THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
milk contains D D T residues twice the level considered safe by the World Health Organization), an agricultural worker, and E D F made the proposal, since modified to exempt residues ap plied before a tolerance would be set. Judge Wright called this "one possible solution" while recognizing that a zero tolerance set immediately would be an "infeasible, major disruption" of the U.S. food supply. At press time, De partment of Health, Education, and Welfare officials were uncertain what action they would take.
DESALINATION:
Pure Water by Magnetism A magnetic method has been added to evaporation and reverse osmosis technology for desalination. The new method, developed by Dominic Avampato, depends on concentrating ions in certain regions by use of a magnetic field, followed by removal of relatively purer water in the remain ing region. At first it might seem obvious that the method would work since ions are affected by magnetic fields. It might seem just as obvious, though, that it couldn't work, since charge shield ing by solvent weakness of external magnetic fields and stirring effects would wipe out any gains. To Mr. Avampato of State University of New York, Farmingdale, the important things are that it does indeed work, that he holds U.S. Patent 3,511,776 on the process, and that he expects an agreement this week with Research Corp. of New York City on commer cialization. The simplest device built by the SUNY chemist channels water through a pipe past an ultraviolet or x-ray source. He thinks that the radiation ionizes ions in the water to higher oxi dation states. Sodium might be mo
mentarily ionized to the + 2 oxidation state, magnesium and calcium to + 3 , and halogens to + 1 . The water next flows past a magnet (see illustration), which deflects the ions away from the center of the pipe. With the cen tral region of the pipe relatively de pleted of ions, water in this region flows into an inner pipe and out of the apparatus. Analyzing by titrations and MC1 labeling, Mr. Avampato says he aver ages 15% removal of ions from 3.5% sodium chloride solution with an ex trapolated flow rate of 33 gallons per minute. Removal of 92% of ions has occasionally been attained. The purer water from the central region can easily be processed in another unit, Mr. Avampato thinks, and he has designed a multistage unit which will channel high and low ion concentra tions from each step to the appropriate imput cycle of another chamber. Magnetic field strength has to be matched to radiation energy, he finds. He switched from electromagnets to permanent magnets when required field strength was known. Thus the only required power would involve the ultraviolet or x-ray source. He finds some regions of water in the main pipe rich in hydrochloric acid and others rich in sodium hy droxide. He thus envisions a possi ble separation of chemicals from sea water or brines by the same method. In a world short of lone pioneers, Mr. Avampato has reached the com mercialization stage of his process at his own expense and in his basement. He comes to Research Corp. with a patent obtained on his own. Says Dr. Willard Marcy of Research Corp., "It will be at least a year or two before pilot-plant production will even begin. At the present stage of development, no cost study is pos sible." Mr. Avampato turned to the corpo ration to solve difficulties of suitable commercialization of his invention.
With power requirements of the tech nique an unknown quantity, it remains to be seen whether magnetic methods will buck evaporation or reverse os mosis technology, but in the next two years Mr. Avampato expects to learn the answer.
ACS:
Pension Plan Go-Ahead ACS's proposed and much talked about professionwide pension plan has re ceived an official go-ahead from the Society's Board of Directors. Meet ing at a special session held during the Joint Chemical Institute of Can ada-AC S Conference in Toronto, the Board voted without dissent to ap prove the recommendation of the So ciety's Committee on Profession-Wide Pension Plan (PWPP) already en dorsed by the Council in February. The recommendation calls for es tablishment of an independent entity for the purpose of implementing a professionwide pension plan and a loan from ACS not to exceed $105,000 to be used to cover initial ex penses in setting up the plan. Details of the proposed expenditures were specified in a letter from Dr. Ε. Ε. McSweeney, chairman of the PWPP Committee, to ACS Board Chairman Milton Harris. "I know Dr. Mc Sweeney and those working with him on this very timely matter will do all in their power to bring the plan into being at the earliest possible date," Dr. Harris said in a letter announc ing the Board's action to the Society's nearly 900 councilors and alternate councilors. The entity to be established will consist of a new separate organization which will be a trust or corporation, having as its board of directors desig nated representatives from several ma jor scientific and professional societies in the U.S. This corporation or trust will not be under the control of ACS, although some ACS members will be on the plan's board of directors. The ACS Board action granted au thority for making appointments to PWPP's governing body to Dr. Harris, who will do so in consultation with Society President Byron Riegel and ACS Executive Director F. T. Wall. PWPP has been under intensive study by ACS for several years. It was formally presented to the ACS Board of Directors in February and to the members in March (C&EN, March 9, page I S ) . Before sanctioning So ciety efforts to create a national porta ble pension system, the ACS Board wanted to be sure that members un derstood the plan's limitations as well as its benefits with respect to such points as eligibility and portability. JUNE 8, 1970 C&EN
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