jfciîISfe,
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
T h e new president of the H a m i l t o n , Perkins Glue Co., Pauley, W e y e r h a e u s e r T i m b e r
Forest P r o d u c t s Research Society, James F. poses with the general c h a i r m a n , Robert D . Co., and E d w a r d C Locke, retiring president
Processes for Particle Board Lead Attack on W o o d Wastes C & E N REPORTS: Forest Products Research S o c i e t y , Annual M e e t i n g
P O R T L A N D , O R E . - T h r e e new processes for "wood particle board" production w e r e revealed at a technical session d e voted to this subject at the fourth annual national meeting; of the Forest Products Research Society here June 26 to 29. T h i s and six other sessions, at which more t h a n 50 papers were presented, called attention to the strides that have been machin t h e utilization of residual wood products. Held concurrently with the meeting was the Forest Products Industry Show in which fifty-odd exhibitors participated. Bark-free veneer waste, edgings, slabs. or other wood residues may be used as
raw materials in the preparation of hardboard by the "seniidry" process, which was developed at t h e Plywood Research Foundation. Discussed bv II. R. Evans.
The Week's Events Congressional Committee Releases Report on International H-Bomb Control 2523 Bureau of Mines Study Shows Hope For Relief of Benzene Shortage 2524 Homer H. Lowry, 1950 Dunn Lecturer 2529
At the Forest Produets Research Society dinner were: Left. \ elden Anderson and L. R. Sherlock, b o t h of the Fir-Tex Insulating Board Co., and Clark C. Fleritage, Weyerhaeuser
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director of the foundation, t h e process involves softening the chips in a continuous steaming operation and fibcri/ing them mechanically. Small amounts of thermosetting phenol-formaldehyde resins and wax sizing agents are a d d e d to the chips during softening. The fibers are air formed and hot pressed into a product having properties similar to board m. de by commercial wet- and dry-felting processes. Two commercial plants which will utilize this ρηκ-ess u»· under construc tion. Λ method for utilizing Douglas fir bark in hardboard as developed by the Oregon Lumber Co. was described by Arthur B. Anderson, formerly director of develop ment for that company and now associ ated with the University of California School of Forestr> . The b o a r d may be manufactured from Douglas fir slab-wood including the bark and using conventional wet process equipment. T h e naturallyoccurring bark waxes are said to give a d e q u a t e water-repellency a n d eliminate the need of a d d i n g sizing a n d bonding agents. This is claimed to b e the only hardboard process which does not require chemicals. Patents have been applied for and the Β law-Knox Construction Co. has been named exclusive licensing agent. Phenol-formaldehyde resin may be used for the bonding agent in producing board products, moulded shapes, and diepressed materials from wood residues such as planer shavings, according to M. D. Mac-donald of Oregon Forest Products Laboratories. 'The process utilizes a countercurrent spray tower which allows con trolled coating ot a continuous teed of wood particles. James F . Hamilton of Perkins Glue Co., Lansdale, Pa., was elected president of FPRS at the meeting to succeed E d w a r d G. Locke, chief of the Forest Utilization SVrvice, Pacific Northwest Forest and Kange Experiment Station, Portland, Ore.
T i m b e r Co. Right. Robert F . D w y e r , Dwyer L u m b e r Co.; E. G. Locke, Forest Utilization Service a n d retiring president; and William Walsch, acting governor of Oregon
C H E M I C A L
A N D
E N G I N E E R I N G
N E W S
Congressional C o m m i t t e e Releases Report o n international Η - B o m b Control
that international control ot a weapon which has not yet been produced might be effected more readily than at a time when they were in existence. A large portion of the remainder ot the report was devoted to the problems involved in the international control of Abombs and H-bombs. This included a listing of significant events in the history of international control of atomic weapons, a brief history of proposals and negotiations relating to* this subject; and a discussion of the impasse reached with the Soviet Union over such questions as international inspection, international ownership and management, strategic balance ( q u o t a s ) , and sanctions.
eltects which limit the energy release hum THE most complete olhcial review oi A-bombs does not apply tu H - b o m b s . hydrogen b o m b production and interna I n comparing the hydrogen and atomic tional control was recently released h>y the bombs, the report noted that t h e basic raw Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. Com material lor atomic bombs, uranium, :s mittee Chairman Brien McMahon ( D . , scarce and expensive whereas the raw C o n n . ) stated t h a t the committee star! materials tor H-bombs, namely hydrogen spent several months preparing the report and lithium, are abundant a n d reasonahK lollovving which it was carefully reviewed cheap. V**' and plutonium, t h e fissionable to assure t h a t it did not disclose informa materials needed for A-boinh production tion of a security nature. and as "triggers" for H-boirdxs are coslK Although the report did not state that and difficult tu produce. D e u t e r i u m , an such a b o m b could be made to work, it H-bomb ingredient, can be manufactured did cite its essential requirements. The fairly easily and cheaply hut another in report pointed out, for example, that en Reorganization a t Argonne gredient, tritium, resembles plutonium in ergy is released w h e n light atomic nuclei Effective July 1, 1950, Argonne National the sense that its production requires are combined to form heavier nuclei. Such Laboratory's experimental nuclear physics neutrons and may take place within re a combination can take place when the division, theoretical physics division, and actors, and involves marked expense. particles collide at a high velocity o r high mass spectroscopy and crystal structure From a weapons viewpoint, U'"'1" and relative kinetic energy. T h e energy levels division were consolidated to form the plutonium are weapons which never heinvolved are of t h e order of magnitude ol division of physics which is under the dicome obsolete since they h a v e half lives those which are believed to occur in the rection of Louis A. Turner, former proof thousands of years while tritium's naît intensely hot centers of t h e sun and stars. fessor and head of the department of life is about 12 years. From a peacetime Therefore to bring about such a reaction physics at the State University of Iowa. point of view, V^' a n d plutonium have imon earth two basic requirements must be 1 ffective on the same date, all biologimense potential value as r e a c t o r fuels, met: (1) an assembly of materials capa cal, medical, and radiological physics rewhereas the constructive uses ol deuterium ble of producing a light-element reaction; search at the laboratory was combined to and tritium appear to be limited or nona n d ( 2 ) a means of heating t h e materials form the division of biological and medical existent except on a laboratory scale. to the extent necessary. research. This division is directed by A considerable stockpile of A-bombs Today t h e most promising way to attain Austin M. Brues with H e r m a n n Lisco, L. is in existence today whereas H-bombs a temperature of millions of degrees cen D. Marinelli, and E. L. Powers serving as have not yet been produced. T h e comtigrade is t h r o u g h an atomic bomb. Thus, associate division directors. mittee emphasized this point explaining t h e essential idea is that the heavy fis sionable material used in A-bombs would explode, heating the hydrogen apparatus, a n d making possible a thermonuclear re action. T h e uncertainty as to w h e t h e r hydrogen bombs are feasible stems from t h e question as to whether such lew York 17, H:Y.,Offices Γη Principal Cities; b o m b and which gave a figure of 1,000 In Canada: Garbia\e and CqrËon Chemicals; Limited; Toronto^.; T h e report did state that the "critical size"
new products from CARBIDE
CARBIDE AND CARBON
V O LU M E
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JULY
2 4,
1950
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THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
Hope for Relief of Benzene Shortage Seen in Bureau of Mines Study THE possibility of relieving a drastic shortage in benzene and phenol was revealed recently in an announcement from the Bureau of Mines. That group is undertaking an investigation of these and other chemicals available in producing synthetic liquid fuels from coal and oil shale. Major objective of t h e study, in which the National Security Resources Board has expressed interest, is to determine the most desirable processes for producing the chemicals in conjunction with synthetic fuels, said James Boyd, director of the bureau. Boyd also said that benzene and the aromatic hydrocarbons generally, together with phenol a n d commercial "tar acids" can be produced in substantial amounts by the direct hydrogénation of coal, one of the processes used by the bureau in its synthetic liciuid fuels project. T h e bureau has appointed Gaston Du Bois and L. A. Schlueter as consultants in t h e study of t h e processes, yield, and markets. Dr. Du Bois was formerly with Monsanto Chemical Co. and Schlueter is associated with the American Coke and Chemicals Institute in Washington, D. C. Primarily a coke oven product, benzene is o n e of t h e first casualties during a coke and steel shortage (C&EN, July 17, page 2 4 0 1 ) . Although benzene from petroleum is a reality in the Texas City, Tex., plant of Pan American Petroleum, production there is geared for 5 million gallons a > ear and most of that is absorbed in the Gulf Coast area which uses an estimated -10 million gallons annually (C&EX. April 17, page 1334). Several factors have contributed to the critical shortage of ben/ e n e : ( 1 ) Construction of coke ovens has not kept pace with the rate of obsolescence (C&EN, July 3, page 2 3 0 0 ) ; and ( 2 ) synthetic rubber, plastics, and nylon, all products virtually nonexistent prior to World War II, have instituted demands on the* benzene supply far in excess of anticipations. According to the Bureau of Mines report, one commercial coal hydrogénation jilant could alleviate considerably the shortage of benzene, phenol, toluene, xylenes, cresols, and xylenols. The table at the bottom of this page compares U. S. production of these chemicals from coal tar and petroleum with preliminary estimates of t h e quantities of these chemicals available from a 30,000-barrel-per-day
\\ nthetie iuels plant using the hydrogénation process and a representative coal. Thus, says ine bureau, a single plant oi this size could have produced nearly 20('f of o u r 1948 production of benzene and 117c of the phenol output in that year ( 1949 figures are not representative because coal strikes curtailed p r o d u c t i o n ) . In addition, the plant could produce 3.25 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gases. Yields of benzene, toluene, and xylene could be increased 2 5 % above t h e figures in the table by recycling t h e higher-boil-fractions, b u t this would reduce the yield of gasoline proportionately. Significant amounts of aromatics can also be obtained from shale oil. These would include phenol, cresols, and xylenols plus homologs of pyridine a n d quinoline. Preliminary determinations indicate a larger percentage of pyridine derivatives from shale than from coal carbonization. These are mostly in the form of alkylated derivatives of pyridine and might have to be converted t o find a ready market. The bureau maintains that its process, the retorting of pulverized oil shale in a radiant heat zone at about 1,500° F . , will produce a highly aromatic stock. Completed in a fraction of a second, t h e retorting produces a gasoline-boiling-range material w i t h an octane number near 100 that also m a y be used as a source of aromatics. If radiant heating c a n be proved commercially feasible, the bureau states, benzene a n d toluene yields through normal retorting will b e increased many times over. Based o n a normal retorting plant processing 42,000 tons daily of 30-gallon-perton shale, t h e following table shows the estimated annual yields of some chemicals that may b e extracted from the straightdistilled a n d thermally cracked crude oil products. E S T . A N N U A L YIEI t> OIL SHALE PLANT ( N O R M A L RETORTING >
THOUSANDS OF GAI. 188 1,040 4,520
Benzene Toluene Xylenes
THOUSANDS
O F BUI
2,750 12,420 20,300 24,000
Phenol Cresols Xvlenols Tar bases
In addition to relieving the hcn/.eiu A\id phenol supply situation, the produc tion of chemicals from coal a n d oil shale would furnish a supplementary source of aromatics and other special fuel compo nents required by the armed forces anil n'duee synthetic liquid fuel costs
Du Pont Names Lab For Research Chemist The acetate research laboratory of Ou Pont & Co.'s rayon department at Waynes boro, Va., has been named the Benger laboratory in honor of Ernest B. Benger. former manager of the rayon technical division, it was announced recently. Dr. Benger retired three years ago on the thirtieth anniversary of his employ ment with t h e company as a research chemist. Closely identified with t h e nylon d e velopment, h e was appointed assistant manager of t h e technical division of t h e rayon department in July 1939, a n d in that capacity directed research a n d d e velopment on viscose and acetate process rayon, nylon, cellophane, Orion acrylic fiber, a n d Fiber " V , " which is being evaluated now. H e was m a d e manager of the rayon technical division in Decem ber 1945. Dr. Benger was graduated from Grinnell College, Iowa, a n d received his P h . D . from the University of Wisconsin. H e is a m e m b e r of t h e A M E R I C A N C H E M I C A L SOCIETY, Alpha Chi Sigma.
Phi L a m b d a Upsilon, and Sigma Xi. Dur ing the 1949 session of t h e General As sembly of D e l a w a r e , Dr. Benger was a member of t h e House of Representatives.
Ferguson A w a r d e d Contracts A t Knolls A t o m i c Laboratory Construction contracts for four service buildings at Knolls Atomic Power Labora tory have b e e n awarded to t h e Η. Κ Ferguson Co. by the Atomic Energy Commission. Work will start immediately on a chemi cal storage building, a liquid metals storage building, a repair garage, a n d a covered vehicle parking shed. Construction of roadways a n d p a v e d parking areas are also included in t h e contract. T h e buildings will b e of structural steel construction with corrugated aluminum siding. Completion is scheduled for this fall.
Construction Begun on AEC Program a t Livermore, Calif. EST. ANNUAL COAL HYDRO.
1949 II. o u s a n d s
Β «Μ J-/me Toluene
171,795 83,4ββ 61.071
I'hfiml Cr,M)U Xvlf-noU
29 7.3:3 S 2 1 . 4 19
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of C a l . 34,000 49,500 50,300
156,620 81,751 57 5 5 7 Τhousumls
Υικι.η P I W T
of
224.544 13.477
Bbl. 34,500 57,000 75.000
C H E M I C A L
Construction has started on a steel frame building at Livermore, Calif., to house t h e Atomic Energy Commission's $7 million particle accelerator. Dinwiddie Construc tion Co. was a w a r d e d the contract for t h e building which will cost $450,669. California Research and Development Co., a subsidiary of Standard Oil Co. of California, is administering the research AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
program to b e carried on at Livermore for AEC. T h e new building structure will b e 220 feet long and 160 feet wide. T h e central portion will b e ] 0 0 feet high with two 50-foot-high wings.
Award Contract For Vacuum Flasher As part of a general modernization promain at its Richmond, Calif., refinery, the Standard Oil Co. of California has awarded Λ contract for what is considered the world's largest vacuum Hashing unit to the \ I . W. Kellogg Co. The unit will be able to charge 55,000 bbls. of reduced crude a clay. According to Kellogg, the main vessel in the unit will stand SO ft. high and will have a maximum diameter of 27 ft. Its de sign capacity is believed to exceed by 15Vf t h e largest vacuum unit in operation. T h e unit is being designed to provide approximately 30,000 bbl. of feed each day for the existing catalytic cracking unit a t Richmond which is scheduled for re v a m p i n g during t h e modernization. As phalt—the other major product from the flasher—will b e charged to visbreakers to p r o d u c e high quality fuel oil and gasoline. Scheduled for completion in May 1951, t h e n e w unit will charge not only reduced c r u d e from California's Richmond and El Secundo refineries, but will also process some heavy, so-called "nonrefinable" crudes.
Penn-Dixie Cement to Revamp Kingsport PSant T h e Pennsylvania-Dixie Cement Corp. is preparing plans to change the operations of its plant at Kingsport, Tenu., from the dry to t h e wet process, in order to reduce to a minimum any dust n u i s a n t e which may h a v e existed in the past. Radical changes which will be made in t h e kiln department involve replacement of the six dry kilns, 8 ft. in diameter by 125 ft. long each, with one unit 12 ft. in diameter by 500 ft. long, since use of the existing kilns for the wet process would result in prohibitive fuel costs. T h e newwet kiln will be t h e largest kiln in opera tion in t h e United States, it is reported. Two groups of slurry mixing, blending a n d storage silos, connected with t h e raw mill a n d the kiln, will be installed, a n d coal handling and pulverizing will b e changed from a central plant to a unit mill attached directly to the kiln. Cyclone-type separa tors, followed by Cottrell precipitators, will be placed at t h e discharge end of the kiln.
Dow Signs N e w W a g e C o n t r a c t w i t h Midland Employees Dow Chemical Co.'s Midland, Mich., division has signed a three-year working a g r e e m e n t w i t h members of t h e Local 12075, U M W A , District 50. T h e agreeV O L U M E
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Tank built of ALUEUiNU stores acidic salt solution The Spencer Chemical Company was faced with a difficult job of storing a large volume of corrosive material in aluminum tanks. Ic was an easy task to select an alloy to withstand the acid materials, but a serious problem to figure out how to fabricate such a large vessel out of aluminum. The problem was solved by purchasing the tank from the Chicago Bridge «S: Iron Company. Fabrication of the plates was a simple matter for our shops as we know how to fabricate aluminum and other corrosion-resistant alloys. One of our experienced field crews handled the "on the spot" erection. An aluminum tank to store ammonium nitrate is only one of many cases where the chemical industries demand equipment made of non-corrosive metals. We are equipped to fabricate and erect structures from the following corrosion-resistant materials for chemical plants: ® CLAD STEELS—Chrome-nickel Jess steels, monel or nickel.
or straight chrome stain-
• LININGS—Chrome-nickel or straight chrome steel, monel, nickel or Everdur.
stainless
* SOLID CORROSION-RESISTANT METALS—Chromenickel or straight chrome stainless steels, monel, aluminum, nickel or Everdur. Write our nearest office for an estimate when you need tanks or process equipment made of corrosion-resistant alloys.
CHICAGO BRIDGE & IRON COMPANY Atlanta 3 Birmingham 1 Boston 10 Chicago 4 Cleveland 15 Detroit 26 Houston 2
Los Angeles 17 1 537 General Petroleum Bldg. 21 30 Healey Bide. New York 6 3321 — 1 6 5 Broadway Bldg. 1 539 North Fiftieth St. Philadelphia 3 1 6 3 9 — 1 7 0 0 Walnut Street Bldg. 1 0 5 4 — 2 0 1 Devonshire St. Salt Lake City 4 559 West 17th South St. 21 37 McCormick Bldg. San Francisco 4 1 5 3 5 — 2 0 0 Bush St. 2 2 2 9 Guildhall Bldg. Seattle 1 1 3 5 9 Henry Bldg. 1 5 4 5 Lafayette Bldg. Tulsa 3 1 6 4 2 Hunt Bldg. 21 53 National Standard Bldg. Plants in: B I R M I N G H A M , C H I C A G O , S A L T L A K E CITY and G R E E N V I L L E , P A .
JULY
2 4,
1950
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THE C H E M I C A L W O R L D THIS WEEK ment, approved by almost seven-to-one by t h e union members, contains a 2 4 . 5 eent economic package. Principal points of t h e new contract provide for three automatic five-cent hourly increases a n d con tinuation of the cost-of-living bonus set u p t w o years ago but with t h e base lowered a point to 16U. >. First of t h e five-cent wage boosts is retroactive to July Architect's sketch of the entrance t o Bureau of Mines' •3, with t h e second becom new radiochemical laboratory in Bartlesville, Okla. ing effective July 2, 1 9 5 1 , and t h e third J u n e 30, 1952. Base rates Bureau of M i n e s Building are not affected by t h e cost-of-living R a d i o c h e m i c a l L a b in O k l a h o m a bonus. Four times a year t h e Bureau of Labor Statistics indexes ior t h e preceding Ground was broken last month for a quarter a r e averaged. If t h e average is $35,000 radiochemical laboratory at t h e one or more points above t h e established Bartlesville, Okla., petroleum experiment base, employees receive a lump-sum bonus station of the Bureau of Mines. T h e lab for each full point of excess p e r paid hour oratory, which is being built with the a d d u r i n g t h e quarter. vice of the Atomic Energy Commission, is expected to b e ready in September. Other features of the new contract pro vide for a substantial increase in group With radioisotopes supplied by the AFC'. insurance at no additional cost to em Bureau of Mines technologists are planning ployees, larger shift differentials, an added various investigations in t h e secondary -re day of vacation throughout t h e schedule covery of petroleum b y water flooding a n d building u p to 13 days at t h e end of each the injection of gas a n d air. D a t a , which eight years, and a supplementary pension have been unobtainable in t h e past, are ex plan which will guarantee $100 pensions, pected to show the extent a n d rate of a d including social security, to workers re vance of t h e water used for subsurface turning with 22 or more years' service. injection flooding.
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GUARANTEED VACUUM. 2 5 MICRONS
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CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC COMPANY 2526
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Electronic Computer Firm Formed. T h e Electronic Computer Corp. has been ionned to produce, clo research, and act as consultants in this field. Samuel Imbkin, formerly a consultant to t h e National Bureau of Standards on several phases of electronic· computing, is presi dent of the new firm whose offices a r e .it 265 Butler St. in Brooklyn, Ν. Υ Trade-Name Adopted. Ross & Roberts. Inc., has announced that t h e t r a d e - n a m e Reet h a s been a d o p t e d for the company's unsupported vinyl film and sheeting. Full operations for the product have started at the n e w plant in Stratford, Conn., a n d are continuing at t h e West Haven, Conn., plant. A new line of embossed film is scheduled for production soon. New England Representatives. The American Well Works, Aurora, 111., has appointed Mills Engineering Co., Inc., 10 High St., Boston, as its representative for Maine, N e w Hampshire, V e r m o n t , Massa chusetts, and Rhode Island. Evaluating Fiber V. D u Pont & C o . is evaluating a synthetic fiber, called Fiber V, on a n experimental scale to determine its commercial possibilities in consumer products. A condensation polymer o b tained from ethylene glycol a n d terephthalic acid, the material was developed in England by Imperial Chemical Indus tries, L t d . , and trade-marked Terylene. Rights to manufacture it here were ac quired by Du Pont in 1946. Canadian Distributor Named» Thomas Robertson & Co., L t d . . of Montreal bas been appointed a distributor of t h e weld ing fittings a n d flanges of T u b e T u r n s , Inc.. of Louisville, Ky., a n d T u b e T u r n s of Canada, L t d . Chicago Research Group. Announce ment h a s been m a d e of t h e formation of Chicago Research Group, with offices at 9 South Clinton St., Chicago 6, 111. T h e new organization is composed of Carl S. Miner, director of t b e Miner Laboratories; Hoy A. Cranston, director of t h e Labora tory of Polarographic Analysis; A. Sidney Rehrman. chemical consultant; a n d Frank lin M. Warden, of the patent law firm of Cromwell, Grei.st, and Warden. Chi cago Research G r o u p will undertake or assist in t h e development and exploita tion of chemical processes and products, primarily those of a patentable nature. In suitable^ cases necessary research on in ventions of independent inventors will be financed. Preference will b e given to proj ects in an a d v a n c e d stage of develop ment, b u t ideas in a n embryonic state will be considered favorably if they appear sufficiently promising.
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