INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Auto Makers Attack Smog XVESEAKCH on ways to cut d o w n
the
smog-contributing parts of automobile exhaust has shifted into second gear. Encouraged by tests which reduced hydrocarbon content of exhaust gases by 60 to 9 0 ' ear old program is now ready to move from basic research to engineering d e velopment. Result: Smogbound L o s Angeles—and other cities—can hope for brighter days. T h e Society of Automotive Engi neers, meeting in Detroit, discussed three experimental methods:
FREE-FLOWING dry-type acid cleaners based on sulfamic acid a r e easy to handle . . . dissolve quickly in water . . . create no fumes.
DU PONT SULFAMIC ACID has high strength, low corrosive action...forms extremely soluble salts
0 II
HN -S-OH II
0 SULFAMIC ACID is a white crystalline or granular solid acid comparable to sul furic in strength. I t forms extremely sol uble salts — usually more soluble t h a n the corresponding nitrate, chloride or sulfate salts.
MJUHUDLP BETTER
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THINGS
FOR BETTER
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W h a t can you do with a dry acid t h a t ' s non volatile, non-hygroscopic and is almost as strong as sulfuric? Some chemists find sulfamic acid an excel lent chemical for scale-removal compounds, because it is dry, has high strength, low cor rosive action, forms extremely soluble salts; and dry or in solution it causes no fumes. Others find it a good curing agent for phe nol ics a n d U F resins, because it is faster-act ing t h a n organic acids . . . reduces t h e objec tionable effects encountered with other in organic acids. Still others save processing costs by em ploying fast-acting sulfamic acid t o remove excess nitrite used in diazotization reactions in t h e manufacture of dyes and pigments. Your use for D u P o n t sulfamic acid may be one of these, or a new profitable use tailored to your own needs. Be sure you evaluate this unusual dry acid in terms of your own prod uct development work! J u s t write to address given below for more information.
• W r i t e for this f r e e 3 0 - p a g e booklet describ/^."Z2~~ ing the properties a n d uses o f sulfamic acid. E. 1. / du Pont d e Nemours & Co. (Inc.), Grasselli Chemi- ;-:ϋ
LIVING
1 9 5 9
THROUGH
CHEMISTRY
^
• Ford has a low temperature con verter which uses a vanadium pentoxide a n d aluminum oxide catalyst. I n tests at the Air Pollution Foundation's smog chamber at Stanford Research I n stitute, the Ford converter knocked o u t up to 9 1 fA of the hydrocarbons present in test engine exhaust. Efficiencies over a typical Los Angeles traffic cycle ran between 60 and 73*#. T h e con verter looks like an ordinary muffler, holds 2 5 to 3 0 pounds of catalyst, uses a belt-driven compressor to a d d sec ondary air. Ford estimates catalyst life at 10,000 to 12,000 miles. Cost would be about $150. • General Motors is testing a high temperature converter. I t uses a Houdry catalyst in a unit built b y OxyCatalyst, Inc. In tests covering 34,000 miles of city, suburban, a n d country driving in t w o cars, it removed 75 t o 90% of the hydrocarbons. T h e G M unit is made of stainless steel, weighs 95 pounds, and measures 40 inches b y 12 inches b y 8 inches. Catalyst life is p e g g e d at 12,000 miles. • Ramo-Wooldridge, as its approach to t h e problem, has developed an ex perimental afterburner. T h e unit uses an auxiliary p u m p to add air, a h e a t exchanger to raise exhaust gas tempera ture. A 0.2 cubic-foot combustion chamber at 1500° F . burned 907r of the hydrocarbons. Along with reports of progress on the auto exhaust problem come notes of serious shortcomings which still must be worked out. Ford says it needs t o extend catalyst life and eliminate odors which occasionally turn u p . G M agrees and adds for its system factors of warm-up time, noise, size, heat, a n d back-pressure.
INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Companies that make up C&EN#s stock price Indexes: Allantoin ' © Petroleum 1 1 1 1
Rubber
Betanaphthol
Firestone
Standard Oil (Ind.) Standard Oil (N. J.) Sun Oil Texas Co. Union Oil of Calif.
Atlantic Refining Gulf Oil Phillips Petroleum Shell Oil Sinclair Oil Socony Mobil Standard Oil of Calif.
Mercurophyllîne
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Bishydroxycoumarin
4-Hydroxycoumarîn
General Tire & Rubber
· Propyl Gallafe·
Resorcinol M o n o a c e t a t e
Goodrich Introducing
Goodyear U. S. Rubber
a New Patented
| Anticoagulant
and
I
Rodenticide
"NAFARIN"
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PETROLEUM:
300 250 Threir
200
Sulfur Titration Designed for use with the eombustion-titration procedure for analyzing steel, iron, oil, slag, ores, limestone, coal, coke and many other material
150
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H E ' W d e i e r m i n a i o r s for
2nd Qtr.
3rd Qtr.
4th Qtr.
1st Qtr. 1959
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