I was in my second year of obtaining my chemical engineering degree at Birmingham University in England, and we were listening to a lecture on mass transfer. The professor, who I can recall to this day, stood at the front of the lecture theater and told us he would explain an example of an elegant and innovative solution to a mass-transfer problem. The professor described how a sul-furic acid plant in the southern United States was experiencing a serious problem in the community. Sulfur trioxide fumes were exiting from the plant's stack and combining with atmospheric moisture to form a white sulfuric acid fog. The people in the community were choking on the fumes, and puddles of water on the street were acidic and rotting people's shoes.
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