Evening star., 1942-06-07
Vast New Industry Being Born
In Midst of Rubber Bickering
o. Experts in Agreement on Only One Detail;
= Buno Is the Product to Make

diene and styrene. Neither OF these
occur in nature. Butadiene can be
made, by complex processes, from
petroleum, from alcohol or from
coal The third source has received
little consideration in the United
States. Right now it is question
as to which source is the cheapest,
quickest and most practical. After
the war the petroleum and grain
alcohol interests may fight it out as
they have fought for Is years over
motor fuel Styrene can be obtained
from petroleum or from coal tar.
Buna S the One to Make.
About the only subject at present
on which there is complete agree
ment between the Government and
the conflicting industrial interests
is that Buna is the rubber of
choice. Any shift from it to the
numerous other and more expensive
kinds would only delay an already
badly delayed program.
Buna S can be made of almost
any organic substance in creation
1t can be made out of huckleberries
or dead cats, gin or green apples
But the first great hurdle is ia
change these substances into pc
troleum or alcohol and the second
hurdle is to change petroleum OF
alcohol into butadiene.
Butadiene is, at ordinary tenn
peratures, light gas the molecule
OF which is composed of four carbon
and six hydrogen atoms.
All proposed processes whatsoever
must pass through these two gates
before there is any synthetic rubber
Neither the petroleum industry
nor the farm-alcohol industry pro-
poses to make a pound of synthetic
rubber itself. Both propose only
to furnish established rubber manu-
LECTURERS with the highly contro-
versial butadiene.
1t is over the production of buta-
olene, not rubber. that most of the
controversy has ragged, and the al
most equally important styrene has
attractd almost no attention.
Million Tons Set as Essential.
On May 81 Secretary. of Com
merce Jesse Jones stated that an
annual output of million tons of
synthetic rubber was essential to
the prosecution Of the war-leaving
all but the most essential civilian
needs out OF the question.
Plants to convert about 200. 900 600
gallons Of alcohol into butadiene
are almost certain, under the pres
sent Government program, to be
ready early in 1943. This will be
sufficient for approximately $50 900
tons OF synthetic rubber.
The petroleum companies. with
processes recently developed and
with Government backing, are ex-
pected to produce at least as much
again. Both programs will be stepped
up as rapidly as materials can be
obtained and plants erected. For
tunately, much of the work of get
ting butadiene from petroleum can
be done at existing aviation gaso-
llne pants.
Butadiene from petroleum offers
one set of problems. Butadiene from
alcohol offers an entirely different
set. Styrene, out of anything from
which it Is proposed to make it.
has a whole set Of complexities of
its own.
Within the last few days there
has been a renewed feeling of op-
timism among chemists associated
with Federal bureaus and the in
dustrials. They alone understand
the complexities of the problems
involved and it need be no secret
now that most of them have been
extremely pessimistic in the past
! few months. At times the Difficult
ties seemed insuperable.