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Prepared by U. S. Industrial Chemicals Co.
U.S.I. CHEMICAL NEWS A Series for Chemists and Executives of the Solvents and Chemical Consuming Industries
October
National Distillers Joins Shell International in Poly olefin Venture Abroad A joint company has been formed by Shell International Chemical Company Ltd., London, and U.S.I.'s parent com pany, National Distillers, to develop plans for production and marketing of polyolefin film and packaging materials outside the U.S. and Canada. The new company operates from London. National Distillers is one of the world's largest producers of polyethylene and owns the Kordite Company—a leading manufacturer in the U.S. of plastic film and packaging. It has recently set up a company in Switzerland to cover sales and development of polyethylene.
New Direct Halogenation Process Converts Impure Metal to Purified Halide A safe and commercially adaptable pro cess for the direct halogenation of crude metals—to obtain the corresponding halide substantially free of certain undesirable metal impurities—is covered in a patent recently issued to U.S.I.'s parent company, National Distillers. Metal halides which can be prepared by this process are those of the reactive metals such as titanium, zirconium, hafnium, columbium and tan talum. As described in the patent, an impure feed such as scrap zirconium is safely reacted with a halogen gas by diluting the latter with an explosion-preventing pro portion of helium, argon or neon. The reaction is carried out at 450°-900°C until 50-90% of the feed has been reacted. A metal halide is recovered which is con siderably lower in metal impurity content than the original scrap feed. A typical analysis of ZrCl 4 prepared by this process is given in the following t a b l e :
COMPARATIVE METAL IMPURITY CONTENTS-METAL FEED VERSUS HALIDE PRODUCT Metal Impurity
Low Hafniur η Zirconium ScriΦ Feed *
ZrCI4 Product*
AI Cd Cr Fe Mn Ni Pb Sn Ti U W
