CONCENTRATES Science AMA delegates have rejected an ad ban and economy moves. At its Portland, Ore., meeting, the American Medical Association's House of Delegates overruled trustees' plan to bar advertising from AMA publications (C&EN, Nov. 4, page 5). The delegates also voted down several measures the trustees had recommended to put the deficitplagued organization back in the black—including a $90 annual dues increase, publications cutback, and abolition of several councils and committees— but did approve a one-time $60 assessment. The European Science Foundation has been inaugurated in Strasbourg, France, where it will be headquartered. Sir Brian Flowers, rector of Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, is newly elected president of the body, which comprises 45 academies and research councils from 15 European countries. Aim of the foundation is to promote cooperation in scientific research among the member organizations. Initial priority areas of study will be astronomy, archaeology, modern mathematics, and social responsibility in science. Particulates in smoke from chlorinated polymeries can transport hydrogen chloride gas, according to scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. HCI gas deposited on soot and water particles of less than 3 micrometers can bypass the body's upper respiratory mucous membranes, where it is normally stopped, and thereby reach the lungs, the Navy scientists say. Once there, HCI can cause pulmonary edema, often a life-threatening condition.
Technology Exxon Corp. will defer building a large-scale SNG pilot plant at Baytown, Tex., to test its coal gasification process. The synthetic natural gas unit, originally estimated to cost $40 million, would have had capacity to convert 500 tons of coal a day. As reasons for the delay Exxon cites rising costs coupled with needs for the money for other energy projects. Development work on the proprietary gasification process will continue on a small scale. An oil-from-coal pilot plant using the Bureau of Mines' Synthoil process is planned for 1977. The bureau has awarded design and procurement work of about $7 million to Foster Wheeler for a pilot plant producing 24 bbl per day of clean fuel oil from 8 tons of coal. The plant will be located at the Bureau of Mines Energy Research Center near Pittsburgh. NASA is backing hydrogen energy research at IGT. The Institute of Gas Technology, Chicago, has been awarded two contracts totaling $243,000. One, with NASA's Marshall Flight Center, calls for 16
C&EN Dec. 9, 1974
a $169,000 technical survey of hydrogen production and utilization. For NASA's Langley Research Center, IGT will make a $74,000 technical and economic assessment of converting coal into hydrogen, methane, and synthetic liquid fuels for aircraft. A new class of miticides has been discovered by Zoecon Corp. The company says the compounds are effective against several types of plant mites but nonpersistent in the environment and relatively nontoxic to higher animals. Commercial development has begun for one of the new compounds, hexadecyl cyclopropanecarboxylate, code-named ZR-856. The Palo Alto, Calif., firm, known mostly for its work on insect growth regulators and sex attractants, points out that ZR-856 is a chemical ovicide and larvicide. The mode of action is not yet understood. A second 4200-metric-ton batch of organic chloride waste is being burned for Shell Chemical aboard the incinerator ship Vulcanus in the Gulf of Mexico. Late last month, following the first burn (C&EN, Nov. 18, page 43), EPA issued a permit for the second burn, subject to close monitoring of various conditions in the sea and air behind the ship. Depending on the data obtained, EPA will decide whether to allow Shell to burn a remaining 8400 metric tons of stored waste. An enzymic route to dextro-tartaric acid from a petrochemical intermediate has been developed by Japan's Toray Industries. A structural derivative of succinic acid is mixed with bacteria containing an enzyme that selectively converts the intermediate to the dextrorotatory form of the acid, used as an acidulant in foods and soft drinks. Now made from crystalline argol deposits scraped from wine vats, the acid has risen sharply in price as changes in winemaking reduce the supply of argol. Sugar, more specifically sucrose, can be obtained from sweet sorghum using conventional sugarcane processing technology, according to USDA. In a one-day test run at the W. R. Cowley Sugar House, near Santa Rosa, Tex., conventional grinding equipment milled sorghum satisfactorily, and clarifiers freed raw juice from objectionable starch. Clarification involved adding a closely controlled amount of calcium chloride to flocculate aconitic acid derivatives and starch, which were filtered off. Stretchy wool fabric comparing favorably in stretchiness with polyester doubleknit can be made by soaking fabric in a bath of ethylene glycol, says USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Berkeley, Calif. Developed by Dr. William L. Wasley and Dr. Allen G. Pittman, the process involves soaking times ranging from 60 seconds at 285° F to 10 seconds at 320° F. Cost is estimated at less than 5 cents per lb. A side benefit is a 20 to 50% cut in dyeing time in later fabric processing.
