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Show New Chemical Industry Forges Ahead on Copper By-Products Utah's growing chemical industry in-dustry is forging ahead on a byproduct by-product of copper production in the state. At Kennecott Copper Corporation's Corpo-ration's Utah smelter, gases are used for the production of hundreds hun-dreds of thousands of tons of sulfuric acid annually. The acid has made possible the relatively new fertilizer producing industry, indus-try, stimulated the construction of industrial plants, contributed to mineral developments and in other ways has created jobs and industry in the intermountain area. There is promise for new developments de-velopments based on this acid. Utah's beryllium resources in Millard and Juab counties, especially espe-cially north and west of Delta, may be developed economically because sulfuric acid is available nearby Uranium and vanadium processing pro-cessing in Utah and neighboring states was boosted substantially by the manufacture of acid in Utah. Production of new and better daily production capacity of 1000 tons of sulfuric acid. A typical industry that came from the availability of ample supplies of acid is the Western Phosphates, Inc., plant west of Magna. It receives acid by pipe line from the smelter, then uses the acid to process phosphate rock into various fertilizers. Essentially all of the sulfur dioxide gas from the converters at Kennecott's smelter now goes into one of five contact acid plants at the smelter. Gases from the converters contain impurities impuri-ties that must be removed before acid manufacture begins. Dust is removed by a system which utilizes high voltage electricity to precipitate out the dust. Gases are then scrubbed and cooled in towers lined and packed with acid proof ; brick. An acid mist developed in the cleaning processes pro-cesses is removed in lead tubed precipitators. The continued development of resources in the intermountain west, aided by an ample supply of essential sulfuric acid, makes uture of the chemical industry seem bright. All this resulted from selling gases from smelter smoke that Kennecott eliminates from the air. fertilizers, leading to the construction con-struction of new facilities, was possible because this acid is a necessary agent for producing these fertilizers from phosphate rock. Quantities of phosphate rock are mined near Vernal and in Wyoming and Idaho. The handy supply of Utah acid along with the availability of phosphate rock contributed immensely im-mensely to the recent boom in phosphate fertilizer manufacturing manufactur-ing in the intermountain region. Sulfuric acid also is important to the West's manufacture of fertilizers -that contain nitrogen, nitro-gen, based on ammonium sulphate sul-phate production. These fertilizers fertiliz-ers are manufactured on quantity quan-tity in Utah county. This acid is not limited in its contributions to Utah's industrial economy. It is used in refining of gasoline near Salt Lake City and for electro refining of copper. cop-per. It contributes to the successful suc-cessful recovery of coal tars from byproduct oven and almost all processes based on an acid leaching use sulfuric acid. It also improves water supplies by neutralizing alakalinity. The total impact of this means many millions of dollars to Utah economy annually through the payrolls, taxes and purchase of supplies and services. The plant itself employs over 60 men with an annual payroll in excess of $400,000. The acid is manufactured by Garfield Chemical and Manufacturing Manufac-turing Corp., a subsidiary of Kennecott and American Smelting Smelt-ing and Refining Co. The acid plant, the largest producer of sulfuric acid west of Houston, is located within the grounds of Kennecott's Utah Copper Division Divi-sion smelter near the Great Salt Lake. The plant has a rated |
