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Some minor changes in the method, having an insignificant effect on the quality of the pitch, were also made in runs 5 and 7. Of these changes, the most important was the discontinuance of discharging gas from the recirculating system. It was at first thought that this was necessary in order to maintain a sufficiently high concentration of hydrogen. However, a comparison of the purity of the hydrogen at the ends of runs 3, 5, and 7 shows that reduction of the rate of discharge makes only a small difference. The impurities in the hydrogen are removed largely by solution in the liquid product, so that discharging a part of the gas is practically ineffectual as a means of purification. For this reason it was discontinued in subsequent runs. Comparing the data of runs 4 and 3 in Table 11, it can be seen that a reduction of 510 pounds per square inch from the standard operating pressure causes only a small change in the quality and yields of the products. Comparing runs 6 and 3, a reduction of about one-third in the rate of charging resulted in a larger consumption of hydrogen, a smaller yield of oil, and a larger yield of gas and of solid residue. I n run
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9, an increase in temperature of 28’ F. (15.5’ C.) produced results similar to those caused by the slow charging of run 6. The original conditions of run 3 gave better results than any others which were tried.
Literature Cited (1) Bridgman, P . W . , “The Physics of High Pressure,” p. 35, London, G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1931. (2) Fieldner, A. C.,and Davis, J. D . , U. S. Bur. Mines, Monograph 5, 145 (1934). (3) Ibid., p. 146. (4) Kester, E. B., Pohle, W. D . , and Rookenbaoh, L. P., U. 8. Bur. Mines. Revts. Investinations. 3171 (1932). (5) Warren,.T. E., and B o d e s , K. W.,‘Can: Dept. Mines, Mines Branch Pub. 737-3 (1933). RECEIVED September 12, 1936. Presented under the title “Apparatua and Method for Continuous Hydrogenation Tests on Coal” before the Division of Cas and Fuel Chemistry, Symposium on Coal Hydrogenation, at the 92nd Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Pittsburgh, Pa., Qeptember 7 to 11, 1936. Published by permission of the Department of Minei, Canada.
Chemical Foreign Trade in 1936 Healthy Gains Continue‘
I n t h e f o r e i g n trade review ITH the general increase published in these pages last yearz in business activity in t h e s t a t e m e n t was made that 1936, a n y t h i n g b u t a “considering the 1923-25 trade as c o r r e s p o n d i n g increase in the a f a i r a v e r a g e , our exports of traffic in chemicals and chemical c h e m i c a l goods are now within wares between the United States sight of a normal level. Another and foreign countries would inOTTO WILSON year such as the last and they deed have been surprising. But 3025 Fifteenth Street, N. w.,Washington, D. c. will have reached practically the there was no occasion for such value of the annual exports in that surprise. The trade came up to period.” As Table I shows, the the end of the year with satisfactory increases in both imports and exports, the outgoing com1936 gains in exports were sufficient to carry the trade up t o and beyond the level mentioned. Even remembering that normodities being valued a t $116,902,000, or 13 per cent more than in 1935, and the incoming trade reaching a total of mally this trade would have shown a regular annual increase $79,975,000, about 16 per cent more than in the previous year. in the decade since 1923-25 had there been no depression, The somewhat larger gain made in the import than in the it is still not unreasonable now to speak of a full recovery in our chemical exports as an accomplished fact. The outexport trade corresponded to developments in the general foreign trade of the United States, in which exports of domesgoing trade, however, still remains about one-fourth below tic produce registered a gain of about 8 per cent over 1935 the high level of 1929, and our chemical imports are less than and imports for consumption a gain of 18 per cent. 60 per cent of their value in that abnormal year. For ihe chemical trade the higher totals of 1936 represent one more step in the process of working back to a state of TABLIZ I. U. S. FOREIQN TRADEIN CHEMICALS BY TOTAL commercial health from the depths of the depression. The VALVES (IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) low point in the trade was reached in 1932; since then imPeriod Imports Exports Period Imports Exporta provement has been steady and continuous. Handicaps in 1923-25 (av.) $120,191 $116,267 1933 $69 287 $76,771 1936 such as the maritime strike in the last quarter of the 1929 144062 151 992 1934 65:117 92,565 1930 112:070 127:770 1935 68,716 103,092 year and a continuation of the extreme uncertainty in the 1931 82,738 100,027 1936 79,976 118,902 1932 47,852 70,348 political situation abroad had their adverse effects, especially on particular commodities, but were not enough to prevent encouraging gains in the trade as a whole. How far the increase in activity was due to the new trade I. Chemicals and Related Products treaties and how far to a general stimulation of manufacture The foreign trade gains of 1936 were not very evenly diand domestic business can hardly be estimated until devided among the various great groups of chemical commoditailed figures of the trade with separate countries are availties. All classes shared in the increase in export values able. 1
All 1936 figures are preliminary.
2
March, 1936, pages 304 to 308.
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except industrial chemicals, which were slightly under the 1935 total. But coal-tar products barely exceeded the previous year’s mark, and the foreign demand for paints, soaps, and explosives (for industrial rather than military use) was not greatly in excess of that in 1935. Chemical specialties, on the other hand, found a favorable market abroad; by the end of the year the sales of these popular American products to foreign consumers had almost equaled in value those of our industrial chemicals, the leading group in the chemical export trade. The decreased sales of industrial chemicals to foreign countries were accompanied by a marked gain of nearly one-third in our purchases of this class of goods from abroad. As a result, imports and exports in this field almost balanced in 1936. Fertilizers, medicinals, and coal-tar products in the import trade were well beyond the 1935 totals, but paints, soaps, and explosives showed losses. Table I1 gives the group totals for 1936 as compared with those for the year before and for 1929. The 1929 figures still dominate in both the outgoing and the incoming trade except, nominally, in exports of chemical specialties, which in 1936 (chiefly because of classification changes) surpassed for the first time the trade of the pre-depression years. TABLD11. U. S. FOREIGN TRADEIN CHEMICALS BY GRDAT GROUPS (IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) Percentage Increase or Imports 1929 1935 1936 Coal-tar roducts $22,824 $13,558 $15,212 Medicinars and pharmaoeuticals 6 422 4 128 4,890 Industrial chemicals 30:152 16:145 20960 Pigments, paints, and varnishes 3.823 2,109 1:971 Fertilizers and materials 72.886 28,561 33,394 738 960 827 Explosives Soaps and toilet preparations 6,988 3,388 2,811 Exports Coal-tar roducts 17 876 13 598 13,778 12:199 14,393 Medicinas and pharmaceuticals ai350 12 867 20,456 Industrial chemical specialties 15:440 23:628 22,046 Industrial Chemicals 27 166 16,344 17 788 Pigments, paints, and varnishes 29’111 14,809 Fertilizers and materials 20:441 17’760 Explosives, fuses, etc. 4,549 2 439 2:618 2:584 2,729 Boa s { 16,059} 4,624 5,346 To& preparations
Decrease 1935-36 +12 +18
+30 -6
2:-17 :
+++169 18 -7 +9 +20 +7
++016
The volume and the value of the trade in the leading commodities of each chemical group in 1936, with comparative figures for the previous year, are given in the following paragraphs.
Coal-Tar Products Figures for this group have a certain significance in 1936 in that the increase in imports while exports were remaining stationary turned the balance of trade in coal-tar products definitely against us again after several years of a favorable balance. I n 1935 our purchases of these goods just about matched our sales of them abroad. The preponderance in imports i s a return to conditions that prevailed until five or six years ago. Imports dropped off steeply during the depression, and for several years the export trade ranked higher. Since 1933 the recovery in the inbound trade has been steady. The pick-up in imports of coal-tar products last year was due chiefly to large increases in shipments of dead or creosote oil and other crudes. Creosote oil imports reached a total of 41,384,000 gallons, about 7,000,000 gallons above the 1935 trade; the value, $4,566,000, was about $1,000,000 higher. Other crudes were valued a t $2,072,000 in 1936 and $1,224,000 in 1935. Intermediates enjoyed about the same trade as in 1935 although coal-tar acids were imported in much larger quantities, registering 538,000 pounds valued at
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$498,000 in 1936, about four times the trade of the previous year. Finished coal-tar products, on the other hand, dropped off, the 1936 total value of $6,089,000 comparing with a 1935 figure of $6,349,000. The decrease was due to lower shipments of colors, dyes, stains, and similar articles. Exports in this group were marked by a recovery in the trade in benzene, of which 19,178,000 gallons were sent abroad, the value reaching $2,918,000. I n the previous year shipments were 14,666,000 gallons valued a t $2,513,000. Coal tar, crude and refined, also showed considerably larger sales, the trade totaling 11,042,000 gallons and having a value of $560,000 as compared with 7,530,000 gallons valued at $364,000 in 1935. Shipments of coal-tar pitch (85,000 tons valued a t $716,000) were about 4 per cent higher in quantity and 20 per cent less in value than for the previous year. Coal-tar colors, dyes, stains, and color lakes comprise nearly half of the exports of this group in point of value. They were sold abroad in reduced quantities last year, exports of 17,408,000 pounds valued a t $6,081,000 comparing with a 1935 trade of 19,631,000 pounds valued a t $6,873,000. Other finished products also showed a 1936 decrease.
Medicinals and Pharmaceuticals Imports of medicinals showed increases all along the line in 1936. The leading articles in this group purchased from abroad are cinchona derivatives, which made up about onefourth of our imports last year. Quinine sulfate achieved a total of 1,565,000 ounces and a value of S765,000, compared with 1,390,000 ounces valued at $642,000 in 1935. Other quinine and alkaloids and salts from cinchona bark were valued a t $545,000 in 1936, 30 per cent more than in 1935. Menthol imports amounted to 342,000 pounds and were valued a t $831,000; the 1935 trade amounted to 282,000 pounds and was valued at $654,000. We also increased our purchases of preparations in capsules, pills, tablets, etc., from an amount valued a t $589,000 in 1935 to $604,000 last year. Approximately 30 per cent of our exports of medicinals last year were made up of two classes of druggists’ supplies. Tablets, pills, capsules, powders, ointments, and similar manufactures, induded under “druggists’ nonproprietary preparations,” were sold abroad to the extent of $2,515,000 in 1936 and constituted, as usual, the largest single trade item among these articles. The total was some 8 per cent higher than in 1935. The other class of druggists’ supplies was “elixirs, tinctures, extracts, ampoules, and similar liquid solutions,” sales of which amounted to $1,605,000, about a third more than in 1935. I n the list of proprietary medicines the most popular with foreign buyers appear to be those classed as “tonics, blood purifiers, emulsions, and appetizers.” For such goods we received $1,607,000 last year, nearly 20 per cent more than in the previous year. Laxatives, purgatives, and cathartics $890,000; salves and ointments for coughs, colds, etc., S797,OOO; preparations for colds and coughs, $530,000; and mouth washes, gargles, and personal antiseptics, $369,000, were among the other leading items in this trade. All of them sold in larger amounts than during the previous year. About 1,427,000 gallons of white mineral oil valued a t $496,000 were included in our foreign sales of medicinals in 1936, more than twice as much as we exported in 1935. Sales of castor oil amounted to 82,000 gallons and were valued a t $90,000, comparing with 40,000 gallons valued a t $50,000 in 1935.
Industrial Chemical Specialties These exports are pushing ahead year by year in foreign markets and have become almost our largest class of chemical
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products to be sold abroad. They are intended chiefly for use in the house or on the farm. Although these goods enjoy an increasing popularity abroad, the extraordinary increase of nearly 60 per cent shown in the statistics is due largely to a reclassification of a number of items, such as pyroxylin products, so that they are included for the first time under the heading of “specialties.” One of these new items formed the largest single class of exports among chemical specialties in 1936. This item was “pyroxylin plastic film support (celluloid film b’ase) ,” of which we sent 3,171,000 pounds abroad last year, the total value being $2,797,000. The trade was somewhat under that of 1935 when the item (included in “Miscellaneous”) was credited with a total of 3,203,000 pounds valued at $2,923,000. Petroleum jelly, with exports of 22,177,000 pounds valued at $1,085,000, recorded a marked advance over the year before when sales were 14,817,000 pounds valued at $799,000. Other important articles in this group, with the value of their 1936 exports, were nitro- and acetocellulose, $779,000, a considerable increase over 1935; pyroxylin sheets, rods, or tubes, $428,000, about one-third less than the 1935 trade; shoe polishes and cleaners, $355,000, a small increase; textile specialty compounds, $346,000, some 30 per cent more than in 1935; and synthetic gums and resins, $738,000.
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Industrial Chemicals As shown in Table 111, most of the leading articles included under this heading registered small gains over the 1935 import or export trade. Exceptions were sodium cyanide among the imports and borax and soda ash among the exports.
Pigments, Paints, and Varnishes The leading import in this group is iron oxide and hydroxide. The trade showed a considerable decline in 1936, shipments of 15,675,000pounds valued at $415,000 comparing with 19,889,000 at $442,000 in 1935. Ochers and sienna8 fell in value from $254,000 to $191,000, and zinc oxide and leaded zinc oxide from $205,000 to $92,000. Lithopone and other zinc sulfides, on the other hand, showed an increase from $257,000 to $273,000, and paints, stains, and enamels from $287,000 to $300,000. Carbon black, most important export in the paint and varnish group, saw its sales materially increased in 1936, exports standing a t 154,718,000 pounds valued at $7,251,000 as compared with 142,185,000at $6,673,000 in 1935. Readymixed paints, stains, and enamels, second in importance, showed little change; 2,175,000 gallons were exported in 1935 and 2,153,000 in 1936, the total value being $3,805,000
AND EXPORTS OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS (IN THOUBANDS) TABLE111. IMPORTS
Imports Acetylene butylene, ethylene, and propylehe derivatives Acids and anhydrides: Acetic or pyroligneoua Arsenious (white arsenic) Formic Oxalic Sulfuric (oil of vitriol) Tartaric All other acids and anhydrides Alcohols including fusel oil Ammonilm compounds, n. e. s . “ : Chloride (muriate) Nitrate All other ammonium compounds Barium compounds Calcium compounds Cellulose products, n. e. saa:
--1935Pounds Value 1,171
$254
35 096 30:150 362 78 2,100 15 1,829
2,079 737 27 4 15 3 434
Iodine crude Lime hhlorinated or bleaching powder MagAesium com
