RESEARCH
Filter "Balances" Smoke N e w filter has a c t i v a t e d car bon; picks up v a p o r phase components JHL N E W F I L T E R containing
activated
charcoal has been developed by the American Tobacco Co., Richmond, Va. Unlike other cigarette filters, which stop only t h e so-called tars, t h e n e w filter traps both tars and such irritants as aldehydes, ketones, a n d esters present in the vapor phase. H. R. Hanmer, director of research a t American Tobacco, points out that its filter is a compound type. It has two parts; the part next to the tobacco (the "black segment") contains the char coal, a n d the part at t h e tip of the cigarette (the "white segment") is the usual paper or acetate filter. The acetate portion removes tars, a n d the charcoal portion removes vapor phase components. • N e w Process. Basic research which led t o this "dual" filter has been going on at American Tobacco for over 2 0 years. Researchers knew that a fil ter can't stop with removing just the tars, since there a r e irritants in the vapor phase of cigarette smoke as well. And t h e ordinary p a p e r or acetate fil ter just doesn't remove enough of these irritants. They found that activated charcoal was best in removing these irritants, b u t a big problem remained— how to put it in a cigarette. After two years of research on how to solve this problem, Ecusta Paper Corp., Brevard, N. C , came u p with a process. First, highly active coconut shell charcoal is ground to a particular rnesh size. It is then p u t into a paper machine. There, t h e cellulose fibers a n d t h e charcoal a r e entangled. No
adhesive is used, since it lowers t h e filter's activation. This charcoalcellulose mixture makes u p t h e "black segment." It is then combined with the acetate filter to make the n e w dual filter. The final filters are 15 m m . long, with Ίι/.2 m m . of "black," a n d 7 1 / 2 mm. of "white." • Good Results. T h e n e w filter's efficiency is shown by some experiments done by American Tobacco researchers (see table at b o t t o m ) . Three cigarettes were tested, all having t h e same blend of tobacco. Group A cigarettes a r e all tobacco. In groups Β a n d C, 1 5 mm. of t h e tobacco column has b e e n r e placed with filter tips. T h e tips on Β have no charcoal; those o n C h a v e 15 Vc by weight of activated charcoal. T h e results of a vapor sample from each type after smoking are shown below.
Missile Shapes Tested Cornell University's Aeronautical L a b in Buffalo, Ν . Y., h a s developed coated materials a n d shapes w h i c h withstand temperatures as h i g h as 4000° F . They made extensive tests of over 96 different metals, plastics, ceramics, and special coatings i n vari ous shapes a n d under various condi tions of time, temperature, gas velocity, and oxygen. T h e object of the one-year project, conducted for t h e Army, was to simulate high speed flight i n t h e lower atmosphere; results will b e used to help design missiles for such flights. Samples of t h e different materials (initially at room temperature) were suddenly immersed in a hot rocket ex haust at temperatures over 4000° F . The extreme heating rate of the outer layer of material resulted in severe thermal expansion of that layer. T h e rest of t h e material was not affected, since it did not absorb enough heat.
Charcoal Filters Off Irritants Isoprene Acetaldehyde Propionaldehyde Furan Acetone Acrolein Isobutyraldehyde Methyl acetate Methyl alcohol Methyl furan Methyl ethyl ketone 38
C&EN
A U G . 18, 1 9 5 8
A Μχ./Cigt. 0.63 0.73 0.050 0.031 0.39 0.07 0.033 0.015 0.09 0.028 0.086
Β Mg./Cigt. 0.55 0.66 0.048 0.030 0.37 0.066 0.031 0.012 0.071 0.026 0.076
C Λ/g./Cfcf. 0.39 O.50 O.027 O.018 O.20 O.036 O.019 O.009 O.025 O.014 O.038
t¥ffti«ff:IM
iwenunents m run
mmmmm'i
Here's
good news:
NOW! CHEMICALS FROM WYANDOTTE IN THE SOUTH!
R
IGHT now W y a n d o t t e Chemicals Corporation is in the news as a growth c o m p a n y . . . both technologically and geographically. It's all a part of a carefully inte grated program — the biggest in our 68-year history. Wyandotte's new Geismar Works, immediately south of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is now o n stream. I t includes a new ethylene oxide plant with a n annual capacity of 60 million pounds. Under construction: a large-capacity chlorine-caustic soda plant. If your c o m p a n y is eyeing t h e growing South for new plant sites — or if you're already established there— you will want t o look into this new source1 for e t h y l e n e oxide, ethylene and diethylene glycols, nitrogen, chlorine, caustic, hydrogen, and related products. The location — just south of B a t o n R o u g e , on the Missis sippi River— is readily accessible by rail and truck . . . and to oceangoing vessels, allowing low-cost shipment anywhere in the South, the Gulf, along t h e Atlantic seaboard and the
IK/anJolte
Pacific coasts — as well as t o foreign ports. Inland waterways permit economical shipment a s far north as MinneapolisS t . Paul . . . and t o other cities i n the M i d w e s t and S o u t h v i a tributaries like the Ohio and T e n n e s s e e R i v e r s . M a n y industries in this rapidly growing area will VK«served. T h e y include: pulp and paper, petrochemicals, petroleum refining, η on fer rou s metals, plastics, textiles, solvents, insecti cides, herbicides, a n d refrigerants, to name a few. This m e a n s Wyandotte now lias expanded multi-plant facilities t o further insure our many customers of a c o n t i n uous supply of products . . . that W y a n d o t t e i s grooving with t h e g r o w t h industries it is privileged t o serve. But even more i m p o r t a n t , it is dear-cut e v i d e n c e , translated into action, of t h e t r e m e n d o u s confidence W y a n d o t t e h a s in the future. If you'd like to know more about how this program will benefit y o u , contact your nearest W y a n d o t t e representative, or w r i t e : )Y yanclotle Chcnùvulx Corporation, Wyandotte, Michigan. Office? in principal cities.
C HEME CALS MICHIGAN
ALKALI
DIVISION
PACING PROGRESS WITH CREATIVE CHEMISTRY
SODA ASH · CAUSTIC SODA · BICARBONATE OF SODA · CALCIUM CARBONATE · CALCIUM CHLORIDE · CHLORINE · MURIATIC ACID · HYDROGEN · DRY ICE GLYCOLS · SYNTHETIC DETERGENTS (anionic and nonionic) · CARBOSEKSodium CMC) · ETHYLENE OXIDE · ETHYLENE DICHLORIDE · PROPYLENE OXIDE «PROPYLENE DICHLORIDE · POLYPROPYLENE GLYCOL · DICHLORODIIVIETHYLHYDANTOIN · CHLORINATED SOLVENTS · OTHER ORGANIC AND INORGANIC CHEMICALS AUG.
18,
195 8
C &EN
3 9
THE LEGENDARY FIREBIRD, the Phoenix, rose y o u n g
RESEARCH
and strong again and again from flames . . . This is the Norton Firebird — symbol for the exciting new fused materials made in Norton's electric furnaces.
welectrochemicals ^iitsoitheiirebird
New booklet on
BORON Compounds and other eiectrocliemicals Born in flames, like the legendary Phoenix, Norton electrochemicals gain new power to perform new wonders. In Norton electric furnaces they are transformed into new high-purity compounds of tremendous importance. A quarter century ago, Norton began developing stable boron compounds — such as NORBIDE* boron carbide — and now provides boron as the carbide, the nitride, and as various borides. The increasing Norton variety of boronrich compounds, including intermediates for chemical processing and additives for metal alloying, may be the answer to one of your current production problems. Write for this new booklet, describing Norton electrochemical development of boron compounds and other raw materials. NORTON COMPANY, Electro-Chemical
Division, 867 New Bond St., Worcester 6, Massachusetts.
i
Light Gets Chopped at Westinghouse
Not star gazing, nor looking a t some miniature flying saucer, this Westinghouse scientist is chopping a b e a m of light into "pieces" only a few billionths of a second in length. Developed a t t h e Westinghouse Research Labs b y Max G a r b u n y , T . P. Vogl, a n d J. R. Hansen, t h e new "light chopper" produces sharply defined, ultrafast pulses of light which are used to test the speed with which electronic devices respond to light a n d other radiations. T h e "light chopper" reflects a b e a m of light or other radiation from a six-sided rotating mirror surrounded b y five stationary mirrors spaced around the i n n e r surface of a metal cylinder. Also u n d e r investigation is its use in picture scanning a n d in high speed photography.
•Trade-Mark Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. and Foreign Countries
NORTON ELECTROCHEMICALS GIFTS O F THE F I R E B I R D : compounds of silicon
zirconium · boron · aluminum · magnesium t i t a n i u m · chromium . . . including many borides carbides · nitrides · oxides.
MAKING BETTER PRODUCTS ...TO M A K E YOUR PRODUCTS BETTER 40
C&EN
AUG.
18,
1958
M a n y materials shattered instantly after this treatment. Similar cases of thermal shock could b e expected during extremely high speed flight in the atmosphere, t h e lab reports, since today's high speed missiles attain maximum speed so fast. N o unprotected metals survived the test.
• Cigarette smoke condensates from five different brands of cigarettes Have
been analyzed for polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (/. Nat. Cancer Inst. 21: pages 1-16, 1958). Hydrocarbons identified a r e pyrenc, 4-methylpyrene, fluoranthene, 8-methylfluoranthene, b e n z o [ a ] p y r e n e , benzo[e]pyrene, a n d benzo[ghi]perylene. • The A m e r i c a n
University
of Beirut
in Lebanon gets a grant from t h e R e search Corp. to study t h e electronic structure of molecular crystals a n d macromolecules.
