care is necessary to prevent any sudden rush of hot gas, since such might bring about the destruction of the entire bagging equipment. Apparently no steps have been taken to decrease the inflammability of the bag material, although a suggestion has been made to impregnate with either ammonium tungstate or silicate of soda solution. It is claimed that the "bag" should last for about twelve months' continuous operation before renewal is necessary. TREATMENT OF THE POTASH DUST The treatment of the potash dust consists in a simple lixiviation of the material with water (mother liquor from a previous run is employed), the resulting sludge being separated by the use of an Oliver filter. The solution is evaporated, allowed to crystallize, and centrifuged, the product thus obtained containing 80 per cent soluble potash in the form of chloride. No chemical treatment is necessary at any stage of the purification It is of interest that the iron ores occurring on the east coast of England contain sufficient chlorides in the original iron ore to insure all the potash volatilizing in the form of chloride, while those on the west coast contain a little sulphur, so that a small amount of sulphate is obtained. METHOD OF INCREASING THE POTASH RECOVERY Experiments carried out by the British Potash Co., Ltd., have shown that the addition of a small amount of common salt to the blast-furnace charge in certain cases increases the yield of potash obtained (British Patent 112,338) which is especially true of ores relatively free from chlorides, and from which in consequence a considerable quantity of the potash would otherwise find its way into the slag. This applies to those ores occurring on the west coast of England, and also to certain Welsh ores. In one or two instances it has been found that the recovered potash salts may contain a small amount of cyanide, in which case it is necessary to remove the latter by a special process of recrystallization. LIST OF POTASH RECOVERY PLANTS IN OPERATION There are at present three blast-furnace plants collecting dust in bags for the recovery of potash, namely, North Lincolnshire Iron Co., Palmers Shipbuilding & Iron Co., and Ebbw Vale Iron Co. In each of these plants common salt is added to the blast-furnace charge to increase the potash yield. In addition to these, four other blast-furnace plants, viz., Blaenavon Iron Co., South Wales; Barrow Hematite Co.; Baldwin's, Ltd., South Wales, and Millom & Askam, Cumberland, are being equipped with similar installations, while the Ebbw Vale plant has commenced the erection of a second unit. COST OF ERECTION AND OPERATING It is claimed that it is not economical to build an operating unit of bags capable of handling more than 1,000,000 cu.ft. of gas per hr., the present cost of such an installation being £40,000 (approximately $200,000). No definite statement could be obtained as to the actual cost of operating, but it would seem that the labor cost and the necessary operating power are both higher than in the case of a Cottrell installation. RECOVERY OF POTASH BY THE LODGE FUME CO. The Lodge Fume Co. has been formed to develop certain patents (for dust recovery from gases) granted to Sir Oliver Lodge, on lines closely related to those of ments a large plant is now in process of erection at the Cottrell, and following the successful small-scale experiSkinningrove Ironworks, Yorkshire, which was expected to be in operation in August. It has been designed to the usual closed-top blast-furnace working on local ores, treat the entire output of 4,000,000 cu.ft. of gas from no salt addition being necessary in this case. what similar lines to the well-known Cottrell installaThe equipment has apparently been planned on sometions, namely, a series of vertical iron plates with rods placed centrally. It is intended to operate at 70,000 volts, 7 to 10 hp. being required to run the system. The annual output of potash is expected to amount to not less than 1000 tons of 80 per cent material, and the iron company proposes to erect its own refining plant. It is anticipated that not more than two men and two boys will be required to operate the entire plant. COST OF INSTALLATION This plant, which is designed to treat 4,000,000 cu.ft. of blast-furnace gas per hour, is estimated to cost £35,000, as compared with £40,000 for a single unit of the bag system capable of handling only 1,000,000 cubic feet. RECOVERY OF POTASH BY THE COTTRELL PROCESS An experimental Cottrell plant was installed in 1918 by Huntington, Heberlein & Co., Ltd., the British representatives of the International Precipitation Co., at the works of the Workington Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. Certain alterations in the design were soon found necessary, and these were subsequently carried out, though there was considerable delay owing to difficulties connected with the supply of labor and materials. The reconstructed plant comprises thirty-six 12-in. pipes 15 ft. long, and arrangements have been made so that the blast-furnace gas can be tapped from the main without interfering with the operation of the boiler plant. The experiments at Workington were the first to be carried out in England on a comparatively large scale, and as is usual under such circumstances, many experimental difficulties inherent to this particular proposition had to be overcome. With the knowledge so obtained, it is now claimed that it will be possible to erect plants of any size required which will operate with an efficiency of 90 per cent or better. COMPARISON OF THE BAG AND ELECTRIC SYSTEMS The outcome of the Skinningrove and Workington experiments is awaited with considerable interest in order that a direct comparison of operating costs may be made between the electrical method of potash recovery and the Halberg-Beth bag system of dust collection. From the above facts it would seem that the cost of equipment and installation of the latter process is roughly four times that of the former, and the operating charges are also apparently higher, due to the increased labor charges and the higher depreciation. Also, the horse power necessary to force the hot gases through the filter system is much greater than that required to operate the electrical installation. In view of the pronounced success of the companies operating the Cottrell system of recovery in connection with cement plants in America, there would seem to be little or no doubt that an equal measure of success would be achieved in connection with the recovery of potash from blast-furnace gases. No definite information could be obtained as to the present cost of production of 80 per cent muriate of potash, but in view of the increased output in this field and the number of new installations, together with the fact that one plant is already installing additional equipment, the claim of the British Potash Co. that it expects to be able to produce this material at prices low enough to compete with German potash would seem to provide a sufficient stimulus for the large iron and steel companies in America to undertake similar experimental developments. It is evident from the analysis of typical English ores, quoted below, that the American ores in many cases contain even larger quantities of potash, so that American iron and steel producers should be in a position to achieve equally valuable commercial results. operating the wet mix process. The type of recovery PREDICTION OF BRITISH INDEPENDENCE IN THE The Potash Production Bureau of the British Board of Trade is convinced that by the utilization of both sources of production the country will be made entirely independent of outside sources of potash. While undoubtedly much greater progress has been made in America with respect to economies to be effected in the cement industry by the utilization of the latent heat in the waste gases as well as in the recovery of potash from the dust, there would seem no reason to doubt that much of the gas from blastfurnaces can be similarly treated with correspondingly favorable results from the fuel standpoint as well as from that of potash recovery. The way, in fact, has already been pointed out in the admirable papers by Messrs. Wysor,' Gellert,' and Bradley,' and it now only remains for the iron and steel manufacturers to take advantage of the pioneer work already carried out by Cottrell, Linn Bradley, Wysor, Gellert and others (of whom the scientific and technical work of Linn Bradley, Research Corporation, New York, calls for special mention) to make America economically independent Per cent of outside sources of potash production. POTASH CONTENT OF TYPICAL ENGLISH IRON ORES The ores on the west coast contain roughly from 0.2 to 1.30 per cent of potash calculated as chloride of potash, an average sample of the flue dust analyzing approximately as follows: 1.9 8.0 Those on the east coast contain a potash content varying roughly from 0.2 per cent to around 1.5 per cent calculated as chloride of potash, equivalent to 1.3 to 0.95 per cent K,O. A typical "flue dust" analysis showed: Soluble potash... (Calculated as KCl) Sodium chloride. Ferric oxide (Fe,01).. 11.7 Carbonaceous matter, etc... Per Cent 10.4 8.9 1.0 6.5 100.0 The potash (K,O) content of English iron ores may 'thus be said to vary between 0.126 and 0.98 per cent as compared with American iron ores, which average from 0.29 to 2.07 per cent, according to a large number of analyses run by Mr. N. C. Gellert of the Gellert Engineering Co., Philadelphia, Pa. RECOVERY OF POTASH IN CEMENT PLANTS While in England special emphasis has been laid on the extraction of potash from blast-furnace gases, considerable experimental work has also been done on the recovery of potash from the dust in the gases from cement kilns. The somewhat slower industrial development is probably due to the greater activity and interest shown by the blast-furnace operators and the evident fuel economies which can be effected by the use of a dust-free gas. On the other hand, little or no use is at present made of the latent heat in the waste gases from cement kilns, so that this consideration did not, of itself, make the same striking appeal to the English cement manufacturers. An experimental installation is already in operation in connection with the gases from a cement plant operating the wet mix method, in which the bag system of dust recovery is employed, and arrangements have been completed for the installation of a recovery plant in connection with a new modern cement plant of 1600-bbl. capacity, also STIMULATION TO INTEREST HERE The fact that the average American iron ore contains on an average as much as or even more than the average English iron ore should serve considerably to stimulate interest in this matter. Of special interest too are the large deposits of brown hematite ores in Alabama, which are remarkable for their high potash content. By the use of these ores (with possibly salt addition) in ordinary blast-furnace practice and employing the Cottrell process for the recovery of the potash in the dust, it does not seem any exaggeration to assume that the necessary supplies of potash for the entire fertilizer requirements of the South could be provided from this source. Furthermore, the experimental work already carried out by Gellert with manganese ores shows that they contain a much higher potash content than iron ores, and his suggestion that a start should at once be made with such material would seem to represent a sound well-balanced judgment. We understand, in fact, that such a scheme, under his supervision, and with the active co-operation of the Research Corporation, New York, is already under way in one locality. CONCLUSION According to information supplied by the Bureau of Potash Production, England, large-scale experiments on the recovery of potash from blast-furnace gases have shown that: 1. By the removal of the dust from blast-furnace gases, the pre-heating surface for the air blast can be reduced in the ratio of 3: 5. 1Bull. Amer. Institute Mining Engineers, 1917 (Jan. 17), with subsequent discussions. 2CHEM. & MET. ENG., vol. 20, p. 308. "Bull. Amer. Institute Mining Engineers, 1917, pp. 209-228; CHEM. & MET. ENG., vol. 19, p. 457. The British Government has already announced its intention to allow the importation during 1919 of about 20,000 tons of Alsatian potash averaging 14 to 20 per cent K,O. Also a further 50,000 tons of German potash (80 per cent K.O), which is to be taken in part payment for goods supplied; and it would seem to be the policy of the government not to issue further permits except in so far as domestic supply is insufficient to cover the demand. According to an interesting article on this subject in the Chemical Age (vol. 1, No. 5, 1919), it is claimed that the post-war requirements for potash will be much greater than the pre-war requirements, and that while the former cost of production of 80 per cent potash is assumed to have been approximately £7 per ton, it cannot be expected that a lower price than about £15 to £25 per ton will be the rule for a considerable period of time. This surmise is based on the assumption that for many years to come the world's requirements of potash will be far greater than can be met by the combined output from the Alsatian and German fields. Attention is also drawn to the reported occurrence of rich potash deposits in the Italian colony of Erythrea, Abyssinia, some hundreds of tons of this Exports from Germany in 1913 of certain groups of chemicals in which potash material with a chloride of potash content of 75 to 95 salts are included with other salts: Metric Tons 405 24,733 Chromate and bichromate of potassium, oxide and hydroxide of chromium.... 2,627 Water-glass (silicate of potassium and sodium). 15,543 2,294 6,678 Ferro- and ferricyanide of sodium and potassium. 9,226 The value of potash compounds imported into Great Britain from Germany in 1913 is shown in Table II. TABLE II. Detailed statement of values of potassium compounds imported into Great Value £974 33,555 79,090 per cent having been exported during the war period. The extent and uniformity of these deposits, as well as of similar ones in Spain and Sicily, are still matters for investigation. Of possible interest is the reference in the same article to the extraction of potash from leucite by a new Italian process. Leucite is a double silicate of potash and alumina containing, when pure, about 28 per cent K,O, but the Italian product generally contains only 8 to 10 per cent. According to the new method the gangue can be separated electromagnetically, thus increasing the K,O content to 15 per cent. The writer wishes to express to the officials of the 7.827 Department of Potash Production, Board of Trade, England, his appreciation of their kindness in favoring him with the major portion of the data outlined above. It would appear that no small amount of the success obtained is due to the energy and enthusiasm shown by them. 2,101 10,351 8,762 1,146 99,951 1,743 360 Garden Avenue. Mount Vernon N. Y. Permanganate. 7,451 Phenylglycine. 38,832 "Potash pot lye". 2,235 Prussiate.. 14,781 Potash salts (unspecified) 2,495 Sulphate.. 85,175 Sulphate muriate.. 22,935 Cream of tartar.. 149,562 Saltpeter... 156,682 Salts other than the above to values not exceeding £1,000. Kainit. 12,269 50,193 117,994 £915,867 Belgian Wage Scale The past and present labor situation in Belgium, which might serve for comparison with that in the United States, is given in the following news item taken from the Fortnightly Information Review, Nov. 1, 1919: "In general, the present wage scale in Belgium, as compared with June, 1914, shows an increase from 150 to 200 per cent, according to Trade Commissioner Harry T. Collins, Brussels. Blacksmiths, machinists, etc., employed by the community receive 19 to 24c. an hour,. which is an increase over 1914 wages of 225 to 285 per cent for an 8-hr. day. Carpenters receive 23c. an hour for a 54-hr. week, which is an increase of 153 per cent over wages in 1914. Mechanics employed in textile factories receive 18 to 22c. an hour, an increase 20,489 of 261 to 294 per cent over their wages in 1914, with 12.634 an 8-hr. day." Entered 58,499 441,436 30,654 57,115 J. Soc. Chem. Ind., 1918, 291T. the manufacture of type and bearing metals. Practically no antimony ore was mined here, the market -being supplied principally from China, and the alloy was produced by a direct mixing of lead and antimony. The great world war, with its demand for shrapnel in hitherto undreamed of quantities, precipitated a great boom in the price of antimony. Nominally quoted at 6c. to 7c. in 1914, the price increased by leaps and bounds to 45c. in March, 1916. Under the stimulus of high prices many small mines were opened, for it became profitable to work ores containing as low as 20 per cent antimony. High-grade sulphide ores (stibnite), containing 55 to 60 per cent antimony, were received from Bolivia, China and Alaska. Low-grade sulphide ores, running from 20 to 45 per cent, were produced in Nevada, California, Idaho, Utah and Mexico; much of this ore was fairly rich in silver. The principal oxide ores came from Mexico and Oregon. The following analyses are representative of various types of antimony ore: Sb Pb Cu Ag Au SiO, Fe S CaO Zn As Oxide ore... 25.09 46.02 0.95 0.40 10.98 0.30 0.22 Sulphide ore 55.20 15.12 1.05 19.87 0.40 0.25 Sulphide ore 37.16 11.30 0.10 34.0 7.60 0.50 17.05 7.40 0.36 0.10 Sulphide ore 41.55 18.00 0.20 76.0 0.04 5.60 0.25 18.17 0.85 0.25 0.10 The International Lead Refining Co. fortunately was equipped to handle these ores through residue and blastfurnaces. The charge consisted of a variety of sulphide ores containing Sb 20 to 60 per cent and SiO, 6 to 45 per cent, oxide ores containing Sb 20 to 40 per cent and SiO, 10 to 45 per cent. Secondary materials, such as battery plates, battery mud, lead oxide, paint, etc., together with refinery skins, softener skins and other refinery by-products, were treated along with the antimony ore to furnish the lead required. All silver-bearing antimony ores were treated in the residue furnace. the sulphur, iron and copper forming matte that carried part of the silver, the balance going into lead bullion. The antimony slag produced was sufficiently low in silver to warrant being smelted in the blast-furnace to antimonial lead. The blast-furnace equipment consisted of two 5-tuyere, 42-in. round furnaces connected by flue to the bag house. On account of high zinc and arsenic in lead refinery by-products, we ran a slag of the composition SiO, 26 per cent, FeO 40 per cent, CaO and ZnO combined 20 to 24 per cent. Net profit rather than metallurgy prompted a slag as low as possible in antimony, even though the lead content was increased. Average analysis of slag for 6 mo. showed Sb 0.66 per cent and Pb 2.36 per cent. Actual blast-furnace loss was 2.4 per cent antimony and 1.503 per cent lead. Due to sulphur and arsenic on the charge, some speiss was produced. The furnace charge varied from 2500 to 3000 lb. Coke ratio was 13 per cent. Blast pressure was maintained at 10 to 12 oz. The two furnaces smelted 60 to 90 tons of lead and antimonial material per day, producing 30 to 35 tons of antimonial lead of the following average analysis: Sb 13.00 per cent, Cu 0.15 per cent, As 0.75 per cent, Pb 86.1 per cent. Read at the Chicago meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, Sept. 24, 1919. +Assistant general manager, International Lead Refining Co. Need of Extensive Research in the Petroleum Industry BY VAN H. MANNING HE welfare of any industry must be considered in connection with the welfare of the people. Capital and labor cannot disregard the public; that must be represented and considered. A review of the American petroleum industry shows that the industrial development and general prosperity of the United States depend upon an adequate supply of petroleum. It was one of the prime factors in assuring victory for the armies of the Allies, and today our automobiles, trucks, farm tractors and motor boats are dependent on it for power, and few manufacturing industries can exist without it. There are no known commercial substitutes for gasoline or lubricating oils, and, in fact, petroleum in one form or another reaches every household in the civilized world. As to the future, it is certain that the demand for petroleum will increase. Faced with this growing need for petroleum, we have to consider seriously the means whereby an adequate supply for the future can be obtained. We know that the domestic output does not meet the present consumption, and that the amount of this deficit will probably continue to increase. Of the original available supply underground, it is estimated by the U. S. Geological Survey that we have consumed 40 per cent that is unreplaceable. A diminishing output with increasing consumption will make the United States more dependent on foreign fields. It is true that there are vast oil reserves in foreign countries, and if these fields could be developed without hindrance, they could, even though consumption continues to increase at the present rate, probably meet the world's demands for the next ten years at least. Prediction beyond the ten-year period is not safe, for too many uncertainties are involved. In meeting the world's needs, however, the oil from the United States will continue to occupy a less and less dominant position, because within the next two to five years the oil fields of this country will reach their maximum production and from that time on we will face an ever increasing decline. DOMESTIC OIL FIELDS UNABLE TO MEET PRESENT We thus see domestic oil fields unable to meet our home demands under present methods of utilization and manufacture. This startling fact cannot be ignored. We must and can obtain a more efficient utilization of petroleum by proper investigative work. Research work and scientific development work should be actively stimulated. Our efforts should tend toward obtaining perfection. in processes, mechanical equipment, and in the proper development of our plants and processes. The day of empirical formulas and rule-of-thumb methods should not be passively allowed to continue. It is only a scientific research and the adoption of methods pointed out by this research in which natural laws form a basis for the quality and value of any product that we can hope to obtain the most valuable products out of petroleum. Today there are many laboratory processes which have not been developed further simply because of insufficient funds to install them commercially. One object of research would be to test out on a commercial scale many of the laboratory processes now dormant commercially because of insufficient funds. Another object of research should be to correlate the pertinent facts of all investigative work and start supplemental research at the point where it is needed. This procedure will avoid costly repetition. The result of all past and current work should be properly correlated and brought under one large head, so that the greatest good can be accomplished and duplication minimized. RESEARCH AND EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION NEEDED It is the research man who should point out the manufacturing losses, and indicate the necessary investigative work whereby these losses will possibly be reduced or eliminated. These results should not be stored in the records of one company, but should be available to other manufacturers, so that they may profit by the experience and findings of their neighbors. A proper exchange of information must save much costly duplication of work. The petroleum industry, valued at billions of dollars annually, is essential to national efficiency, and national efficiency can be attained only through scientific research. The necessity of such research is becoming recognized more and more by the large industrial units, some of which spend thousands of dollars annually for scientific investigations. Many petroleum organizations have scientific bureaus, but much of the knowledge these bureaus gain is confined in the archives of the company's laboratory. The need of research is recognized in many professions, and particularly in medicine. The medical profession is essential to personal health and life, and vast sums of money have been donated to medical research. As a result, typhoid fever, smallpox and many other deadly diseases have been mastered. The money donated to medical research has been refunded many times over through the saving of life and the increase of human efficiency, and intensive research in the petroleum industry would yield results incomparably more valuable than the cost of the work. A fraction of the sums spent in medical research would, if expended in petroleum investigations, bring about improved methods that would vastly increase efficiency in the utilization of each barrel of oil. In 1918 the value of the output of crude oil and refined products in the United States was about $2,500,000,000. Certainly the petroleum industry can afford to spend more than has heretofore been spent in research to discover new methods and perfecting those in use, for thereby the recovery of oil will be increased and utilization will be far more efficient. In this way the cost to the consumer will be lessened and a rapidly diminishing commodity, one essential to our existence, will be conserved. SECRETARY LANE QUOTED In conclusion, I do not believe that this problem could be emphasized any more strongly than has been done in a letter to me from Secretary Lane, of Sept. 24, from which I quote the following paragraphs which have a direct bearing on the above subject: "It is not an exaggeration to say that millions of dollars must be spent in experiment before we know the many services to which a barrel of oil can be put. There is almost an indefinite opportunity for research work along this line. Petroleum is a challenge to the chemists of the world. And now the world is dependent upon it as it is upon nothing else excepting coal and iron, and the foodstuffs and textiles. It has jumped to this place of eminence within twenty years and the world is concerned in knowing how large a supply there is and how every drop of it can best be used. "We are behind the rest of the world in the use of our oil for fuel purposes. We are spendthrifts in this as in other of our natural resources. We can get three times as much energy as we do out of our oil through the use of the Diesel engine, yet we are doing little to promote development of a satisfactory type of stationary Diesel, or marine design. Instead of seeing how many hundred millions of barrels of oil we can produce and use, our efforts should be to see how few millions of barrels will satisfy our needs." REQUA SEES DAWN OF "REAL PETROLEUM ERA" The views of Mr. M. L. Requa, in a letter to me of Sept. 25, have such an important bearing on this great topic that I think it well also to add a few pertinent statements from his letter on this subject. "I am on record in various published addresses as to my attitude concerning the petroleum problem, and I think it unnecessary to repeat those statements. I cannot, however, refrain from pointing out briefly the acute need that I believe exists for constructive and co-operative work of the character that you are proposing. That it has never been done before has been due to two causes: one, the less pressing need, and the other the lack of realization upon the part of the industry of the necessity for co-operative and constructive action. "Because of the tremendous increase in the consumption of petroleum products, we have confronting us problems that have been of little concern in the past, but will be of very much greater concern in the future. Satisfactory answers cannot be made, except through constructive action upon the part of the industry. There is no alternative, in my judgment. "We are, in my judgment, just beginning to see the dawn of the 'real petroleum era.' All signs point to a demand for the product in the future that will far exceed anything in the past. I am optimistic enough to believe that the Diesel engine will be perfected, and become of universal application. If so, the day of the steam unit will have passed. "The extraction from a barrel of oil of all of the component parts, so far as is commercially practicable, and the distribution of those products in channels of trade, in a useful and economical way, rather than their destruction as is now the case, is a matter of highest concern." Government Assumes Responsibility for Failure of Castor Bean Crop More than 18,000 Southern farmers are to be reimbursed for losses sustained in efforts to raise castor beans for the Government. The Board of Contract Adjustment of the War Department has ruled that the Government in furnishing seeds, of which a large percentage failed to germinate, had incurred liability and that the case comes within the purview of the informal contract act. The Government undertook the stimulation of castor bean growth early in the war when it appeared that a sufficient amount of castor oil would not be available for use as a lubricant for airplane engines. The seeds were secured in India and proved to be unsuited to climatic and soil conditions in the U. S. |