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R e s e a r c h c e n t e r , p a r t o f $ 6 0 m i l l i o n p o s t w a r p r o g r a m , d e d i c a t e d by Johns-Manville . . . Acquisition of F r e e p o r t , T e x . , m a g n e s i u m plant a n n o u n c e d by D o w . . . C o n t i n u o u s s o l v e n t e x t r a c t i o n p l a n t p r o d u c i n g r i c e b r a n o i l i n H o u s t o n . - . W o r k o n d e l a y e d GJVI c e n t e r b e g i n n i n g HE Johns-Manville Corp. formally T dedicated its new research center at Manville, N. J., on May 24 at a luncheon in the auditorium of the new plant. Over 500 scientists., engineers, builders, and representatives of the press were guests a t the luncheon at which Governor Alfred E. Driscoll of New Jersey and Lewis H . Brown, chairman of the board of directors of the host corporation, were the principal speakers. Plant inspection tours preceded and followed the luncheon. Mr. Brown revealed that the construction of the center, which was begun in 1945, was one of the many projects that comprised his company's broad S60 million, postwar program of expansion, cost reduction, replacement, and improvement. I t is estimated, he added, that this program has increased the productive capacity of the company by about 359fc over that of its peak war year of 1942. The major part of the research center consists of a product development building, a research and administration building, a mechanical building, and an engineering building. The largest of these, the product development building, contains a two-story section which houses research laboratories and a one-story section devoted to experimental manufacturing in 10 pilot plants. The laboratory part of the structure is equipped with relocatable walls that can be arranged easily to accommodate the sizes of the various research groups. The pilot plant section of the building contains complete miniature facilities for the production of asbestos fiber. Transite pipe, asphalt shingle, magnesia insulation, insulating board, and other insulating materials.
Daw Sole Magnesium
iVeic Rice Oil Extraction Plant The first continuous solvent extraction plant in this country for the production of rice bran oil has gone into production at the mill of the American Rice Growers' Cooperative Association in Houston.. Tex. The unit is an Allis-Chalmers conventional hexane extraction unit such as is
Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical to Build New Plant Plans for the erection of a new SI million distillation plant on a five-acre site near West Elizabeth, Pa., have been announced by the Pennsylvania. Industrial Chemical Corp., Clairton, Pa. I n about six months the firm expects to complete the installation of a n entire distillation unit for the largely automatic separation of precision fractions of aromatic oils, one of the initial processes in the development of resins "used in rubber, textile, floor covering, paint and varnish, adhesive, paper, and o~ther industries. Erection of the distillation unit is the first step proposed by Pennsylvania I n dustrial in its long-range expansion program for this area. The new plant will be an auxiliary to the Clairtona operations and will be operated by tli.e Clairton organization. The compaxiy produces synthetic resins from "the byproducts of coke-oven operations and gas plant drip oils. Another source? of raw materials is turpentine production.
GM Technical Center Construction to Begin
Primary Producer
Purchase of the government-owned magnesium plant at Freeport, Tex., bjT the Dow Chemical Co. makes Dow the only producer of primary- magnesium in the U. S. Wartime operation of the government plant, Plancor 81, was in the hands of Dow Magnesium Corp., a Dow subsidiary. Production, together -with that of Dow's own adjacent magnesium plant, totaled 40 million pounds annually. Maximum cash benefits and services accruing to the Government are estimated at SI,987.700. I n addition t o a 1658
cash payment of $608,000, the Government will receive an estimated S625.00O in royalty payments on production, during the five-year period ending in 1953. The agreement also provides for Dow to rehabilitate and maintain the plant in a standby condition for five years a t an estimated cost of $754,000. The Dow company further agreed to maintain its own plant in a productive condition, for five years and to have magnesium available for sale to the Government a t a rate of 20 million pounds a year.
cessive quantities of oil (20 t o 30%) which lowered the value of the rice bran as a stock feed. In eliminating the oil the protein content of the feed is of course increased, roughly to 15% from an original content of 12%. Removal of the oil also reduces the tendency of the bran, a by-product of milling rouigh rice, to become rancid. First work at the plant along solvent extraction lines was with isopropyl a l cohol, producing approximately equal quantities of oil and a high-vitamin sirup. This method was dropped i n favor of the Allis-Chalmers hexane process.
Rice oil extraction plant used for other vegetable oil extractions. with some modifications. It will process 50 tons of rice bran a day, yielding approximately 10 tons "of raw crude oil. with a residual oil content of about 1% left in the bran. No attempt will be made at present to refine the crude oil. I t will be sold to vegetable oil refiners. Development of the process started originally from a desire to eliminate exCHEMICAL
Construction of the General Motors Technical Center on the 350-acre site at Mound and Twelve-Mile roads i\o\ih of Detroit will begin the middle of June and is expected to take about 3 years. The construction contract has been awarded to Bryant & DetwLler Co., Detroit; project architects are Saarinen, Saarinen and Associates and tfcie architect-engineers are Smith, Hinclinian & Grylls, Inc. The new center will house the research, engineering staff, processing, and styling operations of General Motors. II -will provide an entirely new concept of industrial research to meet tomorrow's needs, the company states, intended to develop closer liaison between research and experimental facilities and the production units of the organization, it AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
-will be purely a research and technical fact finding and experimental development activity. The technical center plans were announced originally July 24, 1945, but work on the project was deferred because of materials shortages.
Production Smooth and Uninterrupted
Food Machinery Western Phosphate Production Newark, Calif., has been selected as the site of the new Pacific Coast phosphate operations of the Food Machinery and Chemical Corp. The plant will adjoin the magnesium oxide plant now operated at Newark by the Westvaco Chemical Division. Other expansion plans were announced in C&EN for April 25, 1949, page 1216.
Gas Conservation
WITH ATLAS CHEMICAL PROCESS EQUIPMENT There is an Atlas product to protect your production against the dangers of " d o w n t i m e " due to corrosion. Processing equipment built to rigid ATLAS specification from ATLAS acid-proof materials is your assurance of maximum efficiency with least maintenance. This has been demonstrated in the past, and is true today in many of the nation's leading plants producing everything from f o o d and beverages to chemicals a n d steel, ATLAS materials are built to meet successfully specific situations involving acids, alkalis, solvents and other corrosive substances. ATLAS equipment is not merely resistant . . . it's impervious to the corrosive condition for which it was designed. In a d d i t i o n , / H l A S r equipment withstands high working temperatures—with- f stands fats, oils, greases, water a n d live steam. In your plant, you can depend upon ATLAS chemical process floors, tanks, towers, fume ducts, trenches, sewers, neutralizes, etc. . . . and ATLAS cements,; plastic linings, jointing materials and protective coatings to help maintain steady production. Write our Mertztown Office for Bulletin and call the ATLAS representative at our nearest branch.
Projects
Continental Oil Co. will make another large addition to facilities for gas conservation in Texas with enlargement of its plant in Starr County from a processing capacity of 13 million to one of 20 million cubic feel of gas daily. Cost of the enlargement will be approximately $1.5 million, and the daily average production will be 5,800 gal. of butane and 25,000 gal. of gasoline, with 8.5 million cubic feet of dry gas returned to the main reservoirs and the remainder being sold. Dedication ceremonies were held May 14 for the Slaughter natural gasoline plant near Sundown, Tex. This plant, which extracts propane, butane, and natural gasoline from casinghead gas produced in the Slaughter field, is operated by Stanolind for eight co-owners.
Nitroglycerol Destroyed
Plant
The No. 2 nitroglycerol neutralizer house at the dynamite works of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc., at Seneca, 111., was destroyed and its operator, W. P. Fordyce, killed in an explosion about 6:40 P.M. May 20. Approximately 10,000 lb. of nitroglycerol were in the building. There was some damage to surrounding buildings and glass breakage in the neighborhood; the total damage is estimated at $50,000. The cause of the explosion was not immediately determined.
Mississippi
Ammonia
Battery of 8 7 concrete tanks, each 7 ' x 4'*x 9 ' deep, lined with Atlastiseal and brick joined with KOREZ. These are electrolytic tanks handling 2 0 % H2SO1 a n d 2 0 % C u S O , a t 180° F. Acid-proof stack lined with brick joined with Atlas VITREX. VITREX is impervious to temperatures up to 1 6 O 0 F . , a n d regardless o f acid concentrations find wide use in acid towers, fume ducts, stacks, acid evaporators a n d tanks.
Project
An unusual feature of the Mississippi Chemical Corp.'s Yazoo County ammonia plant (CHEM. ENG. NEWS, 27, 154
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1602, 1949) is the fact that the nitrogen fertilizer output will be allocated to the stockholder-farmers on a pro rata basis. In Mississippi 7,500 farmers have already invested and those in adjacent states may also be able to participate. H. Leroy Thompson, formerly with TVA, is general operations manager in charge of all technical phases of the program. V O L U M E
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Mlas Engineers ate Hoofing problem. to makerecorr.mendal.oni a n „ submit plans and estimates-all w'tho" 1 obligation.
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Floor of Atlas acid-proof brick in a dye a n d pigment factory. Floors joined w i t h Atlas ALKOR (the original acid- and a/fca/J-proof c e m e n t ) ^ t a k e temperatures up to 3 6 0 F.
PRODUCTS C O M P A N Y OF MERTZTOWN, PENNA. * ATLANTA, GA. * CHICAGO, ILL. * DETROIT, MICH.
PENNA
NEW YORK, N. Y. PITTSBURGH, PA. PHILADELPHIA, PA.
ST. LOUIS, MO. THE ATLAS MINERAL PRODUCTS CO. OF TEXAS, INC.. Houston 1 , T o x « * BERKELEY, CALIF. * LOS ANGEUS, CALIF. DALLAS, TEXAS NEW ORLEANS, LA. * DENVER, COLO. OMAHA, NIB. * HONOLULU, HAWAII • SEATTLE, WASH. *5focfc tarrtmd at thmtm poinlt I N CANADA: H. L. RLACHFORD, Limited, MONTREAL AND TORONTO
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The 120-ton ammonia plant projected will also have, facilities for concerting half of the output into ammonia nitrate.
First Quarter Earnings EARNINGS PER SHARB OF COMMON
NUT INCOMB COM PAN y
Texas Research Honors Founder B y vote of the board of trustees, the agricultural research division o f the Texas Research Foundation has been named the Karl Hoblitzelle Laboratory of the foundation. Seventy-five per
