Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-03-16

highest percentage OF nitrogen Of
any commercial fertilizer.
Basis OF Plastics
Urea-formaldehyde resins form
some OF the most useful OF plactics
and chemists know that the age
OF plastics has scarcely begun. The
leading plastics are nearly all coal
products The methacrylate resins
come from methanol. an outgrowth
| OF the synthetic ammonia process.
Observation-Disclosures resins, one OF
, the first. are based, as the name in
dicates. on products of coal.
At one time only the rich could
] afford rock crystal, jade. amber
and other semi-precious materials.
| Plastic chemistry now produces
| these at fraction of the former
cost with no apology for quality.
Chemical Rubber
Coal. limestone and salt combine
to form neoprene, chemically
made rubber. Neoprene is fire.
quently and enormously designated
as synthetic rubber 1t is wholly
new. finding no counterpart in ma
ture, possessing the essential pro-
perties of rubber and in addition,
number OF qualities beyond. II
resists oil and grease, to which
rubber is easy prey, can Withstand
sunlight to much greater degree
and age does not wither 1t either
in strength or in appearance.
Uses In Medicine
From coal tar is produced an al
most endless procession of chemical
products, completely dominating
some fields In medicine, for ex-
ample. domestic production OF coal
tar medicinals in 1897 was 14.799,-
I'll pounds, while the non-cOal tar
compounds did not exceed 100000
pounds. Altogether the sales OF
products from coal tar alone in the
U. S. during that year reached a
figure Of S127,414,347
Dyestuffs. derived from coal,
have given the United States world
leadership as a further example.
Method Is Simple
So prolific is coal in its chemical
progressions that the methods,
once understood. are relatively
simple. When coal is baked or
cooked" one of the substances COM
ing out is a thick sour-smelling
mass called coal tar. The disa
greeable ooze, when distilled yields
various carbon compounds. These
are converted into intermediates
and are used as raw materials for
further elaboration into a large
variety of products. Although all |
of them together make up only ! |
percent. by bulk, of the original |
coal they are so rich in chemical |
possibilities that their ultimate uses |
have not yet been fully realized.
The claim that Montana coal |
cannot be used for coking was well |
disproven by the late Marcus DAILY |
who did considerable experimenting |
with Belt coal. mined in Cascade /
county. south of Great Falls. That |
the Montana coal can be so used /
is proven by coking of similar
grades of coal at the smelters at
Fernie. B. c.
New Discoveries
Coal has made an important con-
tribution to medicine Improved /
anesthetics. such as novacane and ]
aspirin are examples Drugs for /
allaying fever, such as acetanilide
and synthetic urea are in common
use; also sulfapyridine. a cousin to
sulphanilamide, and like it a coal
deriVitive, is a notable recent dis
covery. 1t is being used in pneu-
monia Synthetic urea, previously
mentioned in relation to fertilizer.
is performing important therapeutic
duties. conspicuously in treating
wounds. ulcers, gangrene and bone
diseases.
Recovery of sulphur from the
stacks of mill and power plants
shows still further possibilities for
new products, new plants, new jobs,
new payrolls.
Motor Fuel Reserves II
Another important item OF the
future will be utilization of Mon
tana's vast coal fields for motor I
fuel. should oil reserves become
exhausted Oil and gasoline are
being made in a Bureau OF Mines
experimental plant at Pittsburgh I
and while it costs more than petrol
cum motor fuel, the Montana coal
reserves are adequate to supply the
world for many years, as demon
strated by commercial production
in Germany which makes a billion
gallons of gasoline yearly from ]