OCR Text |
Show cess used - is basic to metallurgical processes. However, it is in the tars distilled from coal that are found the almost innumerable chemical substances without which modern industry could not operate. To list these substances merely by name would consume page after page of text. They are the base for dyes, drugs, perfumes, plastics and many other products of industry. In combination with hydrogen under certain circumstances, coal | liquifies into synthetic gasoline and oils. Utah's bituminous coal reserves - estimated at some 200,000,000,000 tons, together with many more millions of tons of subbituminous and lignitic coal - rank without question close to the top of the State's resources, at least in terms of their potential utilization in payroll- producing industries. ... Sulphur ... Sulphur enters into a large proportion of chemical processes. Its principal industrial compound - sulphuric acid - has often been called the most important single chemical product manufactured. Its uses are legion- for the manufacture of explosives, in the dye industry, for purifying natural gas and petroleum products, in fertilizer manufacture, for the production of other acids, sulphate compounds and in metallurgical processes. Sulphur deposits in Utah - in Beaver and Emery Counties - have been mined to some extent, particularly at Sulphurdale near Beaver. However, in terms of tonnage production, the mineral form cannot be compared with that which is contained in the fumes of Utah's non- ferrous metal ore smelters. Inasmuch as a very large proportion of Utah's nonferrous ores are sulphides - sulphur compounds of the metals ultimately recovered - it is necessary to drive the sulphur out of the ore before it is further processed. The resultant gas can be wasted into the atmosphere, usually with disastrous effects on the vegetation of the countryside unless the utmost caution is exercised; or it can be captured, treated and processed into sulphuric acid. Most smelters would prefer to recover these sulphur values, but frequently their location and other controlling factors make it economically WATER FOR UTAH difficult. A classic example of recovery is exemplified in the Anaconda Copper Company's smelting operation in Montana. The absolute desirability of preventing the escape of sulphur- containing fumes necessitated the company's entering into the production of superphosphate fertilizer - by the profitable treatment of phosphate rock with sulphuric acid produced from its smelter fumes. The Garfield smelter of the American Smelting and Refining Company in Utah is one of the largest single producers of sulphuric acid in the Western States. Its capacity of 6,000 tons per month is being expanded to 9,000 tons per month, and potentially it could produce a great deal more from its present sources of smelting ores. Supplementing the potential reserves of sulphur compounds which can be derived as smelter by- products, Utah is also abundantly supplied in pyrite and its mineral derivative in almost inexhaustible quantities. ... Salt... Salt as a mineral ranks fifth in the list of 150 most important chemical raw materials, whereas as a brine it ranks seventh. Its uses are legion and impinge on every phase of man's activity - from the most common use for the seasoning of food to the manufacture of complex plastics and synthetic rubber. It is the base for chlorine and caustic soda, made by electrolysis; of soda ash produced by the interaction of salt, ammonia and lime; of hydrochloric acid and sodium sulphate resulting from the use of sulphuric acid and salt. Utah has very important reserves of salt. Rock salt is found in Sevier, Sanpete and Juab Counties. Brines are found in the Salduro Marsh area in Tooele County and also in Juab County, and, of course, in the waters of Great Salt Lake. It is found in enormous quantities underground in Emery, Grand and San Juan Counties. More often than not, it is associated with other important chemical salts of the potassium and magnesium family. Production is primarily accomplished by its concentration from brines by means of solar evaporation and further purification. ] |