World Wide Chemistry NEAR-capacity production rates are the rule in t In· British chemieal industries, but although coal and container shortages are being gradually overcome, the supply position in general remains tight. T h e allocation of essential chemicals in short supply to various consumers is under official review in the light f the changes result ing from expanding d e m a n d s and overriding export needs. Detailed export targets an» being fixed for chemicals and products which require chemicals for their manufacture. There may be a revision of the over-all t a r g e t s . Ran· Material
Allocations
Raised
In various directions the control a u thorities have raised raw material allocations t o help firms participating in the export drive. T h u s , t h e Ministry of Food h a s agreed t o make available additional oils a n d fats for t h e manufacture of soap for export to t h e Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Iran, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, a n d t h e Soviet Union. Export licenses are also being issued for limited a m o u n t s of lead compounds t o certain destinations, and. there is a general tendency t o facilit a t e the work of exporters. On the import side, on t h e o t h e r h a n d , t h e Board of T r a d e is a t t a c h i n g increased importance to buying essential materials in t h e crude s t a t e . While, for instance, t h e importation of lacquer bases and thinners has been suspended, the imports of solvents from which t h e bases and thinners can be produced are t o be increased. Chetnical
Export
Agreements
Chemical and allied exports at £6,210,000 showed little change in October as compared with t h e succeeding m o n t h , and a n y s u b s t a n t i a l expansion seems t o be precluded by t h e heavy demands of essential home consumers. T h e (îeneva agreements are not expected to have a greal effect on Britain's chemical export business^ t h o u g h tariff concessions by Brazil and some other countries may lead to an expansion of trade in some direct ions. A commercial agreement with Eire provides for t h e shipment of 15,000 long tons of superphosphates a n d basic slag to that c o u n t r y next year. The French government has agreed to issue import licenses for " a substantial q u a n t i t y " of copper sulfate from Britain, and other agreements now being negotiated with foreign countries t o regularize trade and 200
p a y m e n t s relations are also expected t o result in import concessions for British chemical products available in ample quantities. Triple Superphosphate
Plant
Kisons, Ltd., has issued £ 1 million of new preference shares in connection with its £4 million expansion p r o g r a m a n d states that approximately £1.750,000 of this sum will be spent by the middle of P.MS. Λ modern triple s u p e r p h o s p h a t e plant, t h e first one for the manufacture of this product in the British Isles, is now under construction at I m m i n g h a m in Lincolnshire. Extensions are also in progress in t h e company's fertilizer fac tories at Ipswich a n d A v o n m o u t h . T h e entire extension and modernization pro gram is t o be completed by 1950. Petroleum
Refinery
Projects
While in prewar d a y s the leading British oil distributors preferred t o import finished oil products processed in their overseas refineries, their present policy aims a t t h e erection of refining a n d crack ing plant in British harbor t o w n s . These can operate on crude oil from various sources, dispose of residual products t o local industries, and draw on overseas refineries for additional quantities of those derivatives which t h e y cannot themselves supply in sufficient q u a n t i t i e s . Various refining projects were mentioned in the British press from time t o time during t h e past two years, a n d four of these h a v e now been finalized. T h e Agwi Petroleum Corp. will carry out an extension scheme estimated t o cost £20 million at Fawley, on t h e banks of S o u t h a m p t o n W a t e r . T h e existing refining plant here is capable of dealing with 600,000 tons of crude annually. This capacity will be increased fivefold, so that t h e S o u t h a m p t o n refinery will be one of t h e largest, if not t h e largest, in Europe; the labor force will be increased from 1,000 to 3,000. T h e R o y a l D u t c h Shell combine intends to spend £ 4 2 million out of a £105 million capital program, on new oil refineries and chemical p l a n t s t w o of the most i m p o r t a n t of which will be situated in t h e British Isles. T w o com plete refineries will be erected on t h e T h a m e s E s t u a r y a n d on t h e M a n c h e s t e r Ship C a n a l ; t h e l a t t e r of these will work in connection with the chemical plant under construction in t h e a r e a . T h e Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. intends t o spend £ 7 million on an extension of its refinery a t G r a n g e m o u t h , a n d this work will also be connected with a new development in C H E M I C A L
the chemical field a s Anglo-Iranian Oil (Ό. and Distillers C o . jointly intend to build a petroleum chemicals plant in the sain*' district at a cost of £ 5 million. It is believed that five years will elapse before all these new plants are in full operation. Their immediate importance is therefore slight. I n view of t h e well known necessity of allocating the limited supplies of steel for constructional pur poses to users who can make a n early contribution to t h e production of essential goods and export articles, i t must indeed be expected that the oil refining projects will make comparatively slow progress, at least in the initial stage. The leading companies concerned, however, would not have made announcements on such vast schemes h a d t h e y not been assured of official support. T h e Fawley enter prise has already received the sanction of t h e Ministry of Town and C o u n t r y Planning. ICI (lateral
Ctiemirols
Division
T h e Ceneral Chemicals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., is now employing 12,000 workers, i)5% of t h e m men, according to t h e ICI Magazine. This figure compares with a total of 354,000 workers in all British chemical industries a n d 1S4,900 in the general chemical industry t h r o u g h o u t t h e country (in August last). Factories a t Widnes a n d Runcorn still a r e the core of the I C I ' s chemical s t r u c t u r e , it is stated. The largest chemical works is the Castner Kellner Works a t Weston Point, with t h e largest installation of electrolytic mercury cells in t h e world. The Rocksavage Works, a few miles away, is a former war time factory, o p e r a t e d for the govern m e n t , which is now wholly under I C I con trol. T h e Gaskell-Marsh a n d PilkingtonSullivan undertakings in t h e Widnes area represent the grouping into four factories of more t h a n 12 works which 25 years ago were operating independently in t h e area. Power for three electrolytic works and other operations in t h e area is generated by two main power stations a t Weston Point and Widnes, which are now being substantially extended to provide a com bined output of more t h a n 130,000 kw. Among other principal works of t h e General Chemicals Division are mentioned the St. llollox works a t Glasgow, Chance & H u n t ' s at Oldbury a n d Wednesbury, the Net h a m works near Bristol, and t h e Cassel works on Tees-side. Two other chemical factories, at Handle a n d Valley, are oper ated for the government. Chlorine is manufactured b y three distinct electro lytic processes in six of t h e works: by electrolysis of brine in mercury cells a t Cast ner-Kellner, Cassel, a n d Rocksavage works, by electrolysis of brine in dia phragm cells at Pilkington-Sullivan, Hillhouse, a n d Wade works, and, together with metallic s o d i u m , by electrolysis of fused sodium chloride at Castner-Kellner and Cassel. More t h a n half the chlorine AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
America's No. 1 Heel and Sole" selects :~n BECAUSK "ÏF'e tried every oil resistant material available and we found Perbunan could he* finished to the right degree of hardness and still have sufficient high and loiv temperature flex resistance in presence of oii" . . . ivr-ites / . M. Mason- Vice President, O'Sullivan Rubber Corporation. «K< AISi; Avith this new O ' S u l l i v a n line, Avorking shoes can now h a v e heels a n d soles t h a t gasoline a n d oil cannot penetrate—as h a p p e n s Avith l e a t h e r . BKCAUSE P e r b u n a n N i t r i l e R u b b e r will n o t d e t e r i o r a t e or swell after c o n t a c t with, gasol i n e or oil—as h a p p e n s with n a t u r a l r u b b e r . IfKCAUSE P e r b u n a n heels and soles keep t h e i r safety-grip qualities longer t h a n n a t u r a l rubber. MF YOU h a v e problems t h a t could be solved b y a rubber t h a t n o t o n l y resists oil, w e a t h e r e x t r e m e s , abrasions a n d w e a r . . . b u t also holds delicate colors—write o u r n e a r e s t office!
T H E Itl ItllFIl T9IAT ItESISTS O I L , C O L D , H E A T ΛΧΙ» T I M E
Copy-right 1948, Enjay Company,
V O L U M E
2 6,
NO.
3
.
E N J A Y C O M P A N Y , I N C . , 15 West 51 st Street, New Y'ork 19, Ν. Υ.; First National Tower, 106 South Main Street, Akron 8, O h i o ; 221 North La Salle St., Chicago 1, Illinois; 378 Stuart Street, Boston, 17, Massachusetts. West Coast Representatives: H. M. Royal Inc., 4814 Lonm Vista Avenue, Los Angeles 11, California. Warehouse stocks in Elizabeth, New Jersey; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Akron, Ohio; and Baton Rouge, La.
L
« JANUARY
19,
1948
201
WORLD WIDE CHEMISTRY oui put is used in ] ( ' l factories for prodm-ing bleaching powder, hydrochloric acid, hypochlorites, and particularly organic derivatives. Of the latter trirliluruet hylcne is reported to make the greatest demand on chlorine supplies. Si M limn cyanide, insect icicles, and weed killers (especially Gammcxanc and Metlio \ a n e \ caustic soda, sodium sulfide, formic acid, vinyl chloride, hydrogen fluoride, and cerium lighter flints are among the products hulking largely in the total output of the General Chemicals Division. British
Cela n esc
Chemicals
Despile delays due to shortages of steel and oilier construction materials, British (Vlancse, Ltd., intends to proceed with its plans for t h e increased manufacture of chemicals a n d plasties. T h e production capacity for cellulose acetate and chemicals at the Spondon factory is being increased, and it is hoped t h a t the full planned increase will he completed by the end of 10 IS. A new plastics plant has been installed at Wrexham. ICI Designs
l\etv Penicillin
Plant
The Dyestufïs Division of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., which has been operating a penicillin factory at
Trai'ford Park, Manchester. for the Ministry of Supply since l'J-1-ί, is now designing a large new factory t o embody the latest product ion techniques. T h e Trafïord Park factory was acquired b y the Dyestuffs Division on March 1, 1947, a n d is now producing sufficient penicillin for about 100,000 average doses a week. T h e product made is penicillin O, reports .J. d . Cook. Since J a n u a r y 1047 it has been made as a colorless crystalline m a terial. Herring
Oil
Extraction
Following visits by British experts t o herring oil extraction plants in t h e Scandinavian countries last year, experiments a i e now being carried out for t h e Herring Industry Board with t h e e x t r a c tion of herring oil by chemical reduction in special machinery. T h e problem has been studied with special a t t e n t i o n t o possibilities of disposing of surplus catches in times of a herring glut, and it is hoped to obtain an oil suitable for use in t h e linoleum and paint trades and for h u m a n consumption. Farlier experiments with herring oil as a linoleum ingredient, however, were reported to have been r a t h e r unsatisfactory.
G. ABRAHAMSON
3.9 Lat.i/mcr Ct. London W. 0, England
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Aluminum in Sweden
Flake
Patents have been applied for in Sweden in connection with a new m e t h o d for separating or classifying a l u m i n u m flake, chiefly for use in the manufacture of light or porous concrete but applicable also to flake powder intended for p a i n t and other purposes. In this method, t h e Carl fors Λ / Β a n d Κ. C . YYinquist, of Carlfors 1, lluskvarna, claim a much better control of what is called t h e fer mentation period, or hydrogen evolution, in concrete production, in which both weight a n d area of flakes —i.e., specific surface—are taken into account. Main purpose of invention, therefore, is t o classify or divide into suitable fractions according t o specific surface and size of particles b y centrifugal wind sifting. W. Ci. C A S S
]*rinc< s Hisborouylit Enyhtn I
Britisli
Beet
Sugar
At the eleventh a n n u a l meeting of t h e British Sugar Corp., the chairman, Sir Francis Humphry», said t h a t for t h e season 194G-47 4,522,140 tons of beets (1 million tons above average) brought t o the factories yielded 550,731 tons white sugar equivalent. Over £ 2 0 million w a s paid to t h e 47,000 growers, or an a v e r a g e of £ 4 9 . 10s. Od. per acre. Sugar c o n t e n t was slight ly lower t h a n last year owing t o bad weather; y e t , 9 9 % of t h e crop w a s harvested. Prices allowed b y the govern ment, however, were much lower t h a n t h e C u b a n level a n d lower still for v a l u a b l e by-products. I t is proposed greatly t o improve existing factories a n d e q u i p m e n t and later o n to build new ones. Activities include research, education, and publica tion of the British Sugar Beet Reviewt T h e technical research director h a s m a d e further s t u d y of continental practice, and an agricultural development officer has been appointed. Mechanization on the farms is being further e x t e n d e d . Estimated crop for next season, 19-17—48, is 3 million tons. W. G. C A S S
Plasties
in
Netherlands
Before the war t h e Sikken paint facto ries, Netherlands, began research in t h e field of plastics and by 1937 were produc ing the more important plastics used in the manufacture of paint and varnish. At present, alkyd, modified phenolic, alkyd-phenolic, maleic, and urea resins a r e made. Manufacture of a drying oil began recently, and because of this p r o d u c t ' s rapidly growing importance it was de cided to transfer its production t o a n in dependent factory, Synthèse, L t d . , which will make synthetic resins exclusively. A N D
ENGINEERING
NEWS
