Abstract
THE growth of the plastics industry has engendered continually increasing demands for two coal-tar hydrocarbons, benzene and naphthalene, and this has been previously discussed by the writer ( 1 , 2 ). The source of these hydrocarbons, the high-temperature carbonization of coal, has not expanded at a proportionate rate, and during 1948 we experienced a condition of severe shortage and increasing prices. Although a substantial number of new by-product ovens are being installed to compensate for wartime depreciation and to provide for increased steel production, it seems that such increase will be decidedly inadequate from the long-term standpoint of aromatics. Even if all the coke-oven tar is distilled to recover its naphthalene content, the writer believes it will prove insufficient for the needs of a prosperous chemical industry. There appear to be only two basic avenues of relief—imports from other countries, or production from petroleum, either per se or incidental to other operations. Imports can, at ...
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