January, 1923
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
101
PARIS LETTER B y CHARLES LORMAND, 4 Avenue de I’Observatoire, Paris, France
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REFRIGERATION The International Conference on Refrigeration has just met in Paris. Of the 45 countries represented 24 ratified the creation of the International Institute of Refrigeration. J. F. Nickerson, general director of the American Association of Ice and Refrigeration, was appointed a member of the administrative council. GOVERNMENT SODA AND AMMONIA WORKS During the war the topographic situation of soda factories in France was greatly criticized. These factories are, indeed, situated in the northeast of France, in the Lorraine region, and their proximity to the war zone slackened their production These soda works belong to the Solvay Society, which has a monopoly on soda in France. The French government, in order to escape from this monopoly, contidered establishing a soda factory which should be the property of the government, under the direction of the Powder Service. This project has been abandoned and the government has favored the establishment of a soda factory in the southwest of France, in the vicinity of Bayonne. This is the factory of Mouguerre where Briscous sodium chloride waters are treated. These waters were analyzed during the war to see if there was any possibility of extracting in notable quantities the bromine which it contains. The State has advanced to the society for the construction of this factory a capital of 8 million francs. I n this factory sodium carbonate will be manufactured by the ammonia process. The yield will be 100 tons per day of sodium carbonate capable of being converted into 75 tons of caustic soda. The participation of the State in the installation of this factory is an indication that the French government intends to have control of factories useful in case of war. That which has just been done in the case of soda has also been done in the case of ammonia. The Finance Committee of the House has approved the project on the manufacture of synthetic ammonia. The contract of 1919 between the Ministry of Industrial Reconstruction and the Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik has just been carried outthat is, the ancient powder mill of Toulouse has been equipped to produce nitrogen by the Haber process. The society is formed with a capital of 50 million francs, which has been subscribed by the syndicates, corporations, and agricultural associations, by the Chambers of Commerce, the syndicates of chemical products and the workmen’s syndicates, of 20 million, the other 30 million were furnished by the State. The society will be governed by a council of administration €ormed of technicians and representatives of consumers of nitrogenous fertilizer. This form of constitution of the society is evidently a compromise between a monopoly pure and simple, such as exists over the Powder Service, and administration by a private society. In Prance, a t the present time, monopolies are being strongly opposed; those of powders and matches, for example, are being severely attacked, and it has been demanded that these monopolies be leased to the commercial societies. The ammonia project is a compromise between the two systems until absolute control of the State is admitted in the society; but it appeals to the capital coming from the consumers’ societies, and especially front cooperative societies where only the small capitalists are represented. This project will probably be opposed by a certain portion of Parliament, who consider i t too much of a n undertaking for the State. The scarcity of nitrogen in France is great, since Germany imports some of, it by right of the reparations. The wheat crop having been deficient this year, during the discussion of the budget of the Ministry of Agriculture the deputies insisted on the necessity of obtaining a new source of fertilizer supply. The calcium phosphates from the region of the Bourgogne have been- recommended as a substitute for superphosphates, which, used in azvery finely powdered condition, would give results analogous to the superphosphates, but the cost of pulverization of this calcium phosphate is such that the superphosphates seem a t the present time to be less objectionable. In connection with this superphosphate industry, it is known that one of the great inconveniences of this industry is in the use
of sacks of cloth or jute, which because of the acidity of the superphosphate cannot be used for any length of time. Mr. Bruno, general inspector of the laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, has perfected a process for treating these sacks using a sizing of algae or seaweed; the sacks thus treated can be put in contact with the acid superphosphates without being destroyed, and are used a great number of times. This process is now used on a large scale by the factory a t St. Gobain. ALSATIAN POTASH I n regard to Alsatian potash also the government project has just been settled. It provides for the formation of a society composed of the professional syndicates of consumers of potash which will be the property of the mines under the control of the State. The agricultural syndicates will have 50 per cent of the proprietary rights of the mines; 10 per cent will be given to the French chemical industries; 20 per cent to the departments of the Chambers of Commerce of Haut-Rhin, Bas-Rhin, and Moselle; 15 per cent to the particular holders of the parts or “kuxes” possessed previously by them; and finally, 5 per cent of the property will be given to the personnel operating the mine. The selling price will be fixed by the State, and exportation will only be authorized after the needs of our own country are assured. INTERNATIONAL FOODSTUFFS LABORATORY The French government, in carrying out the international conventions passed in 1913, is going to establish the international laboratory for the purpose of standardizing the methods of analysis of foodstuffs used in the different countries. The chemists of all nations will work a t this laboratory. Although America has not yet agreed to this convention, it would be desirable that American chemists having worked in the laboratories of Washington (Bureau of Chemistry) be assigned to this laboratory. There has also been installed in the Service of the Institute of Agronomic Research, someone in charge of studying the rational utilization of foods for men and animals. The calorimetric methods of Atwarter and all the American studies on the chemistry of nutrition will be largely investigated in these new services. INSTITUTE O F CELLULOSE The establishment of an Institute of Cellulose is being considered in France. The large quantities of wood which‘ we have in our colonies ought to make it possible for us to obtain cellulose in abundant quantities. Heim, Rorick, and Maheu have just been studying the oaks of Indo-China. The cellulose content of these oaks varies between 30 and 40 per cent. The studies on cellulose will be centralized in the region of Grenoble where the Institute of Cellulose will be situated. This Institute will include an office of documentation for the cellulose industry, a laboratory for the preparation of the cellulose with models illustrating the processes of electrolytic bleaching, By sulfite, etc. This laboratory will study also the manufacture of viscose and of artificial silks, as well as the nitrocelluloses, cellulose acetates, and celluloid. The moving picture industry ought to contribute in large part to the establishment of this Institute.
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Mr. Lemoine, dean of the Section of Chemistry of the Academy of Science, has recently died. A mining engineer and professor a t theAPolytechnic School, Mr. Lemoin has published several books on the allotropy of phosphorus and its sulfide. To him also we owe excellent studies on chemical equilibrium and dissociation. December 1, 1922
The American Paper and Pulp Association has voted to raise $10,000 t o finance a study of the relation of the degree of decay t o the pulping value of wood, with special reference to improving present methods of grading pulp wood. The investigation is t o be carried out in cooperation with the Forest Products Laboratory. The action was taken a t a recent meeting of the woodlands section and was based on a tentative outline for the proposed investigation which had been prepared by the laboratory.
