TVonUTVide
says the professor
(%emi4tnq Registration of in South Africa
Born salesmen, these chemists! Using flavor and scent, they pack products with new s a l e s power. Think of bread wrappers smelling oven-fresh, g r e e t i n g c a r d s with mood-setting aromas, odorless cleaning iluid. An MM&R created flavor or odor personality can do wonders for your product, too
Think it
o v e r - j t ^ ^ c ,
then, call on JMM&R
32*B&
Write Dept. E-9
MAGNUS.MABEE
*l89â
& ItEYNARDJNC.
Since 1 8 9 5 . . . One o! ihe World s Greatest Suppliers of Essential Oils
16 DESBROSSES ST., N.Y. 13. N Y . . 2 2 ) N. LASAILE ST.. CHICAGO 1.ILL los Angeles:
Βιουη Corp. · Seattle,
& Rogers. In< · Son Fronnsco
Portland, Spokane: Van Waters
Difficulties in Pharmaceutical
SEND US YOUR HEADACHE! CONTACTING
Watford throws
-die door wide open to unlimited knowledge on emulsification—the problem with many answers, but only one correct one when the quality of your product is at stake. It pays, therefore, to seek our specialist technical assistance — w e have developed the pro duction of emulsifying agents to a level where the answer to any question of choice and application lies at our fingers tips. Watford products include : PROMULSIN E M U L S I F I E R S AND T H I C K ENERS ' I N D U S T R I A L AND FINE CHEMICALS · PHARMACEUTI CALS · PLASTICISERS · RESINS WAXES
WATFORD CHEMICAL CORPORATION 44th STREET, MEW Vanderbilr 6-0171
2914
The South African Chemical I n s t i t u t e has drafted a bill which the government is to be asked to introduce in parliament soon as a government measure. T h e bill provides for the appointment of a board which, a m o n g other things, will have power to recommend to the governor-general the several degrees, diplomas, a n d certificates which must be held by a chemist before he can be registered as such under the bill. It is proposed t h a t persons wishing to be registered a s chemists must study chemist ry for at least three years and must spend a further period of three years in the study of chemistry, full-time occupation in chem ical work, or both study and chemical work. Certain exceptions t o this require ment are contemplated. T h e bill pre scribes conditions under which a chemist's name may b e erased from t h e register, so debarring him from working as a chemist in any scheduled industry.
B'oun-Knecht-Heimann-Co.
When faced with an tmulsification problem—
JS WEST
Chemists
YORK
Britain's Trade
The introduction of a National Health Service providing free drugs for all patients on doctor's prescription has, not unex pectedly, led to a considerable increase in the home demand for pharmaceutical prod ucts. As domestic needs of essential medi cines are given priority over overseas trade, the increased home d e m a n d a u t o matically reduces the a m o u n t of drugs and pharmaceuticals available for export. Once the novelty value has worn off, how ever, it is expected t h a t the domestic con sumption of drugs and medicines will be fairly stable at levels not greatly above those of recent years. Leading British pharmaceutical manu facturers are not satisfied with the present position. T h e industry is one of t h e few in Britain which as a result of temporary shortages, rising costs, and keener compe tition a b r o a d are already faced with de clining profits. T h e output of drugs and pharmaceuticals has greatly increased; in 1946 it h a d a value of £54,997,000, com pared with £17,114,000 in 1937. T h e ex port trade rose even more steeply. But still greater advances are desired, a n d these cannot be easily secured. By the end of this year British exports of drugs, medicines, and pharmaceutical products a r e to reach a monthly rate of £2,150,000; in t h e first half of this year, however, they only ran at a monthly rate of just below £1,300,000, and in J u l y they
CHEMICAL
were £310,000 less t h a n in the correspond ing month of 1947. The unexpected dif ficulties in t h e export trade reflected by these figures are largely due t o the import restrictions which certain importing firms have imposed either in order to preserve their foreign currency holdings or t o sup port local makers, and the individual British exporters can do little to overcome this obstacle. As regards the increase in costs it is the experience of one leading firm which main tains a large retail organization of its own t h a t over 6 5 % of the increased expenditure in 1947—48 was due to higher salaries a n d wages—this although the cost of labor in the pharmaceutical industry generally a c counts omy for 25 to 3 0 % of the whole p r o ducing costs. If crude drugs were t o b e come cheaper in t h e world market, t h e high cost of la!x>r and fuel in Britain would be felt even more severely by pharmaceu tical manufacturers. Leading firms have therefore continued to develop their manufacturing subsidiar ies abroad. One of the leading companies last year launched new companies in Can ada, Australia, Pakistan, and the Far E a s t . Others are extending their packaging and marketing facilities in British over seas territories. B u t insofar a s manufac turing activities are concerned, they a r e being hampered by the difficulty in r e m i t ting funds t o overseas destinations. I n Canada and other dollar countries t h e y have to rely on local finance.
Wood Waste Utilized in New French Factory One of the largest fiber board plants i n Europe has been completed in Castel jaloux in France. Owned by t h e Société F r a n çaise Isorel, a subsidiary of Société Centrale de Dynamite, t h e plant utilizes wood waste from southern pines of the L a n d e s forests. As i t stands now, the factory occupies only a part of a 40-acre site a n d is a self-contained industrial unit with 8,000 feet of track, 4,000 feet of road, administrative and processing buildings, houses for workers, and a powerhouse. T h e wood raw material is stored in a n outdoor storage pile of 28,000-ton capacity. I t is converted t o chips which a r e further disintegrated by a mechanical process. The resulting pulp is screened t o remove knots and dirt, pumped to storage chests, formed in thick sheets on a special t y p e of Fourdriner machine, a n d dried in a large, multistory steam-heated oven operated a n d controlled by a system of p h o t o electric cells. For t h e production of h a r d
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
ALKANESULFONIC ACID
érf*
1
faf*
ôfo *$*
Mixed methane-ethane-propanc sulfonic acid
A STRONG NON-OXIDIZING NON-SULFONATING ACID TYPICAL REACTIONS: With phosphorus trihalides forms alkanesulfonyl halides With olefins forms alkyl alkanesulfonates With aromatic hydrocarbons forms sulfones With metal bases and carbonates forms highly water soluble salts USES AS CATALYST: Bulletin 11 lists many other tested and suggested uses.
^^y
υ
\ \\\
Polymerization of olefins Alkylation of aromatic com pounds with olefins Esterification and ester exchange Etherification of alcohols and mercaptans by olefins Condensations of numerous types
OTHER USES: Electrodeposition at high current densities Selective solvent for N02, olefins, etc. Soluble heavy metal salts
INDOIL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
A V A I L A B L E FOR P R O M P T S H I P M E N T I N I C C 1 - D ( 7 0 LB.) C A R B O Y S .
STANDARD OIL COMPANY ( I N D I A N A ) Chemical 910 South Michigan Avenue V O L U M E
2 6,
NO.
39
» SEPTEMBER
Products
Department Chicago 80, Illinois
2 7,
1948
2915
W Ο R L D
Front
entrance
of inain
WIDE
production
boards, natural or synthetic rosins are added to the pulp, a n d t h e .sheets are passed t h r o u g h presses for water removal and preliminary curing. The preformed boards are further heat-treated in a special oven where the curing of the resinous binder is completed. T h e press, which can operate at a pressure of 4,000 metric tons, features maximum use of automatic control. T h e Société Française Isorel has operated a fiber board plant in the J u r a district since 1933 and decided early after t h e war t o strengthen its position on t h e French market by constructing the new iplant. Ground was broken in March
C II Ε M I S Τ R Y
building
S team -jacketed
11)46, and it was in s p i t e of almost unsurmountable difficulties d u e to lack of materials and equipment, officials report, t h a t it was finally completed, at a cost of 600 million francs. Manufacture of the boards makes possible the fullest utilization of the wood waste which accompanies t h e lumbering operations a n d t h u s contributes materially to t h e building i n d u s t r y without requiring any import.
British
Industrial
Projects
A large n e w refractories p l a n t will be opened at Oadeby near Doncaster by t h e St «et lev Lime and Basic Co., Ltd., in t h e
ISOBUTYLENE (95%
NOW
AVAILABLE I N
PURITY)
COMMERCIAL
QUANTITIES
W r i t e for physical properties and prices of this high
quality olefinic r a w material.
Immediate
delivery in cylinders or tank cars.
HYDROCARBONS PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY CHEMICAL PRODUCTS DEPARTMENT
2916
BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA
CHEMICAL
oven and automatic
press
next few weeks. Morgan Crucible Co., Ltd., has registered a new subsidiary, Morgan Refractories, Ltd., which will engage in t h e large-scale production of a range of high-temperature refractories in a new factory in Cheshire. T h e Crucible Co. has begun construction work on a new factory at N e s t o n . T h e British T i t a n P r o d u c t s Co., Ltd., in which I C I , Goodlass Wall, a n d Australian lead-zinc interests are cooperating, expects that t h e 10,000-ton plant now in construction a t Grimsby will be ready for full operation b y t h e middle of 1949. T h e company is now producing 12,000 tons of t i t a n i u m pigment of t h e a n a t a s e t y p e in a factory at Billingham which relies on outside sources for its sulfuric acid and essential services. T h e new plant a t Grimsby, a fishing p o r t on the n o r t h e a s t coast of England, will be self-sufficient. American rock sulfur and Norwegian ilmenite ore will b e imported through t h e port of I m m i n g h a m n e a r b y , and a c o n t a c t sulfuric acid plant producing 110 tons of acid daily will be included in t h e p l a n t , which has cost £1,250,000 so far. A t i t a n i u m pigm e n t plant will also be built b y the comp a n y in T a s m a n i a , a n d the firm is interested in a similar project in India. T h e United Carbon Black, Ltd., has been registered a s a private c o m p a n y with a capital of £125,000. T h e new comp a n y is reported to be installing plant a t P o r t T e n n a n t , Swansea, South Wales, w i t h an a n n u a l capacity of a b o u t 12,500 short tons—equal to o n e - t h i r d of B r i t a i n ' s carbon black imports a t the present rate. T h e P a l a t i n a t e D e v e l o p m e n t Co., Ltd., which intends t o use Phillips Petroleum p a t e n t s for the production of carbon black from oil, h a s acquired a site a t Avonmouth a n d will build on it a p l a n t estimated t o cost £ 1 million. Completion of this p l a n t is n o t expected before 1950, a n d t h e process to be employed will be largely a u t o m a tic. About 100,000 tons of crude oil m a y be i m p o r t e d annually as r a w material for t h e A v o n m o u t h plant. Contributors to this issue: G. ABRAHAMSON, London, England W. L. SPEIGHT, Cape Town, South Africa
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ENGINEERING
NEWS
