TRINITROTOLUENE.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

TRINITROTOLUENE.

NEW METHOD OF RECOVERY

Oho of tlio surprises of the present war luusN>eeii the great explosive power oi trinitrotoluene, better known under its abbreviated form of T.N.T. (says the "Daily Telegraph,'' London). The explosive used in the Boer war was •principally lyddite, and the basis of this and many other similar explosives was, or perhaps we should say is, for it is probably still in use. picric acid. T.N.T. is the next step upwards in the same chemical .series. The power of the modern torpedo, which has had so great ail effect upon naval tactics, Is duo to T.N.T. and probably much of the high explosives used to pulverise trenches and dugouts ;uid create the great shellcraters consists of the same substance. Practically the on!\* commercial source of benzol and toluol, from which lyddite and T.N.T. are made, is coal ta.r oil. and, as a consequence, all the gasworks in the kingdom have l>een doing their utmost to obtain as much as possible of this substance for the- Minister of Muritions. The demand, however, lias ex. eeeded the supply, and. accordingly attention has been directed to coal-gas itself, tho illuminating properties of which, when burnt in a flat-frame burn, or, are due almost entirely to small quantities af benzol and toluol contained in the gas. I'd to the present only a comparatively small proportion —much less than half —has been recovered. The description bv Dr. I{. Lessing at a recent mooting of the Society of Chemical Industry of a process for the complete recovery o? tho benzol and toluol in coal gas, by means oi which it will be possible to obtain about two gallons of benzol and a tenth of that quantity of toluol from c\ cry 10,000 cubic feet of gas, is particularly opportune. This is a discovery which wilj prove as useful in peace as in war, for Ikmizol and toluol form the basis of ni,ost oi our coal-tar colours, and will prove invaluable to our rapidly growing dye industry, which is making gigantic strides towards filling the place formerly occupied bv the German dye works, [''uriiier, we have here a prolific source of home-produced fuel tor our internal combustion engines. TVnzol before the war was coming rapidly into favour for driving those engines, though only about one-tenth as much benzol was used as petrol. After the war we ought to be producing in this country at five times as niiieli beuzul .IS ill 1014. Such a supply should mean the freeing ol a very largo amount of tonnage—and tonnage will be scare. 1 for a long t. : me after peace is (K-I'M-eil. In fact, tin 1 wnole of the netr.->] ori'viouslv imnorted could K A done without by us if the home-produced fuel a'eohol qiie-tion were properly tackled. There i.- good r.a-on to suppose that tlit-new Ho ml of I" i l l ' l{rs'an-li u :I1 J. iv ( , i>'i »*t i<*iilr al ti'iitioll to thi 1 futuie I'ciil. It has been estimated 11.feu! ah ohol colli] ba produc d for :;d. per gallon. Mix-vl with an eon", oiiaiitiiv of benzol we rave an idcl fuel ( !..,t 1,,, i .~| uit hi. it engine alter;it i'.n.