From Synthetic Raw Materials

Aluminum for the manufacture of aluminum-rich zeolites is obtained from sodium aluminate solutions, which are obtained by dissolving aluminum oxide hydrate in sodium hydroxide. Silica is used in the form of water glass, fine particulate silica (e.g. silica fillers) or silica sols. The cheaper water glass is preferred, but exhibits the lowest activity of the above-mentioned sources of silica. The reaction has therefore to be carried out in a special way to 

The manufacture of the industrially important zeolite types A, X and Y is generally carried out by mixing sodium aluminate and sodium silicate solutions, whereupon a sodium aluminosilicate get is formed. In this gel Si02- and Al203-containing compounds pass into the liquid phase, from which the zeolites are formed by cry.stallization. As the zeolite growth components are removed from the solution more gel dissolves. The reaction mechanism for zeolite formation is presently not yet fully understood. There is experimental evidence that, depending upon the reaction conditions, different mechanisms are possible. 

In zeolite synthesis the desired zeolite end-product is generally metastable with respect to the byproducts associated with it, e.g. the byproduct sodalite is more stable than zeolite A, and the byproduct phillipsite is more. stable than zeolites X and Y. 

Therefore different variables must be controlled during zeolite syntheses to obtain a material with optimum properties e.g.  

The above-mentioned variables do not play a role in all zeolite syntheses. In the manufacture of different zeolites, aging of the gel at temperatures below the crystallization is often useful. In many cases the synthesis can be influenced or accelerated by the addition of small quantities of nuclei. 

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Ethylenediamine Djnittate was manufd in Germany, under the name of DIAMIN, from synthetic raw materials ethanol, ammonia and nitric acid (Ref 3)... 

Features Patented produced solely from synthetic raw materials Sansperse WTC [BASF]... 

Synthesis. Exploratory research has produced a wide variety of odorants based on natural stmctures, chemicals analogous to naturals, and synthetic materials derived from available raw materials and economical processing. As in most areas of the chemical industry, the search for new and useful substances is made difficult by the many materials that have been patented and successfully commercialized (4). In the search for new aroma chemicals, many new materials are prepared for screening each year. Chemists who perform this work are involved in a creative exercise that takes its direction from the commercial sector in terms of desirable odor types and specific performance needs. Because of economic limitations, considerations of raw material costs and available processing methods may play a role eady in the exploratory work. 

Quality of Product. Ammonium nitrate, commonly made from pure synthetic raw materials, is itself of high purity. If the product is intended for use in explosives, it should be at least 99% ammonium nitrate and contain no more than 0.15% water. It should contain only small amounts of water-insoluble and ether-soluble material, sulfates and chlorides, and should not contain nitrites. The soHd product ought to be free from alkalinity, but be only slightly acidic. 

Surface-active compounds, especially the anionic surfactants, are derived from fossil raw materials as well as from recent raw materials. The portion of the biomass on the production of anionic surfactants is about 75% if the soap, the quantitatively most important anionic surfactant, is included. Considering only the synthetic surfactants, the syndets, the portion of fossil raw materials in the production of these surfactants, is about 75%. Without the lignosulfonates (and the petroleum sulfonates) this portion is about 90%. Due to strong efforts... 

Synthetic raw materials are usually free from all but incidental microbial contamination. 

Synthetic organic chemists have simplified many processes, using catalysts to make useful chemicals in one step from basic raw materials such as propane. The gigantic paper and pulp industry has devised many new bleaching processes to replace traditional chlorine bleaching. 

Nature-identical flavouring substances. These are substances chemically isolated from aromatic raw materials or obtained synthetically. They are chemically identical to substances present in natural products intended for human consumption, whether processed or not. 

At the time of the first World War the methyl alcohol which was needed for the preparation of tetryl was procured from the distillation of wood. It was expensive and limited in amount. Formaldehyde was produced then, as it is now, by the oxidation of methyl alcohol, and a demand for it was a demand upon the wood-distillation industry. Formaldehyde was the raw material from which methylamine was produced commercially, and the resulting methylamine could be used for the preparation of tetryl by the alternative method from dinitrochlorobenzene. It was also the raw material from which certain useful explosives could be prepared, but its high price and its origin in the wood-distillation industry deprived the explosives in question of all but an academic interest. With the commercial production of synthetic methyl alcohol, the same explosives are now procurable from a raw material which is available in an amount limited only by the will of the manufacturers to produce it. 

It is very understandable that people know so little about ceramics. Ever since time immemorial, clay has been an important ceramic raw material. Not until approximately 1850 were other (synthetic) raw materials introduced in ceramics. The objects which are made of the latter often have specific properties which clearly differ from those of the clay ceramics and which meet the requirements of the sophisticated high-tech world of the nineties. So ceramics involve much more than simply clay ceramics and are, in my view, well worth writing a book about. 

The book is aimed at ceramics in the year 2000 and the subject is introduced via two routes, i.e. the period of approximately 25,000 BC until about 1850 AD in which clay and related natural raw materials prevailed, and the period from 1850 until 2000 with clay and other, mainly synthetic raw materials. Despite the length of the period in which only clay was used, this book will pay relatively little attention to it. The reason for this is the fact that the number of application of ceramic materials increased considerably with the introduction of synthetic raw materials. Moreover, natural sciences have boomed enormously after World War II and consequently so did the education in ceramics. The main part of this book is therefore devoted to ceramics after 1945. Because one of the applications of this book is in the field of education, the text is occasionally illustrated with simple experiments. 

Surfactants are produced by various chemical routes, using either natural or synthetic raw materials as shown in Fig. 36.18. Natural raw materials include fats and oils derived from vegetable and animal sources. Synthetic raw materials include coal, crude oil, and natural... 

Since the Bronze Age both natural ceramic raw materials and synthetic raw materials have been used. Today synthetic raw materials are referred to as industrial minerals or specialty chemicals. Natural raw materials are those to which only physical separations are performed (e.g., clay soils from which organic raw materials are floated, feldspar rock ground to a particular size distribution). With this classification, a description of common ceramic raw materials will be given in the next part of this chapter. 

A classic example of a solid—fluid ceramic powder synthesis reaction is that of calcination and dehydration of natural or synthetic raw materials. Calcination reactions are common for the production of many oxides from carbonates, hydrates, sulfates, nitrates, acetates, oxalates, citrates, and so forth. In general, the reactions produce an oxide and a volatile gaseous reaction product, such as CO2, SOg, or HgO. The most extensively studied reactions of this type are the decompositions of magnesium hydroxide, magnesium carbonate, and calcium carbonate. Depending on the particular conditions of time, temperature, ambient pressure of CO2, relative humidity, particle size, and so on, the process may be controlled by a surface reaction, gas diffusion to the reacting... 

Prokofyev V.Yu., Ilyin A.P., Kunin A.V. et al. Mechanochemical synthesis of cordierite from natural and synthetic raw materials. Chem. Sustainable Development 1998 6 137-70. 

The manufacture of a dye from primary raw materials involves a number of prior synthetic stages and transformations, commonly referred to as unit processes. Such processes include nitration, sulfona-tion, diazotization, oxidation, reduction, chlorination, and others. The products, precursors of the dyes themselves, are collectively known as intermediates. Intermediates are produced by a variety of reactions. Many dye intermediates are manufactured by repeated, and often difficult, chemical reactions to obtain the desired product. Such conversion may be exemplified by the manufacture of a relatively simple intermediate, for example, N,-N-diabenzylaniline disulfonic acid. This conversion requires a number of unit processes, namely the nitration of benzene, the reduction of nitrobenzene, to give aniline, the alkylation of aniline leading to N,N-dibenzylaniline the sulfonation of which gives, finally, the disulfonic acid [11]. 

In order to improve this situation, studies have been made of the individual isolated ceramic phases, and also of their formation and distribution in the ceramic material. The method has proved satisfactory for both classical and new types of ceramic materials, and still represents a significant proportion of both physical and chemical research in the field of ceramics. It has yielded many positive results, in particular with respect to ceramics of simple phase and chemical composition. From this point of view, it is also clear that development of new ceramics for technical applications, with the strict requirements for properties and tolerances involved, is based on the use of synthetic raw materials, which allow for improved control of the respective manufacturing processes. 

Manufacture of Synthetic Zeolites 5.1.3.4.1 From Natural Raw Materials... 

For the purpose of discussion of the chemistry and technology of man-made, fiber-forming polymers, the term "synthetic fiber" will be used to denote all man-made fibers manufactured from noncellulosic raw materials. The term "cellulosics" will apply to those man-made fibers that are manufactured from cellulosic raw materials. The term "man-made fibers" will apply to all fibers except the naturally occurring cellulosic and protein fibers. 

Firstly, variations in feedstock will give rise to variations in product. This is a particular issue when the feedstock is a natural product, such as turpentine. Variations in the weather, pests and in genetics of any plant source are some of the factors which can produce fluctuations in composition of oils produced from them. A good Purchasing Department will identify multiple suppliers of feedstocks whenever possible since reliance on a single supplier of either natural or synthetic raw materials, makes a company very vulnerable. One recent example was of a Japanese factory which was virtually the sole world supplier of a certain feedstock and whose factory was put out of commission by an earthquake. Companies which were dependant on this feedstock were subsequently unable to manufacture their products until repairs to the damaged plant in Japan were complete. 

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