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I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
New York were found to be about 36.5 per cent. However, after improvements had been worked out, these losses were reduced to as low as 17.9 per cent, and this remarkably low loss was obtained under unfavorable weather conditions and only partial filling of the compartment. This, it will be noted, is the loss incident to loading ice from the car into the ship’s hold, evaporationduring thevoyage, and unloading on the dock in New York. A total loss of 23 per cent covers all the loss that was sustained between the time ice was made and the time i t was stored on the dock in New York. This low loss, coupled with the very low freight rates that apply to watergoing shipping, gives great promise of the ability to supply markets over quite a range of territory. Upon arrival in h’ew York this ice was stored in an insulated storage
Vol. 23, No. 3
wells, a t the end of the ship’s channel about seven miles from Tampico, or at Tampico itself. These sites involve slight changes in cost of transportation of the product and various lengths of pipe line and some little difference in labor cost. Costs a n d M a r k e t
The summary of costs of manufacturing and transporting the ice, based on actual figures obtained during the past summer, is as follows: % Total plant costs Tampico office expense Transportation expense, including duty Warehouse in New York
OF TOTAL COST
25.6 3.8
64.3 6 3
It is very p r o b a b l e that costs based on the
freight and to e s t a b l i s h the Quebrache Well after Force of Gas Had Destroyed Derrick but after Well Was feasibility of this projunder Control and Blowing through a 4-Inch Pipe import duty, both figect, it was not deemed ures b a s e d on tons wise to wait for perfection of the purification before ship- handled, so costa per ton are comparatively fixed in the face of ping the ice, and this first ice had a strong odor of hydrogen fluctuating sales. The costs for 50 tons per day from a 100sulfide. However, subsequent loads of the ice were found ton plant are only about $1.50 higher than the 100-ton proto be of a quality fully equal to that so far marketed duction. With the other manufacturers this difference is in New York by any producer. The texture was smooth, many times this amount. with none of the objectionable sandiness usually found in I n cost of plant per ton of daily production, this source of ice that has been stored, nor did it have brittleness that solid carbon dioxide is most interesting. I n the States incauses some ice to shatter when sawed into smaller cakes. dependent (not by-product) solid carbon dioxide plants have The color was white and it was absolutely free from any cost $10,000 to $25,000 per daily ton of production. With foreign odor; in fact, inasmuch as the gas had not been these high-pressure wells as a source the plant cost is about put through compressors, it was free from the oily odors and $3000 per daily ton, traces of compresssor oil that are found in much of the other From Tampic0 water-borne transportation can be had to ice on the New York market. It was sold a t the New York any Gulf or Atlantic port a t a freight charge less than that market price and many customers were persuaded to change from Cleveland to New York City. Markets UP the Misfrom other sources of supply to this new ice solely on the sissippi River are also available. This will mean a great basis of its quality. flexibility in marketing the product and help materially in building up a uniform all-year business. For in the winter, Location of Commercial Plant when business in this line is quiet in New York, it is very In regard to the location of the plant in Mexico there are active in the South. The writer believes that this preliminary semi-commercial several possibilities. The plant might be located near the wells, on the site of the present plant, which is a t the railroad, operation has proved the feasibility of the prpject to manua t Topila the nearest point to the Panuco River from the facture and market the Mexican solid carbon-dioxide. V&3
*
Chemical Industry Shows Balance of Trade For the first time in the recent history of the American chemical industry, American foreign trade struck a balance in 1930, with both exports and imports valued at $172,000,000. It will be recalled that, with the exception of the war period, annual imports of chemicals and allied products have exceeded exports by many millions of dollars. Both the inbound and outbound trade has fluctuated during the past ten years, but during the greater part of this time there has been a gradual approach to a balance. It is also interesting to note that the exports for 1930 were well above the average for the ten-year period, and even
considerably greater than the average for the last five years. The changes in the chemical industry, the rise to prominence of new chemical commodities, and the intercommodity competition are all reflected in the chemical foreign trade statistics. Since 1921 chemical exports have advanced 56 per cent, from $110,000,000 to $172,000,000, and imports only 33 per cent, from $129,000,000 to $172,000,000. The marked fluctuations from year to year evident in the import trade are absent from the export, which for the most part has shown a rather steady upward movement.
