CHEMICAL TREASURE TROVE 



mild, impure acetic acid. At the time of World War 

 I, acetic acid came as a joint product with wood alcohol 

 of evil Prohibition days' reputation when wood is 

 charred in a tightly closed iron retort. Twenty years ago 

 synthetic acetic acid was first prepared from acetylene, 

 the gas which blazed in the Prest-O-Lite headlights of 

 the Gay Nineties and which today burns hotly with 

 oxygen in the welding torch. Now acetic acid is being 

 made from acetaldehyde cracked out of recycled gas- 

 condensates. It is the same old acetic acid, but the 

 Celanese people think it will be cheaper. If it is, it will 

 cut the costs of rayon and plastics. 



Logic as straightforward as a gun barrel backs this 

 new chemical operation. Cellulose plus acetic acid 

 equals cellulose acetate, which is Celanese. The opera- 

 tion is not a war baby, for the process had been worked 

 out at the home plant in Cumberland, Maryland, where 

 an output of ten tons a day had been on schedule. But 

 the new plant in Texas is also turning out thirty-five 

 tons of butadiene a day. That process, too, is a Celanese 

 development, with some novel short-cuts, aimed at 

 lower costs. 



Butadiene suggests synthetic rubber, so I asked the 

 manager, Arthur E. Peterson, about the postwar pro- 

 gram. He answered in his deep English voice, quite a 

 shock to ears atuned to the soft Texas drawl, and his 

 reply was no less startling than his accent. "The future 



263 



