A p r . , 1915
T H E JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Maginnis in New Orleans, Union in Providence, and J. V. Lewis in Cincinnati. Most of the early product was used for adulterating olive oil, except when it was labeled and sold as that material. I n 1887, the writer had the privilege of visiting these refineries, which were probably operating then very much as they had been doing for years. The crude oil was refined with caustic soda, and the strength of lye was largely a matter of taste on the part of the refiner. The quantity used was left entirely t o his discretion. The crude oil was judged by taste, color and smell, and caustic added till the required color was obtained on a filtered sample, There were as many styles of kettles and .agitators as there were refineries. Most of the refiners were practical men, and they were chock-full of theories. One of these practical refiners mixed his lye in round-bottomed sugar cauldrons, and another judged the strength by rubbing a few drops between his thumb and fingers. The crude oil mills were run very much like the refineries. T h e export trade liked soft, yellow cake, so some of the mills, trying to make what was wanted, would leave from 1 2 to 16 per cent of oil in the cake and meal. They also allowed large quantities of meats to go into the hulls, and annually sacrificed large amoun1.s of perfectly good meal and oil in the form of settlings, which were allowed to ferment and were originally put in the soap kettles. It was about this time that chemistry began to take the industry in hand. Crude oil, up to now, had been bought and sold as prime, or prime for the season, or off, and was passed upon by manufacturers and brokers, who looked a t it, tasted it, then looked wise and gave their verdict. Then the chemist stepped in and found that the quality of the oil closely followed the free acid present, and started grading accordingly. This made a big stir. Some of the mill owners denied the possibility of free fatty acid being present in any of their oil, as they never had any fatty acids on their premises. The chemists then showed these same mill men how much oil they were losing in their cake and throwing away in their hulls, with the result that more oil was made per ton of seed. The hulls were burned under the boilers and furnished the power for the mills. Every ton of seed furnished about 7 0 0 lbs. of hulls. The ashes, averaging about I O lbs. per ton of seed were a valuable by-product, being rich in potash and phosphoric acid. The writer is in doubt whether it was a chemist or a cow that discovered that hulls were good for cattle food. At any rate, cows ate them with avidity, and analyses proved t h a t they had the feeding value of low-grade hay. So the mills now get from $4 to $IO a ton for hulls which are worth about %I to $2 per ton as fuel. The cotton-seed soap stock in the early days was almost thrown away. Much was made into woolen and scouring soaps. About 1877, a bright near-chemist mixed some of this soap with soda ash, and made it into washing powder. The advertising man made a virtue of its yellow color, and the “twins did the work.” Now, the soap stock is used largely as a source for white distilled fatty acids and glycerine, while the residual tar from the stills forms a base for paint and roofing materials. The chemist’s greatest service to the industry has been in the refining of the oil. Beginning with tests for acidity, followed up by laboratory refining tests to determine loss and color, and finally bringing into use the tintometer for measuring the color against standard glasses, the commercial practice has been put on's higher and more substantial basis. The careful and scientific application of bleaching materials and selection of the oil has done much towards the development of the lard compound industry. The greatest factor in the advance of the industry as a whole has been the development of methods for deodorization and improvement of the flavor of the oil. The flavor of an alkali refined oil is largely dependent
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on the seed from which it is made. For this reason it was practically impossible to obtain a uniform oil. Bleaching with fullers’ earth helped but little. Even the best oils made from selected crude and careful handling were open to objection. Certain volatile principles made a disagreeable odor when the oil was used for cooking, and created natural prejudices. Now all flavors are absolutely removed, and the resultant product is as pure as granulated sugar, regardless of the kind of crude oil from which it has been made. The latest contribution has been the hydrogenization of the oil which converts it into a solid fat by the introduction of hydrogen into the molecules of the unsaturated acids. This enables the manufacturer of cooking fats to turn out compounds consisting entirely of vegetable fat, which are fast displacing the mixtures of oil with animal fats formerly employed. The improvements given by the chemist to the cotton-seed industry may be summarized as follows: I-Putting the refining of crdde oil on a more rational basis. 11-Preventing loss in manufacture by making a physical audit by analytical methods of the work of mills and refineries. 111-By analyses of products their values have been shown, and the commercial practice has been placed on an accurate foundation. IV-By improving refining methods, practically all cottonseed oil, regardless of section, or season, has been converted intu one of our most valuable food products, and the residue worked into valuable by-products. V-By the new process of hydrogenation wholesome edible fats of the consistency of butter and lard are now produced entirely from what will probably continue to be our cheapest vegetable oil. VI-While the chemist has worked to improve the manufacturing side of the industry, he has been the means of putting something like $Iaj,ooo,ooo every year in the hands of the farmers; or, in other words, he has added ten to twelve dollars to the value of the crop for every bale of cotton grown and has made possible an industry which provides means of livelihood for the thousands of people in hundreds of factories and on the road making and selling the products. 24 BROAD STREET,NEW YORK
CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE CHEMIST T O THE CEMENT INDUSTRY By G. S. BROWN President Alpha Portland Cement Company
Portland cement was manufactured in the United States in a small way 40 years ago. It occupied, however, a very minor position among the industries of this nation until the beginning of the present century. At this time the production of Portland cement is not far from I~j,ooo,ooObarrels, or 20,000,000 tons, per annum, and is, perhaps, next to the manufacture of iron and steel, the manufacturing industry which gives to the railroads their largest tonnage. It is safe to say that the tremendous advance made in this industry has been, for the most part, due to the 7eal and knowledge of the chemist. Portland cement has been manufactured in Europe for very many years and in the latter part of the 19th century was imported into the United States in large quantities. The small amount of Portland cement manufactured in the United States a t that time was of irregular composition and of. perhaps, doubtful quality; on this account there was instilled into the minds of the users of cement a strong prejudice against Portland cement of American manufacture. Prior to 1890, investigations made by some of those interested in the manufacture of cement in the United States, convinced them that with proper care it would be possible to make from the materials available in the United States just as sound
T H E J O C R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D EJTGIXEERISG C H E M f S T R Y a Portland cement as was made in Europe. These men turned the matter over to chemists, who were given entire charge of the manufacturing process. It was very soon demonstrated that American Portland cement manufactured in this manner was absolutely as good as the foreign cements which hitherto had enjoyed a much better reputation. There was still considerable prejudice in the minds of the users of the cement and in the minds of engineers and architects; they argued that, while the short-time tests were satisfactory, there was nothing to indicate that the cement would give normal tests for longer periods of time. Further work by chemists proved, to the satisfaction of all reasonable men, that the constituents of American Portland cement and Imported Portland cement were not very different 'and that there was every reason t o believe that the long-time tests would be just as satisfactory as the shorttime tests were. This conclusion was amply demonstrated. Having proven that it was possible to manufacture cement really of a better quality than that hitherto imported, the next step before the manufacturers was to reduce the cost, so t h a t Portland cement could be sold to consumers a t a price which would warrant them in extending its use and substituting i t for other forms of construction. I n the original factories the clinker was burned with oil. The kilns were short and the process was very wasteful of fuel. Along towards the end of the 19th century the price of fuel oil began to go up and reached such a point that the life of the cement industry in the United States was seriously threatened. Again recourse was had to the chemist, and after many experiments the system of powdering coal and burning i t in kilns was perfected. This pow^ dered coal took the place of fuel oil and resulted in a very marked reduction in the cost of manufacturing cement. Further than this, experiments were also conducted along lines indicated by theory and longer kilns were built, this again effecting a reduction in the cost of cement. Many other reductions in the cost of the manufacture of cement were made by reason of the investigations of the chemist, probably the most important being that of handling the raw material in large quantities direct from the quarry. This method took the place of the old scheme, whereby the stone of different compositions was gathered in separate bins and then distributed in proper quantities throughout the mill. The present practice is to mix the raw stone in the quarry, thus greatly reducing the cost of handling. So much for the manufacturing itself. I n the realm of the use of Portland cement the chemist has also done much. He has been particularly active in educating those who use cement t o the necessity of seeing that the aggregates used with the cement are of proper quality. He has also given a great deal of time to the development of specifications which will protect the user of cement. Originally, each engineer had his own specifications and many of them were most peculiarly and wonderfully drawn. The energetic efforts of the chemist practically eliminated all of these freaks and we have today, through his efforts, standard specifications which insure to any user of cement an absolutely sound article. Time would fail me to go into the detail of all the problems which have come up in our business and which have been successfully solved through the efforts of the chemist. Careless manipulation in mixing concrete often resulted in walls that were not water-proof. While it is easily possible, with careful attention to the aggregates and mixing, to get an absolutely water-proof concrete wall without the use of any so-called water-proofing, the fact remains that in the hands of the ordinary user of cement proper care may not be taken. The chemist, therefore, developed a water-proofing material w-hich, when added to the concrete, prevents water from seeping through. Problems in connection with the storing of clinker, sorting of cement, the operation of our power plants, quarry conditions, etc., all have been referred to the chemist and by him put in process of solution.
V O ~7. , NO. 4
The fact that the chemist is responsible for the quality of the cement to such an extent that he controls the operation of the mill, is largely advertised by a t least one of the larger cement manufacturing companies in the United States. EASTON, PA. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE CHEMIST TO THE SUGAR INDUSTRY By W. B. HORXE Consulting Chemist
Chemistry as a science has contributed so much toward the development of the sugar industry from the beginning that the association has been a continuous one and cannot be looked upon as having been abruptly formed a t any particular time, but rather as having been the principal factor in the development of sugar manufacture. Thus the influence this science has exerted upon the industry during the past quarter century should be viewed in relation to what has preceded and what will follow. Much of what chemistry is doing now is the development of earlier work and will continue to exert its influence upon the future. Every department of the industry has long been under searching chemical investigation in almost every detail. Agriculture, manufacture, refining and utilization in the arts have called for chemical assistance and have received noteworthy aid. Very many new processes have been developed, better methods of analysis have been devised and theoretical knowledge OF the constitution of the sugars has been substantially advanced. A vast literature is maintained on the subject of sugar, the main division of which is chemical. The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis, composed of leading sugar chemists from the principal sugar-producing countries of the world, has done a great deal of good work in revising analytical methods, prescribing standards for apparatus, calculating working tables and generally supervising the field of sugar analysis. Emil Fischer introduced the use of phenylhydrazine as a reagent in studying the theoretical molecular constitution of the sugars. This reagent's property of reacting with the aldehyde or ketone group of a sugar molecule and the adjacent alcohol group has rendered the highest, service in studying the constitution of the sugars, as pursued for many years by Fischer, Rerzfeld, Mulliken, and many others. The development of sugar in the cane has been carefully studied by Prinsen Geerligs in Java and the occurrence. of the nitrogenous constituents in the beet by Saillard in France, not to mention a n almost endless series of similar investigations by other chemists in every branch of plant physiology and development. The influence of soil composition and the effect of fertilizer ingredients has also received detailed study, including the remarkable effect on plant development caused by the action of minute quantities of manganese in the soil upon the enzymes in the grow-ing plants. A great deal of work has been done on the development of nem varieties of cane through raising seedling plants and selecting, largely through chemical analysis, the best individuals for further propagation. Thus the famous D 74 has been developed in Demerara and equally good varieties in Java and other countries. In Java, a few years ago, the sugar industry was threatened with destruction through the prevalence of insect pests and other troubles which beset the cane with accumulating force. The development of new varieties through chemical and biological work alone reclaimed the industry and placed it upon a very profitable basis. I n the manufacture of raw sugar, the past quarter century has seen great advance through bringing factories under chemical control, and the cane industry has caught up with and surpassed the beet industry through its scientific development on these lines. The consumption of sugar in the United State.s
