AEC Seeks Experienced Personnel - ACS Publications - American

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THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK Ruhm Phosphate & Chemical C o . has

begun operation of its new raw ground rock phosphate plant at Columbia, Tenn. Bowater Southern Paper Corp., a subsidiary of Bowater Paper Co. Ltd., of England, has received a certificate of necessity for its proposed $55 million pulp mill in the Charleston-Calhoun ( S . C.) area. Projected annual capacity is 125,000 tons of newsprint and 50,000 tons of unbleached sulfate pulp. Production is planned for early 1954. Jones

&

Laughlin

Stee! Corp.

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awarded Koppers Co., a contract to design and build a battery of chemical-recovery coke ovens at its Hazelwood plant, Pittsburgh. Koppers also -will construct a new screening station, a new coal bin and a coal conveyor system. Westinghouse Electric Corp. has received an order for more than $5 million worth of equipment from the Reynolds Metals Co. of Richmond, Va. The order is for 24 assemblies of Ignitron rectifier tubes, with 12 tubes in each assembly, and related electrical equipment to b e installed in a new Reynolds aluminum reduction plant near Arkadelphia, Ark. Ignitron rectifiers convert alternating current to direct current for the aluminum reduction process. Kraft Chesnica! Co.. 917 West 18th St., Chicago, has formed the Kaynide Division, to be devoted to the plating, heat treating, and allied metal finishing industries. It will take over the sale and warehousing of chemicals, anodes, processes, equipment and plating supplies, formerly sold by the Kraft Chemical Co. Tube-Kote, Inc., has completed a $50,000 office building on the grounds of the plant's 15-acre tract at 2529 Holmes Road, Houston, Tex. This new building brings to five the number of structures on the Tube-Kote lot. Tube-Kote makes thermosetting plastic coating for oil-field pipe and tubing used in the oil and chemical industries.

New Text A E C Seeks Experienced Personnel The Atomic Energy Commission is looking for persons with chemical engineering training and with between five and 15 years of experience in large-scale plant operations, including production supervision, cost analysis and control, and production planning and scheduling. The salaries of several available positions range from $7040 to $9360 a year. These positions will be located in Washington, D. C , and in various regional offices in the United States. Interested persons shovild send full background information concerning themselves to George M. Gableman, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, Washington 25, D . C. 1296

New Text

Will this freshly painted home be subject to mildew? If so, a new technique recently developed by Nuodex Products Co. can aid in the diagnosis of such fungal attack

N e w Technique Unmasks M i l d e w As Active Paint Destroyer TiJOST people consider mildewed paint -*--*- a problem only i n the deep South where temperatures are warm and optimum humidity conditions would be present. However, the situation is apparently the same in other sections of the country; in certain Canadian, localities it is a serious problem. Dirt is often blamed for paint discoloration when the culprit is really mildew, or attack Iby fungi—those persistent tiny plants that can destroy valuable material or be used as a source of wonderworking antibiotics. The results of a recent survey of about 600 homes in scattered sections of the country showed triat mildew is, in fact, the most important cause of discolored paint. Because of this, and much to the paint producers' discomfort, the tendency has been to use protective materials other than paint in order to keep homes in attractive condition. The results of detailed research, however, have produced a number of chemicals for the treatment or prevention of mildew on paint. These include naphthenates, copper-8-quinolinolinate, and phenylmercurials. These compounds make it possible to combat mildew once its presence is known. Grows Through Paint Diagnosis has loeen a big stumbling block, though. It i s frequently impossible to distinguish between "honest" dirt and fungal attack. The appearance of mildew CHEMICAL

on paint is substantially different from that of the more familiar bread or cheese molds. In a good portion of cases, the paint mildew is of a type that does not conform to any set pattern. Even under high-powered microscopes detection is difficult. Some fungi, in fact, grow under the paint surface and actually erupt through it. Dirt or Mildew? When neither mycelia nor spores can be seen under microscopic examination, detection has been practically impossibleno apparent difference can be distinguished between a dirt splotch and mildew. About the only path open has been to culture the organism on a nutritive medium and then subject it to microscopic examination. Obviously, this is a timeconsuming and not altogether accurate technique, since the paint-destroying mold can be hidden in the culture by other surface molds. In a paper presented before the Southern Federation of Paint Production Clubs at Biloxi this month, Robert Hyde, of Nuodex Products Co., Inc., described the activities of his company in developing a method of ""-determining whether mildew or dirt was causing discoloration of paint. Mr. Hyde declared that the difficulty of seeing mildew growth on painted surfaces is related, to a large extent, on the position of the organism. Those growing on the surface of the paint without appreciAND

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