United States Technology

Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States. Technology, Innovation and Regional Economic Development. Washington, D.C. 1984. 

Through the use of lab tests implemented by the pulp and paper companies in the United States and Canada it was determined that all but one manual technique were both unrepeatable and inaccurate. During some years ago the operators of black liquor recovery boilers have been able to take advantage of the latest teehnology to inspect the wall thickness of the near drum generator tubes. The technology utilises immersion ultrasound and automated computer... 

Benzene was prepared from coal tar by August W von Hofmann m 1845 Coal tar remained the primary source for the industrial production of benzene for many years until petroleum based technologies became competitive about 1950 Current production IS about 6 million tons per year m the United States A substantial portion of this ben zene is converted to styrene for use m the preparation of polystyrene plastics and films... 

Coal is expected to be the best domestic feedstock alternative to natural gas. Although coal-based ammonia plants have been built elsewhere, there is no such plant in the United States. Pilot-scale projects have demonstrated effective ammonia-from-coal technology (102). The cost of ammonia production can be anticipated to increase, lea ding to increases in the cost of producing nitrogen fertilizers. 

Resources of Sulfur. In most of the technologies employed to convert phosphate rock to phosphate fertilizer, sulfur, in the form of sulfuric acid, is vital. Treatment of rock with sulfuric acid is the procedure for producing ordinary superphosphate fertilizer, and treatment of rock using a higher proportion of sulfuric acid is the first step in the production of phosphoric acid, a production intermediate for most other phosphate fertilizers. Over 1.8 tons of sulfur is consumed by the world fertilizer industry for each ton of fertilizer phosphoms produced, ie, 0.8 t of sulfur for each ton of total 13.7 X 10 t of sulfur consumed in the United States for all purposes in 1991, 60% was for the production of phosphate fertilizers (109). Worldwide the percentage was probably even higher. 

Gut Rubber and Extruded Latex. The manufacturing technology for cut and extmded mbber thread is much older and more widely known than that for spandex fibers. Because production faciUties can be installed with relatively modest capital investment, manufacture of mbber thread is fragmented and more widely distributed with a few major and many minor producers. On a worldwide basis, Fikattice of Italy is the largest mbber thread producer with modem extmded latex plants in Italy, Spain, Malaysia, and the United States. Second in production capacity is the Globe Manufacturing Co., Fall River, Massachusettes with production operations in the United States and the UK. These firms also produce spandex fibers. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The NIST is the source of many of the standards used in chemical and physical analyses in the United States and throughout the world. The standards prepared and distributed by the NIST are used to caUbrate measurement systems and to provide a central basis for uniformity and accuracy of measurement. At present, over 1200 Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) are available and are described by the NIST (15). Included are many steels, nonferrous alloys, high purity metals, primary standards for use in volumetric analysis, microchemical standards, clinical laboratory standards, biological material certified for trace elements, environmental standards, trace element standards, ion-activity standards (for pH and ion-selective electrodes), freezing and melting point standards, colorimetry standards, optical standards, radioactivity standards, particle-size standards, and density standards. Certificates are issued with the standard reference materials showing values for the parameters that have been determined. 

Countries that use a positive Hst, eg, Japan, Switzerland, the former Soviet Union, and the United States, Hst ak substances akowable in flavor and foods any material not Hsted is not akowable. Any material included on a positive Hst is considered safe for its intended use. This system works wek only if there is a specific procedure to akow for the addition of new materials. In the United States there is the Food Additive Petition and the GRAS route. No new material can be used in flavor or foods unless it undergoes one of these two procedures. This assures that any new technology can be added and used after it is reviewed for safety. 

A projection of biomass energy consumption in the United States for the years 2000, 2010, 2020, and 2030 is shown in Table 6 by end use sector (12). This analysis is based on a National Premiums Scenario which assumes that specific market incentives are appHed to aU. new renewable energy technology deployment. The scenario depends on the enactment of federal legislation equivalent to a fossil fuel consumption tax. Any incentives over and above those in place (ca 1992) for use of renewable energy will have a significant impact on biomass energy consumption. 

As early as 1966, natural gas was available to all of the lower 48 states in the United States. During the period 1967—1990, the U.S. transmission system grew from 362,700 km to 450,800 km. Over this same time period, the distribution mains increased from 867,800 km to 1,347,000 km. As plastic pipe and reUable joining technology became available, the use of plastic pipe expanded to include the distribution of gas in low pressure systems. By 1990, approximately 24% of the U.S. distribution system was based on plastic pipe (1). 

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