ABSTRACT
The chemical industry is a difficult one from a planning point of view. The heavier branches include a number of special industries and are comparable in noxiousness with the heavy metal industries. In addition to their primary production of coal gas and coke, gasworks produce a number of by-products, and these are normally dealt with in special works. The methods of production of heavy chemicals have certain characteristics in common from a planning point of view and it is convenient to treat them as a group. Many of the processes in heavy chemical production are registrable under the Alkali Act and therefore rank as special industries. Although special acid plants do exist, most of the production is carried out in general chemical works, gasworks, coal by-products plants, and in factories using sufficient acid to make it convenient to produce it on the premises.
