Synthetic Rubber. Its Industrial Production in the U. S. S. R.

Abstract

Abstract The subject of synthetic rubber has not been neglected in the literature. However, all the publications, including those of Harries or some of the work of Dubosc and Luttringer or even the less complete works such as articles by Jacobs and by Whitby and Katz, contain systematic discussions of the various possibilities of synthesizing rubber, but these deal only with established laboratory procedures, which are for the most part theoretical for the very reason that they have been merely abstract researches and have not been applied on an industrial scale. It should, however, be mentioned that the recent publications of Carothers and his collaborators are not of this character, and Gottlob, who described the great efforts in the Beyer and Co. plant at Leverkusen where 200 tons per month of synthetic rubber were produced during the war, should likewise not be overlooked. Nevertheless a description of this latter process is not of much practical value, because it deals with a process which was abandoned a long time ago. As far as any interest today in the industrial synthesis of rubber is concerned, there is only the work being carried out in U. S. S. R. The author would refer economists and rubber technologists who may be interested in the details to his earlier article, and the purpose of the present article is limited to a detailed survey of the chemical process as applied in the U. S. S. R., leaving out of consideration an analysis of the reasons why it has been considered necessary in the U. S. S. R. to carry out this undertaking, and why ethyl alcohol has been adopted as a raw material for the synthesis of the new rubber, and leaving out of consideration all the statistics of the development of this industry and also technical information for the use of this new substance in rubber factories.