I/EC
November 1960, Volume 52, NO.1 1 APPLIED JOURNALS, ACS 1 155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Washington 6, D. C. Director o f Publications, C. 8. Larrabee Editorial Director, Richard 1. Kenyon Executive Editor, James M. Crowe Assistant to the Director o f Publications, Joseph H. Kuney Assistant to the Editorial Direct Rodney N. Hader Director of Editorial Research, Robert F. Gould INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERINGCHEMISTRY Editor, W i l l H. Shearon, Jr. EDITORIAL HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON 6, D. C. 1155 Sixteenth St., N.W. Phone REpublic 7-3337 Teletype W A 23 Associate Editor: William H. G a y Assistant Editors: Joe H. O h , Joe B. Pullen, Elspeth W. Mainland . Manuscript Department Associate Editors: Stella Anderson, Head, Katherine 1. Biggs, Reviewing, Ruth Reynard, Editing, Ruth M. Howorth, Eugenia Keller Editorial Assistant: S. S. Rogers layout and Production Joseph Jacobs, Art Director1 M e l v i n D. Buckner (Art); Leroy Corcoran (Layout) Editorial Reference: Barbara A. Gallagher BRANCH EDITORIAL OFFICES WASHINGTON Associate Editor: Louis A. Agnello CHICAGO 1, ILL. Room 926,36 South Wabaoh Ave. Phone STate 2-5148 Teletype CG 725 Associate Editor : Arthur Poulos, James H. Krieger Assistant Editor: Donald Soisson HOUSTON 2, TEX., 718 Melrose Bldg. Phone FAirfax 3-7107 Teletype H O 72 Associate Editor: Bruce F. Greek NEW YORK 16, N. Y., 2 Park Ave. Phone ORegon 9-1646 Teletype NY 1-4726 Associate Editors: William Q. Hull, Harry Stenerson, D. Gray Weaver, Waiter S. Fedor, Laurence J. White, Earl V. Anderson SAN FRANCISCO 4, CALIF. 703 Mechanics’ Institute Bldg., 57 Post St. Phone EXbrook 2-2895 Teletype SF 549 Associate Editor: Richard 0. N e w h a l l Assistant Editor: Joseph Sturchio EASTON, PA., 2 0 t h and Northampton Sts. Phone BLackburn 8-91 1 1 Teletype ESTN Pa 7048 Associate Editor: Charlotte C. Sayre Editorial Assistants: Elizabeth R. Rufe, Barbara A. Conover EUROPEAN OFFICE Bush House, Aldwych, London Phone Temple Bar 3605 Cable JIECHEM Associate Editor: Albert S. Hester Assistant Editor: Brendan F. Somerville Contributing Editors, H. Carl Bauman, James B. Weaver, W. S. Connor, P. H. Sterling Advisory Board: R. L. Bateman, A. S. Brunjes, David M. Clark, James M. Church, Lauchlin M. Currie, Joseph C. Elgin, Sam E. Emison, E. J. Fox, George Harrington, Gustave Heinemann, Rafael Katzen, Joseph H. Koffolt, F. Drew Mayfield, George Thodos, Richard C. Waugh
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A Buck I s a Buck I s a Buck WE ARE SURE that some readers of I / E C were surprised at our cover this month; and perhaps more surprised a t the feature article, “Freight Rate Equations.” What in the world has this to do with industrial chemjstry and chemical engineering? Well, what does it? First off, the author is himself a chemical engineering consultant of no mean standing, H e first ran full tilt into this problem of freight ates when he was locating, for a group of investors, a plant of which he e vice president and technical director. Since that time, business, he has had many bouts with freight rates. It was for the consultant, the chemical engineer in a company that does not have a full-blown traffic department, and the chemical engineer who could help the traffic people if he only knew some of their language, that this article -designed. T h e latter group was brought forcibly to our attention by James F. Haley, vice president of traffic and transportation for Koppers, when he said: Perhaps it is our own fault that we transportation and traffic people have had so much trouble convincing the engineers and chemists that “a buck is a buck” whether spent on transportation or process and that the buck must never be spent when careful planning and intelligent design can make it unnecessary. . I t is not only that more chemists and chemical engineers are getting into areas where they are asked and need to ask about shipping. We have had the phrase “from test tube to tank car” with us long enough for it to seem almost a clich6. I t is more important that all of our technical people have at least a conversational knowledge of this whole manufacturing picture, even to where the tank car goes and whether it is more or less expensive than some other method. And as new concepts invade transportation, they mean a wider sphere of interest in materials of construction. T h e transportation area used almost half a million tons of aluminum, for instance, in 1959. The superintendent of a large chemical plant said to us: It would certainly be of value to all of the chemical industry to remember that (1) better ways of handling and transporting various chemical products are being developed for our benefit, and (2) many a dollar can be saved in choosing the proper shipping container and the most economical method of shipment. Obvious? Perhaps, but demanding our attention more and more when we see the fierce battles raging between rail, truck, airline, and waterway for our chemical shipping dollar. The New York Journal of Commerce said late this summer that there have been few such tumultous decades in American transportation history as the two just past; that a n imposing array of economic developments is appearing side by side with technological change. T h e railways are headed for yet unknown but radically changed patterns, not only in methods, such as piggyback, but also in corporate power; air cargo traffic is up and prices are down, and jet-type cargo planes are due this year. By 1975, the forecasters think that truck traffic will account for almost a third of all the ton-miles of freight carried in this country. We have always been intrigued by the economics influencing the pattern of chemical development on the Gulf Coast, still a raw material and intermediates economy in many respects. One particular instance that sticks in our mind is the shipment of benzene by water down the Mississippi to Gulf Coast ethylene plants, and shipment of styrene monomer back to the East for processing, a schedule greatly influenced by transportation costs. Not long ago we heard from a Gulf Coast chemical engineer like this : We would particularly like to see articles presenting specific cost information on various forms of transportation. These data are generally not available in the literature.
The handwriting is on the wall; the chemical engineer would do well to heed it.
W&it S L S . . VOL. 52, NO. 1 1
NOVEMBER 1960
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