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The manufacturers of crude alcohol had heretofore only one outlet for their alcohol, namely, the sale of the crude to the refiner. With the modern refinery, he has his choice of a number of markets. In the modern refinery, with its steam regulators, extension stem-recording thermometers, recording pressure gages, and other accessory equipment, one operator can care for a number of stills with more perfect control than was ever possible under the old handcontrolled systems. Furthermore, strict chemical control is possible a t all times, and such control is essential because of the chemical specifications that have replaced the old tests, such as odor, color, specific gravity, etc. The production of pure acetone by the destructive distillation of acetate of lime was worked up to a hiqh degree of efficiency during the war, because of the enormous demand for this product in the manufacture of cordite for the British government, and once again the continuous distillation of
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the crude acetone into the finished product showed the e%ciency and low cost of this method of refining. In order to meet the recent more stringent requirements for various grades of acetone oils, vacuum distillation has been employed, making possible closer cuts through the use of fractionating columns, with the resultant saving in steam. The distillation of creosote oils and wood tars has been stimulated by the great demand for these oils in the flotation industry, and this demand will undoubtedly increase as the flotation process grows in favor. There seems to be a preference for hardwood oils on the part of flotation engineers. The future of many wood distillers, following the decline in prices of by-products, is problematical, and undoubtedly only those plants equipped for low-cost operation will survive. The smaller plants of, say, under 50 cords daily capacity, will be handicapped when compared with the larger plants and these smaller plants may find it necessary to consolidate to carry on.
T h e Ferro-Alloy Industry By B. D. Saklatwalla GENERAL SUPERINTENDBNT,
VANADIUM CORPORATION OF
AMERICA,BRIDGEVILLE,P A .
As a less commonly used deoxidizer HE FERRO-AI,LOY industry has may be mentioned ferro-titanium. This come to the front within the last alloy is manufactured in the electric furfew years, itc. importance being nace snd also by the alumino-thermic recognized during the strenuous times of process, according as a carbon-containing the World War. Advancement in steel or a carbon-free alloy ip dwired. As to metallurgy has been probably the greatest the superiority of the one or the other factor toward the rapid strides of our civigrade thcre is yet considerable controversy lization within the last decade or two, between the different users and makers. and when we scan the field of impravements in the mechanical, electrical, and The main metallurgical developments transportation industries for the purin the manufacture of ferro-alloys within the last couple of years have been in poqes of peace or mar, we cannot help but feel that all such strides have been connection with those alloys that form true alloy steels and persist as a constitdue to the developments of newer and betu m t of the finished metal. Aniong such ter types of steel, produced by the metalalloys may be mentioned: ferro-chrome, lurgist of the present day. While this fact ferro-tungsten, ferro-vanadium, and ferrois obvioiisly apparent, it is not generally recmolybdenum. The greatest and most reognized that these developments have been cent phase in the development of these dependent on the ferro-alloy industry. The function of ferro-alloys in the alloys is the application of the electric furnace to their production, and the workmnnufacture of steel has been twofold. Trinity Court Studzos ing out of the chemical reactions in the Certain alloys have been used for the B. D. SAKLATWALLA , electric lurnace, whcreby an alloy of suitpurpose of deoxidizing and cleansing, wheress others have been used t o impart to the steel cer- able purity and carhon content call be directlyI manufactain nccessary and desirable physical properties, the alloying tured from the natural raw ores. At the beginning of the ferro-alloy industry, the electric element forming an intygral constituent of the st,eel. The most commonly used ferro-alloys, ferro-silicon and furnace was in its infancy, and consequently the field was ferro-manganese, function as deoxidiaers in the ordinary largely usurped by the alumino-thermic process of reduction. course of steel-making. They play a double role, however, This process has the advantage of convenience and simple in the case of high silicon and high manganese steels, where equipment, but necessitates the use of more or less pure these elements are allowed to remain in the steel in appreci- oxides for reduction, which have to be chemically prepared able percentages, in order t o obtain certain requisite prop- by an intermediate operation. Such an operation is costly erties. The electric furnace has practically replaced the blast and wasteful, and the aluminium required for reduction is furnace or the crucible method of production. There also a big item of expense. Recently, however, these deficiencies appears to he a tendency to develop mixtures of silicon and have been overcome by a very marked development in the manganese in the same alloy, whereby several advantages have art of dumino-thermic reduction. The preparation of been claimed. Several compositions of these two elements, pure oxides has been rendered superfluous. Owing to a together with aluminiuni and titanium, have been recom- systeniatic study of the chemical and thermal nature of the mended for the purpose of deoxidation. The use of such deoxi- reactions, it has been possible to reduce a complex ore by dizers appeals to have gained favor in continental Europe, means of aluminium in conjunction with suitable fluxes, but does not seem t o have been taken up in American practice. whereby the desired metal or metals are carried into the
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regulus and the undesirable constituents into the slag. This is accomplished by taking into consideration not only the necessary chemical factors, but also the physical ones, as size of the granules and rate of feeding of the niixture. These factors are technically important when we consider that we are dependent only on the chemical reaction of the mixture for the necessary temperature to obtain a fluid slag and a molten metal, and have no means whatever to control this temperature from any other source. -4nother marked improvement in the practice of alumino-thermic reduction is the fact that this operation is carried out on a very extensive scale, as a continuous one, in a shaft furnace, tapping the slag and metal a t regular intervals. This continuity of operation has not only enlarged the quantity from a few pounds produced in small crucibles to several tons per day out of each shaft furnace, but has helped to produce higher temperatures, owing to large quantities reacting exothermically and storing the heat energy developed in the walls of the furnace, and thus promoting slagging reactions for the undesirable constituents, which was not possible in the small crucibles. This alumino-thermic development has been largely in connection with the production of ferro-vanadium. The recent developments in the electric furnace for the production of ferro-alloyq have been very marked. In the case of ferro-vanadium, for instance, in spite of the great strides of alumino-thermic reduction, the field is now practically dominated by the electric method. The most marked impro veinents in electric furnace operation have been in the development of a control mechanism, whereby the energy input IS held constant by using a true watt regulator. Much higher temperatures have been produced by the upe of higher current density, high voltage, and very close electrode spacin2. The open-top furnaces have been replaced in several instances by furnaces wit,h closed tops, water-cooled in some cases l o conserve the heat energy. The advent of the electric filrnace in the ferro-alloy industry has made many low-grade ores available for reduction at a reasonable cost, and thus has not only played a great part as an economic factor in lowering the prices of several ferro-alloys, but also made discarded mineral deposits usefully available, thus increasing our natural resources. Another direction, in connection with the electric furnace, in mhicli rapid progress has been made, is the refining of frrro-alloys containing undue percentages of carbon and silicon. Activity in this field has been mainly in connection with ferro-chromium. With the development of the so-called “stainless” steels there suddenly appeared a demand for a ferro-chromium very low in carbon content. The amount of chromium present in such steels is high, approximately 12 to 14 per cent, and conseqJently any appreciable carhon content of the ferro-alloy would cause an undue rise in the carhon of the finished steel. Several patents for refining carbon containing ferro-chromium have been recently granted, and special publicity has been given to some claiming to removci the carbon by hessemerizing the molten alloy with a n oxidizing gas. Several processes have also been suggested for oxidizing the carbon content by means of iron ore or chrome ore together with fluxes. The development of high-chromium, low-carbon steels has also led to processes for introducing the chromium without the necesqity of first manufacturing a ferro-chrome. I n such processes, the reducing agent, either metallic or nonmetallic, is placed in the bath of molten steel, together with the raw chrome ore, with suitable fluxes, the reduction of the chromium taking place in the molten bath of steel. In this way the reduciiig agents present in the bath, such as carbon or silicon, are eliminated by oxidation, and the chromium reduced tluking t’his reaction enters the steel. This process has
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the advantage of not introducing carbon with the chromium, and so produces a more homogeneous steel free from scgregation, as the chromium reduction takes place uniformly over the entire bath and is absorbed in the nascent state of formation by the steel. In the ferro-tungsten industry there have been no radically new developments, probably owing to the lack of demand and demoralized condition of the tungstrn market. Another alloy that has gained prominence commercial!y is ferro-phosphorus. In its manufacture the electric furnxce is supplanting the blast-furnace method. Its principal use is to raise the phosphorus content of sheet bars in order to diminish the loss involved in stripping or tczring apart plates or sheets. Of less importance are the alloys ferro-boron, ferro-zirconium, and ferro-cerium. Perro-cerium has been used as a pyrophoric alloy and also as a deoxidizer in steel. Tn concluqion, it may be mentioned that the TTnited St%tes can claim the furthest advances in the metallurgy of ferroalloys within the last few years, and to he the largest producer in the world of a commodity on which the progress of our qteel metallurgy is so vitally dependent. Publicity for Chemistry During the past year t h e Yale A l u m n i Weekly devoted an issue t o chemistry. It was well planned and served t o emphasize t h e part which Yale intends t o play in chemistry in the future. Other educational institutions might do well t o follow this example. In Current Affazrs t h e Boston Chamber of Commerce has placed before its members a n article on the organization of the chemical and dyestuff industry in New England This cannot fail t o bring home t o New england manufacturers a realization t h a t the industry is worth keeping and deserves all possible encouragement. In addition t o sending our articles on chemical subjects t o papers in nearby towns and cities, the Publicity Committee of t h e Rochester Section obtained during the last year t h e equivalent of seventy columns of space in local papers. B y assigning each of the local papers t o a member of the committee a great deal has been accomplished, and the experience of t h e committee goes t o show t h a t publicity can be obtained for t h e activities of chemists as a n organization and for the accomplishments of individual members, if the material is presented in good form and care is taken t o place it in proper hands. The Michigan Agricultural College Section was the guest at a banquet of t h e Kiwanis Club in Lansing. The chemists were responsible for the principal addresses, and two hundred and fifty business men were brought into close contact with a large number of chemists. This appeals t o us as a good precedent. Such a gathering does more to bring about a n entente cordiale between chemists and business men than could be accomplished by any number of meetings where one chemist addresses a group of business men or a business man addresses a group of chemists.
Chemical E q u i p m e n t Manufacturers Petition Congress Eighty-nine firms, whose names will .appear in our next issue and whose busjness is specifically t h a t of supplying equipment necessary t o the American chemical manufacturer and industry, believing t h a t they are in position t o have an intimate knowledge of the needs of-the chemical industry, have sent the following petition t o Congress: I-That t h e Chemical Manufacturer requires an endless variety and enormous volume of special equipment, the production of which in this country has progressed in step with the developing needs of the Chemical Manufacturer; 2-That the Chemicar Equipment Industry before the War was very small a s compared with to-day; 3-That this equipment field represents millions of capital and thousands of employees, both now unemployed t o a great extent and, in our judgment, certain t o remain
