The Editors...

• Carnauba w a x

• Phthalic anhydr ide

• Filtration equipment

• Fluidized beds

• From carbon paper to polishes to lubricants, carnauba wax has a wide range of uses. But natura l ca rnauba has its disadvantages, too:

• Fairly high cost—80 cents to $1.00 per pound Ο Substantial batch-to-batch variation • A foreign source of supply

IBM started out with a single project—to find a substitute for use in carbon paper transfer inks. They find they have ended up with an unexpected number of promising research projects.

H. L. McGee of IBM tells us that a number of bi-dipolar esters were synthesized to imitate the com­ponents of ca rnauba wax. T h e alcohols used were dodecanol, octadecanol, and doconsanol. Each of these was allowed to react with succinic, glutaric, adipic, pimelic, azelaic, sebacic, and tetradecandioic acids. First they tried out the products in carbon papers, then other ideas began to flow:

• Magnet ic printing inks—used for account identifica­tion on bank checks. A formulation of carbon, magnetic particles, and amides of the above mono-esters is called "very interesting"

• waxes and polishes—with direct replacement of the carnauba wax content

But how was the carbon paper that started all this? Not perfect yet, but promising.

• S h e a r s t r e s s is the key to a new process for compact ing semiplast ic mater ia l s without using a b i n d e r . H . R. Gregory of the U.K. ' s Nat ional Coal Board has been trying out this process on bituminous coals. But he feels that it may have even more promise in industries where profit margins are not so tight. Possibilities a re :

Catalysts Meta l powders

Reactor graphite Metal ores

Shear may be applied in several ways. Successful pellets have been made by forming the briquet with

a shaped punch, and by forming a continuous rod in an expansion press. In coals, porosity is reduced, and density increased by up to 1 5 % .

I t seems to us that the possible increase in pellet strength—by a factor of 3 to 15 times—will a t t ract considerable attention to this process.

• Coal tars m a y y ie ld more phthalic anhy­d r i d e , according to reports of India 's Central Fuel Research Institute. At present, phthalic anhydride is produced by air oxidation of coke-oven naphthalene , and is therefore tied to steel production. But demand, especially for alkyd resins and plasticizers, is growing fast.

T h e Indian process uses phenanthrene—a higher boiling component of coal tar than naphthalene. Vapor phase oxidation of phenanthrene with air yields up to 3 0 % phthalic anhydride, with 3 5 % conversion. In the present lab-scale work, a fluidized bed of V2O5-K2SO4-S1O2 catalyst is used, at temperatures of about 800°F. And catalyst life appears to be satisfactory.

• Like separating iron filings from sand—that's Tracer lab 's idea for decontaminat ing helium. When helium gas is used to cool a power pile, it picks up a load of fission products in the reactor core and carries them throughout the reactor and power-generating system. T h e consequent need for shielding and the danger of radioactive gases escaping have been major factors in holding back development of a high tempera­ture, helium-cooled system.

T h e Tracer lab people have an idea that is worth investigating. They think that the intense radiat ion in the reactor core should preferentially ionize the con­taminants . They wonder : If the gas stream were exposed to an electrostatic field, would the charged particles be diverted? If so, they could be directed toward a nozzle, and d rawn off, just as a magnet draws iron from the sand.

If successful, this would amount to the largest mass spectrometer anyone ever saw. And it may be an advance in eventual application of this principle in industrial processing.

1 4 A INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY

E C

I nterpret valuate

omment

new and unusual ideas and challenging developments

on the research & technology front

• Another neg l ec ted chemical . If costs are im­portant to you, you may find hydroxyace t i c acid a bargain · It is a by-product of ethylene glycol manufacture and therefore it is both available and relatively cheap. It is a very determined chelating agent, but is not too aggressive to trust. You may not yet have heard of these uses for it:

• Cleaning deposits from hydrazine-type fuels left in the Titan II motors after test firing

• Engineering Aspects of Solid Catalysts will go a long way to getting you up to date in your research in this field. And the fine summary of who did what can lead to the solution of your immediate problems. Down the road, the information presented here (page 509) can be a real boon to short cutting extensive and ex­pensive searching for the answer, which may be avail­able already. This article gives the present s t a t u s of progress in solid c a t a l y s t eng ineer ing and looks at some of the unexplored problems that lie ahead.

• At some point in almost every chemical process, nitration is a must. It is often costly. Design, selection, and application of filtration equipment account for a large portion of a design estimate. Want to know what is the l a t e s t in f i ltration? Then turn to page 529. Here you will find the second of our Equip­ment Selection group. Theory, d e s i g n , and appl i ­cation are discussed as they apply to immediate processing problems. And you will find a listing of the major manufacturers of filtration equipment as well as the type of equipment they make.

• And when you have digested the latest in filtration design, selection, and application, you will want to know what is the l a t e s t in filter m e d i a . The steady increase in filter fabric technology calls for an up-to-date roundup on what is available. On page 552 you will find α handy m e a n s for se lect ing the b e s t filter m e d i a for your filtration problems. Generic names of media, trade names, and who supplies these materials are included.

• With the increased demand for maleic anhydride for use in polyester resins, new methods are of interest. When the method shows promise of commercialization, added interest beyond mere curiosity is involved. On page 557 you will find α new approach to m a k i n g male i c anhydr ide , b a s e d on air o x i d a t i o n of b u t è n e s . Although this method has been tried before, our article shows you how higher yields can be obtained through an improved catalyst system and improved re­action conditions. Yields of 55 weight per cent maleic anhydride were obtained.

• Pickling nonferrous metal sheet—replacing acetic acid

• One-shot cleaning of water wells—here it replaces three treatments, with hydrochloric acid, a chelating agent, and sodium hypochlorite

• Decontaminating radioactive equipment—replacing mixed hydrofluoric and nitric acids with less replac­ing of the equipment

• Replacing citric acid in several applications—at lower cost

(For more long range trends turn to page 77 A)

• In the metallurgical field, mechanical means are most often used for concentrating the ore. This is not true of nickel and cobal t . Chemical means must be used to separate vast but low grade deposits and recover these metals (page 559).

• How d o you find the effect of physical var i ­a b l e s of particle size distribution, gas flow, and bed height on the uniformity of a fluidized bed?. Normally you sweat out a long series of involved calculations, make some presumably valid assumptions, and hope that the variables don't have too much effect anyway. The fact is that although fluidized gas-solids processes have operated successfully for some time, several of the fundamental principles involved in the gas-flow mech­anisms within the bed are relatively unexplored. On page 567 you will find α s tat is t ical m e t h o d for d e ­fining an i n d e x of instabi l i ty which may go a long way to answering some of the unexplored areas here.

• Mechanical factors involved in liquid-solid fluid-ization have an important place in the des ign and operat ion of continuous c r y s t a l l i z e » . Since the mechanics have an important influence on heat and mass transfer, α simplif ied m e t h o d for de termin ing their effect is desirable. On page 575 you will find an approach that is both simple and direct for determining void fraction and minimum fluidizing velocity.

• This month's Annual R e v i e w s offer you an op­portunity to get up to date with the latest developments in Drying. You will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of real engineering foresight that has gone into the design of some of the latest drying models and systems. And you will find a rundown on who ma,kes this equipment as well as some of their immediate applications. Iron, Carbon S t e e l , and Alloy S tee l traces the latest developments in this field. Its com­panion, S ta in less S t e e l s and Other Ferrous A l loys , is a must for the very latest in Materials of Con­struction (page 583).

VOL. 53, NO. 7 JULY 1961 1 5 A

on technical trends in this issue of I / E C