The Chemical World This Week
MARCH 14, 1960
£ CONCENTRATES
RESEARCH &
TECHNOLOGY
• Electrochemical process to reclaim waste acids used to pickle or clean steel has been developed by Ionics, Inc., Cambridge, Mass. The steel industry now dumps nearly a billion gallons per year of these solutions into streams and coastal waters. The Ionics process recovers iron as well as spent acid, will probably save money for the user, the company says. Ionics estimates that a plant to process 50 tons of pickling acid per day would save about $500,000 a year in disposal charges, would cost less than that to operate. Total initial investment: about $700,000. • Greater use of ion exchange membranes for processing radioactive solutions may result from research at Brookhaven National Laboratory. So far they haven't been used much for this purpose because it is difficult and expensive to replace them by remote handling techniques. BNL makes its membrane by slurrying ion exchange resin between two fine frits, replaces it simply by flushing the resin with water jets and allowing a new slurry to settle in its place. Operating a few valves does the whole job. Brookhaven data on denitration of radioactive wastes show that the membrane is selective, boosts separation efficiency. • Oak Ridge National Laboratory can now evaluate a cyclotron's performance before building it. ORNL's electronuclear research division uses a semiconductor probe with a plotting system to measure magnetic fields that focus ion beams. With the help of a computer, the system determines complex field patterns of a scale model magnet in about 36 hours, permits scientists to calculate the path of any ion. Before this, they had to tailor cyclotron magnetic fields by grinding or patching the magnet until the ion paths were acceptable.
• Dow Chemical will use a new toluene-based process to make phenol at its recently announced Kalama, Wash., plant. Advantages: no by-products, production economies, less process waste and easier treatment of that waste. Process uses some Dow patents and some licensed from California Research. First step—Dow's development—is oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid. The second step, covered by California Research patents, involves conversion of two moles of benzoic acid to one mole of phenyl benzoate with a copper catalyst. Phenyl benzoate is then hydrolyzed to give a mole of phenol and one of benzoic acid. •
• British Drug Houses has successfully tested a new oral contraceptive in animals, will now try it on humans. BDH won't identify the compound, says only that it is a "progestational steroid" to be taken by women for not more than 20 days a month. The BDH development caused a jump in company stock prices on the British market, may affect Fisons' attempt to take over British Drug Houses (C&EN, Feb. 22, page 33). As a result, Fisons has already upped its offer from $20 million to $22 million. •
• Purdue University has set up the Trace Level Research Institute for Residues to deal with food additives. This step is a "direct result of the new amendments to the pure food and drug laws," says Purdue president Frederick L. Hovde. Scope of the institute's program: metabolic studies of chemicals in large and small animals; development of chemical and biochemical assays; pharmacological, toxicological, and tracer studies. Dr. John E. Christian is chairman of the institute; the Purdue Research Foundation will handle all the projects.
Final decision on the army's food irradiation
program is expected this week. The program will probably look like this: A small research center concentrating on irradiation sterilization of meats, suh as beef, pork, and poultry. With no work planned on vegetable and fruit irradiation, Stockton, Calif., site of the irradiation pilot plant canceled by the army (C&EN, Jan. 25, page 38), is out of the picture. Possible sites for the research center are Chicago (to be near the Food and Container Institute) or Natick, Mass. (research headquarters for the quartermaster corps).
Computer installations are the latest target
for the National Fire Protection Association's experts. NFPA has formed a new technical committee to map fire protection standards for electronic computer systems, their components, and associated records. To show the high property value involved in this equipment, NFPA cites last year's Pentagon fire with losses estimated at nearly $6.7 million. The new committee will submit its preliminary report at NFPA's annual meeting in Montreal (May 16 to 20). NFPA standards are usually used as guides by industry and are often adopted as law by municipalities. MARCH
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