Document qmwXO4DLw3j372o78eoJ6EKpq

/ir e s o f j c o f f e x v il l e f u s e c h emic al mag ic ^From NovgDeo. issue World 1944, pages 18-19 On the plains of ^ansas there arises a group of towers and shafts that somehow reminds one of a mystic B^ad' and the chemical magic performed there out does that of the famous Arabian. Sights Metropolis. Here some 250 men and women, using fire, whirlwinds, and lightningr-like charges of electricity for their tools, wrest from nature many pure chemicals and metals needed in our modern life. In 1906, a small one-block zinc oxide furnace. Today a plant, covering 80 acres, devoted to the production of leaded zinc oxide, lithopone, zinc sulphate, and cadmium metals. V'- S-W's Ozark Smelting & Mining plant history speaks for itself,' end is a tribute to the ~-_ guiding genius of such men as Mr. 0 0 Gordon, H J Haim, now Vice President of the S-W op. Robert Brown, W E Corts, Charles E. Deeds, and Ray A. Thomas, the latter having been super intendent -`since 1936. ' A leaded zinc oxide plant at first - 1926 saw the addition of facilities for the manu facture of zinc sulphate. In 1930 and 31 a lithopone plant was added which had to be doubled in size by 1937 to meet the demands. f`or raw ores of lead,. zinc and iron zark calls on all parts of the west, on Mexico, Canada, and even far away Austrialia, while its coal, coke, chatts, sulphuric acid, barytes ore and natural gas come from its home State of Kansas and its neighors, Missouri, Okla., and Arkansas. f^ ` Materials at hand, the magic begins. First, crushed to uniform^ size, some ores,must he roasted to remove unwanted chemicals. To do this, the crushedipre ds;fed into-a bgge steel brick lined roaster consisting of twelve self-supporting refractory brick hearths. As the ore is moved to the center of one hearth, it cascadds to the heatdh below^.: The tempera ture of the ore rises, sulphur is changed to sulphur dioxide andfisidischarged into the atmosphere,'. This gas fume carries with it a certain amount .;of^duK^fj^so;!it is passed thru . an electrical precipitator where the dust particles are charge^wltfci75j0p0 volts of elec-` tricity, which causes them to collect on steel plates, from whichl<tbey-are returned to the roasters, .while the dust-free gas is allowed to escepe.f.:;'"; ' Hext the lead, roasted zinc ores, coal, chatts and other in^^^^rcssare^carefully weighed and mixed to obtain the desired grade of pigment. For - leaded^z^^poxide, v.the proper mix ' is placed on a bed of coal in a special furnace. Careful levelling;.and.controlled air blast, draft govern the burning so that as the termperat rerse^*the-; leaded ,zinc oxide is carried joff by fume laden gases, and is collected by means 'ofjjpipe^lineg and taken the 750 foot distance to the bag houses. A large fan keeps'"the ftmeLiaddnVsases moving/ and discharges them into the collection bags, which filter :out theipigment'f.and allow the fume- free air to" escape. Each bag house contains 800 20" x 30* bags,vand cah/collect 35,000 > pounds of finished pigment daily, ready to be packed in' bags carrying the familiar label Ozlo Leaded Zinc Oxide. 'A . -`7- for Zinc Sui.pha.te, roasted, sulphur free zinc ores are leached in sulphuric acid. The resulting slurry is pumped thru a series of tanks and filters,to purify it and remove all suspended solids. This zinc sulphate liquor is then evaporated.either by evaporating pans or rotary dryers, leaving a white crystalline cake or granular-residue. Crushed and sized it is ready for use in many ways, from the manufacture of rayon, ,to, insect. sprays. for lithopone, barytes ore tod coke, mixed, crn'hed and'Jscreened,* is burned' in^big 60* - rotary kilns to make black ash. Quenched with water, the blackfasH slurry-is filtered and purified to make varium liquor. This is added to zinc sulphat'e'fllquor and'the iresulting precipitate is crude lithopone. This crude lithopone must be calcinated, milled, thick^. ened, filtered and re-dried before final sizing and grinding'l^esTblaM.-^Sounds simple, doesn't it?? Guess it is easy when you know how, and Coffeyville sure baa the know how when it comes to doing chemical-magic on a production basis. ,, '. - ' . `i t r i -V v , -./i..:v- 0007 -SWP-000006967 /*