Show statement on flotation on oils 01 Is BY 0 0 RALSTON the sudden development of the art of 0 flotation has brought about peculiar conditions in the oil market A few years ago there was considerable expansion in the wood distilling industry throughout the louth auth on the hope of selling turpentine at not less than 50 cents per gallon this hope was never realized and the industry became demoralized owing to excessive production and the efforts of some plants to keep going even at a loss pine oil which previously has had little sale is a by prod act from this industry and has been found one of the best of oils for flotation purposes at the time of the introduction of the flotation process into the country a stock of pine oil that had accumulated was for sale at an attractive figure this supply of pine oil and its derivatives has been largely exhausted and we are having to depend upon current production for the present supply hence the price has soared and some of the pine oil on the market has been adulterated pine oil is also proving to be a valuable antiseptic and it is doubtful whether it will ever again be sold cheaply furthermore turpentine is now about 50 cents per gallon and the fractionation tio nation of the wood distillate is being made in favor of a high yield of turpentine during 1915 the principal investigation in connection with the flotation oils was conducted for the purpose of finding a substitute for pine oil now costly most of the wood creosotes creo have proved acceptable and are now being sold at lower prices than the pine oils how long this condition will continue is a matter of conjecture the creo have proved to be good preservatives of wood especially of railroad ties however coal creosotes creo excel wood creosotes creo for preserving timber so that flotation will probably cause most of the wood creosote to be diverted from timber preservation further the starting of many large flotation mills during the coming year and the enlargement lar gement of many that have been operating in an experimental way may create such a demand for wood creosote that the cost of this oil may equal that of pino oil in view of such a possibility considerable work has been done to determine whether coal tar and coal tar creosote could lot t be successfully used as flotation oils in many instances it was possible to do so only after adding a small amount of one of the true wood oils there is some difficulty in getting the thick heavy coal tar to mix well with the pulp so that it is biot not th most desirable medium and for that reason the coal creosotes creo have met with more favor consequently most of the gas plants throughout the country have been able to contract for their output of creosote for some time to come A similar condition prevails with regard to most of the wood oils there has been somewhat of a rush in the mining industry for contracts for these products in order that proposed mills will be assured of being able to operate when germany gets into the coal croe sote market again there will doubtless be lower prices for that particular product the petroleum men have not been slow to seek the flotation oil market but their products have not as yet met with much success when used alone it is possible to mix small amounts of pine oil or creosote with various petroleum products such as stove oil and to obtain notation flotation with some degree of success but the general tendency of petroleum products is to float both gangue and mineral non selectively the petroleum products that have met with the most success are some of the crude oils such as texas crude and especially certain high sulphur crude obtainable in kansas and in california stove oil has met with some success in the copper concentrate ing mills as copper minerals do not have to be concentrated to the same degree of purity as do the lead and zinc minerals it is probable that for the wood oils the copper mills will be able to use cheaper substitutes such as petroleum products than will the mills treating baser metals one other product that has met success has been the kerosene acid sludge from certain of the petroleum refineries this material is the resultant of the removal of certain impurities with sulphuric acid and often consists of as much as 50 per cent sulphuric acid not all of the acid sludge products have proven suitable only the california sludge being sold at present just how far all this substitution will be successful is not known and there is no way to predict the test work of the coming year should go far towards solving this problem following is a list of dealers in different oils who have placed on the market various products A host of these dealers are prepared to supply these products at any time and of fairly uniform quality none of them has been able to exactly duplicate their carload shipments so that the general practice is to test each shipment of oil in a laboratory testing device to determine the proper method of using a given shipment of oil this of shipments will doubtless vanish when the market becomes steady dealers in flotation oils wood oils pine oils rosin oils wood creosotes creo tar oils turpentine etc pensacola tar ar turpentine co gull point fla general naval stores co new york georgia pine turpentine co perry st new york central distilling co helena ark united naval stores co new york N Y american tar turpentine co new orleans la cleveland cliffs iron co cleveland ohio chesapeake tar rosin co baltimore md custer city chemical co custer city pa naval stores co brunswick ga fussay oconnell savannah ga florida wood products co jacksonville fla oregon wood distilling co portland ore national wood products co wilmington N C chapman manufacturing co savannah ga tine Chemi chemical calCo co wilmington N C eucalyptus oil atkins kroll co san francisco cal coal tar coal creosotes creo and aromatic hydrocarbons the barrett co new york F J lewis manufacturing co chicago ill american creosoting co new orleans la american tar products co chicago ill and st louis mo republic creosoting co indianapolis ind and minneapolis minn american coal refining co denver colo general naval stores co new york numerous product byproduct by coke ovens such as pennsylvania steel co steelton pa national tube co penwood W va milwaukee coke gas co milwaukee wis pennsylvania steel co lebanon pa solvay process co syracuse N Y by prod acts coke corporation south chicago ill sennett solvay co detroit midi mich central iron coal co tuscaloosa ala new england gas coke co everett mass illinois steel co joliet ill maryland steel co sparrows point md vegetable oils cottonseed oil etc southern cottonseed oil co new york corn oil corn products company new york palm oil peter van co chicago ill animal oils fatty acids oleic acid peter van co chicago oil flotation grease emulsion mohawk refining co cleveland ohio petroleum products crude Alph aultum base california crude union oil co santa paula cal association oil co los angeles cal standard oil co richmond cal road oil no SO 80 harris oil co los angeles cal reconstructed petroleum oils special mineral separator continental oil co salt lake city utah lulene So and mi nolene star lubricating co salt lake city utah refined petroleum products stove oil standard oil co san francisco cal Sta etc continental oil co salt lake city utah flotation oils utah oil refining co salt lake city utah heavy mineral flotation oils geo P jones co st louis mo special mixtures of mineral and wood oils calel oils standard oil co richmond cal mine smelter supply co denver colo hendrie bothoff manufacturing supply co denver colo costs of flotation oils the costs of flotation oils have varied so much owing to the unsettled market that it is almost impossible to give an idea of what they should cost for a rough estimate it is possible to say that crude petroleum will cost the same as for other purposes many of the specialized products such as coal tar listed above will cost about 5 cents or less per gallon the coal creosotes creo and the wood creosotes creo cost 15 to 30 cents per gallon the pine oils 45 to 60 cents per gallon and eucalyptus oil will cost or more per gallon the effect of the ending of the war as regards coal tar and creosote in inthe the american market is uncertain but so far as known wood products will not be affected and petroleum products for flotation will almost certainly be little affected flotation men do not like to have their oil costs go over 5 cents per ton of slimes treated and many costs are nearer to 2 cents or possibly even less oils adapted to certain oros or there can be no doubt that the higher grade pine oils and other wood oils are the best adapted to general flotation work but the question of what is commercially feasible is entirely different thus the wood creo are meeting much favor many of the special petroleum products especially those high in sulphur are adaptable for rough concentration of copper ores but the most favored materials for such ores at present s seem eem to be the coal tar products in combination with topped crude petroleum oils from which the lighter fractions have haire been removed iby by distillation coal tars and creosotes creosote creo 3 with a small addition of pine oils are being used a great deal in zinc work and the wood creosotes creo find favor in the treatment of galena ores gold and much pine oil silver ores seem to require although the pine oil can be diluted with some of the coal creosote oils it will be found that there is a considerable number of oils that will give good results on any given ore if the mechanical treatment is adjusted to suit each given oil the selection of the proper oil in any case is purely a matter of experiment local conditions such as transportation also influence considerably the choice of oils consumption of flotation oils following is a table showing the amount of flotation oils being consumed every mont r throughout the united states these figure bieu fieu were collected at the beginning or of UR i direct communication with the C 0 M companie pa 11 le t the tonnage of ore be being I 1 ng treated was als estimated and proposed increases allowe an estimate of the probable tonnage bYth iby th end of 1916 owing to the fact that so of the companies were secretive on a ai count of the litigation situation the figure are probably in error as much as 20 pe ce cent in either direction and can probably yb in made more accurate as time goes on the products called pine oil groballi pro balli include a considerable amount of the lightel lighter fractions of pine tar oil |