Aug., 1 9 1 2
T H E JOURNAL OF I N D U S T R I A L A X D E,VGIiVEERI.VG CHE.WISTRk’.
employees or the general public, but solely for the purpose of increasing profits, or saving themselves from being driven out of business by their competitors who are learning cheaper and better ways of doing things, and who are cutting prices as a consequence. It would seem, therefore, t h a t the scientific men could very advantageously t o themselves commence t o encroach upon the particular field of the business man. When the scientific man gets in control of business, the scientist will fare better in the business world; but only in so far as the scientist gets control, can he hope for much consideration from the business man. I t would seem t o the writer also t h a t the American Chemical Society could, very advantageously t o itself, endow itself with a fund of say $I,OOO,OOO, with which it could go into business for itself. A fund of this
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size would require about a Szoo investment from each member. By proper management the Society could have a considerable annual income t o devote to research, the cheapening of publications to the members, or otherwise as desired. There is plenty of business and technical ability in the Society to engineer such a plan to success. The Division of Industrial Chemists is composed of men who are specially fitted for the carrying out of a plan like this in certain fields a t least. This kind of a proposition, proposed and carried out by a great body of scientific men, would probably be free from the suspicion t h a t i t was only “a stock jdbbing proposition.” The plan, once in successful operation and fairly administered, would doubtless prove very beneficial to the Society. LOGAX,UTAH.
CURRENT INDUSTRIAL NEWS ny TV.A. HAMOR. THE MANUFACTURE OF NITRATES FROM THE ATMOSPHERE. E. K. Scott states (Nature, 89, 463) t h a t although the first experimental plant for t h e manufacture of calcium nitrate by the direct process of Birkeland and Eyde was started only nine years ago, already the Norwegian Hydro-Electric Nitrogen Co., which controls the Birkeland-Eyde patents, has installations aggregating 200,ooo horse-power a t work and probably by 1916 another 300,000 horse-power will be a t work. The other electrically produced nitrogenous manure, calcium cyanamide, is manufactured by a more indirect method invented by Franck and Caro, and its manufacture is not confined t o Norway. The following table gives the principal installations, and it may be noted that, although the first one on a commercial scale was erected a t Piano d’Orto, in Italy, only eight years ago, there are works in operation, and being built, which by the end of next year will be making calcium cyanamide a t t h e rate of more than a quarter of a million tons per annum.
and dependencies, except Egypt and Canada. The Odda plant is being enlarged, and a t the beginning of next year will be producing 73,000 tons per annum. In the United States, the American Cyanamide Co. is about to erect a works in Alabama to manufacture 24,000 tons per year.
A PROCESS FOR THE FIXATION OF ATMOSPHERIC
NITROGEN. The Chemical Trade Journal (50, 6 2 2 ) observes t h a t many have assumed a pessimistic attitude on the subject of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. This feeling is attributable, in the main, t o the fact t h a t the possibilities of t h e various processes so far devised have been over-popularized, and there can be no doubt as t o the ultimate importance of the question. The same J o u i m l notes t h a t the price movements of nitrate of soda show evidence rather of market rigging than of any near approach t o the exhaustion of the Chilean deposits. Nevertheless, the great German chemical works are keenly alive to the INSTALLATIONS FOR MANUFACTURE OF CALCIUMCYANAMIDE BY THE FRANCK importance of t h e problem of nitrogen fixation and each is doing AND CAROPROCESS. something toward its solution; for example, while the Badische O u t p u t in Company have reduced their holding in the Norwegian proPlace of tons per duction t o nominal proportions, the German patent list bears Name of Company. installation. year. evidence of the activity of this concern in endeavoring t o deNitrogen Fertilizers Co. (Northwestern Cyanamide Co.) vise a suitable process. Odda, Norway 15;OOO Nitrogen Fertilizers Co. (NorthIn the process for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen dewestern Cyanamide Co.) Alby, Sweden 15,000 scribed in the Zentralblatt f u r de Kunstdungen-Industrie (see Societa Italiana d i Prodotti Azotate Chem. Trade J . , loc. cit.), use is made of the fact t h a t the oxides Piano d’Orto, I t a l y 4,000 Societa Italiana per il Carburo d i of nitrogen result when mixtures of air m-ith combustible gas Calcio Terni. Italy 15,000 are detonated. While this has been known for a long time, Societa Piemontese per 11 Carburo t h e conditions necessary to secure a relatively high yield of d i Calcio San Marcel, Italy 3,000 nitrous gases has only recently been determined and a commerSociete Francaise pour les ProJlartigny, Switzerland 7,500 duits -4zotes Notre Dame d e Briancon 7,500 cial plant working on these lines has yet t o be erected. The Bayerische Stickstoff Werke Trostberg, Bavaria 15,000 favorable conditions seem to be high pressure, high temperaOst - Deutscher Stickstoff. u. ture, and a proportion of oxygen greater than t h a t present Chemische Werke Bromberg, Prussia 2,500 A. G. Stickstoffdunger in air, t h a t is, a n addition of oxygen to the gas mixture is adKnapsack, Germany 18,000 Societa per l’ctilizzazione delle vantageous. It has also been found t h a t previous compression Selenico, Dalmatia 4,000 Forze Idrauliche della Dalmaof the gas and air, preferably separately, t o 5 atmospheres, Dugirat, near Almissa 80,000 zia notably increases the yield of nitric acid, and t h a t preheating Japanese Nitrogen Products Co. :inzei, near Osaka 4.000 the air and adding 30 per cent. of oxygen have a similar effect. Nashville, Tenn. 4,000 American Cyanide Co. Niagara Falls, N. Y. 12,000 It is said t h a t if these conditions are realized, as much as 1 2 Ibs. of nitric acid per 1,000cu. ft. of gas may be obtained. The Nitrogen Fertilizers Co., which owns the Odda and Alby Works, works under license from the Northwestern Cyanamide Co., which company coiitrols England, Norway and THE CORROSION OF IRON AND STEEL. Sweden, Belgium, and all the British colonies, protectorates The Chemical Engineer (15,246) gives the following summary
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of the results obtained by Friend, Rentleq-, \\‘est and Chappell in their investigations on corrosion of iron and steel, recently presented before the Iron and Steel Institute in London: Influence of Carbon on Corvodibilil.v.-(a) In rolled, normalized, and annealed steels the corrodibility rises with carbon content to a maximum at saturation point (0.89 per cent. carbon), and falls with further increase of carbon beyond this point. ( b ) I n quenched and tempered steels a continuous rise i n corrodibility occurs, with increase of carbon within the range investigated (up to 0 . 9 6 per cent. carbon), no maximum corrodibility a t saturation point being found in these steels. Zwflueiice of Treatment on Corrodibi1ity.-Quenching increases the corrodibility to a maximum; annealing tends to reduce i t to a m’nimum; and normalizing gives intermediate values. The influence of tempering varies with the tempering temperature. Factors Determinii2g Corrodibility.-The electromotive forces between the pearlite and ferrite, and between the components of the pearlite itself, are the principal factors determining the corrodibility of unsaturated pearlitic steels above 0 . 4 per cent. carbon. I n mild structural steels, the galvanic action, due t o differences of potential between the constituents, is accompanied by galvanic action betweeen the ferrite crystals themselves. These differences of electro-potential b e t m e n the ferrite crystals are the result of differences in their orientation. The state of division of the pearlite, and the presence of internal stresses i n t h e steel, may also exert a considerable modifying influence on the foregoing factors. Decarbonization increases the resistance to corrosion. Three per cent. of tungsten produ?es practically no change in the corrodibility of carbon steels. The influence of time on the rate of corrosion varies with different steels.
USES OF ALUMINUM. The article by Seligman on “Modern Uses of the Metal Aluminum ” (Science Progress) calls attention t o the applications of the metal in various industries. The sudden demand for aluminum in 1905 was due t o t h e requirements of the motor-car industry; b u t since additional supplies were not forthcoming, t h e automobile industry turned to the use of thin steel sheets and frames of special steels, which were often found to be actually lighter than aluminum parts of equal strength. The increased output from 9,000 tons in 1905 to 34,000 tons in 1910 resulted in a fall in price to about one-half, and a certain increase in the earlier demand for aluminum in motor-car work. However, other uses were required to consume the enlarged supply, and in England a very important outlet has resulted from the discovery of methods whereby, with the aid of a special flux, sheets of aluminum may be fused together without the use of any extraneous solder. Vessels made in this way are of special value for chemical industries, and most of all in those involved in the manipulation of food materials. The metal resists corrosion and has the further advantage t h a t i t imparts no coloration t o the materials in contact with it. In the brewing industry, fermenting tanks up to 30,000 gallons have been constructed, and vessels for fermenting under a pressure of 45 lbs. per sq. in. have been made of 1800 gallons capacity. I n this connection it may be noted t h a t the aluminum companies of France have organized the Southern Aluminum Company, capitalized a t $8,000,000.00, and a plant is to be erected a t Whitney, N. C., under the direction of the electrometallurgist Heroult. BRIQUETTING METALLIC WASTE. A correspondent of t h e Scientific American (106, N o . 2 1 , 4 7 7 ) states t h a t a n Austrian, Arpad Ronay, has recently perfected and patented a process for briquetting metallic wastes without a binder. Ronay applies enormous pressure t o the particles,
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but the application is slow, so t h a t the individual particles may associate and come together to permit of the exclusion of air and water. No binding material whatever is employed, and the process is conducted without heat. Metallic turnings, chips, filings, etc., are delivered into a large hopper, gravitated into the hydraulic press, and the mass is slowly subjected to increasing pressure. The briquette is then submitted to further compression, up to 2 , 0 0 0 atmospheres. It is said t h a t briquettes made by the Ronay process from cast iron borings, with a low percentage of phosphorus, can be advantageously substituted for the white iron as used in tempering furnaces; and t h a t Bessemer plants and steel foundries, having Siemens-Martin furnaces using scrap material, find briquettes made from steel and wrought iron turnings a cheaper and more efficient fluxing medium. A number of plants have been erected in Germany for briquetting waste materials by this process, the largest being t h a t built for t h e Tegel Works of Borsig, which has a capacity of six tons a n hour.
THE REVIVAL OF THE KELP INDUSTRY. Kelp, the ash produced by the incineration of various kinds of Algae obtainable in large quantities on t h e west coasts of Ireland and Scotland, and the coast of Brittany, possesses the following composition: potassium sulphate, IO to 1 2 per cent. ; potassium chloride, 20 to 2 5 per cent.; sodium carbonate, 5 per cent.; other sodium and magnesium salts, 1 5 t o 2 0 per cent.; and insoluble residue, 40 to 50 per cent. One ton is procurable from 2 0 to 2 2 tons of wet sea-weed. It is contended with much show of reason in the Times Engineering Sufiplement for May, 2 9 , 1 9 1 2 , t h a t the manufacture of kelp products would prove to be commercially successful if carried out on a comparatively large scale, with modern chemical engineering methods. The sea-weed should be heated in a retort, as proposed by Stanford, and ammonia and acetic azid recovered from the distillate. Stanford obtained 50 to 80 pounds of ammonium sulphate and 6 to 18 pounds of calcium acetate per ton of air-dried sea-weed. The residual charcoal gives up its soluble salts to hot water and can afterwards be used as fuel. The iodides become con entrated in the mother liquors and may be recovered to the extent of 12 pounds per ton of dry sea-weed in the form of free iodine. LIGHTING BY NEON TUBES. According to Engineeri7zg ( 9 2 , 807), while i t has been long known t h a t a vacuum tube charged with neon gives a brilliant light with b u t little absorption of electric energy, yet there is a progressive absorption of t h e gas and the light finally extinguished. Claude has described a number of experiments made to overcome this. H e found t h a t when t h e tubes had small electrodes, these heated rapidly nearly to redness, and a metallic deposit formed on the glass in their vicinity. After 88 hours this deposit amounted to I . 6 g. Upon examination, neon was found occluded in the metal. Consequently, as t h e disappearance of the gas mas due to the vaporization of the metal, Claude reasoned t h a t the life of the tube would be lengthened by using larger electrodes, which would keep cooler. H e constructed a neon tube, 45 mm. in diameter, with copper electrodes equivalent to a surface of 300 sq. cm. per ampere of current. One of these tubes worked satisfactorily for 2 1 0 hours and mas then accidentally broken. Therefore, with a tube 6 m. long, with electrodes giving a surface of 500 sq. cm. per ampere, Claude found that the potential difference necessary to maintain the current only changed 4 . 0 per cent. in 400 hours. The efficiency was excellent, being only 0 . 8 watt per candle. It is of interest to note t h a t were the energy wholly convertible into t h a t light to which the eye is most sensitive, the output would be 55 candles per watt, according to recent measurements by Buisson and Fabry.
