The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-08-12
. Capital
Comment
Trip 10 Find Junk for
Oil Syn'he'ies Profitable
Refineries Have Plenty
OF Idle equipmen. Ready
Putting Material Where
II Can Work Only Need
Nv PETER EDISON

You never know what you'll
find until YOU start 10 look for
u. and that applies particularly
To the collection Of junk in war
time. Take the experience Of
Wright W. Gary. for instance.
Gary is director Of refining in
the office Of the petroleum CO.
ordinator for war. known for
short as OPC. Gary has Just
returned 10 Washington from
months tour Of U. s. oil refin-
cries. and he has found. Of all
things. existing. idle refinery
equipment which can be assem-
hled In some 80 different refin-
cry areas and by the end Of the
year be put to producing 200
900 tons Of butadiene a year.
Now this Is important news.
Rutadiene. you'll recall. is the
essential raw material that goes
into synthetic rubber. Mix ap-
proximstely so per cent buta-
+. diene with 20 per cent styrene,
let 'em polymerize. which Ia the
fancy chemical name for build
M" and Runa S synthetic rubber
come out here.
The governments synthetic
rubber program calls for the
manufacture of Buna S synthe-
tic rubber at the rate Of ZOO
900 tons a year. 100000 tons Of
It to be made from petroleum
products. To produce the buta-
diene going into this Buna s
rubber, the Rubber Reserve Co.
has let contracts for the con-
struction and operation OF some
"a butadiene plants, producing
an average Of $1,000 tons OF bu-
tadiene each, or a total OF some
$4,000 tons. Shell. Southern
California Gas, Humble Oil, At
las Oil, Koppers, Sinclair and
Cities Service are each building
one butsdiene plant. Standard Of
Louisiana, Neches Butane and
Rubber Synthetics are building
two apiece, and Carbide and
Carbon Chemical are building
10. First Of the plants will start
producing in September of this
year. and the last in August,
1e45.
Possibilities rrobed
The building of these plants
requires a lot OF critical mate
rails. particularly copper and
steel. In fact. a big part Of the
drawback in expanding the syn
thetic rubber program has been
the scarcity Of critical materials
for the plants. Wright Gary's
discoveries OF suitable butadiene
refinery equipment already in
existence are important, there
fore, because they show that
about 30 per cent of this $685.
000-ton productive capacity may
not have 10 be built. or that bu-
todiene can be produced sooner
than had been hoped. or that the
butadiene and synthetic rubber
programs can be expanded, or
that 80 per cent OF the critical
materials scheduled to 60 into
the butadiene plants can be d.
verified TO something else. Gary's
report makes it clear that this
old equipment is not 100 per
cent complete for use as IL. But
he estimates that II is 20 per
cent complete. and will require
only 10 per cent more critical
materials TO put it into opera
ton.
Putting this equipment into
operation simply requires that
the refineries which now have
the idle units swap among
themselves or pool spare parts
m ruch a way that complete
plants can be assembled.
The moral OF this virtual find
ing of zoo. 600 tons annual buta-
diens productive capacity Is eH-
sctly the point that Henry J.
Kaiser makes when he says he
can tool up his shipyard for the
manufacture Of cargo planes by
improNsins, by picking up IDLE
machines from all over the coun-
try and putting them 10 work.
SCRAPE FOR SCRAP
Discovery OF this idle equip
nnent in the petroleum industry
didn't Just happen. 1t was an
organized search. Three months
ago. the Office Of the Petroleum
Co-ordinator put up 70 the pc
troleum industry war council,
which is the fsncy-named trade
association Of the big shot oil
company executives, the ques-
ton Of whether the rehneries
could make butadiene in exist
ing cracking units and stills.
Some 1000 qusstionnaires went
out and about the same number
a. reports came bsek. Technical
experts were put on this Job.
pilot plants were built, and in
each Of the refining areas. every
pieoe % refinery equipment, in
Use and idle. was catalogues.
Two requirements were laid
downfall the butsciene plants
Re made from existing equip
nnent and that they get in oper-
alton By the end o. the year.
After q couple q months ~
tbs preliminary resesrc h,
Wright Gary was sent on his
,gnket 20 inspect the refinery
Junk In every ore Of the refin-
ing areas He Travelled for q
rnonth-snd look what he found
The raw materials that viii 90
into this butsdieus production
are distressed gasoline for which