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Vol. 16, No. 12
WORLD-WIDE CHEMISTRY Canadian Letter By S. J. Cook 140 BROADWAY AvE., OTTAWA,CANADA
RESEARCH IN FOREST PRODUCTS Investigational work is being carried on a t the Forests Products Laboratories of Canada, in cooperation with McGill University a t Montreal, on the subjects of interest to the lumbering, pulp and paper, and wood-using industries of Canada. During the year an attempt has been made to develop the process of making sulfite pulp from jack pine. An attempt to eliminate resin by the use of cymene proved unsatisfactory and the problem was next approached by careful manipulation of the cooking conditions. The work is still in process. The object of another investigation was t o determine the maximum temperature to which spruce and balsam chips may be raised before being covered with acid without injury to the chips. The critical temperature was determined and the work successfully completed. To determine the effect of fire-killing and superficial charring on the pulping qualities of spruce and balsam fir, work was done, and as a result a successful sulfite process was developed. One of the researches in pure chemistry was for the purpose of adding t o the knowledge of the constitution of the cellulose molecule and of the chemistry of the cellulose complex of Canadian woods generally. Attention was given chiefly to the investigation of the chloral condensation products of cellulose, on which a good deal of research was done. The subject is a complex one and the investigation will be continued. Condemned paper currency withdrawn from circulation by the Department of Finance amounts to a considerable volume each year, and it was thought worth while to work up a profitable method of recovering good paper stock from this source. Refining of the stock produced under normal cooking conditions was carried out, and by the use of a special washing equipment it was found possible to recover an absolutely clean pulp. The work will be continued on a commercial scale. Another investigation still in process seeks to determine the scientific principle involved in kiln drying and to improve present kiln-drying practice. To determine whether the decay which frequently occurs in stored pulp could be prevented by storage in water, paper was made from ground wood pulp which had been stored in water for periods varying from two to three years, and comparison was made with paper made from similar pulps newly manufactured; the results demonstrated that pulp could be stored under water for considr able periods without deterioration. A spec’ J publication on the subject of decay of timber in buildings IS being prepared. The object of the investigation was to secure exact information as t o the conditions which facilitate the action’of various wood-destroying fungi on woods used for interior construction in mills, factories, etc., and to work out procedure and methods by which the decay could be prevented. The work has been in progress for several years and expert technical knowledge on the prevention of decay has been secured as a result of decay studies in hundreds of large buildings which were examined during the year. The effectiveness of glues of the various classes for joint work has been studied and twenty-six commercial adhesives of the hide and casein classes have been investigated. Aging tests are being carried on to secure information on the permanency of the adhesives. The present methods of creosote treatment of aspen for railway ties are not considered satisfactory, nor are the methods of preservative treatment of Canadian hardwoods for top pins and pole brackets. The laboratories are investigating these two subjects. Much credit is due to W. Kynoch, superintendent of the Forest Products Laboratories, for the initiation of the investigations that have been carried out as well as those in process. UTILIZATION O F ONTARIO I R O N ORE The Ontario Iron Ore Committee, appointed by the Provincial Government “to investigate and report upon the extent and quality of the deposits of low-grade iron ores in Ontario, the best com-
mercial methods of beneficiating the same, and generally what steps or measures should be adopted to enable the low-grade and other ores of the province t o be utilized in the production of pig iron or steel,” has made its report in a volume of 300 pages. It recommends ( 1 ) that the province of Ontario provide a bounty of one cent per unit of iron on each long ton of merchantable iron ore, natural or beneficiated, produced, and actually marketed from Ontario deposits, and that such bounty be available to Ontario producers of merchantable iron ore for a period of ten years; ( 2 ) that a properly qualified geologist be permanently assigned to the work of studying and reporting on Ontario iron ore deposits; (3) that a mining engineer be retained and charged with keeping the Department of Mines continuopsly in touch with improvements made in the a r t of ore dressing and concentrating and sintering of low-grade iron ores, and that by cooperation with the University of Toronto sufficient equipment should be provided to permit the testing of any of these reported improvements and their practical application to Ontario ores. The committee believes that some of the high-grade magnetites (over 50 per cent iron natural) and siderites such as are found a t the New Helen Mine can be produced today a t a cost approximately equal to their market value, but there is little in the present iron ore mining situation in Ontario that would attract capital. For this reason it is believed that some new factor must be introduced in order to get the industry under way. PROGRESS REPORTBY DOMINION CHEMIST The Department of Agriculture a t Ottawa maintains a Division of Chemistry directed by Frank T. Shutt, Dominion Chemist, for the investigation of Canadian agricultural problems involving the application of chemistry. The Division of Chemistry works in cooperation with several divisions of the Dominion Experimental Farms system and also with other departments of the Government service. Control work is carried on in connection with the administration of the Meats and Canned Foods Act. This consists of investigatory and critical analytical work on all classes of packinghouse and cannery products, preserved meats, fruits, vegetables, condensed milks, milk powders, etc. One investigation carried on for the past sixteen years has to do with the fertilizing value of rain and snow. It is estimated that the average nitrogen content of rain and snow falling in a 12-month period amounts to 7.413 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Another study extending over a period of 20 years seeks t o determine the areas in the Dominion in which beets suitable for sugar extraction can be successfully grown. The nutritive value of field roots as determined by the dry matter and sugar content has been investigated and wide differences in feeding value have been found t o exist among varieties in the same class. This has been useful in indicating the varieties or strains likely to prove most profitable. The influence of early and late planting and sprouting on the yield and dry matter content of potatoes is the subject of another investigation in process. The division annually examines about five thousand samples. About one-half are collected by the inspectors under the Meats and Canned Foods Act; the remainder consists of forage plants, fodders and feeding stuffs, soils, manures, and fertilizers, waters, dairy products, and insecticides and fungicides. The work of the division has been gradually extended from year to year, and quite recently i t was necessary to extend the laboratory building very considerably and to provide additional equipment. The members of the staff are fully qualified chemists, and several who have been in the division for a number of years under the direction of Dr. Shutt have become recognized as experts in their work. RESEARCH COUNCIL INCORPORATED The Honorary Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has been constituted a body corporate, an act to this effect having been passed by the Dominion Government on the recommendation of the Committee of the Privy Council on Scientific and Industrial Research. The members of the Research Council hold office for a period of three years and not less than four members retire annually. The president of the council is appointed by the governor-in-council on the recommendation of the committee, and is the chief executive officer, having supervision over the work of the council and the officers, technical and otherwise, appointed for the purpose of carrying on the work of
December, 1924
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEiWISTRY
the council. H. M. Tory is the president of the Research Council. This council is expected to represent the Government in the promotion of research work in all its phases in Canada and t o carry out investigations on its own, in much the same way as the Bureau of Standards does a t Washington. The idea is to combine in this governmental body the functions of a Bureau of Standards and a Mellon Institute. RESEARCH COUNCIL, OF ALBERTA The propagation of industrial research in Canada under government auspices is not confined t o the Dominion Government, but is also carried on by the Provincial Government of Alberta. The Annual Report of the Scientific and Industrial Research Couiicil of Alberta, which has just come from the press, indicates that the principal investigations conducted during the year dealt with fuels. Methods of storing coals were studied and progress was made during the year in working out suitable methods for testing domestic heaters. Work on the briquetting of carbonized lignite was continued and methods for reducing the ash content of certain high-ash coals were developed. Geological investigations were carried on in the gas and oil areas and a salt well log was studied. The investigation of the bituminous sands of Northern Alberta was continued with a view to their separation and utilization in road construction. The Research Council of Alberta is providing a considerable fund of information with respect to the utilization of raw materials found in that province. November 3, 1924
German Letter By WaIter Roth C ~ T I I E NGERXANY ,
SCIENTIFIC MEETINGAT INNSBRUCK Autumn is the time of conventions in Germany. The most important of these is.. the meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Arzte, which celebrated its centennial two years ago, and this year met in the beautiful Innsbruck in GermanAustria. About six thousand people were present a t this meeting and over five hundred papers were read before the thirty-three sections. The chief value of scientific meetings lies, not in the sectional, but in the general sessions,where up-to-date information on the most important features of research in medicinal and natural science is given by well-known authorities and in this way an attempt is made to bring physicians and natural scientists closer together. Of these general papers, that of Vegard, of Christiania, on the northern lights was outstanding. He advocates the theory that the largest part of the aurora borealis is due to cathode rays, also that in the region where i t occurs the atmosphere consists chiefly of nitrogen but that owing to the low temperature the atoms unite to form extremely small particles of molecular size in the manner of union characteristic of the solid condition. Reference should also be made to the paper by Decker, of Jena, which showed that the decaterpene C~OH,forms the real cell of the diamond lattice and comes into consideration for the synthesis of diamonds. Already Liebig has advanced the theory that the diamond originated from fossil resins, which have a terpene-like structure and owing to pressure kept losing more and more hydrogen forming ring compounds. Of the other addresses that of Ott, of Miinster, should be mentioned. He discussed the utilization of cyanuric compounds in the chemical industry. Cyanuric triazide has been suggested as a primer; moreover, the cyanuric ring, especially cyclic azine, is suitable for the production of dyes. Like cyanuric chloride, the chloride of cyanuric tricarbonic acid, (CSN1) (COCl)s, recently obtained by Ott, can be used in the preparation of vat dyes. Among the new medicinals first reported at Innsbruck are Albert 102, said to be superior to salvarsan, and a lime preparation, Oscalsan. Other innovations were displayed a t the exhibition that was connected with the convention-namely, various insulin preparations, bismuth and antimony remedies, colloidal medicines, etc. SEPARATION OF CHEMICALS AND MINERALSBY FLOTATION Professor Traube, who has been working for some time on the so-called flotation method for the preparation of minerals, recommends this process also for the separation of chemicals. For example, if about equal parts of anthracene or carbazole are mixed with alizarin and the mixture is poured into water in a test tube and shaken, if the alizarin is pure it separates almost quantitatively from anthracene because of its good wetting power to-
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ward water. If the alizarin crystals are not absolutely pure, then no separation occurs, even on vigorous shaking, although the addition of a drop of a colloid solution-e. g., a 1per cent solution of albumin-will bring about an almost quantitative separation. The white anthracene remains on the surface, the red alizarin collects a t the bottom of the test tube. On the basis of the experiments of Traube and his collaborators it should be possible to separate oils and fats that are bound t o chemicals and other materials by adsorption, by means of good wetting colloids in water solution. For example, when a dark brown, very oily naphthalene is shaken two or three times with small quantities of very dilute sulfite liquor, pure white naphthalene and an oil emulsion, from which oil can easily be separated, are obtained. CATALYTIC OXIDATION O F AMMONIA Professor Kassner describes a new oxidation catalyst, Nitroxan, which is a combination or mixture of barium metaplumbate and barium manganate. At low temperatures (260" to 450' C.) this catalyst immediately forms barium nitrate when added to ammonia; a t higher temperatures (over 500" C.) it oxides the ammonia to saltpeter and nitrous gases, the nitrogen dioxide content of which compared with the nitrogen oxide content increases as the temperature approaches the decomposition temperature of barium nitrate (about 550' C.) Thus the Nitroxan is useful as a catalyst in two ways: (1) in continuous processes, in which the mixtures of ammonia with air or air containing more oxygen than usual are converted a t high temperature to saltpeter and nitrous gases having a high nitrogen dioxide content, and finally condensed in the usual way to nitric acid; or (2) in batch processes, where the hydrolyzed Nitroxan is treated a t low temperatures (about 260" to 450" C.) with ammonia-air mixtures. From time t o time the barium nitrate formed is withdrawn from the nitrate-containing catalyst by lixiviation or (less desirable) by ignition, the lost barium being replaced by the addition of powdered barium hydroxide. By this method an almost 100 per cent conversion of ammonia to nitrate is made possible-that is, without loss of nitrogen. SUBSTITUTE POR PLATINUM A. Gawalowski recommends as a substitute for platinum, alloys of aluminium and silver whose surfaces have been dusted with platinum black and then hammered or subjected to heavy pressure. Alloys of this kind are on the market under the names Alargan, Platalargan, and Platnik. Alargan consists only of aluminium and silver, Platalargan contains in addition platinum, while Platnik consists only of nickel and platinum. These alloys will not take the place of platinum in analytical work, but only in mechanical practice. Moreover, there are still certain practical difficulties to overcome. ACID-RESISTANT RUBBER LININ+ According to F. Ahrens, only the cheapest kinds of raw gum are used for the production of acid-resistant rubber linings. Rubber coatings of soft rubber show a much greater resistance and permanence than those of hard rubber. Hard rubber softens a t 60 to 70" C., whereas soft rubber keeps its shape up to 120" C. for a considerable length of time. Coating large kettles is really accomplished more easily with soft rubber than with hard rubber. To prepare coatings of this kind the iron surFace is first cleaned by means of a sand blast, then coated with the rubber solution, covered with a sheet of rubber several millimeters thick, coated a second time with the solution and covered with tin foil, which latter is removed after vulcanization as it is only used to protect the rubber from deformation during the vulcanization and the softening a t the beginning of the procedure. ROTOXIT This new acid-resistant material is a copper-silicon alloy which is especially suitable for making armatures, valves, stopcocks, pumps, etc., in chemical industries. This material is resistant to sulfuric acid, as well as to alkalies and hydrochloric acid, being ten times more resistant than 18 per cent ferrosilicon. For use with nitric acid the addition of tin is recommended, and even then the alloy should be cheaper than tin bronze or similar alloys. October 20, 1924
Italian Requirement for Denaturing Alcohol for the Manufacture of Formaldehyde-According to a cablegram from the commercial attache at Rome, an Italian decree of August 5 , 1924, provides that pure methanol intended for the manufacture of formaldehyde may be denatured as follows, in order to benefit by the refund of the manufacturing tax when manufactured for industrial use: To each hectoliter of pure methanol must be added 1 liter of formaldehyde a t 40 per cent and 1 gram of methylene blue.
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