The birth of the synthetic rubber industry during World War II was the subject of last month's "We're History" column. Here we have the personal story of George W. Hobby - one chemical engineer (of many) who played an important role in that effort.
With two bachelor's degrees from Cornell Univ. (chemistry in 1938 and chemical engineering in 1939) and eager to start earning a living, I accepted a job at Sharpies Chemicals, Inc. in Riverview, MI (now called Atofina Chemicals, Inc.). Mr. Howard Bjork, chief chemical engineer, welcomed me into his department. He liked how I tackled my early assignments, and soon made me his assistant, where I supervised the work of five other engineers and selected one or two challenging projects for myself.
One of my projects was to figure out how to make ethylamines. I would need nitrogen from a readily available source, as well as an ethyl group. As luck would have it, a company just across the street produced ammonia gas, compressed it to 200 psi, and packaged the liquid for sale in heavy steel cylinders; thus, I had a convenient source of one necessary raw material. The ethyl was easily purchased as di-ethyl ether. With these two starting materials, I began experimenting.
About this time, World War II was progressing in earnest. It was 1940, and I had become a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program at Cornell. I expected to be called into the military any day.
Mr. Bjork was suddenly summoned to a meeting in Washington, DC. From there, he telephoned and told me to take the train that night and meet him in Washington early the next morning. During the night ride - with no sleep, if necessary - I was to sketch a flowsheet showing how ethylamines might be manufactured.
The next morning, I met with Mr. Bjork and many others. I listened as vitally needed chemicals for the war effort and the companies with the knowledge and facilities to produce them were discussed. Finally, ethylamines came up. Ethylamines were urgently needed in very large quantities for the manufacture of synthetic rubber tires for Army Jeeps, military planes, and cars.
Knowing I could be called into the military at any time, I confidently stated that I knew how to manufacture ethylamines, but would not have nearly enough time to accurately put this on paper because my military obligation would come first. My statement was ignored, and I was told that Blaw-Know Corp., near Pittsburgh, PA, had been selected to work with me in completing the ethylamine flow diagram in exact detail. I was told to look in my mailbox in a few days, as I would not be going into the military. Sure enough, I soon received a letter from the War Dept. excusing me from military combat.
Mr. Bjork and I were told to return to Michigan and immediately estimate the tonnage of steel that would be required to manufacture all of the equipment needed in the ethylamine production facility. We would then be given a priority number that would allocate this tonnage for this purpose. Imagine doing this before the complete flowsheet was even drawn on paper.
I was then instructed to take the train to Pittsburgh. At Blaw-Knox Corp., I reported to Mr. Barneby, who assigned Mr. Harold Williams to work with me in developing the ethylamine flowsheet. By freehand, I sketched the equipment in sequence, and with a T-square and triangle Mr. Williams drew a respectable flowsheet. I worked two shifts when necessary to keep ahead of him. Every time I gave Mr. Williams the next instruction, Mr. Barneby would enter that into his dictaphone equipment - he wanted to make sure that if the ethylamine plant did not function successfully, it was not the fault of Blaw-Knox.
I started the process with a reactor containing a catalyst as specified by Dr. Olin, our research director. The raw materials going into the reactor were di-ethyl ether and liquid ammonia under 200 psi pressure. (The city allowed us to tunnel under the road and run a pipe from the plant across the street that produced the ammonia to our booster pump, which fed the liquid ammonia into the reactor.) Then the reaction products went to a high-pressure ammonia column, where unreacted liquid ammonia was distilled off and fed back into the reactor with more di-ethyl ether. So as not to waste raw materials, everything that did not react the first time was recycled back through until it did - nothing was wasted. Next was a series of distillation columns that separated the product mixture into mono-, di- and tri-ethylamine. These products were pumped to storage tanks, which later were emptied into railroad tank cars that were transported to synthetic rubber plants as needed.
The flowsheet did not show any equipment sizes. The sizing of pumps, pipes, distillation columns, heaters, condensers, etc., was accomplished by a chemical engineer in my department, Mr. Dwight Miller, based on the desired production rate that was specified at our meeting in Washington. A lot of credit goes to him for this exacting work.
I felt it proper that Mr. Bjork should inspect my flowsheet and approve it or suggest any changes. To my surprise, he said he was too involved in numerous other important projects to study such an involved flowsheet. With that he said, "You sign it, and it had better be accurate, as ethylamines are now urgently needed." Thus, I signed it on Nov. 2, 1942. I still have this flowsheet - it is 20 ft long by 3-1/2 ft wide.
Once the equipment was installed in Riverview, MI, the next step was to connect the ammonia and di-ethyl ether. In preparation for the startup, I assigned a chemical engineer to each shift and I worked any and all shifts as needed to work out the bugs. I often slept a little on a couch in the ladies' bathroom lounge. Each morning I would meet the vice president (Mr. Clark) as I came from the laboratory, after picking up the results of the latest sample that was analyzed to determine if we had attained the necessary purity. The morning I was able to show him the prized analysis of purity was remembered for a long time.
The ethylamine plant continues to operate day and night, although instead of di-ethyl ether it now uses ethyl alcohol, which is less expensive. The company received the Army and Navy "E" for excellence, and I received a nice raise.
[Author Affiliation]
George Hobby Cincinnati, OH
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