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W a x from the Bogs It should b e possible to produce plastics f r o m p e a t v / o x . . . M o l e c u l a r structure suggests potential c h e m i c a l uses DUBLIN.—Peat serves primarily as a By oxidation with chromic acid, an low grade domestic fuel b u t recent estimate of maximum length of carbon studies of peat wax in Britain now sug- chains present in the asphalt was made. gest interesting possibilities for a more A yield of 70 9c was obtained after chemical utilization of this relatively chromic acid oxidation of which nearly abundant raw material. To chemists at- 5 0 % corresponded to the formula C22~ tending the recent International Peat H43O2.2· Most oxygen was present in Symposium here, this was one of the carboxylic acid groups. most interesting of a large number of In his concluding remarks, Ackroyd reports presented. The conference was emphasized that the chemical studies arranged by t h e Irish Bord Na Mona. of peat wax were not encouraging from Peat wax consists of a series of high the point of view of developing a submolecular weight organic compounds stitute of montan or vegetable waxes. containing three or more functional Best bet is utilization of the product as groups such as carboxylic acid, ester an organic raw material, he thinks. and hydroxyl, says G. C. Ackroyd of Describing recent chemical studies, t h e Fuel Research Station. W i t h mole- it was suggested that peat wax is not cxiles of this type it should b e possible dependent on the type of peat forming to produce plastics with valuable prop- plants. Wax may be formed also b y erties, and it may well b e that the fu- secondary bog vegetation or by microture development of peat wax lies in organisms participating in the humifithis direction, he said. cation of the peat, says A. Sundgren Peat wax is a complex mixture of of Helsinki's State Institute for Techorganic compounds. On the basis of nical Research. differing solubilities in organic solvents, Moss Compositions. At the Instia n arbitrary division can be m a d e of tute of Seaweed Research in Northern crude wax into resins, true wax, and Scotland, a preliminary investigation asphalt. The resins are soft, sticky ma- has been carried out on the chemical terials having an average molecular composition of sphagnum, heather, and weight of approximately 690, a high peat. W. A. P. Black explains that acid value a n d a high oxygen content. samples have been quantitatively anaAverage molecular weight of the true lysed for total ash, crude fats, Kjeldahlwax is 1330 and it contains less oxy- nitrogen, cellulose, total reducing subgen than the resins. T h e asphalt has stances, and individual sugars. a molecular weight averaging approxiThe total ash calculated on a dry mately 2090, a high ester value and à basis varied between 1.5 and 5.091:. high oxygen content. Kjeldahl-nitrogen varied between 1.0 The resins consist mainly of material and 2.0% and the crude fats between with about 3 8 carbon atoms per mole- 3.9 and 6.9%, says Black. A correlacule, says Ackroyd. More than 6 3 % tion was established between the age, of this material contains on the aver- or depth of sample and crude fats, niage about 3.3 atoms of oxygen per trogen, total reducing substances, and molecule, mainly in ester groups, but cellulose. The crude fats increased with depth, while other constituents dewith some free hydroxyl groups. Much of the true wax consists of creased. The presence of galactose, glucose, molecules with "about 6 0 ' carbon and four oxygen atoms. On the average mannose, arabinose, and xylose was esonly 2.7 oxygen atoms could b e ac- tablished by qualitative chromatocounted for in the form of ester or graphic examination of acid hydrolyalcohol; the remaining oxygen is prob- zates. Fructose was not found in any of ably present in carbonyl or ether the dried samples of sphagnum or peat groups. About 3 0 % of the asphalt was examined. composed of molecules with 66 carbon Free amino acids were not found in atoms and a n average of 7.7 oxygen peat but were identified in fresh and atoms, Each molecule contains two dried samples of sphagnum. Two diester groups, one hydroxyl group and mensional paper chromatography of some carboxylic acid. Twenty-seven acid hydrolyzates was used to identify per cent of t h e asphalt consists of mole- amino acids. Presence of the following cules with 4 4 carbon atoms and 6.3 was established: Cysteic acid, aspartic oxygen atoms. Ackroyd says that the acid, glutamic acid, serine, glycine, remainder of the asphalt appeared to threonine, alanine, tyrosine, valine, polymerize readily. methionine, phenylalanine, leucines, VOLUME
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proline, arginine, histidine, and lysine. Peat for Gasification. At Britain's Fuel Research Station, a pilot plant unit utilizing a fluidized bed has been gasifying peat. Milled peat consisting of sphagnum, cotton grass, and heather mixture was dried to 1 6 % moisttire, and fed with a stream of superheated steam into the gasification chamber operating at 800° C. Advantages of peat for fluidized bed gasification outlined by D . MacDougall are: 1. Peat is completely noncaking. 2. It produces a highly reactive diar from which a lower temperature gasification rate might be expected, free from ash, sintering difficulties. 3. It has a very low ash content enabling the fluidized bed ash content to b e kept reasonably low. Difficulties are encountered due t o the fibrous nature of moss peat. A t room temperature, explains MacDougall, "bridging" occurs in a milled peat fluidized bed, and large masses of material are carried up the chamber. At elevated temperatures fluidization can be maintained w h e n fresh peat is added, presumably due to fiber degradation. Fly-carbon carry-over is excessive. A similar type of gas could b e made from t h e peat as is obtained from low grade coal, concludes MacDougall. British R e p o r t N e w Fat Extraction Technique A technique for extraction of oil and fat from animal, marine, and vegetable materials, which employs principle of subjecting cellular material to highfrequency mechanical impulses through a stream of cold water, has been introduced by a British firm, So far it is relatively unexplored in the chemical process industries, though its application in extraction of fats and oils is claimed to b e the first technological advance in fat extraction for 50 years. Commercially, the technique has been applied only in the processing of bones. Bones are fed to a crusher and reduced to pieces shorter than Hve inches long. Material is further disintegrated in a chopping machine, then fed continuously in*O the impulse Tenderer, where it is contacted with seven times its weight of water. Water impulses blast t h e fat from the cells in a few seconds. Mixture of fat, protein matter, bone, and water then discharges into the first bone separating tank and the bone settles to the bottom and is removed. 3271
INTERNATIONAL·
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• Sheet, W i r e , Tubing, Gauze and Fine Foils. • Laboratory wares of all description. • Stills, Retorts, Electrodes and other Special Process Equipment to order. • Salts and Solutions. • Platinum, Metal Catalysts—Concen t r a t e d forms and on carriers. Palladium, Iridium, Osmium, Rhodium a n d Ruthenium.
We pay highest prices for scrap platinum and also have facilities for prompt recovery of spent platinum and palladium catalysts. WE INVITE YOUR INQUIRIES A N D W I L L BE GLAD T O SEND T H E S E FOLDERS ON REQUEST: N-20, "Platinum, Gold & Silver for Science, Industry & the Arts*' N-21, "Platinum and Palladium Catalysts."
During transit the bones are washed with 960 gallons an hour of clean cold water. After going through another squeezer they go to a second washing tank kept at 195° F . to remove ah surface adhering fats. As the bone travels up the second screw conveyor, it is washed with 4b0 gallons of water at 195° F. After squeezing it is dried for 40 minutes at 230° F . Overflow from the first bone separating tank, consisting mainly of water, floating fat, and some protein matter, is re ceived at the first fat collecting tank. Excess effluent water (about 3600 gallons) is bled off and p u m p e d back to the impulse renderer. Solid matter, fat, and some excess water is then received in a feed tankwhere bulk of protein is removed in a 48-inch-diameter centrifuge. F a t and effluent are then fed to a second fat collecting tank and effluent syphoned off for subsequent fat recovery. Solid fat is then led through a heat ex changer where it is melted and then fed into a 36-inch-diarneter centrifuge. There a skimmer removes the fat from the water. Any small traces of fiber are left on the wall of the basket. About 8 5 % of total fat is removed in this operation. Fat is then heated to 158° F . and adjusted to desired mois ture content in a supercentrifuge. The fat, which now has a typical mixture and impurity of 0.02%, then passes to storage tanks or containers. Entire treatment is carried out in less than five minutes, as compared with several hours' operation involving
use of hot solvent and high tempera tures in conventional systems. Cold extraction process is said to result in less product deterioration, better color, less odor, and lower pro duction cost. When fish livers are treated by this process recovered oils have twice the vitamin content ordi narily obtained. Process has also been studied for ex traction of various vegetable oils such as cottonseed, soya, and coconut oils. Preliminary trials showed process could be used satisfactorily in commercial exploitation. In case of extraction of edible oils it is suggested that iron material be replaced with stainless steel. N e w Dye Plant in Bombay Hilton-Davis Chemical has joined Amritlal and Co., Ltd., to erect a tex tile dye plant near Bombay, India. Project is viewed as important step in making India self-sufficient in synthetic textile dyes. Plant will be operated by Amritlal as Amar-Dye Chem, Ltd. It will ultimately manufacture the same complete line of textile dyes now being produced by Hilton Davis in the O.S. Initial production will consist of dyes of the naphthol series, fast bases, stabilized diazo compounds, and inter mediates. Hilton-Davis will provide technical advice on construction, operation, manufacturing, and research. Plant is considered important to the economy of India, whose dye industry is linked u p
Chile Builds Country's First Refinery Empresa Nacional del Petroleo is completing a refinery, Chile's first, near Valparaiso. Designed and engineered by M. W. Kellogg, it will have a capacity of 20,000 barrels per day, will utilize the most modern combination thermal processing equipment, and will process both native and imported crudes. Facilities include atmospheric distillation, vis-breaking, thermal reforming and cracking, gasoline stabilization, and sulfur removal from fuel gas, liquefied petroleum gases, and gasoline. Products, in addition to LPG, will be motor and tractor gasolines, kerosine, Diesel oil, and heavy fuel oils
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3272
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£Ae/ttz4(u4 yen live by
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Section of refrigerator door gasket made of DIAMOND PVC-50.
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14, O H I O CHEMICALS
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ii/hp.ry» rrHipre -rail
ΜΗ Lithium Aluminum Hydride ^^
0 î* ^
ft
rf) &
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with technical progress in the entire organic chemical field, and is expected to help indirectly the development of many other industries. Another Indian company recently formed jointly with I C I will build a dye and intermediate factory at Bulsar, State of Bombay. i\]triough Indian dye manufacturers derive considerable benefit from t h e government's support of indigenous industry, tariff protection, and the import licensing system, they have experienced great difficulties from the shortage of intermediates. ICI has undertaken to provide full technical information. India is British largest overseas market for dyes. I t absorbs several thousand tons of various types annually. Other European exporters regard t h e Indian market important; of late it has absorbed several hundred tons a year of cheaper types from Japan and t h e Soviet Union. P o r t u g a l Rules on Radioactive Miner d i s Beryllium, tantalite, and zircon are considered radioactive minerals in Portugal and have been made subject to control of t h e Portuguese Nuclear Energy Board. Production of beryllium in Portugal increased from 9 3 tons in 1952 to 378 tons i n 1953 and will go u p higher this year.
Reduction o f Acids a n d
Aden Plant Begins S 0 2 P r o d u c t i o n
Esters can b e Easy, S w i f t , Safe, C o m p l e t e Providing fast, excellent yields with s t a n d a r d equipment, Metal H y d r i d e s ' lithium a l u m i n u m hydride is a safe, yet powerful agent for r e d u c t i o n s of acids, esters, ketones, aldehydes, and acid chlorides with or without the h y d r o genization of double b o n d s . Depending u p o n the solvent used, lithium a l u m i n u m h y d r i d e will c a r r y out reductions at temperatures ranging from —80°C to -j-100°C, with one mole yielding t h e equivalent of approximately 90 liters of hydrogen. If your process requires a reduction, L A H will succeed where others have failed. Y o u r inquiry will b r i n g complete technical information without obligation. W r i t e n o w !
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Sulfur dioxide; production plant of Anglo-Iranian O i l Co., Ltd., has b e g u n production at A.den refinery on t h e Arabian peninsula of liquid sulfur dioxide ready for the refinery's 'coming into operation this month—four months ahead of scheduLe. T h e S 0 2 extraction plant will produce premium a n d regular grade kerosime at a rate of 300,000 tons a year, a s well as about 50,000 tons a year of a high grade blending component for tractor fuel. Australians
Make Cold Glue
Cold glue hats been manufactured from tannin wauste a t t h e Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Success with some of the l a r g e n u m b e r of varieties of tannin-containing bark, normally wasted in the fo*rest products industry, has opened trie "way for preparation of a cheap and useful type of cold glue. It has been found that tannin from black wattle and. black and white cypress pines m a k e s the best cold product. Preliminary work had showed that these glues set t o o quickly and hardened before machine rollers could set them.
CHEMICAL
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In α quiet room a t Bell Laboratories a n engineer scales off t h e distance between t w o condenser microphones during a calibrating test. Able t o measure a i r pressure variations of a f e w billionths' of a n atmosphere, such microphones p l a y a crucial role in the scientific study of telephone instruments.
SOUND STEPS OJtf THE SCALES Those small cylinders facing each other are condenser microphones—measuring tools that play a vital p a r t in making your tele phone easier to hear and talk through. They are being calibrated by an engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories to give ex tremely accurate information on the kind of sound your telephone company handles. Armed with these vital fundamental data on what sound is, Bell Laboratories scientists
devise the instruments and equipment that transmit it best. At Western Electric, manufacturing unit of the Bell System, a condenser microphone "listens" as your ear would listen to every telephone before it goes into service. The condenser microphone is but one of many precise tools that Laboratories scientists have developed to make telephone service better and more economical.
BELL TELEPHONE LABORATORIES Improving America's telephone service offers careers for creative men in scientific a n d technical fields.
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How To Turn An ODOR I M P ,κΊτ V*
Recently t h e researchers found a w a y to slow t h e setting without spoiling bonding strength. India t o H a v e Synthetic O i l Industry
Into An AWGEL OF GOOD WILL y \ D E O D A L L # 1 # Sindar's new multi purpose m a s k i n g a g e n t , replaces objectionable odors i n varnishes, lacquers, cleaners, polishes, oils a n d o t h e r p r o d u c t s w i t h a fresh, clean scent t h a t p r o m o t e s sales, good will. Also solves stack odor p r o b l e m s effectively, eco nomically. A s k S i n d a r for full facts. ^©
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Advisory committee on synthetic petrol, in its report to the central gov ernment, recommends establishment of a synthetic oil industry in India as soon as possible. It also recommends inviting of schemes for setting u p t h e industry from foreign experts, and t h e construction of a pilot plant near Dhnabad. India has plenty of r a w materials required for t h e industry. Ferro Builds F r i t Plant In South A f r i c a Ferro Enamels, Ltd., a subsidiary of Ferro Corp., expects to construct a frit-producing factory i n Brakpan, Transvaal, South Africa. Increasingly strict import restrictions b y t h e South African government stimulated plans for t h e project, which will produce porcelain enamel frits. Equipment is being kept at a practical minimum in terms of present estimated require ments, b u t over-all construction plan envisages a capacity suitable for ex pected future demands. Maleic Anhydride in Britain and France
N O W AVAILABLE] I N SEMI COMMERCIAL ^ QUANTITIES ^
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Monsanto Chemicals, L t d . , will b e gin construction of a major plant for making maleic anhydride of which t h e company is the only producer for sale in Great Britain. British company hitherto has obtained small quantities of the material as a by-product. N e w plant has been designed to cover all British requirements as far as known at present and to permit quick expan sion t o meet any future growth of d e mand. It will b e built a t the Ruabon, Wales, works of the company as part of its continuous expansion program in this locality on which approximately $14 million has been spent since the war. Production of maleic anhydride at Ruabon will b e b y direct oxidation of benzene. In France t h e St. Gobain company has been extending its maleic anhydride capacity a t Chauny. T h e work is a p proaching completion a n d will enable the company to double its output of maleic acid and anhydride.
C&EN Foreign Correspondents Con tributing to This Issue:
A. P. SOM, Britain, Australia, India G.
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ABRAHAMSON,
France
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