Mor»santo C h e m i c a l Co. to e n d work o n a t o m i c e n e r g y p r o j e c t a t C ak Ridge . . . Coast G u a r d repor t s findings o n c a u s e of T e x a s Ci ty fire a n d explosion . . . B e n z e n e h e x a c h l o r i d e p r o d u c t i o n b e g u n i n Cal i fornia

ΊΙ/ÏONSANTO Chemical Co. is to termi-mite i ts contract for operating the

atomic energy project a t Oak Ridge, Tmn. , which it has run for the past two years. A joint statement by the Atomic Energy Commission and Monsanto states that the major reason for the decision is a difference between the two over Mon-santo's proposal to transfer some research to company laboratories in St. Louis, Dayton, and Springfield, Ohio.

Indications are tha t another company will take over the project, and tha t the coinrnission will not operate the work it­self. Monsanto will carry on impor tant work for the commission elsewhere on an enlarged basis after expiration of the con­tract June 30, and will continue operation at Oak Ridge until its direction can be transferred.

Employment a t the Clinton Laborato­ries is greater now than during the war, when the objective was production of ma­terial for the atomic bomb. In order to concentrate maximum effort on research

projects designed to speed up atomic energy development, consolidation of the program at Oak Ridge is planned.

Coast Guard Reports on Cause of Grandcamp Fire

Findings of the Coast Guard board in­vestigating the cause of the fire and ex­plosion of the S.S. Grandcamp have re­vealed new details of the events preceding the Texas City disaster.

The ammonium nitrate loaded on the Grandcamp had arrived at Texas City terminals from Army ordnance plants in West Burlington, Iowa, and Copiant and Firestone, Neb. Samples of the material from each of these sources were tested by the board, and did not explode or sig­nificantly decompose upon the use of rifle bullets, blasting caps, blasting caps and 6 0 % dynamite booster, fire and oil, closed iron pipe and fire, contact with metals heated to 700° F., impact appara­tus, severe friction between metal sur­

faces, and other test variants . I t was packed in moistureproof, multi-ply paper bags weighing 100 lb. each and marked "Fertilizer, Ammonium Ni t ra te , Nitrogen 3 2 . 5 % . " T h e shipments, consigned to the French Supply Council, Transi t Di­vision, had been stored in a warehouse on pier Ο awaiting shipment ahroad.

Loading operations began on the Grand-camp on April 11 and continued unevent­fully until the morning of April 16 when smoke witnout flames was observed in No. 4 hold shortly after S: 15 A.M. The use of portable fire extinguishers stopped the smoke temporarily, b u t i t reappeared, accompanied by small flames. The holds were emptied of personnel, and the First Officer ordered no water t o be used. The ha tch was covered and a tarpaulin p u t in place and wet down. Vent cowls were sealed and s team was introduced into the hold through the steam smothering sys­tem.

These efforts to smother the fire were unsuccessful and all crew members were ordered off the ship.

A t 9 :15 A.M., about 55 minutes after discovery of the fire, t he ammonium ni­t r a t e in. N o . 4 hold exploded, demolishing 6 0 % of pier Ο and leaving the remainder beyond repair.

T h e Highflyer, with 860 tons of ammo­n i u m ni t ra te in her No. 3 hold, had been unmoored from a nearby pier by the Grandcamp explosion and had drifted alongside another ship, the Wilson B. Kee7ie. A t t empts made during the next day to move the Highflyer were un­successful because of par t ing tow lines, wreckage, smoke, fire, and sulfur fumes from the burning ship. She exploded at 1:10 A.M. April 17. T h e dock area had been evacuated and only one life was lost in this anticipated explosion.

T h e report s ta tes t h a t the no-smoking regulations had not been respected during the loading of t he Grandcamp and smoking on the main deck near No. 4 ha tch was committed. The Grandcamp was a liberty ship owned by the Republic of France and operated by the French Line of Paris. T h e Highflyer and the Keene were Ameri­can vessels.

Chemurgic Benzene Hexachloride Plant

T h e Chemurgic Corp. , Richmond, Calif., has announced t h a t it has begun production of hexachlorocyclohexane at a new plant in the San Joaquin Valley near Turlock. Although production is already on a commercial scale, t he p lan t output is stiil increasing continuously and no esti­ma te of u l t imate capacity has been made. T h e installation is the result of several years of research and pilot-plant experi­ments a t the main Richmond plant. Con­struction was begun about the first of the year and wras completed in March.

The hexachlorocyclohexane, commonly called benzene hexachloride or B H C , is a

1744 C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S

Vndcc&faiat Jtecva,

Albany Boston New York Newark Philadelphia Baltimore Charlotte Buffalo Pittsburgh Cleveland Cincinnati Detroit Indianapolis Chicago St Louis Seattle San Francisco Los Angeles

Carbide A N D

Carbon Chemicals Corporatioi

Unit of Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation 30 East 42nd Street ΓΠΤΒ New York 17, Ν. Υ.

SYNTHETIC ORGANIC ·.

CHEMICALS

Phone or write our nearest office for information and prices.

Drum stocks of Triethanolamine are maintained in principal industrial areas. Larger quantities are shipped directly from our plants.

liKILIHANULAM NE

very effective insecticide and at present th.e new plant's entire output is utilized for tÎDJs purpose.

Tbie material is manufactured by the conventional process of reacting chlorine and benzene in the presence of actinic l ight. However, in the past, the dis­agreeable musty odor of technical BHC has ÏDeen a major deterrent to its use in m a n y important applications. Chemurgic chemists have found that the major por­tion of this odor was due to side reaction products which were of no essential insec­t i c i d e value and developed a novel re­fining process which takes the usual 12% gamrna'isomer material and refines it to 2 2 % gamma isomer. The resultant prod­uct Ls a fine, free-flowing, crystalline pow­der -with low odor characteristics. Al­though the refined product is more expen­sive than the standard grade, the major part of the output of the Turlock plant will be required to meet the demand created by the refined material's greater util i ty.

CommorLwealth to Occupy Netv Quarters

Pr-esent research facilities will be more than, doubled when the Commonwealth Engineering Co., Dayton, Ohio, occupies new quarters July 1. Utilities and new laboratory equipment are now being in­stalled.

Tine building will house laboratories for research in biologicals, low temperatures, electronics, and instrumentation, while laboratories for industrial finishes, coated fabrics, plastics, metallurgy, industrial chemistry, hydraulics, and high-vacuum s t u d y will be located in the present ad­joining structure.

DDT Made on Pacific Coast

Om May 12 in its big plant at Torrance, Calif., t he Montrose Chemical Corp. star~ted the production of DDT on a large scale. I>DT had been manufactured only in t i e eastern part of the United States, but its extensive use on the Pacific Coast made production in the West imperative. N o w DDT will be readily available to western agriculture and industry. While Momtrose will manufacture the product, distribution will be handled by the Stauffer Chemical Co. through its offices at Los Angeles, San Francisco, and North Portland, Ore.

W&ed Killer Sales Exrpected to Boom

A. new low-dosage spraying method for 2,4—D butyl ester growth regulators, chezmical weed killers, is expected to in­crease sales over 600% next year. This anrxouncement comes from Ν. Ε. Van S tome, vice president of Sherwin-Williams Co_ In the new method as little as 0.5-

Netv Facilities Needed by Petroleum Industry

The petroleum industry needs to spend about S3 billion on new facilities and im­provements every year for some years ahead, R. E. Wilson, chairman of the board of Standard Oil (Indiana), told stockholders at the annual meeting.

With this money, nearly three times the average expended during the past decade, it will find and develop sources of crude oil, build pipe lines, refinery units, and other equipment, install new methods of conserving oil and gas, make gasoline from natural gas and develop new products and facilities, and develop foreign sources of oil.

Architects sketch of California Research Corp. laboratories tit La Ihtbra, Calif.

pint of the chemical is mixed with 5 gal. of water to control wreeds successfully in an acre of cropland. Cost comes to SI.85 according to Dr. Van Stone.

Weeds such as burdock, dandelions, nettles, mustard, cocklebur, plantains, stinkweed, and vetches are among those destroyed by liquid " spraying in oil or water, or by airplane dusting.

Sprayers of simple design are being manufactured to sell for around S150 but Dr. Van Stone explains that no patent exists on their assembly and they can be built by anyone. Engine Parts Co. of Cleveland is now manufacturing the spray­ers and Dr. Van Stone expresses tbe hope that as many as 20 manufacturers will have them in production by next year.

^ TRI-LOK OPEN STEEL FLOORING

• 9 -

ONE SQUARE FOOT

The locked in strength of TRI-LOK enables it to stand up under heavy loads — even on long spans. No rivets, holts or welds are used in its construction, thus, the possibility of loose joints is eliminated. Write for Bulletin 1140.

DRAVO CORPORATION NATIONAL D E P A R T M E N T 3 0 0 Penn Avenue , P i t t sburgh 2 2 , Pa .

(Distributor for THE TRI-LOK COMPANY)

V O L U M E 2 5, N O . 2 4 J U N E 1 6 , 1 9 4 7 1745

K252

/ Λ D U S Τ R I A L Ν Ε W S

Τυ fill the demand fur petroleum prod­ucts will involve replacing the 7% of proved crude oil reserves used u · each year, expanding refining facilities by 5%, replacing 5% of old equipment, and re­building 5cc of distribution facilities.

News of the I n d u s t r y Two explosions at the American Cyan-

amid Corp. plant, Edenburg, Pa., on June 2 killed two men and injured eight. The first explosion occurred in the jelly house, where nitroglycerin is mixed, and shortly after the dynamite mixing house, 350 feet away, also blew up.

The chemical plants division of Blaw-Knox Co., Pittsburgh, has received a con­tract from Swift & Co. covering the con­struction of its fat-processing plant at Hammond, Ind.

The fourth important development in Corning Glass Works' expansion program in South America, which began in 1943, has been completed with the purchase of a minority interest in Cristaleria Peldar. S.A. of Colombia, which makes bottles, tableware, and novelties.

Hanson-Van "Winkle—Manning Co., Matawan, N. J., has been awarded a certificate by the New Jersey State De­partment of Labor in recognition of its

record of no lost-time accidents from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 1916. The perfect record was continued through March 1947.

Commercial-scale production of mono-chloroacetic acid at its Niagara Falls plant has been announced by the Hooker Elec­trochemical Co.

Jeffreys Laboratories, Inc., Salem, Va., plans to rebuild its plant, recently dam­aged by fire. Interior damage is estimated at $100,000 and large quantities of raw materials were destroyed, but the plant will be rebuilt on a larger scale than before.

Knowles Associates, 19 Rector St., New York 6, N. Y., has been formed as a firm of chemical, metallurgical, and me­chanical engineers specializing in plant and machine design for the process indus­tries.

The Knoxville Fertilizer Co., which has had a mixing plant at Nashville, Tenn., for some time, is putting in a Sturdivîint-type acidulating plant there for the manu­facture of superphosphate and expects the plant to be in operation about Aug. 1.

The Mississippi Valley Superphosphate Co. is constructing a new plant at Green­ville, Miss.

The new sulfuric acid plant of the Naco Fertilizer Co. at Charleston, W. Va. (C&EX, March 10), lias been completed and is going into operation to produce

Emil FiscLer, one of the fore­most organic chemists of the 19th century, was born at Eus-kirchen, Rhenish Prussia, Oc­tober 9, 1852.

The discovery of phenylhy-drazine in 1875 by Fischer proved a most effective tool in synthesizing the sugars. His work in elucidating the struc­tural formulas of the sugars was one of the greatest achievements in organic chemistry.

In researches on proteins, he succeeded in combining 18« amino acids, an octadeca peptide. He and his students prepared about 130 purine derivatives, among them uric acid and caf­feine.

Fischer's researches added not only to chemical knowledge, but shed a flood of light on cognate sciences such as botany, zoology and physiology.

He died JT-uly 15, 1919, at Ber­lin.

T h i s i s t h e fou r t een th of a s e r i e s of br ief b iograph ies of e m i n e n t c h e m i s t s sponsored by T h e Co le ­m a n «Sc Bell Co,, M a n u f a c t u r i n g C h e m i s t s , Norwood , O h i o , U . S . A .

Wen of-Jck in the World of Chemistry

EMIL FISCHER October 9, 1 852 - July 1 5, 1 919

100 tons of 100ré acid per day by the contact process.

On page S5S of C&KX for March 24 the statement was made that Paraphait Wax Corp. of America, Houston, Tex-., is an affiliate of the Warwick Wax Co. of New York. This was in error, as there is no connection between the two organizations.

Work is scheduled to start in August on a Mississippi River dock at Permanente Metals Corp.*s Baton Rouge plant. Pur­pose of the dock is accommodation of ocean-going freighters bringing bauxite to the plant from South America, eliminating reloading, and time delays involved in previous railroad transportation of the bauxite from New Orleans.

Opening of the Permanente Metals Corp. plant at Tacoma, Wash., scheduled for the middle of May, has been delayed pending the results of a survey of alumi­num pig and ingot demand.

Work has been resumed at the Borger, Tex., gas plant of the Phillips Petroleum Co., following settlement of a 20-day strike. The plant supplies 30% of the natural gas used to make channel black.

The Pitman-Moore Co., division of Allied Laboratories, Inc., is starting con­struction of a six-story SI million addition to its plant and laboratories at Indian­apolis, Ind.

Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. has acquired the business of the Forbes Varnish Co., Cleveland, Ohio, which will continue operation as the Forbes finishes division of Pittsburgh Plate Glass. Charles H. Reed, Forbes president for 11 years, has been appointed divisional director of the Forbes finishes division.

A fire of undetermined origin burned out a unit of the molding powder plant of Reilly Tar & Chemical Corp., Newark, N. J. Officials state that the unit will be rebuilt and modernized as quickly as possible.

Methanol will be produced in the South Point, Ohio, plant of the Solvay Process Co. in a new installation expected to be in operation within a year.

Sun Oil Co. reports that its plant at Marcus Hook, Pa., for manufacture of car­bon 13 will be completed in July. The plant will have a production capacity of 500 grams of carbon 13 each month, to be made available for a fundamental bio­chemical research program at Temple University.

Ungerer & Co. has started production of essential oils and aromatic chemicals at its new plant at Totowa, N. J.

Expansion of wire-production facilities in the Bristol, R. I., plant of U. S. Rubber Co. involves purchase of more than $1 million worth of rubber and plastic insu­lating equipment from the Government and other sources. The additional facili-

1746 C H E M I C A L A N D E N G I N E E R I N G N E W S

ties are expected to increase plant capacity to three t imes prewar ou tput .

Work on addit ions t o Woburn Chemical Corp. plant in New Jersey is nearing com­pletion. Stearic acid replacement prod­ucts λνίΐΐ be made .

Record Fertilizer Tonnage Available

T h e fertilizer industry made it possible for American farmers to use more com­mercial fertilizer in 194G than they had used in any previous year. Maurice H. Lockwood, president, National Fertilizer Association, has made public the associa­tion's annua l report on consumption which shows that approximately 14.9 mil­lion tons were used in 1946, representing an increase of 1.7 million tons or 1 3 % above 1945, t h e previous all-time peak. Con­sumption last year was more than twice as large as the average annual consumption in 1935-39, the period immediately pre­ceding the outbreak of World War I I .

Dis t r ibut ion by commercial producers accounted for 14,530,000 tons"of the total 1946 consumption, with the remaining 362,000 tons representing direct distribu­tion by government agencies. The fourth consecutive annual decline was registered in the tonnage distributed directly by the Government, and such distribution in 1946 was a t the lowest point since 1939, al though the Government bought, through its purchase order plan, 888,700 additional tons.

The substant ia l increase in fertilizer use during the last several years is said to be due to the educational program carried on by the fertilizer industry, the USDA, and the s ta te colleges of agriculture and their extension services; a shift in crop produc­tion due in p a r t t o a change in the Ameri­can diet; t h e comparatively rapid growth in fertilizer use in t he newer agricultural regions of the West ; and the ability of the commercial plant-food industry to sup­ply increased quantit ies of improved fer­tilizer.

Interior Department to Combine Sections «

On recommendat ion of the chief geolo­gist, t h e section of chemistry and physics a n d the section of petrology in the geologic branch of t h e D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior will be combined to form the the section of geochemistry and petrology.

W. T . Schaller and C. S. Ross, section chiefs, have requested to b e relieved of ad­minis t ra t ive responsibilities in order to devote their efforts entirely to productive research. E a r l Ingerson, for many years on the staff of the Geophysical Labora­tory, Carnegie Ins t i tu t ion of Washington, ha s been designated chief of the new sec­t ion.

An enzyme preparation that causes rapid and complete decomposition of

HYDROGEN ΡΕΒ ΟΧIDE N o w offered for industrial use

S U G G E S T E D USES

To decompose H Y D R O G E N PEROXIDE in bleaching operations — f u r s , textiles, wo&u, fruit, wax, feathers, etc.

To decompose H Y D R O G E N PEROXIDE in the manufacture of porous materials — floating soap, foam rubber, cake baking, etc.

To decompose H Y D R O G E N PEROXIDE used as a preservative in the preparation of — gelatin, milk for cheese, drinking water, etc.

PROPERTIES

A concentrated solution of the enzyme catalase. Effective in decomposing Hydrogen Peroxide when used 1:1000 to 1:25,000 and beyond , depending upon conditions. Highly active over p H range 3.5 to 10 .0 and at temperatures from 0 ° to over 6 0 ° C.

C A T A L A S E SARETT in pilot plant production — Inquiries for samples and literature solicited.

V I T A - 2 Y M E LABORATORIES, INC. 546 W. W a s h i n g t o n Blvd . , C h i c a g o 6, 111.

Munktells Swedish Filter Papers (THE ORIGINAU

# There is nothing finer in the market

For more than 125 years Munktell 's Swedish Filter Papers have been the standard for, chem­ical purity, retention, strength and speed. They are now available again and can be delivered in quantity, from stock»

Listed below is the currently available line of MunkteU papers. There is a Munktell paper for every type of filtration work. Write for details or further information.

Grade

OK

00

OB

0 * I F

2

3

100

[200

Oualîfy

Dbl. Acid Washed

Dbl. Acid Washed

Sgl. Acid Washed

Sg!- Acid Washed

Hot Acid Washed

Not Acid Washed

Hot Acid Washed

Hot Acid Washed

Hot Acid Washed

Thickness

Thick

Medium

Thick

Medium

Thin

Medium

Thick

Thick

Medium

Texture

Medium

Medium

Medium

Medium

Hard

Hard

Medium

Medium

Hard

Speed

Medium

Medium

V. Fast

Fast

Medium

Medium

V. Fast

Fast

Medium

Precipitates Retained

BaS04

Ba SO 4

Ord. Crystalline and

Gelatinous Iron-Aluminum Silicic Acid, etc.

Ord. Crystalline

Ord. Crystalline Gelatinous

and Very Fine Grain

Ord. Crystalline

Ord. Crystalline

Ash(11CM)|

O.00012 j

0.00004

0.0004

0.00025

0.0004 J

0.0005 1

0.0005

0.00055 1 Nos. 5. 100. 20. 2 0 H and 20R. are available in folded form.

E. H . SARGENT & C O M P A N Y . 155-165 East Superior S t ree t , Chicago 1 1 . Illinois Michigan Division: I959 East Jefferson, Detroit 7, Michigan

S A R G Ε Ν Τ V O L U M E 2 5 , N O , 2 4 . . » J U N E 1 6 , 1 9 4 7 1747

Cat&IasG Saref f

S. C i Π S T I r i C ? • ' . · κ A Β Ο R A Τ ' Ο R. T ' - 5 U Ρ Ρ L \ Ε S