October, 1923
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INDUSTRIAL A N D ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
1091
PARIS LETTER B y CHARLES LORMAND, 4 Avenue de I'Observatoire, Paris, France
SALE O F REPARATIONS DYES In thc first month of 1923 the French government seized in the Ruhr, by right of the reparations, a n important stock of dyestuff,; from Badische, Meister Lucius, and Chemische Fabrik. This stock contained about 7000 tons, and the French government, in agreement with the Belgian government, has just decided to put the stock on sale. It is composed chiefly of indigo and alizarin. Since all these products are already being manufactured in France, the sale for exportation will only be permitted if i t does not interfere with French and Belgian producers. The dyestuff:; not manufactured in France or Belgium, and existing in the lot seized, will be distributed according to priority among the producers in these countries. This sale will certainly have a n effect on the dyestuffs market and may bring about a temporary disturbance. NEW METHOD O F VOLUMETRIC ANAI,YSIS MM. Hackspill and Heeckeren have just perfected an original method of elementary volumetric analysis. The substance is roasted in vacuo, a t a temperature of 800" to 900' C., in the presence of copper oxide. The nitrogen and carbonic acid are collected with a mercury pump and their volume is measured. The carbonic acid is separated by potash. The water produced in the combustion is first separated from the gaseous mixture by condensation a t -80' C., and is then directed, in the vapor state, onto the calcium hydroxide. The hydrogen liberated is recovered and measured. Thus, by a single combustion, are obtained, on substances weighing from 2 to 5 cg., three determinations of nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen.
FUELS French chemists seem to be directing their attention just now to the study of fuels. M. Piettre has studied the transformation of the coal in humus. The product of oxidation was reduced by a reaction similar to that which permits the transformation of benzine, first into a nitro compound, and then amine (aniline). The product finally obtained was similar to the humus. M. Paul Lebeau has undertaken the study of the gas formed by the carbonization of solid fuels. Previously, Picter, of Geneva, examined the liquid products obtained by the distillation of combustible liquids in a vacuum. M. Lebeau's method permits the determination, for temperatures from 100"to 1200" C., increasing by fractions of 100 degrees, of the composition of the gas obtained in heating in vacuo anthracite, wood, peat, and lignite. Each of these types of fuels gives, by its increasing decomposil ion, the gaseous volumes which seem sensibly constant for each of the kinds of fuels studied. The total volume of gas formed i:; estimated a t between 150 and 170 cubic meters per ton for the wood, 266 cubic meters for the peat, 228 to 240 cubic meters for the lignite, and 257 to 309 cubic meters for the anthracite.
Persona 1s F. A. McMillin has resigned his position on the staff of the chemistry department of the University of Washington to take charge of the department of chemistry a t the Idaho Technical Institute, Pocatello, Idaho. A. A. Orlinger has resigned his position a s chemical engineer and assistant chief chemist of the Henry Souther Engineering Co.. Hartford, Conn., to become chemical engineer and chemist for the Warren Manufacturing Co., with headquarters a t Milford,
N. J. V. F. Parry, formerly of the Pittsburgh station of the Bureau
of Mines, is now a research chemist for the Combustion Utilities Corp., Long Island City, N. Y. Arthur E. Rice, president of the Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co., Philadelphia, Pa., died suddenly August 26 a t the Canyon Hotel, Yellowstone Park, where he was spending a vacation. He was fifty-two years of age. Elliott S. Robinson has been appointed assistant director of the Division of Biologic Laboratories of the Massachusetts State Department of Public Health.
The analysis of the gas liberated furnishes very interesting results, since the largest part is composed of hydrogen. A ton of English anthracite, for example, gives, a t 1200' C., 318 cubic meters of gas composed of 291 cubic meters of hydrogen, or 91.4 per cent. There is no connection between the volume of gas liberated and the content of volatile matter in the fuel considered. Certain anthracites give volumes of gas just as great as the fatty oils, which contain larger quantities of volatile matter than t h e anthracites. The other constituents of the gas are carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, with small quantities of metal. One might consider that the carbonization of the anthracite would constitute a source of hydrogen capable of being used in the manufacture of synthetic ammonia. M. Maihle, continuing work on the production of petroleum by decomposition of vegetable oils, has shown t h a t it is possible to use chloride of zinc as a catalyst in the hydrogenation. On heating different vegetable oils (peanuts, castor) or animal oils (requin, whale) with fused zinc chloride, the liberation of acrolein was accomplished and products boiling between 110' and 310" C., composed of a mixture of methane and ethylene hydrocarbons analogous to petroleum, were formed. Chloride of magnesium gives similar results.
ESTIMATE O F THE VALUE O F FERTILIZER I suggested in a previous letter t h a t it would be interesting to estimate the increase of efficiency of plants under the action of various fertilizers, and I mentioned that the determination of sugars or of other principal constituents would give the most precise results. M. Blaringhem, professor a t the Conservatory of Arts and Measures, proposes using a method which is purely biologic and founded on genetic experiments. He took crops of barley, linen, and poppies. He subjected them to the action of various fertilizers: potash, nitrogen, phosphoric acid, limestone; then he weighed the test plants and the treated plants-for the barley, the proportion between the length of the third mark under the head and that of each corresponding-for the linen, he measured the thickness of the foliage, that is, the distance betweep each leaf on the same part of the stalk. He found, for example, that in the last case the foliage density, which was 11 to 12 for the test plants, equaled 16 for the linen subjected to potash fertilizer, and 24 for the linen subjected to nitrogen fertilizer.
............. The Third Congress of the Society of Chemical Industry will meet in Paris, from the 20th to 25th of October. It will be particularly devoted to the agricultural applications of chemistry. August 30, 1923
(Concluded) E. S. Stateler has recently resigned his position as an Industrial Fellow a t Mellon Institute to do research and developmental work for HerShey Brothers, manufacturers of chocolate, in Pittsburgh, Pa. V. H. Waliingford, who recently returned from a year's study and travel as a fellow of the Commission for Relief in Belgium Educational Foundation, has accepted a position as research chemist with the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, St. Louis, Mo. W. C. Weltman, formerly chemist for the State of Illinois, is now first assistant chemist for the St. Louis, San Francisco Railroad Co., Springfield, Mo. George Wilson, formerly instructor of chemistry a t Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., is now employed in the Research Bureau of the Aluminum Company of America. N. E. Woldman has resigned his position as instructor of electrochemistry a t the University of Maine, to accept an assistantship in the department of chemistry of the University of Illinois, where he will continue his studies for his doctor's degree. Mr. Woldman was formerly secretary-treasurer OF the Maine Section of the American Chemical Society.
