NOTES ON THE RHINELAND CHEMICAL WORKS. 
The benefits which arise from this system are many, since it is 
possible to erect a plant of large capacity from a minimum of drawings 
and patterns, and the ordering and construction of parts become simple. 
Also, it allows of the use of appliances of standard dimensions, which 
are generally kept in stock by ironfounders, earthenware manufacturers, 
and the like, so that time is saved in erection as well as in cost, since 
the parts which call for special construction are reduced to a minimum 
in number. It might be mentioned that the plant just spoken of, 
which was completed and put into operation in February, 1918, cost 
£2,000,000, and was erected in six months. 
Another matter which is forced upon one’s notice in these large 
works is the fact that, though the variety of their products is great, 
there is no reckless plunging into the manufacture of an article which 
is not connected in some way or another with what is the essential part 
of their business. As an example of this, we may consider a few of 
the operations of thé Bayer Company, at Leverkusen. It would appear 
at first sight that the manufacture of superphosphate of lime was clearly 
dissociated from the essential business of the factory, e.g., the mann- 
facture of dyes and ‘pharmaceuticals. Nevertheless, a superphosphate 
plant, having a capacity of 50,000 tons per annum, was built and 
brought into operation shortly before war opened. The reason for this 
departure was the fact that a large quantity of weak and contaminated 
sulphuric acid is produced in many of the plant operations, which 
could be made re-usable for such purposes only after being purified and 
reconcentrated, processes which are costly in time and labour and 
wasteful of material, since much organic matter has to be oxidized at 
the expense of the sulphuric acid it is desired to recover. To use new 
acid for the prime factory processes and waste acid for the purpose of 
rendering phosphate rock soluble is, therefore, a perfectly connected 
development of their business. 
Another example: It would appear that the manufacture of 800 
tons per month of the mixture of zine sulphide and barium sulphate, 
known in the paint trade as “ lithopone,” was outside the field of the 
manufacture of organic chemicals, but the extensive use of zinc dust 
for reduction purposes provides the key to this seeming departure from 
connected extension of the manufactures, since the solution of zinc 
sulphate obtained from these reductions is the starting material for the 
preparations of lithopone. An endeavour to recover the sulphur in 
precipitated calcium sulphate, which accumulates in large amount in 
such a factory, is a clear extension of their business, and, besides, is 
fraught with immense possibilities, since success in doing so would place 
an enormous amount of material at hand for the manufacture of sul- 
' phuric acid in the shape of the large natural deposits of gypsum. This 
process is actually being worked on a large scale, but complete success 
is not yet attained, although several thousands of tons of calcium sul- 
phate have actually been passed through the plant. 
As already indicated, a valuable aid to the development of manu- 
facturing processes in the Rhineland area is the great beds of brown 
coal which lie a little way removed from the river, between Cologne 
and Crefeld. The ease of working these beds permits of power being 
obtained at very low cost, and there are several large power stations 
situated right on the beds which have distributed power to consumers 
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