May, 1923
48 1
INDCSTRIAL A N D ENGIIC’EERISG CHE3IISTRY
and brought to the distilleries, a laborious and expensive task. Furthermore, edible grain of any kind is usually too valuable to be used for the manufacture of alcohol. And even if we had a surplus it would be a mere drop in the bucket. A surplus of 1,000,000,000 bu. of corn would sound tremendous to the farmers of this country, but it would yield only 250,000,000 gal. of motor fuel, enough to run our cars and trucks about three weeks. The same reasoning applies to all other sound grains, vegetables, and fruits. At present they are too valuable as food for man or for stock feed to be used to makemotor fuel, and if there were a surplus available it would be too small to be of much importance ‘in the aggregate supply. The case is somewhat different with waste products. According to the records of the Department of Agriculture, this country produced 286,085,463 gal. of alcohol, mostly from waste molasses: during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1917, when production was stimulated to its highest point. The other large source of vegetable waste is the lumber industry. Although a good deal of experimenting has been done, little alcohol has been produced from wood waste, as the process is rather complicated, and also because the yield is small compared to the yield from molasses. The Forest Products Laboratory estimates, however, that there is enough wood waste available every year in this country t o produce 240,000,000 gal. of alcohol. It is variously estimated that this country could, if necessary, produce from 500,000,000 to 1,000,000,000 gal. of alcohol, or from 8 to 16 per cent of our present motor-fuel needs.
MOST HOPEFUL METHODS OF PROVIDING FOR FUTURE NEEDS But the most important aspects of the motor-fuel problem have still to be discussed. Liquid fuel obtained from coal and lignite is good as far as it goes, but the supply is small as it is a by-product, and its production depends on the utilization of the coke produced at the same time; shale oil is of great future but little immediate value; alcohol from vegetable sources will always be limited in quantity, and cannot be produced to-day at a price to seriously compete with gasoline. The three methods that the refiners have employed up to the present time to get more gasoline have been shown to be inadequate to provide for all our future needs, but there are other methods available to the petroleum industry which seem to offer great hopes for the future. One method is to use gas oil directly as motor fuel. Cracking involves a loss of material and requires the consumption of fuel. For instance, if we crack gas oil me lose part of the total heating value of the oil and in addition consume other fuel in the cracking distillation. Obviously, if the gas oil can be used in an internal-combustion engine, we save these losses. It is gratifying to see that work is actively progressing in developing wtomotive engines to use heavy oils. Another method is to discover new oil fields. If we could be sure of finding a new Cushing or a new Burbank field every year or two, we would not have to worry a t all about substitutes for gasoline. Unfortunately, this is not as easy to do as it is to recommend, but as long as new production is found as fast as it is needed all will be well. But even today we are importing part of our oil, and we probably will continue to do so in larger and larger amounts. Undoubtedly, the undeveloped areas of the world contain large oil fields, but other nations are awake to the need of oil and only a part of these resources will be available for us. But there are other ways in which production can be increased. Wells that have been abandoned are to-day being repaired and are again producing oil in paying quantities. Large-scale experiments have shown that whole properties
can be reworked with modern methods, and in some cases in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as much oil has been recovered as was done before the properties were considered ready for abandonment. Furthermore, after the oil is above ground a great deat can be done to conserve it. A recent investigation of the Bureau of Mines disclosed large losses of oil by evaporation between the well and the refinery. The material that was lost was principally the best portion of the gasoline contained in the crude, and if saved, as much of it can be by proper methods of handling, it would add materially to the quantity and value of our gasoline. Similar losses occur in many phases of the transportation and refining of crude oil and gasoline, and the aggregate preventable loss is enormous. If, then, the producer and refiner of oil have it in their power to increase the amount of gasoline, and if this can be added to by other sources, as already shown, will there be enough motor fuel for our future needs? There will be if the automotive engineers, and especially if the public that drives cars, cooperate. It is gratifying to see the great interest that has developed recently in conservation and efficient utilization of all petroleum products, especially of gasoline. The public is becoming aware of the folly of using rich mixtures, and of running with one cylinder missing. Steps are being taken by the associations of oil refiners and automotive engineers to get together in a spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance, and solve some of the larger problems involved. These leaders in the petroleum and automotive industries realize that, while there may be supplemental fuels, still it is to petroleum that we must look for our motor-fuel supply, and the possibility of furnishing this needed motor fuel rests upon the producers and refiners of crude oil, who must seek increased production. But at the same time all must practice conservation to the utmost in order to utilize effectively all of this precious resource that we now have.
Use of the Bunsen Valve in Connection with a Filter Pump’ By Fred W. Ashton STRUCTURAL MAWRIALS RESEARCH LABORATORY, LEWISINSTITUTE, CHICAGO, ILL.
During the course of some recent work, the author was using “vacuum” subject to considerable fluctuation, due both to variation in water pressure and to variable “pull” by anothe? worker. The annoyance and difficulties caused by these variations were successfully overcome by the use of the Bunsen valve.
-77i------; t pum
toflask
C
D
A
A is the regulation safety bottle used to prevent the backing up of water from the pump. B is the bottle for the Bunsen valve. C is an extra 2.5-liter bottle for “capacity.” The valve is placed on the tube leading to this bottle. With this arrangement a fairly high vacuum can be maintained in the flask, even with almost complete momentary stoppage of the pump or temporary opening of the line on the pump side of the valve. 1
Received April 11, 1923.
