and the one I enjoyed most (at least partly because of the influence of Dr Medinger) was Chemistry. From there it was a short step to “Chemical Engineering”.

To be honest, I didn’t really know what Chemical Engineering was. I saw it as a subject in the prospective for several Universities, read the blurb, and thought “that sounds ok”.

There was probably some interaction between my choice of Subject, my choice of University and my Sponsorship. I don’t really remember which came first. In don’t think I would have chosen “Fuel Technology” without some idea of British Steel and I know that Fuel Technology (which is just a special case of Chemical Engineering) was definitely in my choice of courses.

Choosing a University

Having at least roughly identified the subject I wanted to study, the next step was to choose a university. I remember deliberately “hedging my bets”. The topic I had identified was “Chemical Engineering” but the subjects I applied for where “Chemical Engineering”, “Applied Chemistry” and “Fuel Technology”. On the advice of the careers guidance teacher, I aimed high, middle and low. That is to say, I chose courses and Universities which covered a range of exam outcomes. As far as I remember, the list went something like this (The order is uncertain, but I remember UCL was at the top and Aston Applied Chemistry was at the bottom):

• ·         University College London – Chemical Engineering (no, I don’t know why I didn’t choose Imperial College)
• ·         Manchester UMIST – Chemical Engineering
• ·         Aston – Chemical Engineering
• ·         Sheffield  - Fuel Technology
• ·         Aston – Applied Chemistry

That makes 5. As I said, the sequence is uncertain and I think UCCA may have allowed a 6th. It could be that I applied for 2 courses at either UMIST or Sheffield.

I know I had an idea that I wanted to get away from London. UCL was a deliberate choice. I think I was attracted to the ethos and particularly Jeremy Bentham!

I also remember that I took the opportunity to travel to all the prospective Universities. I remember seeing quite a lot of Euston Station and being excited by travelling. I have the idea that I had the brown chalk-stripe suit by this stage! I must have looked like a gangster!

Sponsorship

My earlier brush with the Royal Navy had persuaded me that “sponsorship” was a good idea. I knew that my parents did not have a lot of money and that I was the first from either of their families to think seriously about third-level education.

The idea of sponsorship appealed in several ways. It provided an additional income during term-time. The amount before it impacted my grant probably sounds trivial (I remember about 5 pounds a month), but was equal to what I finished up paying for a room each week in my final year. It provided guaranteed, relevant employment for the long vacations (also good for the finances, as well as for the course). Finally, it provided a firm prospect of a job at the end of my course. It was almost a guaranteed job. It all seemed like a good idea at the time and even with the passage of time and hindsight I still think I made some pretty good decisions.

I remember going through directories in the Careers room and looking for every company which would sponsor courses in Chemical Engineering. I know there was interaction between my choice of courses and my choice of potential sponsors. I remember applying to lots of companies including British Steel in several different guises (definitely Stewarts and Lloyds in Corby and Teesside (where I finished up)).

I have the impression that I applied to pretty much everything. In the end British Steel Teesside (what had been Dorman Long) sponsored my university course.

There are more stories to follow.

 (14th December 2016 – 876 words)

Daily “Memoirs” exercise for when I’m not doing anything which I regard as “creative”. This is written almost stream-of-consciousness and is not edited very much afterwards.

Introduction – Memoir – Coal, Coke and Gas

This entry is a new departure. I decided that I want to write regularly. If it is to become a proper habit, then I probably need to write every day. The nominal target I’m going to set myself is 300 words per day. The problem with a target like that is that I don’t want to put pressure on myself to be “creative”, but I still need something to write about. On the one hand I want to avoid the risk of becoming “blocked” and on the other, I want to produce something useful.

I already do the “Morning Pages” each morning. The Morning Pages is a useful exercise, but what it produces is completely unstructured and often repetitive drivel. To me that doesn’t count as “creative writing”.

What I have decided to do, is to start writing my memoirs (sounds like a Victorian old soldier). I will use the memoirs as something I can fall back on to fill in the spaces when I have nothing creative to say. I hope that this will serve the purpose of allowing me to establish the writing habit, which I can then use for several purposes.

I do not intend to plan these memoirs. Instead they should be regarded as simply “notes for memoirs”. Although they will form part of the creative blog, I do not consider them to be truly creative. They are there mainly to give me a guaranteed something to write about while at the same time encouraging me to write down what I remember in a semi-structured way, so that I may be able to use it in the future.

Where possible in the memoirs I will include relevant references and sketches for diagrams. All the time the emphasis is going to be on “getting it down on paper” (or magnetic patterns on some sort of medium) so that it can be referenced and searched. I am deliberately not going to try and be impartial. Instead, I am going to write from a stated point of view – mine and from a particular time – the time when the events took place.

That’s the first day done. Let’s see how it goes from here on.

 (13th December 2016 – 371 words)