THE C H E M I C A L W O R L D THIS WEEK C&EN REPORTS: Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association
Insecticides Hold First Place In Aerosol Packaging Use of aerosols for personal products has grown sevenfold in one year CHICAGO.—Aerosol loaders, as w e l l as producers of containers, propellants, and chemical specialties all had a chance to air the problems confronting the rapidly moving aerosol industry at the 39th midyear meeting of the Chemical Specialties Manufacturers Association held here May 18 and 19. When one considers t h e vast number of items dispensed in aerosol containers today and adds to this figure the hundreds of new materials being studied, it seems that practically nothing will escape being packaged in aerosol form. Insecticides continued to constitute the largest single class of products packed, the total amounting to 32 million units. A large increase was noted in the personal products field which grew sevenfold in one year to a figure of 25 million units. Shaving creams made up 65% of t h e personal products output. Room deodorant production was 12 million units in 1952. Containers were of the low pressure type for the most part, although some of the older high pressure types are still used for space insecticide sprays. Some of the newer products to be packed in aerosol cans are waxes, insect repellents, Christmas "snow," dog sprays, and lubricants. It is estimated that lacquers may make u p 5% of t h e 1953 aerosol production, said Fred S. Palmer, D u Pont Co. The poor brushing qualities of nitrocellulose finishes and their quick drying rate make them especially adaptable to aerosol application. Acrylic protective coatings as well as pigmented sprays are slated to appear on the market in substantial quantities this year. The n e w lacquers should prove a boon to home furniture finishers. Nitrocellulose is not soluble in the fluorinated hydrocarbons used for aerosol propellants. Therefore, care must be taken to avoid precipitation when the propellant is added to the lacquer. Dr. Palmer went on to say that since the propellant dilutes the lacquer to a certain extent, nitrocellulose concentration must be nigher in aerosol-loaded lacquers than in those used in the conventional manner. Petroleum Chemicals. Predicting that in the future most of our organic chemicals will be derived from petroleum, Gustav Egloff, Universal Oil Products Co., emphasized the almost limitless specialty applications of both presently known and yet to be discovered petroleum based organic compounds. Dr. Egloff illustrated his talk b y passing through the audience a series of objects made from petrochemicals. These objects ranged from fish lures to bullet-proof vests. 2286
Insecticides. Liquid insecticides production was 13 million gallons in 1952. Retail value of this output was $33 million, a 15% increase over 1951. This information was obtained from a survey covering about 38 c/o of the insecticide manufacturers made by an independent accounting concern. In presenting the report, George W . Fiero, Esso Standard Oil Co., stated that in the household market residual sprays were still preferred. About 6 0 % of the sprays sold in 1952 were of this type, the remainder were space sprays. Also noted was a tendency to use chlordan rather than D D T in residual formulations. Household insecticide preparations containing D D T were down to 19%. Last year 2 5 % of such formulations contained D D T . On the other hand, chlordan formulations were up to 4 1 % , an increase of 5% over the previous year. A new insecticide consisting of a mixture of chlorinated terpene hydrocarbons shows promise as a basic insecticide raw material. Strobane, the name given the substance, is effective against a wide variety of agricultural and household pests, said D. L. Kent, Goodrich Chemical Co. So far t h e material is available only for experimental work.
Gustav Egloff, Universal Oil Products Co., illustrates the w i d e range in petrochemical applications with a bullet-proof vest Unlike many similar agents, Strobane does not require an aromatic hydrocarbon solvent when packaged as an aerosol. Another advantage is that it does not leave an objectionable residue. Present manufacture is on a semi-plant scale. Tests with experimental animals show that while Strobane is toxic to a certain extent in large quantities, it is harmless in the concentrations needed for optimum insect killing power. According to the findings of H. A. Shelanski, Industrial Toxicological Laboratories, white rats can tolerate 500 p.p.m. Strobane in their diet continually with no ill effects.
C&EN REPORTS: Armed Forces Chemical Association
Healthy Chemical Industry Needs No Special Mobilization for W a r Free economic environment and enough technical personnel can guarantee a healthy industry NEW YORK.—A healthy peacetime chemical industry is always mobilized for a national emergency like war, and does not have to b e converted to any special wartime footing, said Howard R. Huston, vice president and director, American Cyanamid Co., at the annual meeting of the Armed Forces Chemical Association, held here May 20 and 21. However, the industry can't b e healthy unless it exists in an economic environment free of restrictions, free of tax inequities, and free of an erratic competition of sub-standard prices from abroad, Mr. Huston said. "It must be up to date, have enough technically-trained personnel second to none, and must be self-sufficient and independent of any other nation in the world."
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Mobilization of the chemical industry in case of all-out war would take four directions, Mr. Huston said : ( 1 ) chemical products would be switched immediately from one end use to another; ( 2 ) a production of three times the volume of this peak year would b e required; ( 3 ) a climate favorable to growth must b e provided; and ( 4 ) the public would have to be indoctrinated with the importance of the chemical industry. Chemicals used most directly for munitions include: ammonium picrate in armorpiercing explosives; RDX, in demolition, artillery shells, and bazookas; Torpex, a mixture of RDX, T N T and aluminum, for underwater explosives. Some half dozen other explosives and some 20 mixtures are
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also used in depth bombs, rockets, and the Idee. About 86 different chemical products are used from a single plant to make a B-29 superfortress, he said. Chemical Industry Growth. Forecasters with reputation predict that in the next 10 years the chemical industry will grow four to five times faster than the rest of industry; silicone plastics will have in creased in production sevenfold in the 1950-55 period; polyethylene. production will increase in production considerably. An interesting way to measure the extent of the growth of the chemical in dustry is by comparing the few hundred chemists that existed in 1900 with the more than 100,000 chemists today. In vestment in chemical facilities in 1935 was $4 billion and. today over $10 billion. From 4000 professional researchers in the chemical industry in 1927, the increase has been to 30,000 today, with over $250 million spent yearly on chemical research. Over 40% of our chemical sales today are of products which were not known 15 years ago, Huston said. There are now published throughout the world 50,000 scientific periodicals, with one million articles yearly. Chemical Abstracts published 8000 pages in 1950. Other countries may get many valuable original ideas for new products (the Diesel engine, cellophane, and rayon), but Americans know best how to manufac ture them on a mass scale, economically. Executive management is one of the coun try's greatest assets. Perpetual mobilization involves an ad vancing technology without extravagant expenditures for rapidly outmoded weap ons, Mr. Huston concluded. Just as the chemical industry today makes careful studies of the availability and economics of natural gas or coal 20 years hence, so must mobilization plans be long-range and cover all contingencies. No Aladdin's Lamp. Economical atomic power plants are still decades away, said Harry A. Winne, vice president, General Electric Co. Noting that all experimental atomic power plants built thus far have been governmental, he observed that such installations could produce electrical power at competitive costs only if the power is essentially a by-product of plu tonium production. He believes that we will build such plants that can compete with coal, oil, or gas-fired plants even tually. Atomic energy will never displace coal, oil, or gas, Mr. Winne predicted. Never has any fuel completely displaced an existing one and nuclear fuel will supple-fhent, not supplant, combustible fuels. At present, atomic power is feasible only so long as the Government guarantees the market and price of plutonium, which is not sound economics. In a large, modern power plant the first cost is $75 to $100 per kw. of capacity, while the cost of an atomic plant is $500 to $600, though this is considerably below earlier estimates. VOLUME
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Condenser operating curves from tlie Greenidge Station of the N e w York State Electric and Gas Corporation, designed by Gilbert Associates, Inc., show clearly the effectiveness of slime control with chlorination and Wallace & Tiernan Equipment. The 1945 curves record typi cal operation without chlorina tion—showing the serious drop in condenser vacuum during the warm water months. Early in 1947 dhlorination was started by feeding hypochlorite, but not until -August of that year was the dosage increased sufficiently to give appreciable slime control· Immediate improvement in con denser performance was evident. The 1948 curve shows a full
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year of ά ilorination. The feed ing of hyi ochlorite — although giving slii >e control — proved both expensive and difficult. To overcome ;hese difficulties, a W&T A i l O p e r a t e d M a s t e r Chlorinatoi for feeding gaseous chlorine w
