Friedrich Raschig

Fritz ( Friedrich August) Raschig ( born June 8, 1863 in Brandenburg an der Havel, † February 4, 1928 in Duisburg, Germany ) was a German industrialist, chemist and politician.

Life and work

Fritz Raschig was the oldest of 13 children of the inguinal manufacturers August Raschig. His father came from an old draper family from Jessen ( Elster), and had in 1862 founded his factory in the new town of Brandenburg ( Havel ), which was continued by a brother Raschigs at least until the 1920s. Fritz Raschig early developed a strong interest in science, especially in chemistry, so that the Father even einrichtete a small laboratory. Also a visit to the secondary school Saldria in Brandenburg an der Havel supported him in what moved him later foundations of quality teaching resources. After graduation in 1881, he studied chemistry at the University of Berlin, in the meantime a semester at the Ruprecht -Karls- University of Heidelberg. At the University of Heidelberg, he was a pupil of the renowned chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. In 1884 he received his doctorate in Berlin as a doctor of philosophy with the theme " action of copper chlorides of heavy metals ". Even as a research assistant in Berlin from 1885 to 1887 wrote Raschig a highly acclaimed work "On the behavior of nitrous to sulfurous acid ". With sulfur and saltpeter he worked all his life.

After having worked since 1887 for many years at the " Baden Aniline and Soda Factory " (BASF ), most recently as operations manager for the synthesis areas of benzoic acid, carbolic acid ( phenol) and picric acid, he founded in 1891 is named after him Chemische Fabrik Raschig GmbH, which today resident nor in Ludwigshafen -Mundenheim. This factory he built for the production of pure tar components, such as anthracene, naphthalene, crude carbolic acid ( phenol), toluene and benzene. He used in the fractionation of a special packing, which was patented under the name of Raschig ring in 1914 and is now known throughout the world. Before this development was kept secret to a large scale to fully take advantage of the preparation of pure phenol. After Raschigs death, the company was initially continued by his two sons, and since 1996 she is the subsidiary of a U.S. company.

Raschig donated to the City of Ludwigshafen am Rhein in 1916 an area of ​​200,000 m² for returning soldiers, which led to the founding of the Ludwigshafen garden city. To this end, he also encouraged the merger of existing cooperatives. There is today a main street named after him as Raschigstraße.

1917 awarded him the Technical University of Darmstadt honorary doctorate ( Doctor of Engineering as honor 's sake, Dr. -Ing. Eh ), 1918 was followed by the honorary doctorate from the University of Heidelberg (as Dr. phil. Hc ). Raschig was involved in the association for the protection of the interests of the chemical industry in Germany. In 1927 he was awarded the Liebig Medal of the Society of German Chemists.

To Raschigs scientific achievements mainly include:

• The development and application of tower packings for random packings ( " Raschig Rings" )
• The discovery of the uses of cresol,
• The development of para- chloro-meta - cresol ( Raschit ) to disinfectants,
• Continuous tar distillation,
• The Kiton method in road (tar sound water suspension ),
• The production of synthetic resins of phenol and formaldehyde (eg for billiard balls).

In order to secure the supply of crude tar, he acquired in 1918 the tar distillation Chemische Fabrik Dr. Wirth, Waldthausen & Schulz in Bochum -Werne, leaving 1910/1911 drill for oil in Krozingen. In these holes a carbonated spring was discovered, which was the basis for the cure in this southern Baden place.

Policy

Raschig was also active politically and was 1919/20, a member of the Weimar National Assembly. Later, he sat from December 1924 until his death as a Member of the German Democratic party in the German Reichstag in Berlin. In addition, he was from 1900 until his death a member of the Ludwigshafen City Council.