VOLUME24 NUMBER 11
Industrial AND E N G I N E E R I N G Chemistrv
NOVEMBER 1932
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HARRISON E. HOWE,EDITOR
The Editor’s Point of View
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HEMISTRY AT T H E CESTURY OF PROGRESS. The Century of Progress Exposition is scheduled to open June 1, 1933. This is not so far away, and we shall soon be aware of the fact that the first of the great expositions designed to portray, not only the application of science and discovery to commerce and industry, but to emphasize the place of fundamental discovery and inventions of science, will be open to the millions who will visit it. Science has had a part in other international fairs, but it is the very soul and center of the Century of Progress. Early in the work a distinguished committee was set up by the National Research Council at the request of the management of the exposition and a large number of our scientists coaperated through subcommittees, that the purposes outlined might be achieved. The Hall of Science has been made the center of the exposition. In it, dynamic exhibits on the fundamental discoveries in the basic sciences will be displayed and here, too, in another part of the structure will be found related industrial exhibits stressing the applied side. The central position in this great hall will be occupied by chemistry, and a series of exhibits will show how various chemical changes may be produced. Further, there will be a series to portray some of the fundamental concepts of chemistry, such as absorption, catalysis, and colloidal phenomena. The exhibits will be made possible by the support of such well-known firms as Merck & Co., Victor Chemical Works, Corning Glass Works, Baker & Co., Metal & Thermit Corporation, Texas Gulf Sulphur Co., International Filter Co., and others. Electrochemistry will be represented by four groupsthe electric furnace industry, fused electrolytes, organoelectrochemistry, and aqueous electrochemistry. Here the sponsors include the Union Carbide & Carbon Corporation and the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. Fundamental raw materials and something of the part chemistry has played in developing them into necessities are also to be portrayed. The chemistry of petroleum is being sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute, the chemistry of rubber by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., and the chemistry of air
by the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. The exhibit on the chemistry of coal tar is to be made up of six unit exhibits, of which that on coal-tar plastics is being sponsored by the Bakelite Corporation. In addition to these exhibits, the ground floor of the Hall of Science will house the displays of a number of chemical industries, these being more industrial in character and thus far including among others the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation, Victor Chemical Works, Merck & Co., 3lallinckrodt Chemical Works, Eastman Kodak Co., and the Simoniz Corporation. A great change has taken place in industrial America since the last great exposition held in this country. Chemistry has done much and much is expected of it. Notwithstanding all the efforts made in many directions there are those who remain unconvinced concerning the importance of the industry and who are quite unfamiliar with its ramifications and the extent to which best-known industries depend upon it. With the Century of Progress centered upon science, we should do all we can to see to it that chemistry and the chemical industry is fully represented, that the story is told clearly, simply, and yet adequately. Let it be visibly demonstrated that, with proper support, chemistry in America can do all that chemistry can do anywhere and that there is no further great need for dependence on other sources.
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HEMICAL ENGINEERING. In our issue for October, in the present number, and again in December are included papers comprising the symposium given at Denver before the Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry on the “Design, Construction, and Operation of Reaction Equipment.” The symposium served to emphasize that most of us in describing chemical engineering as a series of unit operations have been more or less blind to the fact that, with one or two exceptions such as combustion, we have been discussing physical and mechanical procedures and have slighted real chemical engineering. Students are taught much about operations which are vital in
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ding, distillation, evaporaer unit operations ihvolve lem method of teaching become so popular that emphasis upon unit operations is but natural, for these lend themsehm admirably to such assignment, and their solution provides a real test of the knowledge and ingenuity of the student. However this may be, certainly unit processes, as differentiated from unit operations, are not so readily adapted to the problem treatment. But we must admit that students must also be instructed with reference to equipment in which chemical reactions take place. It is this corner of the field which the symposium touches and which should pave the way for more extended discussion of the processes which, taken together with the unit operations, may be said to comprise the major part of what we understand as chemical engineering in its best sense. *
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ACTS FIRST. We all know of speakers whose style would be cramped or ruined if they were hampered by facts. But when one of this type records it with ink, he is not to be lightly excused if he fails to take the trouble involved in being sure of his ground before he launches his attack. Recently, one of the great daily papers which has shown a kindly and intelligent interest in the advance of science made the error of mistaking a discussion on autumnal coloring for a piece of research actually in progress in one department of the Government, and proceeded to make light of what appeared on the surface a possible waste of taxpayers’ money. Even if the research were in progress, what was said in the editorial concerning the unimportance of the compounds revealed total absence of effort on the part of the critic to ascertain the facts first. This writer, in referring to research on the plant colors as “dragging out what must be a tiresome acquaintance with carotinoids and anthocyanins,” probably forgot, if he ever knew, that in many fruits, vegetables, and prepared foods, color is of great economic value. If he previously had heard of carotinoids and anthocyanins, he failed to realize that complete knowledge of the fundamental chemistry of these substances will yield information important in increasing desirable colors in fruits and vegetables and in preventing serious color deterioration in many of our manufactured food products. I n preserving and canning, the average housewife, who knows her colors better than the newspaper writer, has noticed how exceedingly dificult it is to maintain in the finished product the beautiful and pleasing natural color. When she goes to market she habitually scrutinizes her purchases to see that she buys the best colored foods available. Color is often associated with the indispensable vitamins, acidity,
sweetness, and flavor. I t is a valuable criterion of maturity and is an indication that certain ripening changes have progressed to the point where a particular fruit or vegetable is most edible. The coloring matter of the tomato is a carotinoid and of such importance that not only those who grow tomatoes but those who use them as raw material for various manufacture have requested research to be undertaken, that they may learn more about this color. One of the important problems confronting apple growers is the production of highly colored fruit, since the apple, which incidentally has a total estimated farm price value of $152,548,000, owes a considerable part of its attractiveness and consequent popularity to the natural anthocyanin color present in the skin. It is well known that the poorly colored fruit bring the lowest price. The editorial writer failed to recognize, or perhaps had never learned, that a yellow carotinoid present in autumn leaves is the same substance as that responsible for the color of carrots and that this same coloring matter has been definitely shown to be the only source of vitamin A from plants. If the scientist could tell us more about the control and production of these coloring matters by Nature, his work could have a monetary importance that would much more than repay the investment of the taxpayer’s money, as has repeatedly been the case with research in government departments. But, as we have stated above, the discussion in question did not report particular investigations on autumnal coloring and was not prepared for that purpose. It was written upon our request to try to present the true facts in this phenomenon of Nature, concerning which certain misinformation had gone out, first over the radio and later in printed form. There are so few things that can be debated on the basis of unanimously accepted facts that, where these truths can be ascertained, it is a great pity not to do so in advance of any discussion, particularly the critical kind. . *
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EWARE NEW THISGS. The desire for some invention, some new industry to aid in loosening hoarded dollars, has turned the attention of many to science, and has given an opportunity for the unscrupulous to ply their trade. We have recently heard of one or two schemes being offered to those who might buy stock, and they have been based on just enough science to provide a startling demonstration for the uninitiated. There is an almost continuing opportunity for the technical man to use his knowledge and his caution for the defense and benefit of his less technically trained brother. We believe applied science to be a potent factor in stabilizing the advancing industry, but its very success has made it attractive as a tool in the hands of the too clever charlatan. We want new things, but we must proceed with due caution.
