Document wKqGGoDMGyOrbo68jqbJbJ3M3

U.US ESTABLISHED1802 E. I. d u Po n t d e N em o u r s 51 C o m pa n y INCORPORATED Wa yn esbo r o , V ir g in ia RAYON DEPARTMENT ACETATE DIVISION May , 1947 Dr. Robert A. Kehoe Director of Kettering Laboratory College of Medicine University of Cincinnati Cincinnati 19, Ohio Dear Dr. Kehoe: Thank you very much for your letter of May 2 regarding lead in gasoline. The information which you gave me was exactly what I desired. Thank you for your kind consideration. Sincerely yours // C. L. SAVAGE, M. D. Medical Supervisor V K B 0005153 ACSzi-B: N7257 May 2 , 1947 D r . C . L . Savage, Medical Supervisor, E . I . du Pont de Nemours and C o ., I n c ., Vaynestore, V a . Dear Dr . Savage: It i3 difficult if not impossible to give an even approximately accurate answer to the question raised in your letter of the 25th. In general, gasoline would be expected to have very little lead in it. lather rarely, in our experience, is it completely lacking in lead compounds, and the concentration that is likely to he found even under conditions giving rise to the least contamination, will he of the order of .01 to .-jp milligram per liter. This, as you will recognize, is negligible, being in rough correspondence to what is found in drinking water, by and large. On the ether han d , gasoline ana other petroleum products are commonly treated with litharge and caustic soda to remove sulfur compounds, and this results in the suspension of finely divided lead compounds in commercial gasoline. The particulate matter tends to settle out in the first tank in which the gasoline is stored, but smaller quantities settle out In subsequent storage tanks, and it is not unusual tc find m a t a good many pounds of lead compound: lie in the bottom of a storage tank, as evidence of the fact that the gasoline when introduced into the tank had appreciable quantities of lead compounds in suspension. As you can see, this makes it very difficult to say what will be present in a given sample of gasoline . F o r practical purposes, and for use in cleaning generally ,the lead concentration in clear gasoline which has never been treated with tetraethyl lead, is an item of no importance. I hope this gives you the information you need, but if I havemissed some point of practical importance, in relation to your question, do not hesitate to let me know. . Sincere]y y ours, EAK ef i.obert A. Kehce, M. D. 0005154