M A R K E T S

Metallic Salts Firming Up Changes also taking place in consumption of

grades; supplies of basic materials are not improving

T V J O ONE AS YET has precisely deter-- ^ mined the complete exhaustion period for the nation's resources of petroleum or metallic minerals. Some believe the metals will vanish first; at any rate, we are importing both in in­creasing volume.

Processors and consumers would like to have an answer to this question be­cause important chemicals are based on both. Chemicals derived from metals are not getting any more plen­tiful, and their prices seem to be tend­ing higher. One of the latest expected to move upward soon is the nickel group following an advance of 4.5 cents per pound in the metal to 64.5 cents. Action on the sulfate may be taken before the close of the month.

Of the various nickel salts and de­rivatives, sulfate is probably the most important from a tonnage standpoint owing to its established use in plating processes. Other nickel chemicals in­clude acetate, carbonate, chloride, cy­anide, formate, nitrate, and the black oxide. The metal itself is essential to chemical makers as catalyst and mate­rial of construction.

Nickel Sulfate Supply. The metal is supplied by a few Canadian com­panies led by International Nickel, Falconbridge Nickel Mines, and the newcomer, Sherritt Gordon Mines. The salts are made here, also are im­ported. It is interesting to note that annual production over the past few years has not varied very greatly. The output of nickel sulfate has been around 6800 tons during each of the past three years. Production in 1951, 1952, and Ï953 has not differed above or below this total by more than 50 tons.

Crude and refined nickel sulfate is recovered as a by-product of copper refining. The crude is sold and used as an intermediate in processing refined nickel salts. Sulfate and other salts are made here from domestic crude sulfate as well as for nickel scrap.

There is no such stability of output in the chemical derivatives of other metals. Changes also appear to be taking place in consumer requirements as between grades or types, in which costs and technology may both be play­ing a part. Thus, consumption of cuprous oxide, as measured by ship­ments, fell all the way from 9606 tons in 1951 to 2535 tons in 1953. The sulfate, largely utilized as a fungicide

on potatoes, declined much less, while the use of other copper compounds increased.

Lead Arsena te . Consumption of lead arsenate in the same brief period has dropped from 12,669 tons to 7502 tons, and the use of arsenic com­pounds (including white arsenic) fell from 1395 tons to 708 tons. Use of arsenicals as pesticides is giving way to the newer organics. Tin, an almost total import item, is the base material for stannous chloride, stannic oxide, and other tin compounds and their production and consumption have both expanded.

Opposite consuming trends have made their appearance in zinc salts. In the 1951-53 period shipments of the chloride increased from 20,928 tons t o 21,585 tons, while those for sulfate declined from 32,191 tons to 27,726 tons.

Tin Salts. Metal and Thermit has just issued a new price schedule for tin chemicals showing advances of about a half cent, reflecting costs of tin metal. On the basis of this new list, stannous chloride anhydrous is named at 79.9 cents per pound in truckload quantities, and up to $1,068 per pound for smaller amounts.

In prewar days the important outlet for tin salts was in weighting silk goods, and the grade used for this purpose was tin tetrachloride (s tannic) . As much as 2 0 million pounds a year went into this application alone. Today, as the result of organic chemical develop­ment, tin salts enter a wider industrial field. They act as stabilizers for per­fumes in soaps, the manufacture of or­ganic tin compounds, and in television.

Sodium stannate has been moved up from 53 cents per pound to 53.5 cents, in large quantities, and potassium stan­nate from 66.6 cents per pound to 67 cents.

Selenium Sales Rise. A threefold increase took place in shipment values of selenium compounds between 1952 unci 1953. The totals, respectively, were $599,000 and $1,880,000. In­dustrial demands are still heavy and are reported as responsible for placing selenium on the stockpile list as a critical material.

Production figures are withheld on selenium for recent years. T h e latest available from Bureau of Mines shows that the output of elemental selenium was 511,325 pounds in 1950, and 457,-

004 pounds in 1951. The latter figure was still below the wartime annual average of 475,408 pounds. In addi­tion, we imported 363,000 pounds in 1950 and 246,552 pounds in 1952, chiefly from Canada, Japan, and Sweden.

Selenium compounds are in demand in chemical processing industries for the production of pigments and enamels, as rubber accelerators, and as catalysts in organic synthesis and drug products . Elemental selenium has major uses in radio and television rec­tifiers, in producing special grades of alloy steels, and as a decolorizer for glass.

Acetone Production

(Millions of pounds)

From Isopropyl From Alcohol Fermentation

1945 345 43 1946 298 37 1947 357 40 1948 444 27 1949 388 25 1950 459 24 1951 538 21 1952 404 36 1953 468 51 1954 (8 mos. total) 309

(17. S. Tariff Commission)

Acetone Reduced. Action of Shell Chemical in cutting tank car price for acetone one-half cent, effective Nov. 24, brought market for this widely used solvent and processing chemical t o a low of 7.5 cents. Reduction m a d e by Shell which derives acetone from iso­propyl alcohol probably will be fol­lowed by others who produce it from isopropyl and fermentation.

Production of acetone this year has been curtailed bu t the competitive situation resulting from the operation of cumene plants jDroducing phenol and acetone has had a somewhat depress­ing effect on the market. Standard of California and Barrett have the new facilities in operation, and the Her­cules Powder plant employing cumene at Gibbstown, N . J., will add 16 million more pounds of acetone to the annual supply.

Favorable trend in acetone supply this year (total from isopropyl and fermentation processes may drop some­what below 1953) has been offset by lessened requirements in cellulose ace­tate and organic chemical processing. It is widely used in rayon manufacture, nitrocellulose lacquers, and cements. Acetone is a low cost product in sol­vent extraction and paint and varnish removers.

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