First Commercial Production

The stimulus for the commercial production of rapeseed in Canada arose as the result of a crisis early in World War II. When supplies of rapeseed oil from Europe and Asia were cut off by blockade, the Canadian, British, and American navies were faced with a serious problem. The necessity of finding an alternative source of supply of this essential oil prompted the Wartime Agricultural Supply Board to contact Dr. T. M. Stevenson about the possibility of Canadian production of rapeseed. 

From his knowledge of small scale tests. Dr. Stevenson, who was the Head of the Forage Crop Division of Canada Department of Agriculture, Ottawa, was able to assure the Board that Canadian production was possible. He was requested to initiate production as rapidly as possible. 

In the spring of 1942, Dr. Stevenson supplied a few federal experimental farms and stations with the small quantity of seed he had on hand. The harvest of that year amounted to 2600 pounds (52 bushels) of seed of Brassi-ca napus species. A considerably larger quantity of seed than this was required for planting in 1943 to relieve the serious shortage of rapeseed oil. Dr. Stevenson located and purchased a total of 41,000 pounds from U.S. seed companies. This seed had originally been secured from Argentina and the name Argentine for the Brassica napus was widely used in the early years of production, and still is applied to the varieties of the Brassica napus species. 

In Saskatchewan many of the contracts were arranged with registered seed growers. When the crop in 1943 reached the flowering stage, growers discovered to their consternation that it contained a mixture of plant and flower types, some of which were suspiciously like the weed species of mustard. 

The registered seed growers were highly sensitive to the hazard of the introduction of weeds on their farms and in a few cases legal action was threatened against the government. Ultimately the growers were pacified. 

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The first commercial production of fatty alcohol ia the 1930s employed the sodium reduction process usiug a methyl ester feedstock. The process was used ia plants constmcted up to about 1950, but it was expensive, hazardous, and complex. By about 1960 most of the sodium reduction plants had been replaced by those employing the catalytic hydrogenolysis process. Catalytic hydrogenation processes were investigated as early as the 1930s by a number of workers one of these is described ia reference 26. 

K AIE 20, has emerged as a highly efficient, noncorrosive, and nonhazardous flux for brazing aluminum parts of heat exchangers. Nocolok 100 Flux (Alcan Aluminum Corp.) developed by Alcan (Aluminum Co. of Canada) has been the first commercial product. Its use and mechanistic aspects of the associated brazing process have been weU documented (33—37). 

Polyuretha.ne, A type of spunbonded stmcture has been commercialized in Japan based on thermoplastic polyurethanes (15). This represents the first commercial production of such fabrics, although spunbonded urethane fabrics have been previously discussed (16). The elastomeric properties claimed are unique for spunbonded products and appear to be weU suited for use in apparel and other appHcations requiring stretch and recovery. Polyurethanes are also candidates for processing by the meltblown process. 

The synthesis of isotactic polymers of higher a-olefins was discovered in 1955, simultaneously with the synthesis of isotactic PP (1,2) syndiotactic polymers of higher a-olefins were first prepared in 1990 (3,4). The first commercial production of isotactic poly(l-butene) [9003-29-6] (PB) and poly(4-methyl-l-pentene) [9016-80-2] (PMP) started in 1965 (5). 

The proved reserves and levels of production for Japan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Pakistan, Taiwan, and Thailand are insignificant by world standards. In 1979, the Philippines estabUshed the first commercial production in the small offshore South Nido field. This success came after more than 75 years of wildcat drilling in the Philippines. After several additional discoveries, production rose to 0.3 x 10 m (1.7 x 10 bbl) in 1991. 

However, Ciba-Geigy has introduced (31,32) a type of phosphine-based photoinitiator. In general, the compound can be described as a bis(acyl)phosphine oxide and is prepared by the reaction of a monoaLkylphosphine with a substituted ben2oyl chloride (33). The composition of the first commercial product is proprietary. 

The metal is obtained by electrolysis of a fused mixture of 55% LiCl, 45% KCI at 450°C, the first commercial production being by Metallge-selleschaft AG, in Germany, 1923. Current world production of Li metal is about 1000 tonnes pa. Far greater tonnages of Li compounds are, of course, produced and their major commercial applications have already been noted (p. 70). 

First commercial production of " wet proces.s pho.sphoric acid. 

Predominantly di-end-functional polymers may be prepared by conducting polymerizations with high concentrations of a functional initiator. Some of the first commercial products of this class, carboxy and hydroxy-terminated polybutadienes, were produced by this route.194... 

For this reason much work has been done at the ALZA Corporation and elsewhere to increase the water permeation rates by various technologies. For example, ALZA scientists utilized a composite membrane in the development of their first commercial product with this technology [21,22], In this system they first applied a CA membrane containing a high concentration of porosigens. A second dense membrane containing only CA was added. In this way the overall fluid permeability was increased, since the thickness of the dense portion of the film could be proportionately reduced. 

Natta synthesised polypropylene in 1954. The first commercial production was done by Montacatini in 1957. 

In the mid 1990s, the first reports on the performance of monolithic columns created much excitement in the scientific community. High-performance separations at low backpressure and a short analysis time were the promise. Nevertheless, it was several years before the first commercial products became available,and made it possible to obtain a proper judgement on the ability and the limitations of the technology. 

Sodium carbonate was made historically by the Leblanc process. The first commercial production was carried out by the Leblanc process. In this process, sodium chloride was treated with sulfuric acid to produce sodium sulfate and hydrochloric acid. Heating the sodium sulfate with coal and limestone produced a black ash that contained sodium carbonate, calcium sulfide, unreacted coal, and calcium carbonate. Sodium carbonate was separated from the black ash by leaching with water. The overall reaction is as follows ... 

The dates of first synthesis and of first commercial production of a chemical or mixture are provided for agents which do not occur naturally, this information may allow a reasonable estimate to be made of the date before which no human exposure to the agent could have occurred. The dates of first reported occurrence of an exposure are also provided. In addition, methods of synthesis used in past and present commercial production and different methods of production which may give rise to different impurities are described. 

An anecdote illustrates Tishler s drive. The total synthesis of cortisone, as devised by Lewis Sarrett, comprised approximately 30 steps and required weeks of intense and painstaking effort. Max was in charge of the first commercial production of cortisone in the pilot plant. One of the final steps is the isomerisation of a double bond into conjugation with the 3-ketone function with the formation of a 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone, causing the development of a brilliant, scarlet color. Tishler was inspecting the first production run. To his horror, he spotted a bright-red liquid leaking near the vessel. "I hope that s blood ", he exclaimed. Actually, Max was very concerned for individuals, beneath a rather formidable exterior. 

The first commercial products of this type were sold as blue direct dyes with unmatched tinctorial strength, brilliance, and high lightfastness. An example is C.I. DirectBlue 106, 51300 [6527-70-4] (20) ... 

The triphenodioxazine chromophore can be converted to a reactive dye by incorporating anchors that are attached to the dioxazine core either directly or via bridging groups. The first patents, like the first commercial products, were based almost exclusively on the use of bridging groups. The usual starting material is 2-chloro-5-nitrobenzenesulfonic acid (27), which is treated with a diamine (28). 

Later workers, chiefly in Japan, used naphthalimides with alkoxy substituents at the 4- or 4,5-positions and obtained brighteners with good lightfastness for polyester substrates and good chlorite fastness for polyacrylonitriles. The first commercial product was 4-methoxy-iV-methylnaphthalimide (64) [3271-05-4] [113], Table 7.10 lists the most important compounds. 

In 1977, when the above review was presented and published, the history of the s-triazine herbicides was already 25 years old, with the first synthesis of these chemicals completed in 1952. The filing of the first basic triazine patent case in Switzerland was on August 16, 1954, and the first commercial products appeared on the market in 1956, following the approval of simazine for use in corn by federal authorities in Switzerland on December 3, 1956. Several other agrochemical companies started immediately to work with their own s-triazine variations, using other radicals or amino-functions on the s-triazine ring. This further research was also briefly reviewed in Knusli s 1977 paper. 

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