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T H E J O U R i V A L O F I N D V S T R I A L AlVD E N G I N E E R I N G C H E M I S T R Y
V O ~5. , NO. 8
With regard to the iridium market, it may be said t h a t no increment in supplies was apparent in June, 1913;accordingly, the price remained high, $85 per ounce in New York. There was some disappointment expressed that the reported discovery of a large discovery of osmiridium in Tasmania was in doubt; it appeared from reports t h a t much further development was required and that, up until then, only a few small pockets of ore had been found.
was stated to be $0.84 per ton. . , . If this is the best the process can do, the margin over the other processes will not be anything like so much as the shareholders will anticipate from their chairman’s (Wallen’s) statement. The chairman made the further statement that the salt produced by the vacuum process was not suitable for table use, but had to be ground.. . . , . vacuum salt can be produced in very small crystals, and is quite suitable for table use.”
THE MANUFACTURE OF SALT
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN POTASH DEPOSITS A company-the American Trona Company-has been organized, with a capital stock of $3,000,000, to develop the deposits of potassium salts a t Searles Lake, near Death Valley, California. Another organization-the Nevada Potash Company, Goldfield, Nevada-plans the development of a reported potash deposit in Clayton Lake, 2 0 miles west of Goldfield; it is reported t h a t the company will commence experimental work immediately on the 160 acres controlled. The large deposits of alunite near Marysville, Utah, are controlled by the Florence Mining and Milling Company, of Philadelphia, Pa.
I n 1908,J. Hodgkinson, of Manchester, England, devised a n apparatus for evaporating brine for the production of salt. This was adopted by the Commercial Salt Company, Ltd., which firm has operated the Hodgkinson process a t its Cheshire plant for four years. A primary closed evaporating tank is heated by a furnace fed by an automatic stoker which distributes the fuel over the fire-bars, so as to maintain a constant temperature. The furnace is arranged adjacent t o the pan, but not directly beneath i t ; in this way the flames do not come into direct contact with the base of the evapprator. The tank is provided with a rotary scraping device for removing the product and also with a paddle for breaking up surface films. The steam from the primary tank is conducted under the false bottom of a secondary closed evaporator, being superheated by the partially spent furnace gases. The product may be similarly removed from this evaporator, and the steam from it, superheated by the furnace gases, is used t o heat auxiliary open tanks, the gases then passing on to heat a further series of open tanks which may be heated also by exhaust steam. Heated brine is fed into the evaporating pans, and there are means for inducing the flow of gases through the flues, which are provided below the evaporators with baffles for the uniform distribution of the heat. It is claimed t h a t owing t o the uniformity of temperature, the primary pan produces continuously the same quality of fine salt, and t h a t salt of uniform, though coarser quality, is obtained from the auxiliary pans, t h a t from the last series of open tanks a t the lowest temperature being the coarsest. According t o Wallen, the Hodgkinsoa salt-making process is superior to any other known method of making salt. The revolutionizing feature of the process is t h a t it produces a n absolutely uniform crystal, finer than the finest ground salt and free from the dust which is inseparable from salt obtained by grinding. Over five tons of salt may be produced from the combustion of one ton of coal; a t the same time and in one operation, every grade or variety of salt for domestic, dairy and fishery purposes may be manufactured. Moreover, by the mechanical regulation of the heat the plant can be made to produce any given quantity of the particular grade of salt to meet the current market requirements. A comparison of leading methods showed t h a t while the Salt Union’s “vacuum process ” made salt for about $I 92 per ton and the International Salt Company claimed to be able to produce salt by their system of treating rock salt at $1 36 per ton, the inclusive cost of manufacturing salt by the Hodgkinson process is said to be under $0 84 per ton. Wallen stated t h a t the Commercial Salt Company, Ltd , has acquired some of the best brine land in Cheshire, England, and that the works should very shortly be in a position t o produce 1,000 tons of salt per week. Commenting on the report of Wallen, it is noted editorially in The Chemical Trade Jourwal, 5 2 , 622, t h a t in some quarters there seems to be some misapprehension as to the cost of making salt in the old open pans and by the vacuum process. The open pans will make anything from 36 to 40 cwt. of salt per ton of slack, and a n efficient vacuum installation is able t o make 5 tons of salt for every ton of slack consumed, besides which a large amount of power can be made available a t a low cost. “The total cost of manufacture by the Hodgkinson process C k m . Trade J . , 62,632.
THE FERTILIZER INDUSTRY OF CHARLESTONl S. C. Hanahan ( A m . Fertilizer, 58, N o . 13, 52) points out that the industry of manufacturing fertilizers may be rightly said to have originated and received its first development in Charleston, S. C., where the following plants are no17 in operation: Planters’ Fertilizer and Phosphate Company. Interstate Chemical Corporation. Ashepoo Fertilizer Company. Atlantic Phosphate Company. Chicora Fertilizer Company. Imperial Fertilizer Company. Macmurphy Company. Standard Fertilizer Company. Etiwan Fertilizer Company. Combahee Fertilizer Company. Read Phosphate Company. Wulbern Fertilizer Company. Virginia-Carolina Chemical Company. The value of fertilizers consumed in the South has increased from $zg,27~,000in 1900 t o $84,635,229in 1912,or over 290 per cent in twelve years. I n this expansion of business Charleston has held her own trade fairly well, and remains the largest producing point of sulfuric acid (about I?j,ooo tons per year). I n 1912,535,023 tons of manufactured fertilizers and fertilizer materials were shipped out of Charleston by railroad; the shipments for 1913,up t o April 15th, amounted to 403,320 tons. The total South Carolina tax tags sales, valued a t 25 cents per ton, were $221,555.75 (886,223 tons) in 1912. The imports of fertilizer materials into Charleston were valued a t $3,805,699 in 1912. There are three large phosphate rock mines in operation in South Carolina, z~iz.: Charleston, S. C., Mining and Manufacturing Company; Bolton Mines; and Bulow Mines. Owing to their greater contents of phosphoric rock and cheaper cost of mining, the phosphate rocks of Florida and Tennessee have gradually driven the South Carolina rock from all markets except the local and coastwise ones. THE CONSUMPTION OF VARIOUS NITROGEN-FERTILIZERS IN AUSTRIA Die Chemische Industrie, 36, 35 2 , reports t h a t with the increase in price of Chili saltpeter and ammonium sulfate, the consumption of calcium cyanamide and Norway saltpeter has appeared to increase in Austria since April I, 1913. Nonvay saltpeter is a duty-free article and cheap freight rates are offered for its transportation. In 1912,Austria consumed only r.joo tons of
