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Silicon carbide in corrosion service
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Rare metals for nuclear industry
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instant dry ice
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Coal tar chemicals b o o m
IN STORE FOR TOMORROW Railroad tank cars may soon be insulated by rigid urethane foam jackets, sprayed on the tank shells and protected by a reinforced polyester outer coating. Allied Chemical is testing the insulation on two of its Nitrogen Division tank cars which carry urea-formaldehyde fertilizer solutions at a temperature of about 77° F. The plastic jacket weighs 3500 pounds less than a conventional covering of insulation and steel for a 4000-gallon tank car. The fluorocarbon-blown foam insulates more effectively than conventional insulation types and is also expected to last longer in normal service, make repairs easier when damaged, and reduce painting maintenance. Recent high—strength, high—temperature applications of plastics reinforced with asbestos fibers in nose cones and exhaust nozzles of rockets point the way to other potential markets, perhaps in the processing industries. Asbestos fibers have great strength, light weight. and large surface area, making them an ideal reinforcement for plastic materials. Other advantages are flexibility and resistance to heat, moisture, and weathering. Dehydrated beer may be the result of a new process developed by Union Carbide. Water is centrifugally removed from the beer to reduce liquid volume by as much as 75%. The product is a concentrate, somewhat similar to concentrated orange juice. The user merely adds water and carbon dioxide to convert the concentrate to regular beer. Dehydrated beer would not be sold at the retail level, but concentrate would be used by brewers under licensing arrangements to trim production, shipping, and storage costs. Before the process goes on stream, however, some changes will have to be made in federal alcohol tax regulations, and U—C has asked the Government for authorization. A material that may solve many severe corrosion and erosion problems is a new type of silicon carbide. Carborundum says that its new "KT" silicon carbide is self-bonded and has a density which is 97% of the theoretical maximum, giving superior resistance to corrosion and mechanical wear. The material is formed by conventional ceramic techniques . Lead—in connections for electrolytic aluminum reduction cells could be one of the first big uses for titanium diboride made in National Carbon's new process. Extremely fine, uniform particles have purity as high as 99.5%. When formed into shapes, the material has low electrical resistivity, exceptional flexural strength, and oxidation resistance at temperatures above 2000°F. It is inert to both aluminum and the corrosive salts used in aluminum production. Use of titanium diboride leads would permit some radically new design concepts in aluminum cells. VOL. 53, NO. A • APRIL 1961
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trendsletter
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NEW IDEAS YOU CAN USE TODAY There's no need for schools and industries to shy away from use of radioisotope techniques because of the sometimes lengthy process of obtaining a license from the Atomic Energy Commission. Nuclear-Chicago Corp. has marketed a kit, Model RNS-110, containing five commonly used radioisotopes which can be purchased without AEC license. Instructions and accessory equipment are also included in the kit. For those who occasionally need dry ice around the laboratory or a shop, a jet adapter now selling for $2 converts a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher into a handy source of supply. Extinguisher produces a very fine, controllable stream of dry ice when equipped with the adapter. Water hammer—the loud thumping often caused by rapid closure of a valve—can be eliminated in many residential plumbing systems by use of a shock absorber made of Du Pont's Delrin acetal resin and a specially compounded rubber. Josam Mfg. Co. makes the unit, which is installed in branch lines leading to fixtures. The "Genie" shock absorber is available through plumbing supply wholesalers and plumbing contractors. ON THE PERSONAL SIDE The decline in enrollment in engineering curriculums is leveling off, according to the American Society for Engineering Education. Early indication is that undergraduate engineering enrollments may again show annual increases within the next year or two. And 210 companies, middle-sized and larger, says a Northwestern Univ. survey, will seek 5.9% more engineering grads this June than they did in 1960, although they plan to hire 5.2% fewer nontechnical graduates than they did last year. Another increase in starting salaries is expected, but it's not likely to be a very large one. It takes patience, tact, basic psychology, and experience as a handler of either race horses or grand opera divas to successfully mold nonconforming scientists into a smooth-working research team, says R. P. Dinsmore, Goodyear's V—P for research and development. He names a few of the problem types: the creative slowpoke, the lone scientist, the uncontrollably curious, and the regulation resistor. AT THE CORPORATE LEVEL Michigan Chemical Corp., Saint Louis, Mich., strengthened its position in the nuclear field with two working agreements. A joint arrangement with Dresser Products, Inc., covers supplying rare earth materials in final fabricated form to the nuclear, metallurgical, and electronic industries. A second arrangement with Haveg Industries, Inc., is aimed at developing and manufacturing new-type, light-weight atomic radiation shielding. The Borden Co. also made two significant moves aimed at widening its product outlets. Hawley-Monk Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, manufacturers of inks, varnishes, and related materials, will complement Borden's own Commercial Ink & Lacquer Co. And, in acquiring Columbus Coated Fabrics Corp., Columbus, Ohio, Borden will gain additional outlets into oil coated, nitrocellulose coated, poly(vinyl chloride) coated, and acrylics coated fabrics field. A trade and manufacturing agreement between Pacific Valves, Inc., Long Beach, Calif., and Weir Valves, Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland, will make Pacific's entire line of valve products available to the petroleum, petrochemical, nuclear, and missile fields in Europe. 24 A
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
WHO'S EXPANDING, WHERE AND WHY Badger Manufacturing gets the contract to design, engineer, and construct Suntide's 30 million pound—per-year ethylbenzene plant at Corpus Christi, Tex. Single step Cosden-Badger process will be used. Enjay Chemical's boost in ethylene capacity to 175 million pounds per year at the Bayway (N. J.) refinery will be the forerunner of Humble Oil & Refining Co.'s further expansion in ethylene capacity in the Gulf Coast area. Bayway expansion represents a 35% increase in capacity. Oxo Chemicals Co. expects that its multimillion pound per year isooctyl and decyl alcohol plant at Haverhill, Ohio, will be completed early in 1962. Plant will be located on the Ohio River to permit shipment of raw materials and finished products by water, rail, and truck. Lummus Co., Houston, Tex., will engineer and construct a new carbon black plant with an initial capacity of 64 million pounds per year for United Carbon Co. Plant site will be within one—day shipping distance from Los Angeles, center of vast carbon black users market. Add Ohio Oil as a supplier to the petrochemical industry. Initial venture will be about 20 million gallons per year benzene-toluene mixture to Dow Chemical. Key facility will be Detroit refinery of Aurora Gasoline Co., wholly—owned subsidiary of Ohio Oil. Dow will build processing unit at Bay City, Mich., to convert mixture to benzene. Bethlehem Steel Co. will recover coke-oven tar at its new plant at Sparrows Point, Md., for processing at Allied Chemical Corp. plant in Philadelphia. More than 50 million gallons of tar per year are anticipated at Sparrows Point via Bethlehem's new distillation unit. Move will strengthen Bethlehem's position in coal—tar chemicals field. Three significant oxygen-nitrogen plants make news: Linde Division of Union Carbide Corp. put a 140 ton-per-day plant on stream at Neosho, Mo., to supply rocket development facilities at Fort Crowder Reservation and industrial gas consumers throughout the Southwest; Air Products will build a $6 million plant at Bethlehem Steel's Sparrows Point, Md., plant to supply 350 tons per day of high purity oxygen and 450 tons per day of nitrogen; and Air Reduction Sales Co. will build a $5 million plant adjacent to and serving SunOlin Chemical Co.'s Claymont, Del., ethylene and ethylene oxide plants. Dominion Tar and Chemical Co., Ltd., is going ahead with its plans for a 22 million pound-per-year phthalic anhydride plant adjacent to its present unit near Toronto, Canada. Canadian Badger Co., Ltd., will engineer and construct the $3.5 fluid bed process plant. Naphthalene feed will come from DT&C's own tar distillation plants. On the plastics front: Allied's National Aniline Div. will double its capacity to make succinic anhydride with start—up of an additional plant at Buffalo, N. Y.; Monsanto will increase capacity to make high pressure polyethylene by jumping production at Texas City toy 30%; National Distillers and Chemical Corp. will add a 60 million pound-per-year linear polyethylene plant to its conventional polyethylene system at Houston, Texas; and Dow plans to build a second polyolefin plant at Plaquemine, La., to make medium and high density polyethylene and ethylene copolymers. Reactive Metals, Inc., Niles, Ohio, will add a mill to make high quality special metals tubing. Unit will specialize in zirconium, titanium, niobium, tantalum, and other special metal tubings for the nuclear industry and heat exchangers and piping for the chemical industry. And Titanium Metals Corp. of America will put $2 million into expansion of its Toronto, Ohio, plant to meet increased nonmilitary demands for titanium tubing, primarily from chemical processors. V O L 53, NO. 4
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