INTERNATIONAL
Britain to M a k e Armour Chemicals LONDON.—A range of fat-based chemicals, now m a d e only by Chicago's Armour & Co., will b e produced in Britain. A plant costing $705,000 is being built by Hess Products in Lancashire. Exclusive manufacturing rights have been obtained from the Chicago company and product sales and distribution will b e handled by Armour in London.
fatty acid. Process can be modified to produce diamines of the general formula R N H Q H s N H ^ . Additional derivatives from the process: water soluble salts of the amines and diamines, quaternized amines, ampholytic chemicals, and alkyl morpholines. In general, process used will duplicate that employed in Armour's McCook, 111., plant. Although provision is being made for expansion, initial capacity of the British unit will be about half that of the American plant. Company officials predict initial production from the plant will reach a value of almost $1.4 million during first year of operation. N e w plant will be of British manufacture and will be erected and operated b y British labor. No new capital is being solicited by the builders. Completion is scheduled for midsummer next year. Institute of Nutriton Opens New Building in Guatemala
Fractionation unit of Hess products in Littleborough, where fatty acids are produced under Armour patents. New Armour plant will be constructed nearby and will draw its raw materials from this plant The new plant will b e adjacent to the existing Hess fractional distillation unit which has been producing fatty acids since 1950. Fatty acids will be p u m p e d across to the catalyst unit now under construction, where they will be contacted with ammonia. Operation will b e continuous a n d completely automatic, yielding high grade aliphatic nitriles. A unit for t h e production of anhydrous ammonia is part of the new construction. Theoretical reactions (R = aliphatic chain) are: RCOOH fatty acid
+ NH8
-^ RCOONH4 soap
RCOONH4
- HoO
-> RCONH2 amide
RCONHo
-HoO
~> RCN nitrile
Complete facilities for research and training in the biochemistry of foods and nutrition are now available in Guatemala City, Guatemala, with the opening of a new building by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are cooperating in the project, which is administered by the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, World Health Organization regional office. Institute was originally inaugurated several years ago [see C&EN 29, 1330 ( 1 9 5 1 ) ] and was assisted from the beginning by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Activities of INCAP quickly
outgrew its initial facilities, and the present building has been under construction by the Guatemalan government for two years at a total cost of approximately $200,000. Laboratories of INCAJP provide for all types of work in agricultural and food chemistry and include faciHties for determination of vitamins and other nutrients. With the exception of the director, Nevin S. Scrimshaw, the laboratory is staffed by Central Americans, most of whom have received or are receiving advanced training in the U. S.
• Pakistan will have an oil survey over a 20,000-square-rnile area, under an agreement with Standard-Vacuum Oil Co. Areas to b e explored have already been covered by a preliminary survey and are in the Ganges River delta area and Indus River valley, Pakistan will put u p a fourth of the cost to a pledged maximum of $15 million and the company will pay the rest. Company has agreed to purchase the government's 25% of any oil produced at well-head value. • Furfural plant is being built in the Dominican Republic hy South Porto Rico Sugar and is scheduled to begin operation early next year. Output of the plant will be used principally in making nylon in the U, S, Raw material for furfural production will be bagasse supplied by local sugar cane processors. • Procter & G a m b l e has leased synthetic detergent production facilities from Etablissements Fournier-Ferrier of Marseille, France, for 30 years. Arrangement includes production and packaging equipment.
Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama in Guatemala City
As t h e nitrile leaves the catalyst unit in continuous flow it will b e passed to a hydrogénation section where it is then converted into primary amines. A whole range of these amines (traden a m e d Armeens) can b e produced, depending on the nature of the initial 4482
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