Mr. PIKE. The process of refining the trona has just been carried out in the laboratory stage, and the base-exchange process is fully described in my published work appearing in the Journal, which was carried out on a semilaboratory scale. The process of refining trona is merely to dissolve it at 85° C. and then adding an extremely minute amount of absorbent charcoal, which immediately absorbs the coloring matter and produces a water-white solution. Mr. MANSFIELD. I had in mind particularly the autoclave process. Mr. PIKE. That has been tried out on the basis of 2 or 3 pounds to the charge. It probably would be advisable to do it on a little larger scale, but it is an extremely simple process. Mr. WHITE. Do I understand that the only trona developed now is from this core drilling? Mr. PIKE. That is right. Mr. WHITE. You would have to sink a shaft 1,500 to 2,000 feet to secure a larger supply of trona? Mr. PIKE. The geographical indications are that by going about 10 miles nearer Green River the shaft would be about 500 feet deep. But whatever it is, it has to be done. Mr. WHITE. Have any of these propositions been put before the mining interests for possible development? Mr. PIKE. No; not yet. The making of the sodium phosphates is virtually a matter of mixing the raw trona and the phosphoric acid. Mr. MANSFIELD. I had in mind in my question a while ago particularly the treatment of leucite. Mr. PIKE. I think that some additional consultation and work should be done on that, but, as I say, the processes are very simple. Senator O'MAHONEY. When did you read the log of the well in which this trona was revealed? Mr. PIKE. I did not read it, but I have it here. Senator O'MAHONEY. I do not mean this morning; but when did you first see that log? Mr. PIKE. I think I saw it in the first part of 1939 when I read the article in the Mineralogist. Senator O'MAHONEY. And it was the reading of that log which opened your eyes to the existence of this deposit? Mr. PIKE. Yes, sir. Senator O'MAHONEY. Mr. White asked you whether or not any mining interests had learned about this, because they had the same opportunity that you had to read that published log. Mr. PIKE. Yes, sir. Senator O'MAHONEY. How about chemical companies? Mr. PIKE. No; this has not as yet been exploited at all. It is hot off the griddle. We have just got the thing all analyzed and lined up, and this is the first time it has been made public. Senator O'MAHONEY. Are there any other questions to be asked of Mr. Pike? [No response.] You have finished with your statement, have you, Mr. Pike? Senator O'MAHONEY. Thank you very much, Mr. Pike, for a very interesting bit of testimony. (The statement referred to and submitted by the witness is here printed in full as follows:) STATEMENT BY ROBERT D. PIKE, CONSULTING CHEMICAL ENGINEER, PITTSBURGH, PA., BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE OF PUBLIC LANDS COMMITTEE OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE, MEETING JULY 23, 1941, SENATOR JOSEPH C. O'MAHONEY (WYOMING), CHAIRMAN (Authorized by S. Res. No. 53 to make a full and complete study with respect to the development of the mineral resources, including oil and gas, of the public lands of the United States) The purpose of this statement is to present for the consideration of the committee an outline of the facts underlying a proposal for establishing an important center of chemical industry at or in the vicinity of Green River, Wyo. This proposal has a bearing upon defense. Its proposed products would present an economic contribution toward the manufacture of some important chemicals used directly and indirectly in defense, but this industry, once established, would not depend upon the needs of war or emergency for its successful continuation, because the unique combination of essential raw materials with the auxiliary materials of chemical industry, namely, cheap fuel and water, is unequalled anywhere else in the United States and is of such a nature as to make possible the profitable manufacture and distribution throughout the United States of a number of necessary products of chemical industry, advantageously in competition with present sources of supply. I have been interested as a chemical engineer in the development of these raw materials for over 15 years, and have studied many different methods of manufacture and marketing. Recently Union Pacific Railroad Co. has by core drilling proven up the existence near Green River of the world's largest deposit of pure trona (Na2CO NaHCO 2H2O, sodium sesquicarbonate). A bed of this comparatively rare and valuable mineral 15 to 20 feet thick was discovered at a depth between 1,500 and 1,600 feet by core drilling. The nature of the deposit is such that the solid trona can be brought to the surface very cheaply by a shaft and by the use of the room and pillar system of mining. This discovery confirmed an earlier discovery and was further confirmed by a third core drilled by Union Pacific Railroad Co. These three cores are located about 20 miles west of Green River. Taken in conjunction with the geology of the Green River formation they indicate the existence of a vast supply of practically pure trona totaling many hundreds of millions of tons, and they prove up a sufficient supply of trona for the establishment of the proposed industry. The Green River trona has approximately the following analysis: A discovery of such a vast body of almost pure trona is of great importance to the chemical industry. It means that cheap alkali (sodium carbonate or soda ash, the principal alkali, of which over 3,000,000 tons is annually produced in the United States, is easily made from trona) can be made available immediately in competition throughout the Middle West with the present product of the ammonia soda plants. It also means that an expanding demand for alkali can in future be supplied from a natural source which required only a small fraction of the investment per unit output annually which is required to establish ammonia soda plants, the only present available major source of supply of soda ash. The demand for soda ash has shown a consistent increase during the entire history of its use which dates back to the middle of the last century. For example, in 1933, the total production was 2,317,000 tons in the United States, and in 1940, 3,157,000 tons, an increase of 36 percent, and this growth has been in spite of the large displacement of soda ash in the manufacture of caustic soda by the electrolytic caustic process. This displacement of soda ash between 1933 and 1937 has been about 400,000 tons, so the actual increase in consumption in other uses during this period was about 1,240,000 tons, or 177,000 tons annually. I am indebted to Mr. Henry J. Leir, president, Continental Ore Corporation, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York City, for some information relative to a new use of soda ash in the manufacture of steel. This is the treatment of pig iron in the ladle with 10-20 pounds soda ash per ton. This desulphurizes the metal and, according to Mr. Leir, would replace the use of about 1,000,000 tons manganese ore annually with about 400,000 to 800,000 tons soda ash. This would require new equipment in the ammonia soda industry if the soda ash were to be obtained from that source, of about $15,000 per ton per day for actual plant cost, or for 400,000 tons annually about $16,500,000, but the soda ash for this purpose could be provided from Green River trona merely by mining and calcining at a low temperature. The investment in mine and equipment for this purpose would be less than $2,500,000. Mr. Leir states that the practice of using soda ash to replace manganese ore for desulphurizing pig iron is fully developed and widely and successfully practiced in Belgium, France, and Luxemburg. By use of a very simple refining process a soda ash of exceptional purity can be easily produced from Green River trona. This soda ash will have a higher purity than that available from the ammonia soda process, being almost entirely free from salt, NaCl, and water insoluble matter, and having less than 0.0008 percent iron, Fe. Probably the most interesting direct use of the Green River trona will be in connection with its ability to supply a large tonnage of soda ash at small investment and low cost to the steel industry where it could be used to replace a large tonnage of manganese ore. Very pure refined ash can be marketed throughout the Middle West at a satisfactory margin of profit in competition with present sources of supply. Of even greater importance are the indirect uses of trona in connection with the other mineral resources of the Green River region in the production of some of the essential products of the chemical industry. The location of the raw materials tributary to Green River to which I refer are given in the accompanying map. These are briefly enumerated as follows: Wyomingite (leucite rock).—This is a vast deposit of a comparatively rare mineral and is the only deposit in the United States. Leucite possesses the unique property of base exchange whereby its content of potash, K2O, may be substituted by soda, Na2O. I have taken advantage of this property to develop a cheap and simple process which employs the Green River trona as the source of soda for base exchange with the potash of the wyomingite. By this process I am enabled to recover 8 pounds actual potash, K2O, per 100 pounds wyomingite, which is recovered in the form of potassium carbonate, which may be marketed as such or which may be converted to caustic potash. Potassium carbonate and caustic potash enter widely into chemical industry, and their production at Green River would be important because this should prove to be their cheapest source of supply. This is because, at Green River, potassium carbonate would be the primary product, whereas in present-day production it is first necessary to electrolyze potassium chloride with a heavy consumption of electrical energy, thus producing caustic potash, and this must be then carbonated to produce potassium carbonate. The wyomingite occurs in a large mesa known as Zirkel Mesa. Mining would be by open-face quarry over 50 feet high and without overburden. A sufficient tonnage for the proposed industry could be easily and quickly developed. Phosphate rock.-There are vast deposits of phosphate rock in southeastern Idaho near to Green River, Wyo. The mining of this rock has been placed on a successful commercial basis, notably by Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The proposed industry at Green River would require annually about 67,000 tons phosphate rock of the average grade which is produced in Idaho. This can be supplied by the present established phosphate rock-mining industry after appropriate enlargement of its facilities. The necessary additions for this extra production could be provided within 1 year. Sulfuric acid.-A large tonnage of sulfur is lost daily from the smelter of American Smelting & Refining Co. at Garfield, Utah, about 200 miles westerly from Green River. The sulfuric acid which would be required by the proposed industry is only a small fraction of the total potentially available at Garfield. The actual requirements would be about 65,000 tons basis 60° acid annually, and this additional production could be provided at Garfield within 1 year. Limestone.-Is required in relatively small amount and may be obtained of suitable grade for causticizing from an open quarry at Rawlins. The water of Green River, in view of the arid nature of the region, is of essential importance. A report of the United States Geodetic Survey for 1938 gives the river flow at Green River from October 1937 to September 1938 as follows: Maximum discharge in June 1938_. Second-feet 10, 200 530 The average flow in the 43-year period from 1895 to 1938 was 1,888 second-feet. The drainage area is 7,670 square miles. The summer temperature of the water averages 60° F., but cases have been recorded as high as 65° during periods of extreme low water. This shows that the Green River may be depended upon to supply ample water for all purposes, including condensing water for steam-driven turbogenerators, which, with the cheap fuel available, will give cheap power. It Natural gas.-The Baxter Basin gas field has ample reserves of natural gas. Gas from this field is now being supplied to Salt Lake City by pipe line. has a thermal value of 920 B. t. u.'s per cubic foot under standard conditions of temperature and pressure. This natural gas will provide ideal fuel for the proposed plant and may be employed for the manufacture of hydrogen used in the synthetic process for producing ammonia. This possibility is mentioned because there is a shortage of ammonia for purposes of defense, and particularly because anhydrous ammonia could be produced very cheaply at Green River and shipped in tank cars to western points for production of nitric acid if powder plants should be located west of Green River. It might also be that the low cost of production of anhydrous ammonia at Green River from the natural gas there available would justify its shipment to middle-western points. Power. The proposed industry would require electric power in relatively minor amounts for pumping and other mechanical uses. This power would be generated in a modern type steam-driven turbogenerator, using high-pressure steam. The exhaust steam would be removed from the turbine at lower pressure and would be used for process heating in the chemical plant. This arrangement, which is conventional in the chemical industry, would provide the power needed at a cost of 2 to 21⁄2 mills per kilowatt-hour. The availability of ample cold water for condensing purposes, and cheap coal and gas makes possible the manufacture of very cheap electric power on a large scale at Green River. I refer to a diagrammatic consolidated flow sheet of the proposed Green River chemical development. This shows the interconnection of the raw materials for the production of the following products: Soda ash, crude and refined.-Crude soda ash is that which is produced merely by crushing and calcining the crude trona. It will contain 99+ percent Na2CO3. It is anticipated that this crude ash, because of its low cost of production, which will enable a low selling price to the steel industry, would stimulate the consumption of soda ash as a substitute for manganese ore in desulphurizing pig iron, and for other uses which require a cheap alkali and where the highest purity is not essential. The refined soda ash which will be produced from Green River trona would have an exceptionally high purity, and because of its low cost of production could be marketed on an advantageous competitive basis with the soda ash from present sources of production at consuming centers along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the Chicago district and in the Northwest. Sodium phosphates.-I believe that the production of sodium phosphates by the proposed Green River chemical development will prove to be its most important economic contribution to chemical industry. The production of these compounds at Green River from phosphoric acid made by the wet method from sulfuric acid and phosphate rock, would release an important block of power in the Southeast where it is now employed in electric furnaces for the production of phosphoric acid. The statistics on the production of sodium phosphate in the United States are given in the attached table. Direct statistical data for production for 1940 and 1941 are not available, but a rough estimate may be derived from other information which is mentioned below. The main interest of this table arises from the very rapid increase in the production from 1933 to 1939. The total value increased from $5,600,000 in 1933 to $10,600,000 in 1939. The greatest increase has been noted recently in tetrasodium pyrophosphate which at a value of $147 per ton was produced to the extent of $1,350,000 in 1937, which value was increased to $4,200,000 in 1939 in spite of the fact that in this year the value per ton was reduced to $99.50. Tetrasodium pyrophosphate is a particularly desirable compound to make at Green River because it can be produced by calcining dibasic sodium orthophosphate which is made by neutralizing phosphoric acid with raw trona. The tribasic sodium orthophosphate, known as T. S. P., can also be produced cheaply at Green River. The principal uses of the sodium phosphates are enumerated as follows: Monobasic sodium orthophosphate, monohydrate and anhydrous, boiler water treatment, food products, pharmaceuticals. Dibasic, crystal and anhydrous, textile mills, boiler water treatment, food products. Tribasic, treating silage, contact tinning of brass, boiler water treatment, scouring compound. Tetrasodium pyrophosphate, peptizing agent, used in stabilizing mud for drilling oil wells, soap builder, dishwashing, stabilizing hydrogen peroxide, emulsifying. Because of the distribution of hard water in the United States which centers in the Middle West, Green River is in an advantageous position to market both T. S. P. and tetrasodium pyrophosphates, both of which are largely employed for treating hard water. The Green River proposal involves making about 31,500 tons tetrasodium pyrophosphate annually or an equivalent 92,000 tons T. S. P. This would use 18,600 tons P2O. annually and would require the following materials: Tons 60° sulfuric acid Phosphate rock Trona___ 65, 000 67,000 37,000 The total production of P:Os in all of the sodium phosphates produced in the United States in 1937 and 1939 was as follows: At the present time six electric furnaces are reported in use in the southeast în addition to the four in use by T. V. A. These six furnaces produce approximately 56,000 tons P2Os annually; a large part of this production goes to making sodium phosphate and in addition there is known to be a considerable production. of sodium phosphate in the east and by one plant at Los Angeles, Calif., from wet process phosphoric acid. It may therefore be safely estimated that the PO used in the production of sodium phosphates has shown a substantial increase over the 1939 production and is probably at the rate of at least 75,000 tons annually at this time. The proposal to produce 18,600 tons annually at Green River would therefore be equivalent to producing about 25 percent of the total United States production. This in itself should be conservative in a business which has been showing an annual increase of almost 20 percent for the past 6 years. Justification for making this amount of P2O. at Green River from the standpoint of defense follows from the fact that it will release about 12,000 kilowatts continuous electric energy in the southeast. This is sufficient to produce about 8,090,000 pounds of aluminum annually. A further justification for engaging in the matter of sodium phosphates at Green River arises from the fact that this would be the cheapest source of supply for delivery at Chicago, which is taken as the average delivery point. This is because phosphoric acid made by the wet method on the scale contemplated at Green River will cost about the same per unit PO, as phosphoric acid by the electric furnace method at Tennessee and Alabama points, but trona can be produced at Green River for about $1.50 per ton, equivalent to $2.15 per ton |