Document Nrjj4zgMbkdXQ8nGxJejaD1b

bcc* Mr. T. A. Boyd Dr. H. A. Beatty Mr. J. A. Costello Mr, J. B. Macauley Mr. B, B, Turner Dr. E. A. Kehoe %y 15, 1953 Files 30.2010 50 160.23 Dr. Edwin w* Shaad 560 Dem it Drive Pittsburgh 3Uj Pennsylvania Pear Dr. Hhands Mr. ?. A. Boyd of the Research Laboratories Division of CJaaeral Motors Corporation ha sent to us a copy of your letter of May 6 addressed to him in reference to the possibility of recovering lead and bromine exhausted from automotive vehicles. Our own analyses in connection with the mtter have ltd to the. conclusion which is so succinctly stated in the first paragraph of your letter. The ixOOQ pounds of load and of bromine which you have calculated as the amounts discharged annually by vehicles passing through the Holland Tunnel in Hew fork are equivalent to about 21 pounds each 2h hours. Its recover? would require treatment of all the air for ventilation by a process that would effect 100$ separation. I sue- pent that the equipment might be comparable in isagnitudo to that employed commercially at the present time for separation of broisia from -wm water. , It appears that your calculations concerning th even distribution over the continental United States of th load discharged from auto mobiles is In error by on digit. Assuming that 1,212,000 tons of pig lead are consumed annually in the United States and that 10$ find its way into tetraethylload, the total for the latter use Is 121,200 tons. Assuming that th area of continental United States is 3,026,789 square miles, a uniform distribution of the lead would result in 80 pound per square mile or 2 ounces per acre. ' Actually, because of movement of the air over the earth's surface indodlng th oceans, th amount of metal deposited on the land in the United States is undoubtedly only a small fraction of that cal culated above. Some of this, as you point out, eventually is washed into th oceans. 00j 30 1. ?ags 2 2p. Edwi n W. Shand May 1?, 1953 Equipment to be Installed tm motor vehicles for recovery of exhausted lead products has bead considered but not found to be practical. Some of the compound re discharged in the vapor state and others as solids having a range of particle sdaa. Exhaust products are corrosive and under conditions of high poser output, are quite hot. Although the volume of exhaust gas is small at low car speeds, it is quite l a m at high speeds. Because of these conditions, equipment for recovery of lead would have to be of large ai%s and be mads of materials having a high degree of resistance to hot and cold corrosion. The weight of nickel and chromium in the equipment would be much greater than that of the salvaged lead. Space is not available in cars for such an in stallation. Bvea if it war, the cost of the equipment per pound of lead recovered would be extremely high. There are very large deposits of lead in the United States which are considered to be subrarginal in relation to the present price of the metal and to methods of its recovery, however, the working of the deposits would fee much sore practical than an attempt to recover lead exhausted into the air, fhe oceans contain m almost ualiaitod asuat of bromine and are ty far the most economical source of this element. Like other Moiuf&cturera, m are always luteinstsd in possible alter native sources of raw la&icrl&la and appreciate your taking the tit to make the calculations which ware included in your letter to Jsjp. Boyd. , ?ery trulyyours SSidr (signed)-Earl Bartholomew 0013022