World-Wide Chemistry1 London G. A b r a h a m s o n , 8 H o w i t t C l o s e , H o w i t t R o a d , L o n d o n , N. W. 3 , England Progress i n C h e m i c a l Trade F u l l y M a i n t a i n e d Progress in Great Britain's chemical trade has been fully maintained in recent months. The Board of Trade index of production, however, showed a slight decline in the output of chemicals, oils, etc.— from 125.9 in the second to 122.5 in the third quarter of 1937, but this figure compares with 111.2 in the same period last year. Usually there is a seasonal recession in chemical output during the June quarter, but this has been delayed this year. On the other hand, during recent years the December quarter always brought a considerable increase in chemical production. In October and November this year no such progress has been made, but even so it may be anticipated that chemical production in 1937 "will show an increase of 8 to 9 per cent over 1936, when the Board of Trade index for the chemical and allied trades averaged 115.4, as against 112.0 in 1935. Forecast for the chemical export trade put the total of shipments abroad in 1937 at about £25,000,000 as against £21,100,000 in 1936, £21,300,000 in 1935, and £20,600,000 in 1934. Empire purchases accounted for the smaller half of the additional exports only, because business with Canada and South Africa was rather disappointing. The Indian market absorbed far more English chemicals than last year. So did Malaya and Australia. But the large increase was equally due to the headway made by British manufacturers in the United States, Latin-America, and the Scandinavian states. Key D u t y E x e m p t i o n s t o P r o t e c t New Industries The Import Duties Advisory Committee has decided to exempt R. Mannite (R. Mannitol) and ground sumach leaves from the key duties for the protection of new English industries. An application to exempt also dinitro-o-cresol has been received but not yet decided. The committee refused an application to increase the duty on sulfite lye. The extension of the current key duty exemptions which expire at the end of this year is under consideration. C a l c i u m Carbide Factories t o Be Erected i n S o u t h 'Wales a n d S c o t l a n d The British Government has approved of the scheme which provides for the erection of two factories, one at Port Talbot (South Wales) and the other at Corpach (in the West Highlands). The company has prepared to reintroduce its Caledonian Power Bill for the construction, at a cost of £2,500,000, of four hydroelectric power stations. The work i s to take three years, but the British Oxygen Co. has given a contract to proceed at once with the erection of the calcium carbide plant in Wales where coal is t o be used as source of energy. The company intends to organize the chemical staff in December, but it is not believed possible to start the actual manufacture of calcium carbide in Great Britain before the end of » Those interested in further detail· should sddress the correspondent whose name and ad* dress appear for each country, and enclose sufficient international coupons to prepay the reply. United States stamps should not be sent.
next year. The first unit of the plant in Wales will have a capacity of 20,000 tons per annum and further units will be erected as demand requires. The cost of construction is estimated at £1,000,000 for the first unit. Another M e t a l l i c Magnesium Plant Planned The Imperial Magnesium Corp., which is a joint subsidiary of the Imperial Smelting Corp. and the British Aluminium, Ltd., has formed an operating company which is to begin the manufacture of metallic magnesium by a new process entirely under British control. Production is expected to begin before the end of 1938. It is understood that the new factory will be erected a t Swansea (South Wales), and machinery, mostly for crushing the stone, has already been ordered. At present there are two plants for metallic magnesium production actually in operation— one, working by the patents of the I. G. Farbenindustrie, at Clifton near Manchester, and the other, erected by the Murex Ltd., at Rainham near London. Both these plants use magnesite as raw material. Experiments have been carried out with dolomite which is available in Durham and East Yorkshire. Warning Is Issued against Indiscriminate Use o f Drugs The Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health has made a further reference to the value of sulfanilamide and related compounds in streptococcal and other infections. The original forms of prontosil were found to become active in the body only after they had been reduced to the simpler substance aminobenzeneeulfonamide. In so far as puerperal fever is concerned, the earlier favorable judgment has been confirmed by later experience. Sufficient evidence is not yet available finally to determine the value of the prontosil group in other streptococcal infections, but much promising work has been done. In erysipelas, meningococcal meningitis, and scarlet fever promising results have been reported. It is possible, however, adds the report, that more effective antibacterial agents than the prontosil derivatives hitherto used may be discovered. Diaminosulfone and dinitrosulfone are mentioned in this connection. A warning is issued against the indiscriminate use of this group of drugs» especially of sulfanilamide. New Processes R e m o v e and Recover Sulfur from G a s Removal and recovery of sulfur from coke-oven gas and in gasworks has received great attention in recent years and several of the leading gas producers have installed new plants for the removal of sulfur compounds by the active carbon process. This, however, has the disadvantage of high costs of installation, so that of late the improvement of the old oil-washing process has met with more favor. At the meeting of the Institution of Gas Engineers held in London at the beginning of November, some new developments were described. One process, which, however, seems to be rather expensive for large-scale application, provides for washing the gas with a relatively large volume of oil to remove the carbon disulfide. This is then extracted from the oil by a solution of potassium carbonate and the oil is afterwards regenerated by treatment with a solution of alcoholic caustic soda. During this reaction a sodium xanthate solution is 545
formed. Carbon disulfide and methanol are recovered from this by acidification and distillation and the methanol is used again to prepare a fresh solution of caustic soda. Work on catalytic treatment of coal gas for the removal of nitric oxide has shown that at a moderate temperature of about 250° C. carbon disulfide could be preferentially and continuously oxidized to sulfur dioxide and so easily removed from the gas. Another process which has been developed at the Fuel Research Station consists in passing the gas at 200° to 230° C. over a contact material of reactive oxides of iron containing more than 10 per cent of alkali carbonates. It is claimed that 1 pound of contact material will remove sulfur completely from 1500 cubic feet of water gas containing 200 grains of organic sulfur. The sulfur removed remains in combination with the contact material, while the purified gas showed in experiments only traces of sulfur. Experiments with the same process are now conducted upon coal gas and the Chief Chemist of the Fuel Research Station stated recently that these show some promise. The contact material becomes inactive in regard to organic sulfur after it has absorbed about 5 per cent of sulfur by weight. It can then be used for removal of hydrogen sulfide in a normal oxide box. An increase of temperature to 300° C. enables the contact material to take up twice as much sulfur. November 27, 1937
German Chemical Industry Records Striking Progress ERMANY'S chemical industry continues G to forge ahead with many units working at capacity and some setting new records of production, according to reports reaching the Commerce Department's Chemical Division. Based upon fuel consumption, the index of national chemical manufacturing activity stood at 107.6 in June, 1937 (1928 equals 100), compared with 87.0 for June, 1936. Although official data for later months are not yet available, there is every indication that production continued to advance throughout the third quarter. Various chemical branches, especially those supplying raw materials for the synthetic import-replacement industries, such as carbide derivatives, coal-tar products, alkalies, and carbon bisulfide, are reported to be operating at full capacity. Certain branches of the industry continue to complain of a shortage of skilled workers. Further scientific, technical, and commercial progress was recorded in various new chemical-producing spheres, among which were a greater utilization of cellulose waste liquor for the production of ethyl alcohol, so-called "suinte" soap, and cellulose tanning extract, and the establishment of the first large-scale plant for the production of synthetic fatty acid from paraffine.
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Indian Glass Industry K. R. G a n a p a t h y , % N . V a i d y a n a t h a n , T h e T« N . And Q u i l o n e B a n k , L t d . , Flower Bazaar, Madras, India LL Indian glassware is of the soda lime variety. Lead and potash glasses are not made on account of the high price of red lead, litharge» and potassium carbonate, none of which are strictly indigenous products, although red lead and litharge are made in Calcutta from Burma lead. All the raw materials required for the production of soda lime glass, with the exception of soda ash, are found in abundance in India, but unfortunately there is no place in the country where they are all found together in large quantities. It is doubtful whether India possesses glass sand of finest quality, but there are many deposits suitable for the manufacture of good decolorized glass—i. e., sand in which the iron oxide content does not exceed 0.10 per cent. Much of the sand used by the industry is obtained from deposits of friable sandstone at Bargarh and Loghara near Naini in the United Provinces. A deposit with a good reputation is situated a t Sawai Madhopur near Jaipur and is used by many of the Firosabad bangle makers. There are also suitable deposits at Jaijon in the Iloshiarpur District, Jubbulpore, and Madras. Few Indian glass manufacturers do more to purify their sand than give it an elementary screening. India has excellent and cheap supplies of limestone. Since most of the furnaces are pot furnaces, where the glass is melted in closed fire-clay pots, quicklime or slaked lime is usually used. Limestone is used chiefly in tank furnaces. Many factories use lime from the enormous deposits a t Katni, near Jubnalpore, in the Central Provinces. Practically all soda ash is imported, although small quantities of natural sodium carbonate are obtained from time to time from Lona Lake in the Central Provinces. India is fortunate in possessing large deposits of fire clay admirably suited to the manufacture of glass. Fire clay is made into firebricks and blocks for furnaces and is also shaped into glass pots or crucibles, although at present most glass pots used in the industry are imported from Japan. With the exception of a few charcoal and wood-fired bangle furnaces and the spangle-glass furnaces at Panipat, all Indian glass furnaces are coal-fired. Usually the coal is not gasified before burning but is "direct fired" on the grates of the socalled Japanese furnaces which are to be found in the great majority of the factories. Borax is obtained from Tibet and used in comparatively small quantities. In India the chief oxidizing agent employed in glass manufacture is saltpeter. I t is added in small quantities to almost ail Indian glass batches and is a common product of the country. The reducing agent commonly employed in the industry is carbon in the form of finely crushed coal. Sometimes sodium sulfate (salt cake) is added as a partial substitute for soda ash to batches melted in the few tank furnaces which exist in India. Indian batches for opal glass always contain fluorspar (calcium fluoride) and cryolite (sodium aluminum fluoride). Both these materials are imported. There are in India several large deposits of alkali-containing rocks and minerals which are suitable for the manufacture of glass. The chief of these are feldspar, both albite (soda) and orthoclase (potash), and nephelinic syenite. Analysis of these materials yields approximately 55 to 56 per cent silica, 19 to 22 per cent alumina, and
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about 15 per cent total alkalies, besides small quantities of iron, calcium, etc. Their chief use is as a means of introducing cheap alkalies into the batch and s o reduoingtne amount of costly soda ash required. With the exception of a little feldspar (usually imported) which is generally added to opal batches t o assist in promoting the opal effect, these materials are not at present used in the Indian glass industry. To assist the industry, after t h e survey by the Industrial Research Bureau, it was decided to publish a complete survey of the raw materials available in India. T h e geological work is being carried out by V. S. jDubey of the Benaris Hindu University and the samples are being tested and classified at the Government Test House, Alipore, Calcutta.
tom of the new container are made of tin, which provides it with the necessary stability s o that it may be handled in the same manner as cans made entirely of tin. AB t h e German canning industry used 133,000,000 containers in packing last year's crop of fruits and vegetables» for which tin had to be imported, it is not surprising that the use o f this new container is being encouraged b y German government authorities in furtherance of the "Four Year Plan" of economic self-sufficiency.
George Westinghouse Scholarships HE establishment of a group o f scholarships at the Carnegie Institute of Technology by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. as part of a cooperative engineering plan between the company and the college has been announced by Webster N . Jones, director of the College of Engineering at Tech. These scholarships are in engineering, are undergraduate, and are t o be known as the George Westinghouse Scholarships. Normally there will be 50 of these scholarships, of which ten will be vacated each year upon the graduation of the student. Each scholarship has a total value of $3000 payable monthly at the rate of $50 for the five-year period of the course. The first ten of the scholarships will go into effect on June 1, 1938. Appointment will be made jointly by Tech and Westinghouse. Applications should be made to the Manager of Technical Employment and Training, Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., Union Bank Bldg., Pittsburgh, P a . Students who receive scholarships will take the regular engineering course at Carnegie, and in addition will spend the summer months and two college semesters at the Westinghouse plant. The cooperative plan of study thus offers unusual opportunity for combining theoretical training with practical experience. A t the age of 22 to 24, the participants will have completed a four-year formal engineering course, and at the same time will have acquired a substantial background of approximately two years' industrial experience. The course will be organized and managed by the George Westinghouse Professor of Engineering who will be appointed. The plan of cooperative engineering training was announced in October "when the Westinghouse company made a n appropriation of $200,000 to the endowment of Carnegie Tech. Under the arrangement with the Carnegie Corporation of New York this amount will be increased b y $400,000 in 1946.
turers Association a t 15,621,600 metric tons, was the highest amount ever recorded, and exceeded the previous high of 1930 b y 56,500 metric tons, according to reports reaching the Commerce D e partment's Chemical Division. World production of phosphate rock in 1936 was estimated a t 11,346,500 metric tons. The 1936 production was estimated to contain 3,678,000 tons of phosphoric acid, a gain of 247,000 tons over the 1935 figure.
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New
Fruit a n d Vegetable C a n Developed in Germany LARGE German canning establishment has succeeded in producing a satisfactory container for preserved foods from a transparent plastic material technically known as acetyl cellulose which is treated with oil lacquer, according to a report made public by the Chemical Division, Department of Commerce. A feature of the new container contrasted with tin is its transparency which enables purchasers of foodstuffs t o see what they are buying. The t o p and bot-
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World Superphosphate Production a t Record Levels ORLD production of superphosphate W during 1936, estimated by the International Superphosphate Manufac-
C l a i m s for R u b b e r from Christmas Plant Unwarranted XTRAVAGANT claims as to the rubber E possibilities of t h e Christmas plant, Euphorbia puleherrima, commonly known as poinsettia, are not supported by studies by both the Department of Agriculture and by independent investigators. The studies have not shown a sufficiently high rubber content t o encourage hopes of commercial rubber production. The plant is a native of Mexico. It is quite easy to differentiate the latex of poinsettia from that of hevea rubber tree, which is available commercially in the United States, say Bureau of Plant Industry rubber specialists. The simplest test is by t h e odor. The latex of hevea is preserved by the addition of ammonia, the order of which can be easily recognized. The latex of poinsettia, on the other hand, is coagulated by ammonia and any latex with t h e characteristic odor of ammonia could not be from poinsettia. Microscopically t h e latex particles of poinsettia are quite different from those of hevea. The hevea particles are oval or pear-shaped, often with a distinct "tail/' while the particles in poinsettia are spherical ana distinctly smaller than t h e hevea particles.
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KELP-GATHERING
PROJECT
which
contemplates t h e employment of 5 0 men and an outlay of from $25,000 t o $35,000 in capital, is reported from N o v a Scotia. A warehouse is to be constructed on Cape Sable Island for the collection and shipment of kelp t o the United States, where it will be manufactured into algio and other products. The southern coast of Nova Scotia has t h e most prolific kelp beds known, according t o reports t o the Department of Commerce from Yarmouth.
U the source of ephedrine, all of which originate in a small area t o the north of NITED STATES imports of
mahuang,
Tientsin, amounted t o 400,000 pounds in the first 7 months of the current year, against 550,000 pounds in the same months of 1936, preliminary statistics, made available by the Department of Commerce, indicate.
