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I N D U S T R I A L A,YD ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Vol. 15, No. 12
TOKYO LETTER B y K. KASHIMA, 992 Ikebukuro, near Tokyo, Japan
THEEARTHQUAKE AND CHEMICAL FACTORIES First of all, we are eager to express our sincere thanks for the sympathy and help given by Americans in our recent catastrophe, among whom we can safely reckon were many chemists and members of the SOCIETY. At noon of the first of September a severe earthquake occurred, by which Tokyo, Yokohama, and other cities and villages near Tokyo were largely destroyed. Fire broke out in many places. The commercial and industrial districts to Tokyo and almost the whole of Yokohama were destroyed by fire. In the Honjyo and Fukagawa Districts many chemical factories were almost completely destroyed. There were about 1100 factories in the two districts, employing about 70,000 people. In the Fukagawa District was located the Asano Cement Company, whose products are well known among the cement users. The remaining factories are situated in the suburbs of the city, where the damages were not comparatively large. The total number of factories in -the Tokyo Prefecture was about 25,125, employing 152,906 male and 72,391 female workers; 10,913 factories were destroyed and 78,207 people lost their positions. The total damage of the factories is estimated to be about 30 to 40 per cent. According to the investigation of the Agricultural and Commercial Department, the important factories situated outside the burned districts can begin work after two to six months. However, the recovery of these factories is not easy; they must build new buildings and gather workmen, machines, and raw materials. As far as they have money, factories, machines, and raw materials will be obtained, but the expert workmen cannot be obtained with money. The Government intends to lend money for recovering these totally or partly destroyed factories a t low interest through the Industrial Bank of Japan or the Agricultural and Industrial Banks. There were many male and female subworkers who were making important contributions to general industry. For example, the labeling of match boxes was conducted by these subworkers. The catastrophe has killed many of these workers and scattered the others into the country. This will greatly hinder the recovery of many of the factories. Raw and finished cast-iron materials needed in Tokyo factories have been supplied from about two hundred factories in Kawaguchi-machi, near Tokyo. About 50 per cent of these were affected by the disaster and their recovery is now under consideration in the Agricultural and Commercial Department. The special committee of the Government is now planning the erection of “New Tokyo.” As soon as the plans are completed new factories will be built and the sky of the Honjyo and Fukagawa Districts will be blackened with the smoke from the factories’ chimneys, as these districts will continue to be factory districts. The chief damage sustained from the calamity viewed from the standpoint of capitalists is the loss of raw materials and finished products. This loss will be replaced by money. It is not the case from the standpoint of workers. They are now stripped of everything: they cannot work a t their trades for they have no factories. They are forced to seek work of whatever kind there is to be found. ALCOHOL INDUSTRY IN HOKKAIDO The writer has had a chance to journey through Hokkaido visiting alcohol, beer, and beet sugar factories on the island. The development of civilization on the island is due to contributions of Americans. Travelers perceive American influences in all parts of the island. There are now five alcohol factories-one a t Hakodate, one a t Kutchan, and the other three near Asahigawa. Potatoes are cultivated in these districts and they are exported after being changed into starch. The potato residue (usually called starch residue and containing about 40 per cent starch), from which starch has been removed, is mainly used as raw material for fermentation, accompanied by corn and oats, etc. Alcohol factories are therefore situated in these districts. The fermentation process is the usual one and the factories are equipped with one or two stills. Almost all the distilled 94 per cent alcohol is dilute‘d with water and sold as “ShGchfi” (ardent spirits), a kind of Japanese .saki. containing about 40 per cent alcohol and consumed on this island and the Kabafuto island. The annual production of 94 per cent alcohol is as follows (unit koku): 100,000 in Honshd, 15,000 in Hokkaido,
100,000 in Taiwan, 10,000 in Chosen-total, 225,000 koku. The annual production of potatoes in Hokkaido is about 151,733,000 kan, in which 61,020,000 kan are used for manufacturing starch. SODAINDUSTRY It may be safely said that the foundation of chemical industry is a large inorganic chemical industry-that is, of acids and alkalies. The present state of the soda business in this country is not prosperous. The Society of Chemical Industry has published a statement on the soda industry in this country, which contains the following items and their explanations: In general, a sufficient supply of sodium chloride and a low price for caustic soda and soda ash industries are claimed. In the soda ash business this is due to the prevention of sales of soda ash manufactured in foreign countries by the unreasonably low price, the tariff reform for the chemical, and the delivery of a subsidy for the large production in the caustic soda business, to the prevention of importation of foreign soda in excess amounts and the promotion of the research for the utilization of chlorine. Some supplementary explanations on the industry in this country may be interesting. Before the war we had only two soda ash factories. The Le Blanc method was used and the production was about 2000 tons per year, while the annual consumption of the soda ash was about 30,000 to 35,000 tons. More than 95 per cent of the demand was therefore filled by foreign products, the price being about 2.10 to 2.50 yen per 100 pounds. Then the war broke out and the price was raised to an unreasonable one (maximum 17.85 yen per 100 pounds in December of 1916), and American products took the place of the English. The investigation committee of the chemical industry decided to build a factory to manufacture soda ash by the ammonia soda process on a scale of 10 tons per day capacity. But this decision was not adopted by the Government. The Asahi Glass Company has therefore built an experimental factory a t Tobata-machi, Fukuoka Prefecture, and the work was begun in January, 1917, and was extended to 30 tons per day production in 1922. The Japan Soda Industrial Company has built a factory in Tokuyamamachi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and also the Taiwan Fertilizer Company a t Takao, in Taiwan. The cost of production per 100 pounds is calculated to be 4.79 yen, but this will be decreased to 3.055-2.531 yen. After the armistice these factories were affected by the bad financial conditions. Moreover, a t the end of 1921 African natural soda was imported and the price per 100 pounds lowered to 2.70-3.00 yen. The factories were therefore compelled to shut their doors or to decrease their production. Caustic soda also was manufactured by only two factories before the war, the Le Blanc method being used. The annual consumption of caustic soda before the war was about 15,000 tons, of which about 4000 tons were domestic productions, while the remainder was supplied from abroad, especially from England. After the war, seventeen factories manufactured caustic soda by electrolytic method and eight factories by the Le Blanc method, the total annual production being about 10,000 tons and the consumption about 25,000 tons. The remainder was imported mainly from the United States. After the armistice the price was decreased to an unreasonable one and the caustization of soda ash was carried on as the African soda ash was imported a t a low price. Furthermore, when the castic soda was manufactured by the electrolytic method, bleaching powder was produced as the main by-product. These factories are continuing their manufacture on the income from the by-product. But now the production of bleaching powder is over, and another solution must be sought. DYESTUFF INDUSTRY Like other chemical industries, the dyestuff industry in this country has made rapid progress since the war. At the end of 1918 the number of dyestuff factories reached 97, the total capital was 18,642,000 yen (in which the paid-up capital was 13,844,000 yen) and the production in that year was 5,560,000 kin of sulfide dyes, 1,160,000 kin of alizarin dyes, and 480,000 kin of other synthetic dyes, but since 1920 the industry was affected by the bad financial conditions. The Nippon Senryo Kaisha (Japan Dyestuff Company), in Osaka, was established in 1915 under the protection of the Government and about 10,000,000yen have been delivered to the
December, 1923
INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
company from the Government. This company is the largest and representative of the industry in this country. With the aid of this money the manufacturing processes of the following substances have been completed: 158 kinds of aniline dyes, 148 kinds of intermediates, and 14 assistant reagents, medicine, etc. ; of which 45 aniline dyes, 59 intermediates, and 21 assistants,
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etc., have been placed on the market. The annual manufacturing capacity is 2,200,000 kin of aniline dyes including aniline salt, while the annual consumption of aniline dyes in this country is about 4,7Oc),OOO kin. October 10, 1923
CANADIAN LETTER By S. J. COOK,140 Broadway Ave., Ottawa, Canada
NEW CARBON:BLACK REGULATIONS Regulations have recently been established by Order-in-Council permitting the use of natural gas for the manufacture of carbon black in localities where there is no immediate or reasonably prospective market for the gas for domestic or industrial purposes. If the gas contains gasoline in commercial quantities, the gasoline must be extracted and saved before the gas is burned to carbon black. If, at some future time, after the factory for the manufacture of carbon black has been established and is in operation, any community or company holding a franchise to supply natural gas to any center of population constructs a pipe line to the wells supplying the carbon black plant, such holder of the franchise shall be entitled t o purchase the amount of gas necessary to supply the center of population up to the capacity of the wells, and the carbon black plant will be allowed to burn only the surplus gas for the manufacture of carbon blask. CHEMISTS IN CANADA
It is estimated that approximately six hundred persons in Canada are practicing the profession of chemistry in one way or another, and recently the Canadian Institute of Chemistry has undertaken to list the names and addresses of these chemists and to record the class of chemical work followed by each. The information obtained will be indexed, and it is expected that much light will be shed on the progress of those industries in which the application of chemical principles has been recognized as having commercial value. DISINTEGRATION O F CONCRETE BY ALKALI The action of alkali water on cement and concrete in the prairie provinces is the subject of a progress report received by the Research Council of Canada. A committee formed under the auspices of the Engineering Institute of Canada has been working on the problem for the past two years, and the test blocks of concrete have been deposited in affected areas in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. It will be necessary to allow time for these blocks to disintegrate in order to explore many phases of a question of exceeding importance for the West. In the past engineers have held that where failures occurred they were due to defective or improperly handled cement. The generally accepted opinion a t present, however, is that the disintegration is due to chemical action, causing a softening of the cement. Physical disruption is believed to be caused by crystallization in the pores of the concrete of salts of sodium magnesium or calcium, the sulfates of which are present in alkali ground water 5 . This disintegration has become a serious menace to concrete structures, such as building foundations, water pipes and sewers, bridge piers, and culverts. In the western provinces the loss has been estimated a t millions of dollars annually. While such structures last many years in eastern Canada, in the West where they come in contact with alkali water they depreciate comparatively rapidly and have to be replaced. The problem is not confined to the West, for sea water, which contains these salts, is held to be responsible for the failures of concrete docks and other waterfront structures which have been recorded from time to time. It is the work of the committee, theretore, to decide whether the composition of concrete can be modified so as to resist the damage, or whether different building materials will have to be sought. Provincial authorities in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the city of Winnipeg, and commercial concerns are taking an active interest in the work of the committee, which is under the chairmanship of C. J. Mackenzie, dean of the College of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan.
IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTROLYTIC SILVER REFINING The Deputy Master of the Royal Mint a t Ottawa has recently made public the particulars of an electrolytic process devised by him for the rapid recovery of fine silver from anodes containing 10 to I6 per cent of base metals. A rotating cathode makes possible the use of higher current densities, so that, while the amount of liquid in the cell is less than was formerly employed, the output is considerably greater and the efficiencies obtained average about 78 per cent as against 38 per cent in previous practice. The new cells are circular, 36 inches in diameter, and the cathodes rotate a t a peripheral speed of 40 feet per minute. The current density may be from 75 to 150 amperes per square foot without unduly increasing the temperature of the electrolyte, or fouling it, or increasing the resistance of the cell abnormally. The resistance of the cells does not exceed 1.2 volts a t 75 amperes, or 2.5 volts a t 150 amperes, per square foot of cathode area. The highest temperature of the electrolyte a t 75 amperes is 30' C., and 40' C. a t 150 amperes, when running 24 hours per day. The electrolyte is contained in the annular space between the outer and inner walls of the cells. This space is 8 inches wide and 18 inches deep. The rotation of the cathode keeps the electrolyte well mixed, and prevents any tendency to stratification. Below are given some comparisons between the old cell and the new type of cell: OLDCELL Amount of electrolyte in 71 imperial gallons cell . Weight of cathodes in use 285 ounces (renewable every 3 weeks)
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Anodes in use.. 5104 ounceq Current consumption 1.9volts, 350 amperes Current density per square foot of cathode 13 amperes Efficiency . . . . . . , 38 per cent Labor required. . . Strip,ping cathodes twice daily Condition of electrolyte Continually gaining in strength Agitation of electrolyte B y mechanically driven stirrers (not thorough) Output of silver per cell per hour.. 17.30 ounces
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N E W CELL
52 imperial gallons 311 ounces (permanent. no renewals requirid) 2310 ounces 1.2 volts, 400 amperes 75 amperes 78 per cent
No stripping required Constant B y rotation of cathode (thorough) 40.30 ounces
BEETINDUSTRY FOR MANITOBA Experiments in the growing of sugar beets in Manitoba this year have so far proved satisfactory and strengthen the belief that the American company which is behind them will next year go ahead with its plans for planting from 10,000 to 12,000 acres of sugar beets and establishing a plant for the manufacture of beet sugar in Winnipeg. BIG PULP MILL TO USE STRAW Erection of one pulp mill in the vicinity of Winnipeg in the near future, with the prospect of several others should the first prove a success, was the hope expressed by M. Dollfus, London. managing director of the De Vains Pulp Company, who, with Sir Frederick Becker, chairman of the company, recently visited in Winnipeg. The plant will be operated under a new system of pulp production in which straw is the chief constituent, Winnipeg having been considered an excellent location for such an industry in view of the large quantities available from the prairies. Any straw except that of rye can be used, it was stated. Previous processes had cooked the fiber to a jelly and made it of little use in paper manufacture. By the De Vains plan the fiber is kept in good condition throughout and pulp produced by it is slightly cheaper than that made from wood. The visitors represented a group of amalgamated companies operating in different European countries and in Java, where a large mill is in operation. SUGAR
October 24, 1923
