Nov.,
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T H E J O U R N A L OF IATDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
and trolley transportation. The plant operation requires nothing in the way of special experience, skill or supervision. Raw materials are always a t hand and the success of briquetting is independent of special conditions of the flue dust. I n the Scoria process no air drying is necessary and this distinguishes it from all other briquetting processes. Savings in space and handling are also considerable factors in its economical advantages. The hydraulic binder gives the body the necessary consistency a t a minimum consumption of binding material, and, being in the nature of a hydrosilicate, leaves the oxides freely accessible to the top gases. It is not necessary in the case of the Scoria binder to have enormous pressure on one side of the briquette to produce a n actual flow of gas through the structure. Also the temperature necessary for the destruction of the hydrosilicates is above t h a t where sintering commences, so that there is no possibility of the briquettes crumbling away prematurely. I n practice, a very important coke economy will result from the use of the Scoria process. Working with a homogeneous and naturally piled stock column, gases can circulate and pass up under equal pressure, while combustion will be far more complete and the production of carbon monoxide will be lessened; i t has been proved by actual operation in Germany that a saving of from 15 to 20 per cent of coke has been effected. The inventor of the process feels confident t h a t it is quite possible to perfect operating conditions so as t o produce one ton of iron per day for every cubic meter of blast-furnace volume. The Scoria plant may be used to produce excellent slag building brick, and could alternate their manufacture with the production of flue-dust or fine ore briquettes a t a moment’s notice, the operations being almost identically the same, except that the flue dust or fine ore is left out of the mixture. Such bricks have shown ample strength for all purposes, not only under severe laboratory tests, but also in actual use for building purposes during a number of years. Cost of production (not counting the slag as having a value) in Germany, on a two-press installation capable of furnishing 24,000,000brick per year, is about $1.25 per thousand. -__
EXPOSURE TESTS OF COPPER, COMMERCIAL ALUMINIUM AND DURALUMIN A paper on the above subject, read by Prof. E. Wilson, before the British Association a t Birmingham, described a continuation of tests upon the influence of exposure in London on the electrical conductivity of light aluminum alloys, reports of which have been made from time to time. Each specimen is in the form of wire 0.126in diam. and 70 feet long. After two years’ exposure, the percentages increase of electrical resistance taken on the values in 1911a t 15’ C.are as follows: High conductivity copper . . . . . . 2.0 Commercial aluminum.. 4.4 Duralumin. ................................ 8.2
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Duralumin is a copper-manganese-magnesium alloy of high tensile strength and exposure has apparently made it more brittle. ELECTROLYTIC COATING OF IRON AND STEEL WITH LEAD According t o The Electrician for September 26, 1913, a n English company has acquired a process devised by Mr. Sherard Cowper-Coles for coating iron and steel with lead electrolytically. It is stated that lead can thus be economically deposited up t o a thickness of one-eighth inch, and that the method is suitable for protecting iron and steel from corrosion, and for the lining of pipes, tubes and chemical vessels for containing corrosive liquors. Steel plates coated by this process are much smoother than the ordinary terne plate and there is no reduction in tensile strength or ductility. The process can also be used for the
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coating of earthenware and wood and for the protection of ornamental iron work. The cost is stated to be low. TANNIC ACID FROM SPENT SULFITE LIQUOR According to T i d s k r i f t for Papirindustri as reported in Paper 13, h-0. 4, 23 (Oct. 8, 1913),Hans Lundmark, Drammen, Norway, has succeeded in reclaiming tannic acid suitable for tanning leather, from waste sulfite liquors. The acid ought, however, to be used only in admixture with some other material, as i t is said the tanning process then takes less time. The tannic acid from waste sulfite liquor is said to be very cheap. Some important tanneries in England are now trying out this acid. Mitscherlich and other chemists have, as is generally known, experimented considerably with the preparation of tanning material from the above source, but with indifferent success.
A NEW DESULFURIZING METHOD The Engiizeering and Mining Journal, July 5 , 1915, describes the Hall process of desulfurizing sulfide ores with eradication of noxious smelter fumes as entirely novel, being based upon the principle of removing the “fixed” sulfur atom of a sulfide by distillation, without permitting any considerable portion of the sulfur thus discharged to pass into any combined forms, such as SO%or SOa. The distillation of both fixed and free sulfur as such constitutes the advantage this method has over the other sulfurrecovery processes. Eliminating the sulfur as oxide with subsequent reduction means t h a t a large amount of free oxygen must be taken care of before the sulfur reduction begins, thus requiring extra expense for reducing agents, while the fuel expense of removing oxygen combined with sulfur from such association is greater than the fuel expense of direct distillation. Tests have been made to determine how complete a desulfurizing could be produced in this process; many analyses show less than I per cent of total sulfur remaining in the cinder. The distillation is obtained by the direct application to the ore of a burning gas flame of slightly reducing or, a t least, non-oxidizing character, accompanied by Hg0, either in the shape of water of formation (from the combustion of hydrogen) or of extraneous water in the shape of steam which is decomposed by the hot ore. The nascent oxygen goes t o the metal and the nascent hydrogen combines with any free oxygen t h a t may enter the furnace by means of the atomizer through which the gases are admitted, thus creating a sort of cycle of H20 decomposition and water formation from the combustion of the hydrogen so derived. When the furnace burners are properly adjusted, the final discharge of hydrogen appears to be all in the shape of water vapor, i. e., complete balances are easily maintained so that there is substantially neither SO?, SOS, COS nor HzS in the discharge, tests being made on samples taken within a distance of six inches from the furnace. A large variety of ores have been worked, including pyrites, various pyrrhotites, copper concentrates, crude blende and zinc concentrates. The action appears to be the same on each. I n order t o prove that the “fixed” atom is removed by distillation, the furnace has been operated on chemically pure FeS; no SO2 or H2Swas discernible in the discharge, but only yellow elemental sulfur vapor. The analyses of the cinder show it to be a mixture of FegOs and Fe304. The temperature maintained in the furnace must be slightly above 700’ C., as that is about the distilling point of the sulfur of a metallic sulfide, and it must be maintained below goo’ C., the fusing point-a large margin of safety. Although undoubtedly the reaction is somewhat exothermic, no allowance has been made for this in the fuel calculations, fuel required being calculated as if the reaction were entirely endothermic; on such a basis, allowing amply for radiation
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T H E J O U R N A L OF I N D U S T R I A L A N D ENGINEERING C H E M I S T R Y
and for the largest factors of safety, numerous engineers have calculated the amount of coal fuel required (gasified) at less than I O per cent of the weight of the ore. The cost of producing sulfur by this method in American smelting works is placed a t from $3 to $5 per ton of the crude sulfur derived. The fumes coming from the smelter are of a heavy yellow appearance with the odor of hot elemental sulfur vapor. The sulfur is extracted from the fumes by simple washing, as it is found t h a t i t has great physical affinity for water, due, presumably, t o surface tension: when the fumes are agitated with
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Vol. 5, No.
water, t h e atmosphere is almost instantly clarified, the sulfur settling to the bottom of the apparatus. This sulfur has been analyzed several times and found t o be from 98 t o 9g1/1 per cent pure, the impurities being flue dust or lead or zinc sulfides. The refined sulfur has been found t o be over 99*/2 per cent soluble in CS2, and is of the octahedral and prismatic types. The fumes havealso beenrun through the Cottrell electrical dust collector, which completely precipitates the sulfur. The process has been developed principally with a view t o attaching it t o multiple-hearth roasters, but promising experiments have been made towards its adaptation t o blast furnaces.
I
SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIE5 AMERICAN CHEMICAL. SOCIETY-FORTY-EIGHTH MEETING, ROCHESTER, SEPTEMBER 8-12,1913 DIVISION REPORTS AQFLICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY DIVISION
After the transaction of the usual routine business and the reading of the papers as presented in the program given in THISJOURNAL,5, 868, the following officials were unanimously elected for the ensuing year: Chairman, Floyd W. Robison; Vice-Chairman, R. A. Harcourt; Secretary, Glen F. Mason; Executive Committee, A. V. H . Mory, I,. M . Tolman, H. A. Huston. G. F. MASON,Secretary FERTILIZER CHEMISTRY DIVISION
The meeting was called t o order by Mr. Paul Rudnick, Chairman. After the transaction of the usual routine business, the 5, 868. program was rendered as printed in THISJOURNAL, The Executive Committee was authorized t o prepare a plan for the future handling of the analytical and research work of the division. The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: Chairman, J. E. Breckenridge; Vice-Chairman, E. I,. Baker; Secretary, F. B. Carpenter; Executive Committee, Paul Rudnick, F. K. Cameron, C. H. Jones, H. J. Wheeler. J. E. BRECKENRIDGE, Secretary INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEEBS DIVISION
This Division met at Rochester University, with Mr. William Brady presiding. After the transaction of the usual routine business, the financial condition of the division was reported as follows:
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Money received.. Disbursements.. ...........................
$234.62 39.00
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$1 9 5 . 6 2
Balance on hand.
A report was received on Alum Specifications from a subcommittee of the Committee on Standard Specification and Methods of Analysis. This report will be published later. The following officers were then elected : Chairman, George P. Adamson; Vice-chairman, H. E. Howe; Secretary, S . H. Salisbury, Jr.; Officers, ex-oficio, M. C. Whitaker, ex-oficio, W. F. Hillebrand, C. H. Herty, C. A. Catlin, David Wesson, H. C. Porter. Participants in discussions of the papers read were the following: Percy H. Walker, A. H. Sabin, Wm. H. Walker, Wm. Brady, N. A. Dubois, G. W. Gray, W. F. Hillebrand, W. A. Noyes, H. C. Porter, A. H. White, Dr. Smith, Mr. Dickinson, I. M. Bregowsky, G. A. Burrell, A. W. Browns, G. W. Gray, E. S. Merriam, and others. On Friday morning, Dr. W. F. Hillebrand gave a talk on the Composition of the Bureau of Standards Sheet Brass which caused considerable discussion after which the division adjourned. S. H. SALISBURY, JR., Secretary
11
RUBBER CHEMISTFLY SECTION
After the transaction of the usual business, and the rendering of the program, reports were read by the Specification Committee, the Analytical Committee, and the General Rubber Consideration Committee. After discussion the above reports were approved. The Analytical Committee was instructed to compile and present t o the Executive Committee methods of procedure for determinations commonly made in rubber analyses. The Executive Committee was given power to act on such a procedure within its discretion. The Executive Committee was instructed t o appoint a committee to investigate and report with recommendations on the Physical Testing of Rubber and Compounds. This Committee was given power t o act within its own discretion. It was decided ( I ) t o ask the members of the Rubber Section to contribute $I .oo each for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Section : ( 2 ) t o request the Council of the American Chemical Society t o reappoint or retain in office the present officers of the Rubber Section. After the reading of papers, a vote of thanks was extended t o Mr. Savage for his excellently prepared paper on “Some Refinements of the Ignition Method for the Determination of Rubber in Vulcanized Goods.” DORRISWHIPPLE,Secretary COMMITTEE REPORTS-FERTILIZER DIVISION
CHEMISTRY
COMMITTEE ON PHOSPHORIC ACID
This report is supplementary t o the report of this Committee 3, 118. The latter showed that it published in THISJOURNAL, was possible for the analyst t o prepare an ammonium citrate solution which would give the same results as those obtained from a standard citrate prepared by Mr. Jones of this Committee. However, when a comparison was made with other analysts, the differences in some cases were quite large. The Committee then endeavored t o pick out those factors which would most likely influence the insoluble. That the time of filtering had evidently influenced some of the results was evidenced by the fact t h a t the time varied from five minutes t o two and one-half hours, this in a sample of complete goods. Another factor was the use of the volumetric method without checking against the gravimetric. In order t o eliminate these factors as far as possible, the following changes were made in the instructions: ( I ) In case of complete goods; after insoluble has been placed on filter and flask washed,rfold paper containing insoluble in half and transfer to another.funne1. ( 2 ) A standard sample in which the Committee had determined the total phosphoric acid was sent with the other samples. With these exceptions the instructions were the same as JOURNAL, 3, I 18. those published in THIS
