Division o i Industrial and Engineering Chemistry to Hold Symposia on Corrosion and Unit Processes T H E Division of Industrial and Engi neering Chemistry of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY is planning, for the
108th annual meeting of the SOCIETY to be held by the NOrth Jersey Section in New York September 11 to 15., two large sym posia. The first will feature a panel of world-wide experts and contributors on in hibitors for control of scale and corrosion in water and the second meeting will be the annual Unit Processes Symposium. The corrosion meeting will be held jointly with the Division of Water, Sew age, and Sanitation Chemistry, with Frank N. Speller as Symposium Chair m a n . Dr. Speller is a well-known expert in thefield,and is the author of the book "Corrosion Causes and Prevention". He has received, for his work in cor* osion, the Longstreth Medal of t h e Franklin Insti t u t e and the American Iron and Steel Institute Medal. The need for conservation of metals is being brought home to u s these days more t h a n before the war. It is now well known t h a t the useful life of many metal products i s definitely limited by corrosion in certain environments. Fortunately, means have been developed whereby liquid environ ments may be rendered much less harmful, if not entirely inactive, towards metals. T h i s is accomplished b y means of inhibi tors that interfere with either the anodic or cathodic reaction in the corrosion proc ess- Therefore, the study of immersion corrosion in particular i n distinction from gaseous corrosion should be of special interest to chemists who may be respon s i b l e for the maintenance of metal equip- ' ment. Where bimetallic systems occur, t h e destructive potential is usually more than at the seat of corrosion i n water on o n e metal, but nevertheless, certain in hibitors have been found to afford consid erable protection to the less noble metals of such systems. Ση some eases it has been found more economical t o use inhibitors than to use more durable metals o r protective coat ings. In certain cases inhibition is the only practical remedy. Therefore, i t seemed appropriate to in v i t e discussion of this phase of corrosion control. The papers lasted o n this pro gram are headed by two dealing with fun damentals of inhibitors. The others are b y authors selected because of their special experience with the use of certain wellknown inhibitors that have been on the
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R. Norris Shrove, Chairman, Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
market for some time. Complete coverage of the subject by these papers has not been possible because of time limitations. In the North Jersey area there are many installations where chromâtes are used satisfactorily to preserve air conditioning and refrigerating equipment, and where sodium silicate is used to protect galvanized iron and brass pipes in hot water systems. Corrosion problems are of a great interest for the oil refineries, some of the largest of which are located in the North Jersey district because the cost of corrosion to this portion of American industry has been estimated to exceed $130,000,000 annually. With the advent of hydrofluoric acid processing, this has undoubtedly increased in recent years and solution of the basic problems in corrosion will help in the ultimate control of all types of corrosion. Chemists are particularly interested in corrosion problems for fouling of surfaces in heat transfer and processing units cut down efficiency of equipment, and most of the practical methods of combating these troubles are of a chemical nature. Further, the terrifie toll of equipment on account of the corrosive substances used in most chemical processing plants is beyond the power of imagination. R. Norris Shreve, of Purdue University, will be Chairman of the Unit Processes Symposium. He will start the symposium with a brief description of the equipment used in industrial unit processes. One of CHEMICAL
the features of the symposium will be several other papers dealing with the equipment normally used by chemical companies in pilot plants. According to Professor Shreve: Unit processes by their very definition are concerned with the equipment in which chemical reactions arc carried on in our factories. These may be divided into two phases, that representing the pilotplant stage and that concerned with the manufacturing establishment itself. Adequate pilot-plant operations enable the factory to be designed properly and to function evenly and economically. Hence, it is timely in this symposium to stress some aspect of the equipment. Four papers other than Professor Shreve's will be devoted to the equipment phase. Frank C. Vilbrandt, of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, will speak on the use and functions of pilot plants in chemical industries. Professor Vilbrandt states that the conversion of laboratory data handed down from the pure research group into plant design data is only one function of the pilot plant. In addition to this task, which requires the seating up of a definite program including thorough investigation of basic reactions and reactants, time, temperature, concentration, and catalysis factors, the pilot plant must provide the breakdown of a process into unit operations, selection of suitable equipment, savings of materials and labor, and study of wastes, their recovery or disH. L. Barnebey, of the Blaw-Knox Co., will also discuss the place of the pilot plant, and his paper, which will be profusely illustrated with lantern slides, is divided into the following nine parts: fl) What is a pilot plant? (2) The purpose of a pilot plant. (3) How does a pilot plant fit into a development program? (4) What factors determine whether a pilot plant should be built? (5) Pilot plant design. (6) Construction. (7) Operation. (8) Interpretation of data. (9) Personnel organization. The final two papers of the equipment portion of the Unit Processes Symposium are concerned with mixing and agitating in pilot plants. J. H. Rushton, of the University of Virginia, will give a paper which will be closely integrated to the one which will follow it and which is authored by E. S. Bissell. Professor Rushton states that data obAND
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tained in pilot plants may be greatly af fected by the mixing device used to con trol agitation and heat transfer. For re actions involving a liquid phase where me chanical mixers are used, it is essential t o employ a mixing device whose perform ance can be measured and properly inter preted. The necessary data for proper evaluation of performance and translation to larger scale will be outlined for four separata systems. Mixing performance, states Rushton, is dependent on the con tainer shape as well as its own characteris tics. Rushton and his co-workers at Virginia have been laboring for several years on mixing and agitating problems; work closely connected with the Mixing Equipment Co. Over the past few years Dr. Rush ton's group has developed an in tegrated program wherein most of the small-scale experiments have been carried . on at the University of Virginia, and the large-scale work at the Rochester labora tories of the Mixing Equipment Co. Έ. S. Bissell and co-authors from the Mixing Equipment Co. will show the modi fying factors of small containers on mix ing action. They will give general design data for vessels, shape, dimensions, vari able speed drive, horse power range, im peller selection, method of supporting vessel. Minimum dimensions will be shown to be intimately related to physical characteristics of material. The pilot plant for studying agitation is contrasted with the pilot plant requiring agitation for carrying on the process. Unit processes will be covered in eight separate papers. K. A. Kobe will show the percentage oxidation of ferrous sulfate in a solution of ferric sulfate and sulfuric acid using both oxygen and air. Time, partial pressure of oxygen, temperature, acid concentration, and catalytic concen tration will be illustrated by means of curves. \V. L. Faith, of the Kansas State Col lege, has studied the catalytic vapor phase oxidation of halogenated hydrocarbons over a vanadium pentoxide catalyst to form maleic or fumaric acid. The process according to the author appears to be a suitable means of using by-product polychlorinated hydrocarbons. Data are pre sented for the oxidation of w-butyl chlo ride, η-butyl bromide, 1,2-dichlorobutane, and other chlorides from amyl through the keryl group. Donald Othmer and various co-workers at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn will author four papers covering the esterification of butylène glycol with acetic acid; esterification of butyl alcohol and acetic acid; pyrolysis of butylène glycol diacetate to give butadiene, and hydrolysis of wood and recovery of the liquid byproducts. E. T. McBee, H. B. Hass, and P. A. Wiseman of Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation will report on the catalytic, vapor-phase, air oxidation of ethylene, using a silver catalyst prepared VOLUME
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by coating pieces of corundum with silver oxide. The paper will cover a temperature range between 225° and 325° C. Products isolated were, according to the authors, ethylene oxide, carbon dioxide, and water. The investigation was made to determine the most favorable operating conditions for the production of ethylene oxide. It was found that: (1) A large air-ethylene ratio is most favorable for obtaining both good yields and conversions. (2) The temperature of optimum yields is somewhat lower than that of optimum conversions, (3) The temperature of operation of the catalyst must be raised as the contact time becomes shorter to maintain maximum efficiency. (4) Small additions of ethylene dichloride to the reactants are desirable; large additions, deleterious. (5) Such a catalyst, when deactivated by excess ethylene dicnloride, can be revived by raising the operating temperature and passing the reactants over the catalyst simultaneously. In another paper from Purdue University, H. B. Hass, E. T. McBee, and J. W. Churchill will give data on the oxidation of hexadecanc. In a preliminary report the authors say that hexadecane-air mixtures, under a pressure of 2,000 pounds per square inch, were passed through a reactor at temperatures from 190° to 300° C. The product was analyzed for alcohols, acids, aldehydes, ketones, and esters. Since the usual methods of analysis for alcohols and carbonyl compounds appeared to be unsatisfactory when applied to these complex mixtures, say the Purdue scientists, the product was catalytically hydrogenated and then analyzed for alcohols, acids, and esters. Oxidations at 300° C. were accompanied by soot formation and miniature explosions as evidenced by "knocks". The alcohol content of products obtained by the two-step process of oxidation and hydrogénation was as high as 17 per cent by weight. The average molecular weight of the alcohols obtained ranged from 130 to 165 for the various runs.
membership of 2,300 we sponsor the 108th national meeting of the AMERICAN CHEMI-
CAL SOCIETY September 11 to 15. It took a war to bring it here. Unfortunately, the site is not within our own territory, and for obvious reasons. But we are glad to add this responsibility to our duties as one of the important foci of the war effort. We have done so on the premise that wartime meetings are as important to chemists as peacetime meetings; and since almost one quarter of the membership of the SOCIETY lives'within commuting distance the maximum number can be reached with the least strain on transportation facilities and accommodations and with a minimum of time away from the direct war effort.
A C S Minimum Salary Recommendations The vote of the Board of Directors at its April 2 meeting in Cleveland regarding increased salary recommendations was, by order of the Directors, first published in connection with Employment Clearing House announcement for the New York meeting (see CHEM. ENG. NEWS, page
909, June 10, 1944). Those using the Employment Clearing House are required to agree to meet at least the following minima for starting salaries in any offers made to those chemists and chemical engineers with whom the SOCIETY brings them in contact: Graduates who have majored in chemistry or chemical engineering, without professional experience and who (a) have not been certified as having completed a course approved by the AMERICAN CHEMICAI, SOCIETY
$2,100
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2,400
(b) have not been certified but are of better than average ability 2,400 (c) have been certified as having completed a course approved by the AMERICAN Graduates who have majored in chemistry or chemical engineering and who (a) have been certified as having completed a course approved by the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY and who have completed
History of North Jersey Section
two years of subsequent training or experience 3,000 (b) have not been certified as having completed a course approved by the AMERI-
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CAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY and who have com-
rated in wjich the main talk is followed by group talks on physical and inorganic, and organic and biological subjects during which specialists in these fields give papers on specific chemical topics. More recently meetings have alternated between Newark and Elizabeth with the object of providing opportunity for the maximum number of the membership to attend, which in these days of gas rationing is a problem, indeed. In addition, support has been provided for a subgroup meeting at New Brunswick. And now at the ripe age of 25 and a JULY
2 5, 1 9 4 4
pleted five years of subsequent training or experience 3,000 As the "work week" for professional men has in the past been quite variable with local conditions and practice, the Directors made no recommendation regarding hours of work, leaving this to private negotiation. They limited themselves to a yearly minimum salary for beginners with qualifications as stated. The classified salaries for chemists and chemical engineers employed by the Government through the Civil Service Commission will be found on page 810 of the May 25, 1944 issue of CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS.
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