Investigate TRONA'S
ELEMENTAL BORON
H o w w i l l ft fit your development picture? Amorphous Elemental Boron is another intriguing chemical from Trona's pioneering research in boron chemistry. A curiosity for more than fifty years, elemental boron is now a commercial reality. A s little as 1/10,000 of an inch coated on silicon wafers turns sunlight into electricity. Trace amounts in steel save up to 50% of scarce alloying elements. Trona's 90% plus pure Boron is busy in research laboratories all over the nation and may have important applications in your own Research and Development program. Write today, giving us the opportunity of working with you. Small experimental purchases are welcomed.
Sales Development Department
American Potash & Chemical Corporation
INTERNATIONAL N a t u r a l Gas Favored As Raw Material in Germany Catalytic cracking capacity of the West German mineral oil industry now exceeds 2 million tons and thermal cracking capacity is nearly 1,250,000 tons. Production of natural gas now exceeds 5 billion cubic feet a year. Next year production of polyethylene and ethylbenzene from unsaturated cracking gases will start in a new plant at Wesseling by Rheinische Olefinwerke. Cracking gases will be obtained from the adjoining Union Rheinische Braunkohlen-Kraftstoff which has converted its former hydrogénation plant at Wesseling to the processing of imported mineral oils. Phenol-Chemie of Gladbeck \vill undertake production of cumol peroxide, phenol, and acetone from benzene and propylene. It is considered that, although conditions decree that German producers will rely chiefly on coal derivatives for raw material, petroleum-derived products are likely to attain increasing importance in those sections of the industry in which the coal by-products will not suffice to meet all requirements. Natural gas is coming into use as a chemical raw material in Germany, now that pipeline from deposits in Hesse to Frankfurt-rloechst is complete. Farbwerke uses it in manufacture of solvents, including chlorinated hydrocarbons. Rohm & Haas of Darmstadt will soon begin using natural gas to be made available through a six-mile pipeline from Stockstadt to Darmstadt, and Badische Ajiilin-und Soda-Fabrik will draw on the Hesse deposits. A 25-mile pipeline will be laid between Stockstadt and the Ludwigshafen works. Use of natural gas in the Emsland district on the Dutch-German frontier has been extended b y agreements between producers o n both sides. Germans estimate that it would take about $50 million to get an efficient and substantial petroleum chemicals industry under way in the Germany Federal Republic. According to W. A. Menne, president of the Association for the Chemical Industry, it is generally agreed that this large sum cannot at present be spared, in view of the competing needs of other sections of the chemical industry. It is thought advisable for die present to employ the available facilities for such products of special interest as plastics, fibers, and solvents only, even though cost comparisons between coal and oil now favor the latter raw material more than was the case before the war. Although
progress
of
petroleum
chemicals industry has been slow because of shortage of capital, natural gas attracts special interest because of close vicinity of deposits to established centers of chemical production on the Middle and Lower Rhine. Holland t o Become SelfSufficient in Soda A soda factory will be built at Delfzijl, in the province of Groningen, The Netherlands. Salt in brine will reach the factory by pipeline from Winschoten, where large rock salt deposits were discovered a few years ago. Plant will have output capacity of 5 5 0 tons a day and will use the ammonia soda process. Capital requirements of about $13.5 million will be met largely by contributions of the state-owned salt and coal mining companies and state-guaranteed loans. Present consumption rate is 80,000 tons a year, which has been covered entirely by imports. There will thus remain a substantial surplus to be disposed of abroad in competition with British, French, and U. S. exporters, even assuming some increase in domestic demand resulting from proposed expansion of chemical manufacture in Holland. Aluminum Plont f o r Oslo Elektrokemisk, said to b e the largest designer and constructor of electric smelting furnaces in the world, plans to build a 20,000-ton annual capacity aluminum plant in Mosjoen, in northern Norway. Total aluminum output of Norway in 1953 was 56,000 tons but is slated to reach 100,000 in '55 because of the new Sunndalsora plant, which will be in full production. The Mosjoen plant after two or three years will add a further 209c to the national output. Formosa t o H a v e Chemical Fertilizer Plant Chinese Nationalist government on Formosa will share cost of building a chemical fertilizer plant there. Foreign Operations Administration of U. S. will finance it in the amount of $13.2 million; the Chinese will make up the difference for the proposed $20 million plant in paying for labor and materials. FOA expects to save almost $12 million a year in terms of fertilizer imports to Formosa when the plant is completed. Plant will be constructed b y the Taiwan Fertilizer Co. with technical assistance furnished by Hydrocarbon Research of New York, which is also
3030 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles 54, California
4672
CHEMICAL
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
responsible for the design of t h e am monia p l a n t a n d gas synthesis units as well as for procurement of equipment n e e d e d for the plant. Urea process to b e e m p l o y e d in producing t h e fertilizer will be furnished b y Inventa of Switzer l a n d t h r o u g h t h e Vulcan Copper and Supply of Cincinnati. Hydrocarbon Research a n d Vulcan will b e responsible for training of selected Chinese tech nical personnel. F u r t h e r training will be c o n d u c t e d in the U . S. offices of both companies. Sphingosine Synthesized in Israel Synthesis of sphingosine has been completed at Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovoth, Israel, b y David Shapiro of the organic chemistry de p a r t m e n t there. Substance is part of an important group of complex com p o u n d s occurring in natural form in spinal cord, brain, blood corpuscles, liver, spleen, and kidneys. Certain diseases cause a n over-production of the sphingosine complexes in t h e organs involved, while among diabetics and arteriosclerotics a deficiency has been observed in the nerves. Because sphingosine itself never ap p e a r s i n simple form b u t always in combination with other substances, it has so far b e e n impossible t o ascertain its exact function. Research has been h i n d e r e d b y difficulty of obtaining enough p u r e material, so the new proc ess is said t o offer excellent prospects for opening more intensive investiga tion. Synthesized compound can b e m a d e w i t h radioactive isotopes of nitrogen or carbon.
at t h e Institute Mexicano d e Investigaciones Tecnologicas in Mexico City. Processes to b e investigated include d e velopment of coal briquets as a char coal substitute, henequen by-products, and candelilla wax; extraction of cascalote tannins, and industrialization of the chick p e a . Foundation scientists will train Mexican laboratory staff a n d processes will b e carried t o t h e com mercial stage. • P a r k e , Davis h a s opened a Scottish branch a t Carfin, Lanarkshire, Scot land, which will carry a full range of Parke-Davis specialties a n d will m a n u facture some of its principal products. • Borden has opened a plant near Mexico City for manufacture of u r e a formaldehyde a n d phenolic glues, foundry resins, label pastes and pack aging adhesives, industrial casein glues, and emulsion polymers. N e w opera tion, known as Casco Quimica d e Mexico, is designed to meet growing adhesives needs of Mexico's highly a c tive chemical a n d plywood industry. • UOP Platforming unit, said to b e t h e fourth in Japan, went on stream r e cently at Mitsubishi Oil refinery a t Kawasaki. Unit is designed to process straight r u n naphtha, derived from Arabian crudes brought b y tanker from Middle East, a n d to convert it into a
YPF, government-owned a n d -oper a t e d oil refinery at Mendoza, at t h e foot of t h e A n d e s in Argentina, has recently e x p a n d e d production capacity over 130%. This will bring daily output to over 11,000 barrels of crude oil. In crease will m a k e t h e western provinces self-sufficient in oil distillates a n d re sidual fuel oils. Total Argentine oil consumption is around 6 5 million bar rels annually; 4 5 % from domestic oil fields, t h e remaining 5 5 % imported. Imports during 1 9 5 3 were approxi mately 4 0 million barrels, a n d consisted mainly of c r u d e oil ( 6 0 % ) a n d fuel oils ( 3 7 % ) .
i\
Ά
ί Mexican chemical industry will get a boost t h r o u g h a project soon t o be l a u n c h e d b y Armour Research Founda tion u n d e r F O A contract in Mexico City. T h e foundation's international d e p a r t m e n t will develop laboratory processes formulated during past years 32, N O . 4 7
·
NOVEMBER
Î B e a u n i t Mills has m a d e continuous spimning process available t o Industrias Reunidas F. Matarazzo of Sao Paulo. Exchange of present a n d future technical know-how i n t h e field of viscose rayon has been provided, so t h a t t h e Matarazzo company will b e able t o prod u c e super high-tenacity rayon tire yarn by t h e process. C o m p a n y is also developing a process t o p r o d u c e a noncellulose fiber similar to nylon, using castor oil as a basic r a w material. Ano t h e r source of cellulose being contemplated is sisal residues. • Union
Minière
du H a u t
Katanga,
Belgian mining concern w h i c h owns and operates the Shinkelobwe uranium m i n e in t h e Belgian Congo, joins Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc., becoming t h e first c o m p a n y outside t h e U . S. to join t h e American industrial association devoted to advancing peacetime development of atomic energy. C&EN Foreign Correspondents Con» t r i butin g to This Issue: G. ABRAHAMSON,
Germany
and
HoUand CARLOS A. ABELEDO,
Argentina
Keepers
W e s t e r n A r g e n t i n a Becomes Self-Suflicient in Oils
VOLUME
h i g h octane motor fuel blending m a terial. Capacity is 1500 barrels p e r stream day.
M '?M\&2 2,
1954
The wards of BROTHERS' distinctive quality are the selected experts who determine the fitness of any organic chemical to bear a BROTHERS label. 'Whether manufactured by us or by cooperating manufacturers, a compound is not truly "in our house" until it has passed this rigid procedure for highest purity: • The chemical is sampled and checked for properties in our Control Laboratories. • Properties are recorded on a permanent form, then signed by the chemist who has raken them. • The record is routed to a senior chemist for evaluation. • Senior chemist determines whether chemi cal meets BROTHERS standards or is in need of further purification. • Τf approved, chemical is pre-packaged into standard units and assigned a control number. For complete data and prices, write for Catalog No. 9, covering 2500 organic chemicals that can be ordered with, confidence.
BROTHERS CHEMICAL CO.
4673
