WALTER J. MURPHY, EDITOR
Briefs’ Brief The Briefs section we are inaugurating in this issue is another in a long campaign of efforts to aid the I&EC reader to select and assimilate with the greatest possible effectiveness. Essentially, Briefs contains the abstracts of symposia, reviews, and individual papers, all collected into a feature treatment at the front of the technical section. But there is a little more to the story. Work on them started about a year and a half ago when we made efforts to strengthen the interpretive character of the author-supplied abstracts. The results were so favorable that we wanted to make them more accessible to the reader. The Briefs concept led naturally to a few other steps of streamlining and decentralization. Thus the contents page lists only the special features and major sections of the journal. Briefs constitutes a detailed contents page for individual titles in the regular sections. Special large features, such as symposia, will have individual papers listed on a title page at the start .of the feature. This essentially parallels the established practice of our annual reviews. These large features will be summarized in Briefs with a single abstract, and abstracts of articles in features will be printed at the beginning of the article as in the past. , We hope that Briefs will prove a distinct service for the many who are forced to be extremely selective in their reading. We trust it will prove its value as a rapid selector for articles that should be read in detail. Almost more so, we hope it will become recognized as a 6- to 10-page section of “must” reading for all I&EC readers, especially those technical executives and administrators who are hard pressed for time but who must keep abreast of their field if they are to retain their maximum competence. Fundamentally, Briefs is analogous to the popular “Concentrates” section of Chemical and Engineering News. This-in brief-is the brief for Briefs. While we have sought advice from many in its development, we are certain that Briefs can be improved further. We urge you to study it, see how well it fits your needs, and give us your comments and suggestions. Make this your New Year’s resolution on behalf of I&EC! And, while on that subject, we trust that next year will be all that you hope for it, and more.
human brain has long dnce become the limitscientific information. The physical sciences had their troubles, too, in the early days. Many blind alleys of theory lay as traps for the unwary. The blank spots on the map of knowledge severely limited the application of known facts for analogous but different conditions. Although some elements of that situation will always prevail on the frontiers of science, in our own field of chemical knowledge the big challenge is the tremendous core of data and established theory now latent in the literature. There, waiting to be used, may be the missing piece of the jig-saw puzzle of a synthesis, the costfree dividend of an increased process yield, the plasma that will save a unit plagued by severe corrosion, or a catalyst susceptible to poisoning. The literature-educated chemist or chemical engineer has ready access to this storehouse when he has a clearly crystallized problem. The unique comprehensiveness of Chemical Abstracts, with its exhaustive cross-indexing, provides an orderly route to the original sources of all published chemical information. The technical worker may gain access to the articles themselves through almost any established library which has not only its own resources but also the interlibrary loan services. AMERICANCHEMICAL SOCIETY members, through the Society’s photocopying service, may obtain at little effort or expense microfilms or photostatic copies of any document available to the Library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. But the chemical literature functions as more than a passive repository of data. The journals are the contemporary record of our creative scientific and technological intellect. They give insight into new concepts and experimental approaches that light the spark of inspiration in other men. Those who consciously or subconsciously read the journals for this purpose are understandably appalled by the recent great increases in the volume of published information. They know that any article may trigger their imagination into a productive channel of thought. How can they ever assimilate this flood of new knowledge and still have time left to apply it? Today, they cannot assimilate it all; they must select. HE
Ting factor in the exploitation of
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J A N U A R Y 1952
PAPERS
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T H I S
ISSUE
Edible Color
An important segment of the tremendous food products industry is t h a t division which produces the “color added” ingredient. Food colors are produced under stringent government controls and supervision, matched only by those imposed in the manufacture of antibiotics. I n the production of Orange No. 1, a t the Chicago plant of the William J. Stange Co., sulfanilic acid is diazotized and coupled with 1-naphthol. The color is completely salted out by addition of sodium chloride, then filtered, dried, and blended. Samples of the blend are sent to the Food and Drug Administration for analysis and certification. This essentially batch operation produces yields better than SO%, based on 1-naphthol, and utilizes equipment ,generally found in organic chemicals processing. Materials of construction, laboratory analysis, and fumle and dust control are of particular importance in the manufacture of food colors. A history of the development of food colors and their control is included in this staff-industry collaborative report CERTIFIED FOOD COLOR5 Gordon C. Inskeep and W. H. Kretlow..
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New Theory, Applications, Economics in
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Unit Ops
Reviews of the 1951literatureonunit operationsindicate that particularly increased activity occurred in solvent extraction and ion exchange developments. Ion exchange, as a relatively new operation, has not been exploited fully industrially and new applications, such as its use in biochemistry and the use of resins as therapeutic agents, furnish valuable additions to the literature. Important developments are also reported in water and waste treatments and catalysis. Applications of extraction to difficult separation processes, fundamental studies in leaching, and diffusion and equilibrium measuremehts are largely the subject of 1951 extraction studies. Fluorine compounds as selective solvents and metal separations are among this year’s interesting developments. Commercial processes for sulfur recovery continue to represent the most timely applications of absorption theory; new data on equipment performance are also noteworthy. A number of large solvent recovery plants utilizing activated carbon adsorbents started operations in 1951. Theae efficient automatic plants recover solvents for many industrial processes and are particularly valuable in materials shortage periods like the present. Chromatography, liquid-phase adsorption, and surface area studies provided new and basic information on adsorption. More significant progress in theory and applications of centrifugation are evident in the work reported during 1951 than in any other period. Equipment such as the Luwesta extractor and high speed centrifugals, plus new washing, drying, and clarifying techniques indicate the increasing value of this operation to industry. Modern processes for the production of sugar and sodium chloride are representative of new crystallization techniques resulting from development work on crystallizing specific substances. Many mixing problems are susceptible to pilot planting, and design data for large scale equipment received considerable attention during the year, as did also the fundamental studies of the relation between mass transfer, momentum transfer, mixing, and physical properties of fluids. Outstanding developments in size reduction technology include advances in grinding energy theory, freeze-grinding, the introduction of several new mills, and a procedure for determining the effective size of sieve openings. 2
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 44, No. 1
The use of high temperature distillation tecliniques in research aiid laboratory work is increasing. Industrial installations grew bigger and better and fewer-new crude oil distillation units have capacities of 60,000 barrels per day. Scale in evaporation eguipment is a major prohlem. A considerable portion of the current literature on evaporation is devoted t o its solution, with emphasis on new equipment, both major and auxiliary. Rotary drum filters, diatomaceous earth filters, preroat pressure filters, and granular bed filters are used in some of the new filtration operations. Synthetic fibers also offernew media. Scale-up information and (lata in support of filtration theory are also important 1951 literature contributions. Heat transfer data reported during thc year featured problems enrountered in fixed- o r fluidizedbed heterogeneous reactors. Interest :tnd stiidy i n turhulent flow theory, liquid metals, surface boiling phenomena, and compressible flow continue at ii high rate. Viscosity was an important phase of study in fluid dynamics; attempts t o reliit,e visrosity to other physical properties and measurement and control of flow rates add to the growing knowledge of viscosity theory. Industrial cost-reduction experts, t!xploring the advantages of new materials handling equipment, influenced the purchnse of $1.25 billion \ d t h of new t.rucks, conveyors, pallets, etc., in 1951. SEVENTE ANNUAL UNIT OPERATIONS REVIF>W
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BENERAL PAPERS chlonhe a d Cake riThis paper IINS been prepared to serve as a sourcc of information to professional men, students, educators, housewives, etc. The research chemist in allied fields will find here B short accurate description of how certain treatments have improved lipon nabure in the production of fondst,uffs made from cereals. C fferent.iations are made in this paper IEtreen bleaching and maturing. Man has always strived to obtain white flour. The application of oxidizing agents that remove yellow coloring matter from flour is known technically HS blearhing. The application of chemicals wliich change the rharncter of the dough and bread baked from giveii wheats is known u a mat.uring process. It frequently happens that a n agent such as chlorine dioxide is both a bleaching and maturing agent. Wmzoyl peroxide, as used at present, commercial levels, is strictly a bleaching agent. These processes may he u~sedseparately or in
