Badge of Honour for Chemical Engineer Who Has Served at JBI for 40 Years

Gimme-Me-Bit in Clarendon is known for its unique name, and on National Heroes Day (October 21), one of its natives, Chemical Engineer, Worrell George Lyew You, will be acknowledged for making a significant contribution to the country.

Mr. Lyew You, who has spent the past 40 years at the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI), recalls fun-filled childhood memories with his many siblings in Gimme-Me-Bit.

The son of an immigrant Chinese father and Jamaican mother, he will receive the Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service on National Heroes Day, when persons are given formal recognition for service to Jamaica and its citizens.

Mr. Lyew You tells JIS News that working at the JBI was a mixture of fate and circumstances lining up at the right time.

“Engineering in those days, particularly chemical engineers, they look forward to getting a job in the industry, because it was a well-paying job. But when I got back here [from university], I had difficulties getting responses to my application. I went back to teaching at my alma mater, Glenmuir High, and then I got the call from the JBI,” he says.

The JBI was established to monitor, evaluate and conduct research on the bauxite/alumina industry.

Mr. Lyew You took the role by the reins and quickly found his niche.

He was immediately given direct oversight for the construction and the commissioning of the Bayer Process Pilot plant. The

Bayer process is the chemical procedure used in alumina refineries for the extraction of alumina from bauxite.

“When I got there, they were designing the pilot plant, and they had a building made and the equipment were being bought. I had an assignment with some others to do a design model, to ensure the equipment could hold. Then we moved to do the construction. I was supervising the work that was being done by the contractor,” Mr. Lyew You says.

He was among a group of persons who would oversee and conduct research on the various chemicals that can be used to ease the process of extracting alumina from bauxite. He enjoyed the process, as he and the team broke new ground and territory in a growing international industry.

“In my time when there were issues in the plant or there were new flocculants being produced and they wanted to market it, the company would come to the JBI with it and we would get the bauxite samples, make the red mud and do the tests for them. If there were issues in the plants, we would do the tests to determine the issues,” Mr. Lyew You explains.

In the space of 12 years, he was promoted to Senior Process Research Engineer and then become the Director of Process Monitoring and Services in 1996, which also included the portfolio of environmental management.

When the 1991 Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act was enacted, and a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the JBI, Mr. Lyew You participated in the initial development of many of Jamaica’s environmental standards and regulations.

He also played a significant role in managing the environmental impact for the closure process of a few red mud sites.

These red mud or disposal sites needed to be closed after Alcan’s sale of its Jamaican operations in 2001.

He ensured that this was done within international best practices.

“It was significant, the closure of the Mount Rosser disposal site going down to Ocho Rios where mud was discharged. In the early days when you look down there, you would see what looks like a sea of red and it’s now very green after a couple of years of restoration,” Mr. Lyew You tells JIS News.

Looking back at his life, Mr. Lyew You says that he finds passing on knowledge to the younger generation most rewarding about his job.

“Seeing the results, and then there is the part where you have good people to work with. Those people make it easier to get things done,” he says.

The years at the JBI have not been without some challenges, chief among them the impact the location of his job had on his family.

“I live all my life in Clarendon, and I had to commute to Kingston… that’s more than 95 per cent of the time. In the early days, there was public transportation; this meant you spent less time at home. You see the children, sometimes they are asleep when you get home. Later, I had my own transport, and I was taking them to school before getting off to Kingston,” he says.

On receiving a national award from his country, Mr. Lyew You says he feels humbled.

“I feel honoured, it is rewarding, and in the beginning, I was quite elated to know that there was recognition. When I was much younger, I wanted to be a mechanic, because my brother was a mechanic,’’ he notes.

“When we were at university, we’d say we’d stay at a job five years the most. I never imagined being at the JBI for 40 years, but I love the challenge and even when I got other offers there were other things that came up here that I just couldn’t leave. I love it. That Bayer plant was one of those challenges I couldn’t leave,” Mr. Lyew You recounts.

The bauxite industry has changed but he believes it still has a very far future. “I remain committed because there is the potential to create opportunities for growth and development. You can look back and see some of the impact that you have had. The industry has many more years to go, and I personally think the industry can survive,” he says.