Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-12-17
XIV WANIS. CLUB
HEARS ADDRESS
ON ACID PLANTS


''The manufacture and use of sui.
phuric acid" talk by NJ. E. Jacks,
superintendent of the c. & A acid
plant, featured the regular meeting OF
Kiwanis club at the Gadsden hotel,
yesterday Jacks stated that the local
plant has a capacity of 200 tons of
sulphur.c acid per day and that the
cost of the plant was one millior.l
dollars.
Reports were made by Joseph Sex
ton and ,"Sunshine" Joe Tardy of then
recent trip throughout the state. They
said that Douglas was being talked
about all over the southwest and that
architects of national repute were
interested in contemplated plants for
the construction of a tourist hotel
here.
President H. A. Wimberley re-
ported that a crew of four men aided
ranchers in the vicinity of Kings
highway in further construction work
on that road last, Sunday and that
after the first of the year the K.wanis
club will be called upon again to help
complete the road.
Tom Glenn won the attendance prize
and was presented with a Santa Claus
mask with the admonition that he
was to perform the task which the
mask implies. Joe Tardy, IN honor of
his birthday, and after mucn unravel,
, ling, found that hisliremembrance con-
sisted of 1927 date book, which he
said he could use to much advan-
tage Tardy in .tf1rn passed around
the candy. Ralph M. Peterson, Sec
retary of the Y. NJ c. A., acted as
chairman.
The talk, given by M. E. Jacks,
follows:
There are two acid plants at the
c. & A. smelter, the G. & A. plant
snd the Apache Powder company's
plant. The c. &. "A. plant is spoken
of as chamber acid plant. The
Apache as contact plant. Both of
these plants make sulphuric acid The
C. & A. plant makes acid of a
strength of 7S per cent and their
acid contains about % per cent water.
! The Apache plant makes fuming acid
! commonly called oleum, their acid
does not contain any water. 1t con-
tains sulphuric acid in excess, which
I makes it very strong. The acid that
they ship is spoken of as a 1O5 per
cent acid
The two acids are used for entirely
different purposes. The c. & A. acid
is used for hydrometallurgical pur-
poses namely, in dissolving copper
! ores from it's gangue material. The
solution for this purpose is usually,
very weak in acid, containing about
from per cent to 3 per cent sui
phuric acid. The Apache acid is used
for making nitroglycerine, which is
used in making explosive.
The c. e. A. acid is shipped to the
New Cornelia Copper company at
Aio, Ariz; the Inspiration Copper COM
pany, at Miami, and the Miami Cop
per company, at Miami. They also
make a number of small shipments in
drums and carboys. The Apache
T Powder company's acid is shipped to
Curtis and is all used at their powder
plant. Both acids are made from
the same sulphur gas and both are
shipped in the same kind of tank
cars, namely wrought iron tanks.
The c. & A. acid plant uses the
gas from four roasters, using about
800 tons or more per day. The Apache
plant uses the gas from one roaster,
using about rs tons a day. The gas
from the roasters passes through a
dust chamber, where a large part
OF the dust or solid material is taken
out. The calcine from the roassers
goes to the smelter, where it's copper,
gold and silver contents are recovered.
From this you see that the acid is
made from a by-product, namely, the
gas.
The function Of the acid plant is
tc render the sulphur gas (sulphur
dioXide) soluble in water This -
done by the addition of nitric acid
gas The nitric acid gas is made
from sodium nitrate and sulphuric
acid in the inter furnace. The sodium
nitrate is shipped to Douglas FROM
Chill, South America. The gases from
the inter furnace and the gases from,
the roasters mix and go to the en-
trance tower of the acid plant (Glover
Tower), where the gases are brougm
in contact with moisture and begin
to make sulphuric acid.
"It is from these two gases, sui
phur dioxide, from the Bisbee ores,
and nitric oxide gas, from sodium
nitrate, from Chilli together with
moisture and the oxygen of the air,
that sulphuric acid is made. The
control of these gases, moisture heat
and air constitute the operation OF
making sulphuric acid. These gases
are controlled in large lead chambers,