TP
185
B139
B 398180
OCT 24: 1914
SOME ASPECTS OF
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
BY
L. H. BAEKELAND, Sc.D.
1754
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
1893
PRESS
IN-LITTERIS-LIBERTAS
New Park
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1914
1.
:
and
Chemical Library
TP
185
.B139
SOME ASPECTS OF
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
THE CHANDLER LECTURE
1914
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
SALES AGENTS
NEW YORK:
LEMCKE & BUECHNER
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TORONTO:
HUMPHREY MILFORD
25 RICHMOND ST., W.
SOME ASPECTS OF
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
BY
L. H. BAEKELAND, Sc.D.
1754
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
1893 PRESS
∙IN-LITTERIS LIBERTAS
New York
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1914
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1914
By COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Set up, and electrotyped. Published, July, 1914
SOME ASPECTS OF
INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
WHILE I appreciate deeply the distinction of speaking
before you on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of
the Columbia School of Mines, I realize, at the same time,
that nobody here present could do better justice to the
subject which has been chosen for this lecture than the
beloved master in whose honor the Charles Frederick
Chandler Lectureship has been created.
Dr. Chandler, in his long and eminently useful career
as a professor and as a public servant, has assisted at the
very beginning of some of the most interesting chapters of
applied chemistry, here and abroad.
Some of his pupils have become leaders in chemical in-
dustry; others have found in his teachings the very con-
ception of new chemical processes which made their names
known throughout the whole world.
Industrial chemistry has been defined as "the chemistry
of dollars and cents."
Is industrial
chemistry a
mere money-
making
proposition?
This rather cynical definition, in its nar-
rower interpretation, seems to ignore entirely
the far-reaching economic and civilizing influ-
ences which have been brought to life through
the applications of science; it fails to do justice
to the fact that the whole fabric of modern civilization
becomes each day more and ever more interwoven with the
endless ramifications of applied chemistry.
The earlier effects of this influence do not date back much
"
..
5
Beginnings of
chemical
industries
beyond one hundred and odd years. They became dis-
tinctly evident during the first French Repub-
lic, increased under Napoleon, gradually
spread to neighboring countries, and then
reaching out farther, their influence is now obvious
throughout the whole world.
The French
France, during the revolution, scattered to
Republic and the winds old traditions and conventionalities,
Napoleon
in culture as well as in politics. Until then, she
had mainly impressed the world by the barbaric, wasteful
splendor of her opulent kings, at whose courts the devotees
of science received scant attention in com-
parison to the more ornamental artists and
lected science belles-lettrists, who were petted and rewarded
alongside of the all-important men of the
sword.
The kings of
France neg-
in favor of
arts and
literature
In fact, as far as the culture of science was concerned,
the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, and more particu-
larly, England, were head and shoulders above the France
of "le Roi Soleil."
The struggles of the new régime put France in the awk-
ward position of the legendary beaver which "had to climb
a tree.
""
If for no other reason, she needed scientists to help her
in her wars against the rulers of other European nations.
She needed them just as much for repairing her crippled
finances and her badly disturbed industries which were
dependent upon natural products imported until then, but
of which the supply had suddenly been cut off by the so-
called Continental Blockade. Money-prizes
French patent and other inducements had been offered for
system
stimulating the development of chemical pro-
cesses, and—what is more significant-patent laws were
promulgated so as to foster invention.
Creation of
Nicolas Leblanc's method for the manufacture of soda
6
to replace the imported alkalis, Berthollet's method for
bleaching with chlorine, the beet-sugar industry to replace
cane sugar imported from the colonies, and several other
processes, were proposed.
All these chemical processes found themselves soon lifted
from the hands of the secretive alchemist or the timid
pharmacist to the rank of real manufacturing methods:
Industrial chemistry had begun its lusty career.
First successes stimulated new endeavors and small won-
der is it that France, with these favorable conditions at
hand, for a while at least, entered into the most glorious
period of that part of her history which relates to the devel-
opment of chemistry, and the arts dependent thereon.
Backward
position of
Germany
It is difficult to imagine that, at that time,
Germany, which now occupies such an enviable
position in chemistry, was so far behind that
even in 1822, when Liebig wanted to study chemistry at
the best schools, he had to leave his own country, and turn
to Gay-Lussac, Thénard and Dulong in Paris.
Development
of British
chemical
industry
But the British were not slow to avail them-
selves of the new opportunities in chemical
manufacturing so clearly indicated by the first
successes of the French. Their linen bleach-
eries in Scotland and England soon used an improved
method for bleaching with chloride of lime, developed by
Tennant, which brought along the manufacture of other
chemicals relating thereto, like sulphuric acid and soda.
The chemical reactions involved in all these processes
are relatively simple, and after they were once well under-
stood, it required mainly resourceful engineering and good
commercial abilities to build up successfully the industries
based thereon.
From this epoch on dates the beginning of the develop-
ment of that important industry of heavy chemicals in
which the British led the world for almost a century.
7
In the same way, England had become the leader in an-
other important branch of chemical industry-the manu-
facture of coal-gas.
The Germans were soon to make up for lost
Liebig's
influence in time. Those same German universities, which
Germany
when Liebig was a young man were so poorly
equipped for the study of chemistry, were now enthusi-
astically at work on research along the newer developments
of the physical sciences, and, before long, the former pupils
of France, in their turn, became teachers of the world.
Liebig had inaugurated for the chemical students work-
ing under him his system of research laboratories; how-
ever modest these laboratories may have been at that time,
they carried bodily the study of chemistry from pedagogic
boresomeness into a captivating cross-examination of
nature.
And it seemed as if nature had been waiting impa-
tiently to impart some of her secrets to the children of men,
who for so many generations had tried to settle Truth and
Knowledge by words and oratory and by brilliant displays
of metaphysical controversies.
Indeed, at that time, a few kitchen tables, some clumsy
glass-ware, a charcoal furnace or two, some pots and pans,
and a modest balance were all that was needed to make
nature give her answers.
of organic
Germany
These modest paraphernalia, eloquent by
Development their very simplicity, brought forth rapidly
chemistry in succeeding discoveries. One of them was truly
sensational: Liebig and Wöhler succeeded in
accomplishing the direct synthesis of urea; thinking men
began to realize the far-reaching import of this revolu-
tionary discovery whereby a purely organic substance had
been created in the laboratory by starting exclusively from
inorganic materials. This result upset all respected doc-
8
trines that organic substances are of a special enigmatic
constitution, altogether different from inorganic or mineral
compounds, and that they only could be built up by the
agency of the so-called "vital force"-whatever that might
mean.
Research in organic chemistry became more and more
fascinating; all available organic substances were being
investigated one after another by restless experimentalists.
The influence
of Kékulé's
theory
Coal-tar, heretofore a troublesome by-prod-
uct of gas manufacture, notwithstanding its
uninviting, ill-smelling, black sticky appear-
ance, did not escape the general inquisitive tendency; some
of its constituents, like benzol or others, were isolated and
studied.
Under the brilliant leadership of Kékulé, a successful
attempt was made to correlate the rapidly increasing new
experimental observations in organic chemistry into a new
theory which would try to explain all the numerous facts;
a theory which became the sign-post to the roads of further
achievements.
Discovery of
artificial dyes
The discovery of quickly succeeding pro-
cesses for making from coal-tar derivatives
numerous artificial dyes, rivaling, if not sur-
passing, the most brilliant colors of nature, made the group
of bold investigators still bolder. Research in organic
chemistry began to find rapid rewards; entirely new and
successful industries based on purely scientific data were
springing up in England and France, as well as in Ger-
many.
Stimulating
influences of
the dye in-
dustry on
organic
chemistry
Some wide-awake leaders of these new en-
terprises, more particularly in Germany, soon
learned that they were never hampered by too
much knowledge, but that, on the contrary,
they were almost continuously handicapped
in their impatient onward march by insufficient know-
9
ledge, or by misleading conceptions, if not by incorrect
published facts.
This is precisely where the study of organic chemistry
received its greatest stimulating influence and soon put
Germany, in this branch of science, ahead of all other na-
tions.
Money and effort had to be spent freely for further re-
search. The best scholars in chemistry were called into
action. Some men, who were preparing themselves to be-
come professors, were induced to take a leading part as
directors in one or another of the new chemical enterprises.
Others, who refused to forsake their teachers' career, were
retained as advisers or guides, and, in several instances, the
honor of being the discoverers of new processes, or a new
dye, was made more substantial by financial rewards. The
modest German university professor, who heretofore had
lived within a rather narrow academic sphere, went
through a process of evolution, where the rapidly growing
chemical industry made him realize his latent powers and
greater importance, and broadened his influence way
beyond the confines of his lecture-room. Even if he were
altruistic enough to remain indifferent to fame or money,
he felt stimulated by the very thought that he was helping,
in a direct manner, to build up the nation and the world
through the immediate application of the principles of
science.
Industrial
research
laboratories
In the beginning, science did all the giving
and chemical industry got most of the rewards;
but soon the rôles began to change to the point
where frequently they became entirely inverted. The uni-
versities did not furnish knowledge fast enough to keep
pace with the requirements of the rapidly developing new
industries. Modern research laboratories were organized
by some large chemical factories on a scale never conceived
before, with a lavishness which made the best equipped
10
university laboratory appear like a timid attempt. Ger-
many, so long behind France and England, had become the
recognized leader in organic manufacturing processes, and
developed a new industrial chemistry based more on the
thorough knowledge of organic chemistry than on en-
gineering skill.
Early German
chemical
industry more
In this relation, it is worth while to point out
that the early organic industrial chemistry,
important in through which Germany was soon to become so
important, at first counted its output not in
tons, but in pounds-not in size nor in quan-
tity, but in variety and quality.
variety than
in size
Now let us see how Germany won her spurs in chemical
engineering as well:
Development
of chemical
engineering
in Germany
At the beginning, the manufacturing prob-
lems in organic chemistry involved few, if any,
serious engineering difficulties, but required,
most of all, a sound theoretical knowledge of
the subject; this put a premium on the scientist, and could
afford, for awhile at least, to ignore the engineer. But
when growing developments began to claim the help of
good engineers, there was no difficulty whatsoever in sup-
plying them, nor in making them coöperate with the scien-
tists. In fact, since then, Germany has solved, just as
successfully, some of the most extraordinary chemical en-
gineering problems ever undertaken, although the devel-
opment of such processes was entered upon at first from
the purely scientific side.
In almost every case, it was only after the underlying
scientific facts had been well established, that any attempt
was made to develop them commercially.
Methods of
healthy de-
Healthy commercial development of new
velopment of scientific processes does not build its hope of
success upon the coöperation of that class of
"promoters" which are always eager to find
scientific
processes
11
any available pretext for making "quick money," and
whose scientific ignorance contributes conveniently to
their comfort by not interfering too much with their
self-assurance and their voluble assertions. The his-
tory of most of the successful recent chemical processes
abounds in examples where, even after the underlying
principles were well established, long and costly prepara-
tory team-work had to be undertaken; where foremost
scientists, as well as engineers of great ability, had to com-
bine their knowledge, their skill, their perseverance, with
the support of large chemical companies, who,
in their turn, could rely on the financial back-
ing of strong banking concerns, well advised
Scientific
banking
by tried expert specialists.
History does not record how many processes thus sub-
mitted to careful study were rejected because, on close
examination, they were found to possess some hopeless
shortcomings. In this way, numerous fruitless efforts and
financial losses were averted, where less carefully accumu-
lated knowledge might have induced less scrupulous
promoters to secure money for plausible but ill-advised
enterprises.
indigo
In the history of the manufacture of arti-
Synthesis of ficial dyes, no chapter gives a more striking
instance of long, assiduous and expensive pre-
liminary work of the highest order than the development
of the industrial synthesis of indigo. Here was a substance
of enormous consumption which, until then, had been
obtained from the tropics as a natural product of agricul-
ture. Professor von Baeyer and his pupils, by long and
marvelously clever laboratory work, succeeded by and by
in unraveling the chemical constitution of this indigo
dye, and finally indicated some possible methods of syn-
thesis. Notwithstanding all this, it took the Badische Ani-
12
line & Soda Fabrik about twenty years of patient research
work, carried out by a group of eminent chemists and en-
gineers, before a satisfactory method was devised by which
the artificial product could compete in price and in quality
with natural indigo.
Stimulating
influences of
system
Germany, with her well administered and
easily enforcible patent laws, has added,
a good patent through this very agency, a most vital induce-
ment for pioneer work in chemical industries.
Who otherwise would dare to take the risk of all the ex-
penses connected with this class of creative work? More-
over, who would be induced to publish the result of his
discoveries far and wide throughout the whole world in
that steadily flowing stream of patent literature, which,
much sooner than any text-books or periodicals, enables
one worker to be benefited and to be inspired by the pub-
lication of the latest work of others?
International
scope of
chemical
research
The development of some problems of in-
dustrial chemistry has enlisted the brilliant
collaboration of men of so many different
nationalities that the final success could not,
with any measure of justice, be ascribed exclusively to one
single race or nation; this is best illustrated by the inven-
tion of the different methods for the fixation of nitrogen
from the air.
An Epos of
Applied
Science
This extraordinary achievement, although
scarcely a few years old, seems already an ordi-
nary link in the chain of common, current
events of our busy life; and yet, the facts connected with
this recent conquest reveal a modern tale of great deeds of
the race-an Epos of Applied Science.
Its story began the day when chemistry taught us how
indispensable are the nitrogeneous substances for the
growth of all living beings.
Generally speaking, the most expensive food-stuffs are
13
precisely those which contain most nitrogen; for the sim-
Deficiency of
nitrogen fer-
tilizers in
agriculture
ple reason that there is, and always has been,
at sometime or another, a shortage of ni-
trogeneous foods in the world. Agriculture
furnishes us these proteid- or nitrogen-con-
taining bodies, whether we eat them directly as vegetable
products, or indirectly as animals which have assimilated
the proteids from plants. It so happens, however, that by
our ill-balanced methods of agriculture, we take nitrogen
from the soil much faster than it is supplied to the soil
through natural agencies. We have tried to remedy this
discrepancy by enriching the soil with manure or other
fertilizers, but this has been found totally insufficient, espe-
cially with our methods of intensive culture—our fields
want more nitrogen. So agriculture has been looking
anxiously around to find new sources of nitrogen fer-
tilizer. For a short time, an excellent supply
was found in the guano deposits of Peru;
but this material was used up so eagerly that the supply
lasted only a very few years. In the meantime, the ammo-
nium salts recovered from the by-products of the gas-works
have come into steady use as nitrogen fertilizer. But, here
again, the supply is entirely insufficient, and
peter and its during the later period our main reliance has
been placed on the natural beds of sodium
nitrate, which are found in the desert regions
of Chile. This has been, of late, our principal source of
nitrogen for agriculture, as well as for the many industries
which require saltpeter or nitric acid.
Guano
Chile salt-
approaching
exhaustion
In 1898, Sir William Crookes, in his memorable presi-
dential address before the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, called our attention to the threaten-
ing fact that, at the increasing rate of consumption, the
nitrate beds of Chile would be exhausted before the middle
of this century. Here was a warning-an alarm call-
14
raised to the human race by one of the deepest scientific
Nitrogen
starvation
thinkers of our generation. It meant no more
nor less than that before long our race would
be confronted with nitrogen starvation. In a
given country, all other conditions being equal, the abun-
dance or the lack of nitrogen available for nutrition is a
paramount factor in the degree of general welfare, or of
physical decadence. The less nitrogen there is available
as food-stuffs, the nearer the population is to starvation.
The great famines in such nitrogen-deficient countries as
India and China and Russia are sad examples of nitrogen
starvation.
And yet, nitrogen, as such, is so abundant in nature that
it constitutes four-fifths of the air we breathe. Every
square mile of our atmosphere contains nitrogen enough to
satisfy our total present consumption for over half a cen-
tury. However, this nitrogen is unavailable as long as we
do not find means to make it enter into some suitable
chemical combination. Moreover, nitrogen was generally
considered inactive and inert, because it does not enter
readily in chemical combination.
William Crookes' disquieting message of rapidly ap-
proaching nitrogen starvation did not cause much worry
to politicians-they seldom look so far ahead into the
future. But, to the men of science, it rang like a reproach
to the human race. Here, then, we were in possession of
an inexhaustible store of nitrogen in the air, and yet, unless
we found some practical means for tying some of it into a
suitable chemical combination, we would soon be in a posi-
tion similar to that of a shipwrecked sailor, drifting around
on an immense ocean of brine, and yet slowly
dying for lack of drinking water.
The
Priestley-
Cavendish
experiment
As a guiding beacon, there was, however,
that simple experiment, carried out in a little
glass tube, as far back as 1785, by both Cavendish and
15
Priestley, which showed that if electric sparks were passed
through air, the oxygen thereof was able to burn some of
the nitrogen and to engender nitrous vapors.
Bradley and
Lovejoy
This seemingly unimportant laboratory cu-
riosity, so long dormant in the text-books, was
made a starting point by Charles S. Bradley
and D. R. Lovejoy, in Niagara Falls, for creating the
first industrial apparatus for converting the nitrogen of
the air into nitric acid by means of the electric arc.
As early as 1902, they published their results as well
as the details of their apparatus. Although they operated
only one full-sized unit, they demonstrated conclusively
that nitric acid could thus be produced from the air in un-
limited quantities. We shall examine later the reasons
why this pioneer enterprise proved a commercial insuccess;
but to these two American inventors belongs, undoubtedly,
the credit of having furnished the first answer to the dis-
tress call of Sir William Crookes.
Birkeland
and Eyde
In the meantime, many other investigators
were at work at the same problem, and soon
from Norway's abundant waterfalls came the
news that Birkeland and Eyde had solved successfully, and
on a commercial scale, the same problem by a differently
constructed apparatus. The Germans, too, were working
on the same subject, and we heard that Schoenherr, also
Pauling, had evolved still other methods, all,
however, based on the Cavendish-Priestley
principle of oxidation of nitrogen. In Norway
alone, the artificial saltpeter factories use now, day and
night, over 200,000 electrical horse-power, which will soon
be doubled; while a further addition is contemplated which
will bring the volume of electric current consumed to about
500,000 horse-power. The capital invested at present in
these works amounts to $27,000,000.
Pauling and
Schoenherr
i
16
Frank and
Caro's
Frank and Caro, in Germany, succeeded in creating an-
other profitable industrial process whereby nitrogen could
be fixed by carbide of calcium, which converts
it into calcium cyanamide, an excellent fer-
cyanamide tilizer by itself. By the action of steam on
cyanamide, ammonia is produced, or it can be made the
starting point of the manufacture of cyanides, so profusely
used for the treatment of gold and silver ores.
Although the synthetic nitrates have found a field of
their own, their utilization for fertilizers is smaller than
that of the cyanamide; and the latter industry represents,
to-day, an investment of about $30,000,000, with three fac-
tories in Germany, two in Norway, two in Sweden, one in
France, one in Switzerland, two in Italy, one in Austria,
one in Japan, one in Canada, but not any in the United
States. The total output of cyanamide is valued at $15,-
000,000 yearly and employs 200,000 horse-power, and
preparations are made at almost every existing plant for
further extensions. An English company is contemplating
the application of 1,000,000 horse-power to the production
of cyanamide and its derivatives, 600,000 of which have
been secured in Norway and 400,000 in Iceland.
Nitride
processes
But still other processes are being developed,
based on the fact that certain metals or metal-
loids can absorb nitrogen, and can thus be
converted into nitrides; the latter can either be used directly
as fertilizers or they can be made to produce ammonia un-
der suitable treatment.
Serpek
process
The most important of these nitride pro-
cesses seems to be that of Serpek, who, in his
experimental factory at Niedermorschweiler,
succeeded in obtaining aluminum nitride in almost theo-
retical quantities, with the use of an amount of electrical
energy eight times less than that needed for the Birkeland-
Eyde process and one-half less than for the cyanamide
17
.
process, the results being calculated for equal weights of
"fixed" nitrogen.
A French company has taken up the commercial appli-
cation of this process which can furnish, besides ammonia,
pure alumina for the manufacture of aluminum metal.
Haber's
process
An exceptionally ingenious process for the
direct synthesis of ammonia, by the direct
union of hydrogen with nitrogen, has been de-
veloped by Haber in conjunction with the chemists and
engineers of the Badische Aniline & Soda Fabrik.
The process has the advantage that it is not, like the
other nitrogen-fixation processes, paramountly dependent
upon cheap power; for this reason, if for no other, it seems
to be destined to a more ready application. The fact that
the group of the three German chemical companies which
control the process have sold out their former holdings in
the Norwegian enterprises to a Norwegian-French group,
and are now devoting their energies to the commercial in-
stallation of the Haber process, has quite some significance
as to expectations for the future.
The future
of nitrogen-
fixation
processes
The question naturally arises: Will there be
an over-production and will these different rival
processes not kill each other in slaughtering
prices beyond remunerative production?
As to over-production, we should bear in mind that
nitrogen fertilizers are already used at the rate of about
$200,000,000 worth a year, and that any decrease in price,
and, more particularly, better education in farming, will
probably lead to an enormously increased consumption. It
is worth mentioning here that, in 1825, the first ship-load
of Chile saltpeter which was sent to Europe could find no
buyer, and was finally thrown into the sea as useless ma-
terial.
Then again, processes for nitric acid and processes for
ammonia, instead of interfering, are supplementary to
18
each other, because the world needs ammonia and am-
monium salts, as well as nitric acid or nitrates.
It should be pointed out also, that, ultimately, the pro-
duction of ammonium nitrate may prove the most desirable
method so as to minimize freight; for this salt contains
much more nitrogen to the ton than is the case with the
more bulky calcium-salt under which form synthetic
nitrates are now put into the market.
Why did
Before leaving this subject, let us examine
Bradley and why Bradley and Lovejoy's efforts came to a
Lovejoy not
standstill where others succeeded.
succeed?
First of all, the cost of power at Niagara
Falls is three to five times higher than in Norway, and al-
though at the time this was not strictly prohibitive for the
manufacture of nitric acid, it was entirely beyond hope for
the production of fertilizers. The relatively high cost of
power in our country is the reason why the cyanamide en-
terprise had to locate on the Canadian side of Niagara
Falls, and why, up till now, outside of an experimental
plant in the South (a 4000 horse-power installation in
North Carolina, using the Pauling process), the whole
United States has not a single synthetic nitrogen fertilizer
works.
The yields of the Bradley-Lovejoy apparatus were
rather good. They succeeded in converting as much as
212% of the air, which is somewhat better than their suc-
cessors are able to accomplish.
But their units, 12 kilowatts, were very much smaller
than the 1000 to 3000 kilowatts now used in Norway; they
were also more delicate to handle, all of which made instal-
lation and operation considerably more expensive.
However, this was the natural phase through which any
pioneer industrial development has to go, and it is more
than probable that in the natural order of events, these
imperfections would have been eliminated.
19
But the killing stroke came when financial support was
suddenly withdrawn.
Necessity of
scientific
team-work
and good
financial
In the successful solution of similar indus-
trial problems, the originators in Europe were
not only backed by scientifically well-advised
bankers, but they were helped to the rapid
solution of all the side problems by a group of
specially selected scientific collaborators, as
well as by all the resourcefulness of well-established chem-
ical enterprises.
backing
That such conditions are possible in the United States
has been demonstrated by the splendid team-work which
led to the development of the modern Tungsten lamp in the
research laboratories of the General Electric Company,
and to the development of the Tesla polyphase motor by
the group of engineers of the Westinghouse Company.
True, there are endless subjects of research and develop-
ment which can be brought to success by the efforts of sin-
gle independent inventors, but there are some problems of
applied science which are so vast, so much surrounded with
ramifying difficulties, that no one man, nor two men, how-
ever exceptional, can either furnish the brains or the
money necessary for leading to success within a reasonable
time. For such special problems, the rapid coöperation of
numerous experts and the financial resources of large
establishments are indispensable.
Dollars and
cents a
criterion of
efficiency
All these examples of the struggle for
efficiency and improvement demonstrate why,
in industrial chemistry, the question of dollars
and cents has to be taken very much into
consideration.
From this standpoint at least, the "Dollars and cents"
argument can be interpreted as a symptom of industrial
efficiency, and thus, the definition sounds no longer as a
reproach. With some allowable degree of accuracy, it for-
20
mulates one of the economic aspects of any acceptable in-
dustrial chemical process.
Indeed, barring special conditions, as, for instance, in-
competent or reckless management, unfair competition,
monopolies, or other artificial privileges, the money success
of a chemical process is the cash plebiscite of approval of
the consumers. It is bound, after a time at least, to weed
out the inefficient methods.
Influence of
secondary
factors in
chemical
processes
Some chemists, who have little or no experi-
ence with industrial enterprises, are too much
over-inclined to judge a chemical process ex-
clusively from the standpoint of the chemical
reactions involved therein, without sufficient
regard to engineering difficulties, financial requirements,
labor problems, market and trade conditions, rapid devel-
opment of the art involving frequent disturbing improve-
ments in methods and expensive changes in equipment,
advantages or disadvantages of the location of the plant,
and other conditions so numerous and variable that many
of them can hardly be foreseen even by men of experience.
And yet, these seemingly secondary considerations most
of the time become the deciding factor of success or failure
of an otherwise well-conceived chemical process.
Influence of
freight
The cost of transportation alone will fre-
quently decide whether a certain chemical pro-
cess is economically possible or not. For in-
stance, the big Washoe Smelter, in Montana, wastes enough
sulphurdioxide-gas to make daily 1800 tons of sulphuric
acid, but that smelter is too far distant from any possible
market for such a quantity of otherwise valuable material.
Natural
deposits of
soda
Another example of the kind is found in the
natural deposits of soda, or soda lakes, in Cali-
fornia. One of these soda lakes contains from
thirty to forty-two million tons of soda. Here is a natural
source of supply which would be ample to satisfy the
21
world's demand for many years to come. Similar deposits
exist in other parts of the world, but the cost of transporta-
tion to a sufficiently large and profitable market is so exor-
bitant that, in the meantime, it is cheaper to erect at more
convenient points expensive chemical works in which soda
is made chemically and from where the market can be sup-
plied more profitably.
In addition, we can cite the artificial nitrate processes in
Norway, which, notwithstanding their low efficiency and
expensive installation, can furnish nitrate in competition
with the natural nitrate beds of Chile, because the latter are
hampered by the cost of extraction from the soil where fuel
for crystallization is expensive, in addition to the consider-
able cost of freight.
Leblanc
soda
But there is no better example, illustrating
the far-reaching effect of seemingly secondary
conditions upon the success of a chemical pro-
cess, than the history of the Leblanc soda process.
This famous process was the forerunner of chemical in-
dustry: for almost a century, it dominated the enormous
group of industries of heavy chemicals, so expressively
called by the French: "La Grande Industrie Chimique,"
and now we are witnesses of the lingering death agonies of
this chemical colossus. Through the Leblanc process, large
fortunes have been made and lost; but even after its death, it
will leave a treasure of information to science and chemical
engineering, the value of which can hardly be overestimated.
Here, then, is a very well worked-out process, admirably
studied in all its details, which, in its heroic struggle for
existence, has drawn upon every conceivable resource of
ingenuity furnished by the most learned chemists and the
most skilful engineers, who succeeded in bringing it to an
extraordinary degree of perfection, and which, neverthe-
less, has to succumb before inexorable, although seemingly
secondary, conditions.
22
Solvay
process
Strange to say, its competitor, the Solvay process, en-
tered into the arena after a succession of failures. When
Solvay, as a young man, took up this process,
he was, himself, totally ignorant of the fact
that no less than about a dozen able chemists
had invented and reinvented the very reaction on which he
had pinned his faith; that, furthermore, some had tried it on
a commercial scale, and had, in every instance, encountered
failure. At that time, all this must, undoubtedly, have
been to young Solvay a revelation sufficient to dishearten
almost anybody. But he had one predominant thought to
which he clung as a last hope of success, and which would
probably have escaped most chemists; he reasoned that, in
this process, he starts from two watery solutions, which,
when brought together, precipitate a dry product, bicar-
bonate of soda; in the Leblanc process, the raw materials
must be melted together, with the use of expensive fuel,
after which the mass is dissolved in water, losing all these
valuable heat units, while more heat has again to be applied
to evaporate to dryness.
Greater con-
sumption of
fuel in
Leblanc
process
After all, most of the weakness of the Le-
blanc process resides in the greater consump-
tion of fuel. But the cost of fuel, here again,
is determined by freight rates. This is so true
that we find that the last few Leblanc works
which manage to keep alive are exactly those which are
situated near unusually favorable shipping points, where
they can obtain cheap fuel, as well as cheap raw materials,
and whence they can most advantageously reach certain
profitable markets.
Hydrochloric
acid a
troublesome
But another tremendous handicap of the
Leblanc process is that it gives as one of its by-
products, hydrochloric acid. Profitable use for
this acid, as such, can be found only to a limited
extent. It is true that hydrochloric acid could be used in
by-product
23
much larger quantities for many purposes where sulphuric
acid is used now, but it has, against sulphuric acid, a great
freight disadvantage. In its commercially available con-
dition, it is an aqueous solution, containing only about
one-third of real acid, so that the transportation of one ton
of acid practically involves the extra cost of freight of
about two tons of water. Furthermore, the transportation
of hydrochloric acid in anything but glass carboys involves
very difficult problems in itself, so that the market for
hydrochloric acid remains always within a relatively small
zone from its point of production. However,
Chloride of for a while at least, an outlet for this hydro-
chloric acid was found by converting it into a
dry material which can easily be transported; namely,
chloride of lime or bleaching-powder.
lime
The amount of bleaching-powder consumed in the world
practically dictated the limited extent to which the Leblanc
Electrolytic
processes a
new com-
petitor
process could be profitably worked in competi-
tion with the Solvay process. But even this out-
let has been blocked during these later years
by the advent of the electrolytic alkali pro-
cesses, which have sprung up successfully in several coun-
tries, and which give as a cheap by-product, chlorine,
which is directly converted into chloride of lime.
To-day, any process which involves the production of
large quantities of hydrochloric acid, beyond what the mar-
ket can absorb as such, or as derivatives thereof, becomes a
positive detriment, and foretells failure of the process.
Even if we could afford to lose all the acid, the disposal of
large quantities thereof conflicts immediately with laws
and ordinances relative to the pollution of the atmosphere
or streams, or the rights of neighbors, and occasions expen-
sive damage suits.
Market for
chlorine
products
Whatever is said about hydrochloric acid,
applies to some extent to chlorine, produced in
24
the electrolytic manufacture of caustic soda. Here again,
the development of the latter industry is limited, primarily,
by the amount of chlorine which the market, as such, or as
chlorinated products, can absorb.
At any rate, chlorine can be produced so much cheaper
by electrolytic caustic alkali processes than formerly, and
in the meantime the market price of chloride of lime has
already been cut about in half.
In as far as the rather young electrolytic alkali industry
has taken a considerable development in the United States,
let us examine it somewhat nearer:
World's pro-
duction of
chloride of
lime-half
million tons
At present, the world's production of chlor-
ide of lime approximates about half a million
tons.
We used to import all our chloride of lime
from Europe, until about fifteen years ago,
when the first successful electrolytic alkali works were
started at Niagara Falls. That ingenious mercury cell of
Hamilton Y. Castner-a pupil of Professor
Chandler and one of the illustrious sons of the
Columbia School of Mines-was first used, and his process
still furnishes a large part of all the electrolytic caustic
soda and chlorine manufactured here and abroad.
Castner
30,000 horse-
the United
States for
electrolytic
alkali
At present, about 30,000 electrical horse-
power used in power are employed uninterruptedly for the
different processes used in the United States,
and our home production has increased to the
point where, instead of importing chloride of
lime, we shall soon be compelled to export our
surplus production.
production
Nearness of
tion
It looks now as if, for the moment at least,
over-produc- any sudden considerable increase in the pro-
duction of chloride of lime would lead to over-
production until new channels of consumption of chloride
of lime or other chlorine products can be found.
25
chlorine
However, new uses for chlorine are being found every
day. The very fact that commercial hydro-
New uses for chloric acid of exceptional purity is now being
manufactured in Niagara Falls by starting
from chlorine, indicates clearly that conditions are being
reversed; no longer than a few years ago, when
chlorine was manufactured exclusively by
means of hydrochloric acid, this would have
Hydrochloric
acid from
chlorine
sounded like a paradox.
Organic
chlorine
products
The consumption of chlorine for the prepa-
ration of organic chlorination products utilized
in the dye-stuff industry, is also increasing
continually, and its use for the manufacture of tetra-
chloride of carbon and so-called acetylen chlorination
products, has reached quite some importance.
Ethylen-
chloride
There is probably a much overlooked but wider opening
for chlorinated solvents in the fact that
ethylen-gas can be prepared now at consider-
ably lower cost than acetylen, and that ethylen-
chloride, or the old known "Dutch Liquid," is an unusually
good solvent. It has, furthermore, the great advantage
that its specific gravity is not too high, and its boiling
point, too, is about the right temperature. It ought to be
possible to make it at such a low price that it would find
endless applications where the use of other chlorination
solvents has thus far been impossible.
Chlorine in
metallurgy
Increasing
use of
liquified
chlorine
The chlorination of ores for certain metallur-
gical processes may eventually open a still
larger field of consumption for chlorine.
In the meantime, liquified chlorine gas, obtained by
great compression, or by intense refrigeration,
has become an important article of commerce,
which can be transported in strong steel cylin-
ders. Its main utilization resides in the manu-
facture of tin chloride by the Goldschmidt process for
26
Goldschmidt
detinning
reclaiming tin-scrap. It is finding, also, increased applica-
tions as a bleaching agent and for the purifica-
process for tion of drinking water, as well as for the
manufacture of various chlorination products.
Its great handicap for rapid introduction is again the
question of freight, where heavy and expensive containers
become indispensable.
In most cases, the transportation problem of chlorine is
solved more economically by handling it as chloride of lime,
which, after all, represents chlorine or oxygen in solid form,
easily transportable.
Freight
problem in
relation to
chlorine
It would seem as if the freight difficulty
could easily be eliminated by producing the
chlorine right at the spot of consumption. But
this is not always so simple as it may appear.
To begin with, the cost of an efficient plant for any elec-
trolytic operation is always unusually high as compared to
other chemical equipments. Then, also, small electrolytic
alkali plants are not profitable to operate. Furthermore,
the conditions for producing cheap chlorine depend on
many different factors, which all have to coördinate advan-
tageously; for instance, cheap power, cheap fuel, and
cheap raw materials are essential, while, at the same time, a
profitable outlet must be found for the caustic soda.
Lately, there has been a considerable reduction of the
market price of caustic soda; all this may have for effect
that the less efficient electrolytic processes will gradually
be eliminated; although this may not necessarily be
the case for smaller plants which do not compete in the
open market, but consume their own output for some
special purpose.
Advantages
and disad-
vantages of
Several distinct types of electrolytic cells are
now in successful use, but experience seems to
different types demonstrate that the so-called diaphragm cells
are cheapest to construct and to operate, pro-
of electrolytic
alkali cells
27
vided, however, no exception be taken to the fact that the
caustic soda obtained from diaphragm cells always con-
tains some sodium chloride, usually varying from 2 to 3%,
which it is not practical to eliminate, but which, for almost
all purposes, does not interfere in the least with its commer-
cial use.
Mercury cells give a much purer caustic soda, and this
may, in some cases, compensate for their more expensive
equipment and operation. Moreover, there are some pur-
poses where the initial caustic solution of rather high con-
centration, produced directly in these cells, can be used as it
is without further treatment, thus obviating further con-
centration and cost of fuel.
The expenses for evaporation and elimination of salt
from the raw caustic solutions increase to an exaggerated
extent with some types of diaphragm cells, which produce
only very weak caustic liquors. This is also the case with
the so-called "gravity cell," sometimes called the "bell
type," or "Aussig type," of cell. But these gravity cells
have the merit of dispensing with the delicate and expen-
sive problem of diaphragms. On the other hand, their
units are very small, and, on this account, they necessitate a
rather complicated installation, occupying an unusually
large floor space and expensive buildings.
The general tendency is now toward cells which can be
used in very large units, which can be housed economically,
and of which the general cost of maintenance and renewal
is small; some of the modern types of diaphragm cells are
now successfully operating with 3000 to 5000 amperes per
cell.
As to the possible future improvements in electrolytic
alkali cells, we should mention that in some types the cur-
rent efficiencies have practically reached their maximum,
and average ampere efficiencies as high as 95 to 97%
have been obtained in continuous practice. The main diffi-
28
culty is to reinforce these favorable results by the use of
lower voltage, without making the units unnecessarily
bulky, or expensive in construction, or in maintenance, all
factors which soon outweigh any intended saving of electric
current.
Here, more than in any other branch of chemical en-
gineering, it is easy enough to determine how "good" a cell
is on a limited trial, but it takes expensive, long continuous
use on a full commercial scale, running uninterruptedly
day and night for years, to find out how "bad" it is for
real commercial practice.
Cheap power
not the only
factor
In relation to the electrolytic alkali industry,
a great mistake is frequently committed by con-
sidering the question of power as paramount;
true enough, cheap power is very important, almost essen-
tial, but certainly it is not everything. There have been
cases where it was found much cheaper in the end to pay
almost double for electric current in a certain locality,
than in another site not far distant from the first, for the
simple reason that the cheaper power supply was ham-
pered by frequent interruptions and expensive disturb-
ances, which more than offset any possible saving in cost
of power.
In further corroboration, it is well known that some of
the most successful electrolytic soda manufacturers have
found it to their advantage to sacrifice power by running
their cells at decidedly higher voltage than is strictly nec-
essary—which simply means consuming more power—and
this in order to be able to use higher current densities,
thereby increasing considerably the output of the same size
units, and thus economizing on the general cost of plant
operation. Here is one of the ever recurring instances in
chemical manufacturing where it becomes more advan-
tageous to sacrifice apparent theoretical efficiency in favor
of industrial expediency.
29
All this does not diminish the fact that the larger electro-
chemical industries can only thrive where cheap power is
available.
Importance
of cheap
power for
electro-
chemical
Modern progress of electrical engineering
has given us the means to utilize so-called
processes natural powers; until now, however, we have
only availed ourselves of the water-power developed from
rivers, lakes, and waterfalls. As far as larger electric
power generation is concerned, the use of the wind, or the
tide, or the heat of the sun, represents, up till now, nothing
much beyond a mere hope of future possibilities.
In the meantime, it so happens, unfortunately, that
many of the most abundant water-powers of the world are
situated in places of difficult access, far removed from the
zone of possible utilization.
Cost of
water-power
in the United
States still
too high
But, precisely on this account, it would ap-
pear, at first sight, as if the United States, with
some of her big water-powers situated nearer
to active centers of consumption, would be in
an exceptionally favorable condition for the
development of electrochemical industries. On closer ex-
amination, we find, however, that the cost of water-power,
as sold to manufacturers, is, in general, much higher than
might be expected; at any rate, it is considerably more ex-
pensive than the cost of electric power utilized in the
Norway nitrate enterprises.
This is principally due to the fact that in the United
States, water-power, before it is utilized by the electrolytic
manufacturer, has already to pay one, two, and sometimes
three, profits, to as many intermediate interests, which act
as so many middlemen between the original water-power
and the consumer. Only in such instances as in Norway,
where the electrochemical enterprise and the development
of the water-power are practically in the same hands, can
electric current be calculated at its real cheapest cost.
30
Neither should the fact be overlooked that the best of our
water-powers in the East are situated rather far inland.
Although this does not matter much for the home market,
it puts us at a decided disadvantage for the exportation of
manufactured goods, in comparison again with Norway,
where the electrolytic plants are situated quite close to a
good sea-harbor open in all seasons.
Increasing
gas and pro-
ducer gas
Some electrochemical enterprises require
use of waste cheap fuel just as much as cheap power; and,
on this account, it has proved sometimes more
advantageous to dispense entirely with water-
power by generating gas for fuel as well as for power
from cheap coal or still cheaper peat.
At present, most of our ways of using coal are still cum-
bersome and wasteful, although several efficient methods
have been developed which some day will probably be used
almost exclusively, principally in such places where lower
grades of cheap coal are obtainable.
I refer here particularly to the valuable
Mond-gas pioneer work of that great industrial chemist,
Mond, on cheap water-gas production, by the use of a lim-
ited amount of air in conjunction with water vapor.
More recently, this process has been extended by Caro,
Frank and others, to the direct conversion of undried peat
into fuel-gas.
By the use of these processes, peat or lower grades of
coal, totally unsuitable for other purposes, containing, in
some instances, as much as 60 to 70% of incombustible
constituents, can be used to good advantage in the produc-
tion of fuel for power generation.
Whether Mond-gas will ever be found advantageous for
distribution to long distances is questionable, because its
heating value per cubic foot is rather less than that of ordi-
nary water-gas, but this does not interfere with its efficient
use in internal combustion engines.
31
In general, our methods for producing or utilizing gas in
our cities do scant justice to the extended opportunities
indicated by our newer knowledge.
Antiquated
municipal
specifications
for gas
testing
Good fuel-gas could be manufactured and
distributed to the individual household con-
sumer at considerably cheaper rates, if it were
not for antiquated municipal specifications,
which keep on prescribing photometric tests in-
stead of insisting on standards of fuel value, which makes
the cost of production unnecessarily high, and disregards
the fact that, for lighting, the Welsbach mantle has ren-
Great eco-
nomic possi-
bilities of
cheap fuel-
gas
dered obsolete the use of highly carbureted gas
as a bare flame. But for those unfortunate
specifications, cheap fuel-gas might be pro-
duced at some advantageous central point,
where very cheap coal is available; such heating
gas could be distributed to every house and every factory,
where it could be used cleanly and advantageously, like
natural gas, doing away at once with the black coal smoke
nuisance, which now practically compels a city like New
York to use nothing but the more expensive grades of
anthracite coal. It would eliminate, at the same time, all
the bother and expense caused through the clumsy and ex-
pensive methods of transportation and handling of coal and
ashes; it would relieve us from many unnecessary middle-
men which now exist between coal and its final consumer.
New power
centers to
The newer large-sized internal combustion
engines are introducing increasing opportuni-
compete with ties for new centers of power production where
waste gas of blast-furnaces or coke-ovens, or
where deposits of inferior coal or peat, are available.
water-power
If such centers are situated near tidewater, this may ren-
der them still more advantageous for some electrochemical
industries, which, until now, were compelled to locate near
some inland water-powers.
32
Increased
Nor should we overlook the fact that the newer methods
for the production of cheap fuel-gas offer excellent oppor-
tunities for an increased production of valuable
production of tar by-products, and more particularly of
ammonia and ammonium salts; the latter would help to a not
products from inconsiderable extent in furnishing more ni-
trogen fertilizer.
other by-
gas
It is somewhat remarkable that a greater effort has al-
ready been made to start the industrial synthesis of
nitrogen products than to economize all these hitherto
wasted sources of ammonia.
Our unbal-
anced meth-
ods of
agriculture
In fact, science indicates still other ways,
somewhat of a more radical nature, for correct-
ing the nitrogen deficiencies in relation to our
food supply.
Indeed, if we will look at this matter from a much
broader standpoint, we may find that, after all, the short-
age of nitrogen in the world is attributable, to a large
extent, to our rather one-sided system of agriculture. We
do not sufficiently take advantage of the fact that certain
plants, for instance those of the group of Leguminosæ, have
the valuable property of easily assimilating nitrogen from
the air, without the necessity of nitrogen fertilizers. In this
way, the culture of certain Leguminosæ can insure enough
nitrogen for the soil, so that, in rotation with nitrogen con-
suming crops, like wheat, we could dispense with the neces-
sity of supplying any artificial nitrogen fertilizers.
Disturbing
influence of
raising too
many cattle
The present nitrogen deficiency is influenced
further by two other causes:
The first cause is our unnecessarily exag-
gerated meat diet, in which we try to find our
proteid requirements, and which compels us to raise so
many cattle, while the amount of land which feeds one head
of cattle could furnish, if properly cultivated, abundant
vegetable food for a family of five.
33
The soy-
bean
The second cause is our insufficient knowledge of the
way to grow and prepare for human food just those vege-
tables which are richest in proteids. Unfor-
tunately, it so happens that exactly such
plants as, for instance, the soy-bean are not
by any means easily rendered palatable and digestible;
while any savage can eat raw meat, or can readily cook, boil
or roast it for consumption.
On this subject, we can learn much from some Eastern
people, like the Japanese, who have become experts in the
art of preparing a variety of agreeable food products from
that refractory soy-bean, which contains such an astonish-
ingly large amount of nutritious proteids, and which, long
ago, became for Japan a wholesome, staple article of diet.
But, on this subject, the Western races have not yet
progressed much beyond the point of preparing cattle-feed
and paint oil from the soy-bean, although the more ex-
tended culture of this, or similar plants, might work about
a revolution in our agricultural economics.
Agriculture
a branch of
industrial
chemistry
Agriculture, after all, is nothing but a very
important branch of industrial chemistry, al-
though most people seem to ignore the fact
that the whole prosperity of agriculture is
based on the success of that photochemical reaction which,
under the influence of the light of the sun, causes the car-
bon dioxide of the air to be assimilated by the chlorophyl of
the plant.
Possibilities
of photo-
chemistry
It is not impossible that photochemistry,
which hitherto has busied itself, almost ex-
clusively, within the narrow limits of the art of
making photographic images, will, some day, attain a de-
velopment of usefulness at least as important as all other
branches of physical chemistry. In this broader sense,
photochemistry seems an inviting subject for the agricul-
tural chemist. The possible rewards in store in this almost
34
virgin field may, in their turn, by that effect of superinduc-
tion between industry and science, bring about a rapid
development similar to what we have witnessed in the ad-
vancement of electricity, as well as chemistry, which both
began to progress by bounds and leaps, way ahead of other
sciences, as soon as their growing industrial applications
put a high premium on further research.
Photochemistry may allow us some day to obtain chem-
ical effects hitherto undreamed of. In general, the action of
light in chemical reactions seems incomparably less brutal
than all means used heretofore in chemistry. This is the
probable secret of the subtle chemical syntheses which
happen in plant life. To try to duplicate these delicate
reactions of nature by our present methods of high tem-
peratures, electrolysis, strong chemicals and other similar
torture-processes, seems like trying to imitate a master-
piece of Gounod by exploding a dynamite cartridge be-
tween the strings of a piano.
Some prob-
lems for the
future
But there are endless other directions for
scientific research, relating to industrial appli-
cations, which, until now, do not seem to have
received sufficient attention.
chemical de-
velopment of
the petroleum
industry
For instance, from a chemical standpoint, the richest
chemical enterprise of the United States, the
Rudimentary petroleum industry, has hitherto chiefly busied
itself with a rather primitive treatment of this
valuable raw material, and little or no attention
has been paid to any methods for transforming
at least a part of these hydrocarbons into more ennobled
products of commerce than mere fuel or illuminants.
A hint as to the enormous possibilities which
be in store in that direction, is suggested
may
by the recent work in Germany and England
on synthetic rubber; the only factor which prevents extend-
ing the laboratory synthesis of rubber into an immense
Synthetic
rubber
35
industrial undertaking, is that we have not yet learned how
to make cheaply the isoprene or other similar non-saturated
hydrocarbons which are the starting point in the process which
changes their molecules, by polymerization, into rubber.
and starch
Nor has our science begun to find the best
Cellulose uses for such inexpensive and never exhaustible
vegetable products as cellulose or starch.
Quite true, several important manufactures, like that of
paper, nitrocellulose, glucose, alcohol, vinegar and some
others, have been built on it; but to the chemist at least, it
seems as if a much greater development is possible in the
cheaper and more extended production of artificial fiber.
Although we have succeeded in making so-called artificial
silk, this article is still very expensive; furthermore, we
have not yet produced a cheap, good, artificial fiber of the
quality of wool.
Artificial
soluble
potash-salts
If we have made ourselves independent of
production of Chile for our nitrogen supply, we are still
absolutely at the mercy of the Stassfurt mines
in Germany for our requirements of soluble
potash-salts, which are just as necessary for agriculture.
Shall we succeed in utilizing some of the proposed methods
for converting that abundant supply of feldspar, or other
insoluble potash-bearing rocks, into soluble potash-salts by
combining the expensive heat treatment with the produc-
tion of another material like cement, which would render
the cost of fuel less exorbitant? Or shall the problem be
solved in setting free soluble potassium salts as a by-prod-
uct in a reaction engendering other staple products con-
sumed in large quantities?
relative to
constitution
of the globe
We have several astonishingly conflicting
Our ignorance theories about the constitution of the center of
the globe, but we have not yet developed the
means to penetrate the world's crust beyond
some deep mines-merely an imperceptible faint scratch on
36
the surface-and in the meantime, we keep on guessing,
while to-day astronomers know already more about the sur-
face of the planet Mars than we know about the interior of
the globe on which we live.
Intense
pressures
and heat
Nor have we learned to develop or utilize the
tremendous pressures under which most min-
erals have been formed, and still less do we
possess the means to try these pressures, in conjunction
with intensely high temperatures.
No end of work is in store for the research chemist, as
well as for the chemical engineer, who can think by himself,
without always following the beaten track. We are only
at the beginning of our successes, and yet,
when we stop to look back to see what has been
accomplished during the last generations, that big jump
from the rule-of-thumb to applied science is nothing short
of marvelous.
A retrospect
of energy
ignored
seventy years
ago
Whoever is acquainted with the condition of
Conservation human thought to-day must find it strange,
after all, that scarcely seventy years ago,
Mayer met with derision even amongst the
scientists of the time, when he announced to
the world that simple but fundamental principle of the
conservation of energy.
We can hardly conceive that just about the time
the Columbia School of Mines was founded,
Liebig was still ridiculing Pasteur's ideas on
the intervention of micro-organisms in fermen-
tation, which have proved so fecund in the most
epoch-making applications in science, medi-
cine, surgery and sanitation, as well as in many industries.
Fortunately, true science, contrary to other human
avocations, recognizes nobody as an "author-
admits no ity," and is willing to change her beliefs as
often as better studied facts warrant it; this
Pasteur's
ideas on fer-
mentation
ridiculed by
Liebig
Science
"authorities"
37
difference has been the most vital cause of her never ceas-
ing progress.
To the younger generation, surrounded with research
Pasteur's
rudimentary
laboratory
facilities
laboratories everywhere, it may cause astonish-
ment to learn that scarcely fifty years ago,
that great benefactor of humanity, Pasteur,
was still repeating his pathetic pleadings with
the French government to give him more suitable quarters
than a damp, poorly lighted basement, in which he was
compelled to carry on his research; and this was, then, the
condition of affairs of no less a place than Paris, the same
Paris that was spending, just at that time, endless millions
for the building of her new Opera-Palace.
Reason for
America's
Such facts should not be overlooked by those
who might think that America has been too
slow develop- slow in fostering chemical research.
ment of
chemical
industry
If the United States has not participated as
early as some European countries in the devel-
opment of industrial chemistry, this was chiefly because
conditions here were so totally different from those of
nations like Germany, England and France, that they did
not warrant any such premature efforts.
In a country as full of primary resources, agriculture,
forests, mines and the more elementary industries directly
connected therewith, as well as the problems of transporta-
tion, appealed more urgently to American intellectual men
of enterprise.
Why should anybody here have tried to introduce new
difficult or risky chemical industries, when on every side
more urgently important fields of enterprise were inviting
all men of initiative?
Chemical industries develop along the lines furnished by
the most immediate needs of a country. Our sulphuric acid
industry, which can boast to-day of a yearly production
of about three million tons, had to begin in an exceedingly
38
humble way, and the first small amounts of sulphuric acid
manufactured here found a very scant outlet.
It required the growth of such fields of application as
petroleum refining, superphosphates, explosives and
others, before the sulphuric acid industry could grow to
what it is to-day.
Exports and
imports be-
tween the
United States
At present, similar influences are still domi-
nating our chemical industries; they are gener-
ally directed to the mass production of partly
and Germany manufactured articles. This allows us to
export, at present, to Germany, chemicals in
crude form, but in greater value than the total sum of all
the chemical products we are importing from her; although
it can not be denied that a considerable part of our imports
are products like alizarine, indigo, aniline dyes and similar
synthetic products which require higher chemical manu-
facturing skill.
In this connection, it may be pointed out that our exports
of oleomargarine, to Germany alone, are about equivalent
to our imports of aniline dyes.
Some chem-
ical industries
in which the
United States
was pioneer
But all this does not alter the fact that in
several important chemical industries the
United States has been a pioneer. Such flour-
ishing enterprises as that of the artificial abra-
sives, carborundum and alundum, calcium
carbide, aluminum and many others, testify how soon we
have learned to avail ourselves of some of our water-power.
One of the most important chemical industries of the
world, the sulphite cellulose industry, of which the total
annual production amounts to three and a half million tons,
was originated and developed by a chemist in Philadelphia,
B. C. Tilgman. But its further development was stopped
for awhile on account of the same old trouble, lack of funds,
after $40,000 were spent, until some years later, it was
taken up again in Europe and reintroduced in the United
39
States, where it has developed to an annual production of
over a million tons.
What has been accomplished in America in chemical en-
terprises, and what is going on now in industrial research,
has been brilliantly set forth by Mr. Arthur D. Little.¹
Early begin-
ning of study
of chemistry
in the United
States
Nor at any time in the history of the United
States was chemistry neglected in this coun-
try; this has recently been brought to light in
the most convincing manner by Professor
Edgar F. Smith of Philadelphia.2
The altruistic fervor of that little group of earlier Amer-
ican chemists, who, in 1792, founded the Chemical Society
of Philadelphia (probably the very first chemical society in
the world), and in 1811, the Columbia Chemical Society
of Philadelphia, is best illustrated by an extract of one of
the addresses read at their meeting in 1798:
"The only true basis on which the independence of our
country can rest are agriculture and manufactures. To
the promotion of these nothing tends in a higher degree
than chemistry. It is this science which teaches man how to
correct the bad qualities of the land he cultivates by a
proper application of the various species of manure, and it
is by means of a knowledge of this science that he is enabled
to pursue the metals through the various forms they put
on in the earth, separate them from substances which ren-
der them useless, and at length manufacture them into
the various forms for use and ornament in which we see
them. If such are the effects of chemistry, how much
should the wish for its promotion be excited in the breast of
every American! It is to a general diffusion of knowledge
of this science, next to the virtue of our countrymen, that
we are to look for the firm establishment of our independ-
1 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Vol. 5, No. 10. October, 1913.
2 "Chemistry in America." Published by D. Appleton & Co. New York and
London, 1914.
40
ence. And may your endeavors, gentlemen, in this cause,
entitle you to the gratitude of your fellow-citizens.”
This early scientific spirit has been kept alive through-
out the following century by such American chemists as
Robert Hare, E. N. Horsford, Wolcott Gibbs, Sterry
Hunt, Lawrence Smith, Carey Lea, Josiah P. Cooke,
John W. Draper, Willard Gibbs and many others still
living.
Present con-
ditions of
chemistry in
America
Present conditions in America can be meas-
ured by the fact that the American Chemical
Society alone has over seven thousand mem-
bers, and the Chemists' Club of New York has
more than a thousand members, without counting the more
specialized chemical organizations, equally active, like the
American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American
Electrochemical Society and many others.
During the later years, chemical research is going on
with increasing vigor, more specially in relation to chemical
problems presented by enterprises which at first sight seem
rather remote from the so-called chemical industry.
Research in
America
But the most striking symptom of newer times is that
some wealthy men of America are rivaling
each other in the endowment of scientific re-
search on a scale never undertaken before, and
that the scientific departments of our Government are en-
larging their scope of usefulness at a rapid rate.
But we are merely at the threshold of that new era where
we shall learn better to use exact knowledge and efficiency
to bring greater happiness and broader opportunities to all.
However imposing may appear the institutions founded
by the Nobels, the Solvays, the Monds, the Carnegies,
the Rockefellers and others, each of them is only a puny
effort to what is bound to come when governments will
do their full share. Fancy that if, for instance, the Rocke-
feller Institute is spending to good advantage about
41
Insufficiency
of our pres-
ent efforts
compared to
what ought
to be done
half a million dollars per annum for medical
research, the chewing-gum bill of the United
States alone would easily support half a dozen
Rockefeller Institutes; and what a mere insig-
nificant little trickle all these research funds amount to, if
we have the courage to compare them to that powerful
gushing stream of money which yearly drains the war
budget of all nations.
In the meantime, the man of science is patient and con-
tinues his work steadily, if somewhat slowly, with the
means hitherto at his disposal. His patience is inspired by
the thought that he is not working for to-day, but for to-
morrow. He is well aware that he is still surrounded by
too many "men of yesterday," who delay the results of his
work.
Efficiency
vs. waste
Sometimes, however, he may feel discour-
aged that the very efficiency he has succeeded
in reaching at the cost of so many painstaking
efforts, in the economical production of such an article of
endlessly possible uses, as Portland Cement, is hopelessly
lost many times over and over again, by the inefficiency,
waste and graft of middlemen and political contractors, by
the time it gets on our public roads, or in our public build-
ings. Sometimes the chaos of ignorant brutal
waste which surrounds him everywhere may
try his patience. Then again, he has a vision
that he is planting a tree which will blossom
for his children and will bear fruit for his
The man of
science pro-
vides for
future gen-
erations
grandchildren.
In the meantime, industrial chemistry, like all other ap-
plications of science, has gradually called into the world
an increasing number of men of newer tendencies, men who
bear in mind the future rather than the past,
who have acquired the habit of thinking by
well-established facts, instead of by words, of
New type of
men evolved
by scientific
education
42
aiming at efficiency instead of striking haphazard at ill-de-
fined purposes. Our various engineering schools, our
universities, are turning them out in ever increasing num-
bers, and better and better prepared for their work. Their
very training has fitted them out to become the most broad-
minded progressive citizens.
Private gain
or public
service
However, their sphere of action, until now,
seldom goes beyond that of private technical
enterprises for private gain. And yet, there is
not a chemist, not an engineer, worthy of the name, who
would not prefer efficient, honorable public service, freed
from party politics, to a mere money-making job.
Government
by engineers
But most governments of the world have
been run for so long almost exclusively by
or by lawyer- lawyer-politicians, that we have come to con-
politicians?
sider this as an unavoidable evil, until some-
times a large experiment of government by engineers, like
the Panama Canal, opens our eyes to the fact that, after
all, successful government is-first and last—a matter of
efficiency, according to the principles of applied science.
Benjamin
Thompson
(Count
Was it not one of our very earliest American
chemists, Benjamin Thompson, of Massachu-
setts, later knighted in Europe as Count Rum-
Bavaria gov- ford, who put in shape the rather entangled
administration of Bavaria by introducing sci-
entific methods of government?
Rumford).
erned by a
chemist
Pasteur was right when one day, exasperated by the
politicians who were running his beloved France to ruin,
he exclaimed:
Applied
science and
the destiny
of nations
"In our century, science is the soul of the
prosperity of nations and the living source of
all progress. Undoubtedly, the tiring daily
discussions of politics seem to be our guide.
Empty appearances!—What really leads us forward are a
few scientific discoveries and their applications."
43
Gaylord Bros.
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PAT. JAN. 21, 1908
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AUTHOR Backeland, L. H. B 139
TITLE
Some Aspects of
Industrial Chemistry.
SIGNATURE
C. Chen
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207
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