Canada S . J . Cook, 140 Broadway Ave., Ottawa R a d i u m Refinery Î8 B e i n g Enlarged The production of radium in the Port Hope Refinery of Eldorado Gold Mines, Ltd., was reported in March last to be at the rate of 2.5 grams monthly and increasing steadily. Orders for §800,000 worth of radium are expected to be filled during the current year. Charles Camsell, deputy minister of the Dominion Department of Mines and Resources, recently stated that "the refinery at which the concentrates are treated for the extraction of radium, uranium oxides, and silver is being enlarged to permit an output of over 100 grams of radium a year." On the subject of radium prices, Gilbert Labine, president of the company, said in a published statement : Considerable attention has recently been directed to the price of radium, which is reported to have been cut in half due t o the stabilization of output following t h e developm e n t of Canadian operations. T h i s is true. B u t from the viewpoint of a commercial enterprise, we consider the present price levels as extremely satisfactory. A t the same time, Eldorado has certain humanitarian responsibilities and it is a matter of gratification that we have been able to perform this service for the medical world in general. W e h a v e not sought, nor will we in the future seek, to maintain the world price at exorbitant levels.
Current quotations range from $20,000 to $30,000 per gram. R a y o n P l a n t Expansion E n t a i l s More Research Additions to Courtauld's (Canada) plant at Cornwall, Ontario, at a cost of $3,000,000 will increase plant output by 42 per cent to 15,000,000 pounds of viscose yarn per annum. Fifty new spinning machines are being added to bring the total to 167 in operation. Concurrently with the expansion in plant, increased appropriations have been made for research and the Ontario Research Foundation has been enabled through the support of this and other textile companies to engage an additional research worker to study problems connected with rayon fabrics. Research Aids t h e Fish Reduction Plants Removal of excess water and salt from the waste liquor of the fish reduction plants on the British Columbia coast has been effected by the Pacific Experimental Station of the Fisheries Research Board, by dialysis of the semi-concentrated liquor through 120 feet of one-inch viscose tubing immersed in hot running wash water. At 182° F. and a flow rate of 4 gallons per hour, the salt concentration dropped from 3.45 t o 0.21 per cent. Dialyzed liquor from halibut heads on further concentraEDXTOR'S NOTE. Those interested in further details should address the correspondent whose name and address appear for each country, and enclose sufficient international coupons to prepay the reply. United States stamps should not be sent.
tion in volume, yielded a glue having a shear strength of 2850 lb. per sq. in. Yield was from 15 to 20 gallons of finished glue from one ton of halibut heads. When putrefaction in the fish waste used in the manufacture of fish meals was prevented, it was found that the finished product snowed a higher content of the essential amino acids, tyrosine, tryptophane, and cystine. High drying temperatures (180° to 200° C.) have been shown to affect adversely the biological feeding values of fish meals. Improved glazes for frozen fish have been developed for use in preventing the "rusting" of frozen halibut caused by bacterial action. The new glazes consist of eutectic ices of water and such substances as sodium sulfate, boric acicL and disodium hydrogen phosphate. It is claimed these are superior to ordinary glazes in their compressive strength and their resistance to the formation of cracks during application and subsequent handling. Mixing 5 lb. of soda ash with 100 lb. proved sufficient to preserve the material and inhibit liver enzyme action for as long as 40 days at temperatures as high as 25° C. without loss of vitamin A potency, whereas untreated livers lost 50 per cent of their potency. Electrolytic H y d r o g e n a n d Oxygen May F i n d Still Wider Industrial Uses Use of Ontario water power for the production of hydrogen and oxygen is advocated in a recent paper presented before the Canadian Gas Association by the director of the electrolytic gas department of the Hydroelectric Power Commission of Ontario, as a means of providing a sound basis for the manufacture of industrial gases, gasoline, fertilizers, explosives, refrigerants, alcohol, etc., and for the gaseous reduction of ores. An experimental plant capable of producing 2000 cu. ft. of oxygen and 4000 cu. ft. of hydrogen per hour was built by the Hydroelectric Power Commission. A standard type of gas producer having stationary grates was installed for operation with oxygen and steam. Gas was made at the rate of 250,000 cu. ft. per day in 15 tests running from 6 to 15 hours after operating conditions were stabilized. The paper contained tables showing typical results obtained from the gasification with oxygen and steam of (a) peat, (b) coke, (c) half coal and half coke, (d) two-thirds coal and one-third coke. For the half coal, half coke not including the electrolytic hydrogen, the requirements per thousand cu. ft. of gas made were 26.5 lb. fuel, 15.5 lb. steam, 207.0 cu. ft. oxygen, and the yield was 39.4 cu. ft. of 328 B. t. u. gas per lb. fuel. For the same fuel, but including the electrolytic hydrogen, the requirements per thousand cu. ft. of gas made were 17.9 lb. fuel, 11.3 lb. steam, 146.0 cu. ft. oxygen, 292.0 cu. ft. hydrogen, and the yield was 55.8 cu. ft. of 326 B. t. u. gas per lb. of fuel. Society of C h e m i c a l Industry Will Meet in Canada in J u n e Arriving at Quebec about June 17, 1938, the Society of Chemical Industry will spend two weeks in Canada visiting Snawinigan Falls, Ottawa, where the an17
nual meeting will be held in cooperation with the Canadian Chemical Association, then on to Sudbury, Toronto, and the Niagara Falls area. Elaborate plans are being made. A recent announcement by the society states that, as there are so many specialized sections of applied chemistry which are on the fringe of the work of the society's subject groups (Food, Plastics, Road and Building Materials, and Chemical Engineering) such groups are to be allowed by Council to form panels, each of which will deal with a single field of work. The program of meetings for the current year is said to be one of the most varied in the history of the society. It is expected that many members of the American Section will join the group visiting Canada. Acfae Holds Its Annual Meeting Once again the Association Canadienne Française pour l'Advancement des Sciences, representing 33 scientific societies whose memberships consist exclusively of French Canadians, has held its annual meeting which is reported to have been at least the equal of any of the previous four meetings in point of attendance and importance of the papers presented. Some 170 original communications were read, including a number of papers reporting the results of chemical researches. A review of the principal chemical papers by A. Papineau-Couture appeared in the October issue of Canadian Chemistry and Metallurgy, Pyrolysis o f Natural G a s Yields Pure M e t h a n e A series of papers by Boomer et al. in the Canadian Journal of Research describes the results of investigations carried on at the University of Alberta at Edmonton on the treatment of natural gas from the Viking field. Natural gas that was high in methane and contained about 3.5 per cent higher hydrocarbons and 5.7 per cent nitrogen was available. The usual method of separating methane by liquefaction and distillation was not practicable under the circumstances and another method was devised. Briefly, controlled pyrolysis of the natural gas resulted in the decomposition of all hydrocarbons but methane and this was followed by removal of the decomposition products. Presence of sulfur compounds is not detrimental. Other papers in the series deal with precision combustion analysis of gases, equilibria in two-phase, gas-liquid hydrocarbon systems, and oxidation of methane at high pressures (3 papers). December 8, 1937
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I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY
Japan
monium oxalate as a fertilizer instead of ammonium sulfate is impractical at pres ent, a s the price per ton of sulfuric acid (50° Baume) is 25 yen while that of oxalic acid is 800 yen. The production of oxalic acid from carbon monoxide requires much caustic soda which is now wasted without recovery. Production of oxalic acid from acetylene and nitric acid is being investi gated. A c t i v i t y o f R a y o n , Glass, a n d D y e I n d u s t r i e s Decreased Rayon production in January-June, 1937, was 166 million pounds. Because of a sudden decreased demand from do mestic and foreign markets, there are 4 0 million pounds surplus stock of artificial silk and 3,600,000 tans (1 tan is approxi mately 8 yards) of woven articles. The market price of artificial silk is now 60 yen per 100 pounds and estimated cost of
& . K i t s u t a , 2977 S e t a g a y a - 5 - C h o m e , Sefagayaku, Tokyo Fertilizer I n d u s t r i e s C o n s u m e 76.4 Per Cent o f Sulfuric Acid The percentage of sulfuric acid used in various industries is as follows: ammo nium sulfate, 44.5; superphosphate, 28.4; ammoniated superphosphate, 3.5; rayon, staple fiber, and Cellophane, 9.6; drugs, 3.9; explosives, dyes, and celluloid, 3.2; metallurgy, 2.3; petroleum refining, 1.2; export, 0.2; and others, 3.2. Fertilizer and rayon factories are the main producers of sulfuric acid. The production of ferti lizer plants is greater than their consump tion, while that of rayon plants is much less, as indicated in the following table
