Pitch naphthol

Pandastites (see also under Anilite or Anilithe in Vol 1, A443-R), Liq expls of the Sprengel type, patented in France by Turpin in 1881, contg liq N2O4 as oxidizer and CS2 as fuel. Later, petroleum, benz, toluene, xylene, aniline, mixts of CS2 and NB, naphthols, pitch, and vegetable and animal oils were also proposed as fuels. Some of these substances were nitrated... 

Figure 40 shows an apparatus for the distillation of 3-naphthol. It is heated by gas (three ring burners) and is designed for about 1000 kilograms. A distillation requires about 4 hours. The residual pitch amounts to about 5 per cent of the crude naphthol. (Most distillation apparatus for naphthol have stirring mechanisms so that no charring occurs at the bottom of the kettles.) The distilled naphthol is allowed to solidify in lumps and is centrifuged, after the product has been pulverized. 

According to Weingart and Lancaster it is important to obtain a good pitch as the raw material e.g. the residue from the distillation of p-naphthol, but the author does not find it easy to get this material at present. In Japan ordinary coal pitch is used but it has a defect for it produces much soot and smoke. There is another kind of snake named Pharaoh s Serpent. The composition contains a mercury compound and may be poisonous. 

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