508 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
outlet, or the like, is incorporated, be sure it is welded in such
manner that none of the corroding substance can reach the
backing steel. If a removable head is attached by steel bolts
through a flange on a shell and the fit is not perfect, the steel
bolt may be eaten out; rust may settle on the stainless sur-
faces and start electrolytic action. Thus, it is well to use a
corrosion-resistant packing ring; in some cases a ring of solid
stainless steel is inserted between the removable head and the
flange, or stainless steel bolts may be preferred. There are
so many places where continuity of cladding is essential that
we cannot attempt to cover them in any detail or even indi-
cate the main ones. The number of cases where this im-
portant precaution had not been observed is amazing.
Conclusions
The precautions outlined are indicative rather than com-
plete, There may be others that are known and observed by
users and fabricators alike. I n any case, it is assumed that
anyone using such material for the first time will seek the
counsel of an accredited supplier. Certain precautions have
to be observed with any material, especially a relatively new
one. None of the precautions exceed reasonable commercial
practice, and the fact that substantial quantities are being
fabricated by all kinds of shops indicates that proper handling
is neither impossible nor burdensome. In fact, many of the
suggested precautions are self-evident and are mentioned
merely to make this article more complete.
Precise figures as t o the amount of stainless-clad steel now
in service are not available, but as closely as we can estimate
about 21,500 tons are giving satisfactory service. Yet those
who produce stainless-clad and some of the larger users believe
that this is a mere beginning. One of the producers spoke of
utilizing clad for everything from “tin whistles t o battle-
ships”. Perhaps there is some exaggeration in this broad
coverage, but it is undoubtedly true that only a few of many
applications have been developed. Whereas the present ton-
nage for the most part goes into the process industries, the
Rotarv Cooler for
Ammoniated
Fertilizers
E. F. HARFORD AND F. G. KEENEN
E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Inc., Wilmington, Del.
P RIOR to 1928, practically all commercial fertilizers con-
taining superphosphates were mixed and stored in bulk
piles to complete the slow reactions between compo-
nents. If this curing period was not completed, the fertilizer
was probably in poor physical condition when received by the
farmer.
With the widespread use of the low-cost ammoniating solu-
tions since 1928, some of these reactions, particularly those
Vol. 33, No.
decorative, building, transportation fields, etc., are to be
considered as well as places where stainless-clad may be used
as a substitute for various materials other than solid stain-
less steel. The first and most obvious place to look for valid
applications is where solid stainless steel is now used; by no
means have all of these possibilities been exhausted.
It is suggested that purchasing and engineering or research
departments might, to their mutual advantage, cooperate
more closely on stainless-clad steel. The purchasing men
are attracted by the potential savings but often hesitate to
involve themselves in negotiations with their engineers on
design changes; the engineers, who are always busy, tend
to resist a change in material where the unit is giving satis-
factory service. It may mean some redesigning, but savings
in material cost of as much as 45 per cent are not often ob-
tainable. It has also been observed that some purchasers
have resisted stainless-clad because of possible past diffi-
culties in their own plants or because someone they knew
had trouble; in most of these cases the engineers of the buyer
and the consultants of the supplier may not have given the
matter thorough consideration. Or the material, a t the time
offered, may not have been comparable to that offered today.
A good consultant for any of the accredited producers of
stainless-clad can undoubtedly walk through a processing
plant with an engineer and find a variety of potential applica-
tions; often the engineer may not have considered some of
them. We do not mean to infer that stainless-clad is a cure-
all; nor is it true that every plant is sure to have a potential
use. But its possibilities have not been exhausted nor has
more than a good start been made except in a few isolated
cases.
It would seem self-evident that the plant which takes ad-
vantage of the savings made possible by using stainless-
clad will have a competitive advantage on a cost basis.
Those who make use of the material t o yield a better product,
when substituting i t for something other than solid stainless
steel, should also have a competitive advantage.
which are strongly exothermic, are completed in a few seconds
rather than days. These ammoniation reactions liberate heat
in proportion t o the weight of ammonia added. Other
slower reactions which may occur between the solid compo-
nents of the mixture generate much less heat.
Fertilizer manufacturers have long realized that to take full
advantage of the rapid reactions a simple low-cost method of
dissipating the heat developed would go a long way toward
helping solve a number of problems.
Existing Cooling Operations
For cooling solids, the process industries have used such
equipment as water-jacketed screw conveyors, conveying
screen coolers, and water-tube rotary coolers. Hot foundry
sand has been cooled in a horizontal shell by controlled addi-
tion of water ( 3 ) . Calcined materials have been cooled in a
rotary drum by transferring heat to the atmosphere through
the shell or in a conveyor by spraying the material with water
until the temperature reaches 212” F. None of these methods
appeared adaptable to fertilizer cooling.
April, 1941 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
I n fertilizer plants, rehandling the warm fertilizers from the
mixer or storage pile through screening units, disintegrating
mills, elevators, etc., has been tried. Also, merely moving the
material from one storage pile to another by crane buckets, or
spreading the goods in thin layers by mixing into alternate
storage areas on alternate days are present practices. Rasp-
ing has been used. This consists in dropping the mixture into
a revolving fan or cage-type disintegrator, thus throwing it
through the air into the storage heaps. Inefficient air to ma-
terial contact and insufficient air volume or time of contact
inherent in these practices result in limited cooling. Two
methods that have been proposed in the patent literature are
a vertical aerator and a horizontal cooler (a).
Preliminary Cooling Attempts
Evaluation of the cooling problem began with a test in a
fertilizer factory with a centrifugal fan installed to blow air
through an elevator conveying the warm fertilizer from the
mixer to the storage pile. The volume of air was sufficient for
adequate cooling, but since the air-to-material contact was so
poor and the time was short, a temperature drop of only 0" F.
occurred.
Some experiments were made also with a cascade-type cooler
made of corrugated iron flights, set at a 38" slope and sup-
ported by an open wooden framework. The total height was
approximately 18 feet, which allowed the material to reach
the bottom in 5 seconds. The temperature reduction of 12" F.
obtained was very slight, considering the fact that the dif-
ference between air and fertilizer temperatures was 110" F.
during the tests.
Data were taken on the cooling obtained in pneumatic con-
veyors. Even though the fertilizer was held in the air stream
only a fraction of a second, the air-to-material contact was so
good that an adequate temperature drop was achieved. The
disadvantages of this method include relatively high air-
handling costs, inefficient use of air which amounts to 15 cubic
feet per pound of fertilizer handled, a particle grinding or
pulverizing effect in the high-velocity air stream, and lack of
positive conveying action if the air stream is loaded or a plug
occurs in the line.
1. EXPERIMENTAL
FIGURE ROTARY
COOLER
809
Advantages resulting from cooling am-
moniated fertilizers are substantial reduc-
tion in reversion of available phosphate, im-
provement of physical characteristics such
as reduced caking and dustiness, lower
handling costs obtained through increased
equipment capacities, and quicker curing.
The discovery that a large portion of the
heat in an ammoniated fertilizer mixture
could be removed quicldy by vaporizing a
portion of the water inherently present, and
the necessity of bringing about intimate
contact between each fertilizer particle and
the air, directed attention toward the rotary
dryer type of equipment. Pilot-plant and
full-scale operations have demonstrated
that such a rotary cooler need be only one
third the size indicated by rotary dryer de-
sign equations. This reduces the cost of
such equipment to a feasible level for incor-
poration in fertilizer mixing and ammoni-
ating operations.
A horizontal rotary cooler 5 feet in di-
ameter and 20 feet in length, using 6 cubic
feet of air per pound of fertilizer, should
drop the temperature of 30 tons per hour by
40' F. Operating costs have been estimated
under 2 cents per ton of fertilizer, exclusive
of fixed charges.
Small-scale Rotary Cooler Trials
The initial experiments on a small labora-
tory rotary dryer results in an unexpected
degree of cooling, accompanied by the evapo-
ration of 2.5 per cent water. This indi-
cated that water vaporization played an
important role in the fertilizer cooling opera-
tion, and led to the idea that cooling in a
rotary dryer type of apparatus might be far
more efficient than was previously be-
lieved.
Additional design data and further sub-
stantiation of the water vaporization effect
on cooling were obtained from operation
of a rotary horizontal cooler, 20 inches in
diameter and 8 feet long (Figure l), which
had a capacity of about 1 ton per hour.
As Table I shows, good performance was
obtained even with 80-85' F. air a t high
relative humidities.
The most significant developments from
these large-scale trials were the confirmation
of the large amount of heat (50-60 per cent)
removed by vaporizing some of the water
normally present in the fertilizer, and the
rapidity with which this occurred. The
510 INDUSTRIAL A N D E N G I N E E R I N G CHEMISTRY Vol. 33, No. 4

importance of the moisture vaporization factor in this dryer experience as well as recent observations on the cooler
cooling process is illustrated by the amount of water vapor- unit. An optimum range appears between 200 and 300
ized at corresponding temperature drops when half the linear feet per minute.
MOISTURE VAPORIZATION. Experience with coolers has
shown a moisture vaporization of 0.5 to 1.5 per cent from
material entering a t 130" to 150" F. The necessity for a suf-
ficient volume of air t o carry away this vaporized moisture is
a major consideration in design. The moisture content of
fertilizers averages 5 to 7 per cent, with extreme limits of 3 to
10 per cent. This moisture is a t the temperature of the ma-
terial (130-150" F.) and has a relatively high vapor pressure.
As the air passes through the cooler, it is heated and water is
vaporized from the solid material which raises the humidity.
Since a t normal temperatures many fertilizer mixtures be-
come hygroscopic around 65 per cent relative humidity, and
a t even lower relative humidities a t higher temperatures, the
exit air from the cooler will always be below these relative
humidities. Figure 2 is a modified Carrier humidity chart
showing dry-bulb temperature plotted against humidity in
unit weight of water per unit weight-of dry air for 65 and 100
per cent relative humidity. The volume of air per unit weight
material can be calculated from the following equation and
2. MODIFI~D
FIQTJRE CARRIER
HVMIDITY
CHART the humidity chart:

heat is removed by water vaporization, and the specific heat

of material is taken a t 0.25 : where 17 = air volume, cu. ft./lb. of material at inlet tempera-
ture and normal barometer
Total Material "/o Water Removed by Vaporization M = moisture evaporated from material, yo
Temp. Drop, F. (Half Total Heat Lost) HI = humidity of inlet air, Ib. waterjlb. dry air
20 0.25 H1 = humidity of exit air, lb. waterjlb. dry air
30 0.38
40 0.60
60 0.63 Under normal conditions, a t least 4 cubic feet of air per
60 0.75 pound of material are required. T o keep the equipment as
small as possible, not over 6 or 7 cubic feet of air per pound of
Consequently, the volume of air required to remove the heat material should be used. Performance data have shown that
was reduced in proportion, and the cooler had to be only about a t least half'tbe heat is removed by water vaporization. The
one third as large as indicated by dryer design equations. volume of air required t o do this is sufficient t o remove the
remainder of the heat by its own heat capacity.
Design Data and Equations for Rotary Coolers I

In the design of horizontal rotary coolers for ammoniated

fertilizers where the air flow is countercurrent to material
flow, the following conditions, assumptions, and variables
must be considered:
INLETAND EXITMATERIAL TEMPERATCRE. The ammoni-
ated fertilizer temperature may be from 120" to 200" F., d e
pending upon the amount of ammoniating solution added;
the usual range is 130" to 150" F. The exit material should
he cooled t o a t least 110" F. and preferably below 100" F.
AIR TEMPERATURES. Since most of the fertilizer is mixed
between November and March, air temperatures probably
would average 60" F. Winter operations in the North would
encounter air of 32" F. or lower, and late spring in the South
possibly 80" F. This factor is not so significant as might be A=COOLER CROSS SECTIONAL AREA
supposed. It is largely counterbalanced by the greater mois- IN SQ.FT. PER TON FERTILIZER PER HR

ture-carrying capacities of warmer air which tend to increase

the importance of the vaporization factor. FIGURE 3. RELATIONBETWEEN
SPECIFICHEATS. The quantity of heat to be removed is COOLER
DIMENSIONS
AND CAPACITY

dependent upon specific heat capacity of the material. Hard-

esty and Ross (1) determined the specific heats of ordinary
fertilizer materials to be as follows:
Ammoniated superphosphate 0.24
Ammoniated triple superphosphate 0.28
Single-strength complete fertilizer 0.23
Double-strength complete fertilizer 0.27
The mean specific heat of air is 0.24.
AIR VELOCITY.This should be kept below 400 linear feet
per minute to avoid excessive dust losses, on the basis of rotary
COOLER DIMENSIONS.Having established the volume of air
likely to be required, the diameter is defined by fixing the
linear velocity of the air flow. The relation between cooler
diameter and length is a comparatively simple function:
AL0.56 = K
where A = cross-section area, sq. ft./ton fertilizer/hr.
L = length, f t .
K = constant depending on air velocity
April, 1941 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY 511

I. SUMMARY
TABLE OF COALING
TRULSIN PILOPPLANT
ROTARY
FERTILIZER
Air
Heat Balance, I). T. U./Hr.
Temp., F. Velocity
in
% relative Fertilizer
Heat t o
Material Air shell, Cu. ft./lb. humidity Throu hput, ?6 water Heat Heat water
In Out In Out ft./min. material Inlet Exit lb./fr. In out removed to air vapor
175 110 85 124 190 14 75 32 1800 6.5 5.5 32,800 15,100 18000
150 102 82 116 160 13 74 40 I900 6.63 5.62 24,600 11,100 19:OOO
110 60 57 78 270 22 40 48 1600 6.16 5.24 18,400 11,500 14,700

11. SUMMARY
TABLE OF FULL-SCALETESTS
ON 4 PER CENT NITROGEN-% PER CENT Pa05-12 PER CENT KaO GRADE
Air
Heat Balance, I). T. U./Hr.
Temp., O F . Velocity relative Fertilizer
in Heat to
Material Air shel! Cu. ft.[lb. Throughput, %
' water Heat Heat water
I I1 Out In Out ft./m;n. material Inlet Exit tons/hr. In out removed t o air vapor
Winter Conditions
149 94 26 108 280 4.3 48 70 21.0 5.81 4.74 625,000 248,000 460,000
Summer Conditions
169 119 80 128 280 4.6 72 46 19.4 3.75 2.72 524,000 145,000 398,000

Values for K have been found to be: From the humidity chart (Figure 2) the humidity of the
inlet air is 0.003 pound of water per pound of dry air and of the
Air Velocity exit air, 0.014 pound water per pound dry air. Volume of air
Linear Ft./M:n. K
per unit weight of material is:
200 4.7
300 3.5
400 2.2 0.50
v= ,,6 (o.014 - o.oos) = 6 cu. ft. air/lb. material
This function is shown graphically in Figure 3 for air veloci-
ties of 200, 300, and 400 linear feet per minute. The total air volume is:
(6 X 60,000)/60 = 6000 cu. ft./min.
Example of Design Calculations
The cooler diameter under the designated air flow condi-
A typical example of design calculations for the cooler re- tions is:
quired to handle 30 tons fertilizer per hour is as follows: As-
sume that the air enters the cooler at 40' F. and 65 per cent 6000 ?rD2
relative humidity; that 0.50 per cent water is vaporized, 800-4
based on the fertilizer weight; that the air leaves the cooler D = 5 ft.
at 80" F. and 65 per cent relative humidity; that a n air
velocity of 300 linear feet per minute is used; that material The cooler length (K being 3.5) is:
enters the cooler a t 150" F.; and that material leaves the
cooler a t 1IO" F. 3.5 =
L
0.6
6 x 7r(5)2
30 X 4
L = 20 f t .

Installation and Operation of Factory Unit

Figure 4 illustrates the manner in which a factory instaPa-
tion was assembled. The cooler took the material discharged
from the mixer, cooled it, and returned it t o an elevator from
7 I DUST COLLECTOR where it passed to the stock pile.
The air drawn countercurrent to material flow through the
cooler was led into a cyclone dust collector and then out
through the exhaust fan. The dust carried out in the air
stream and caught by the collector depends considerably
upon the specific nature of the fertilizer mixture, but a good
p1 1 I \/ Tf COOLER
A- A

SHELL
average seems to be around 2 per cent of the total throughput
at air velocities of 200-300 feet per minute.
The mixing rate a t this factory had averaged 15 to 17 tons
per hour, and it was estimated that the temperature of the
material at this rate could be reduced from 150-160' F. to
below 110' F. in the 4 X 25 foot shell. Actually performance
was somewhat better than anticipated, and cooling below
100" F. was obtained even a t rates as high as 25 tons per hour
in winter. Much of this increased throughput was due to the
free-flowing nature of the cooled material and increased ease
of handling in the elevator. The equipment and the material
4. DIAGRAM
FIGURE INSTALLATION
OF FACTORY throughput had been estimated so that 6 cubic feet of air
512 INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY Vol. 33, No. 4

would be used per pound of fertilizer. The increased through-
put due to greater ease of operation reduced this t o 4.0-
4.5 cubic feet of air per pound of material. Experience has
shown in the full-scale cooler that the relative humidity of the
air in the dryer is usually 65 per cent until the air tempera-
ture reaches 100-110" F., and then gradually decreases to 40
or 50 per cent a t 130" F.
Table I1 contains data typical of the cooler operation for
summer and winter conditions. In summer, with the cooler
operated beyond estimated capacity, 72 per cent of the heat
was removed by vaporizing water. If it had been feasible
to increase the air volume while maintaining the same ma-
terial throughput, then a lower material temperature would
have been reached, and a larger percentage of the heat would
have been transferred to the air.
Li terature Cited
(1) H a r d e s t y a n d Ross, IND. ENG.CHEM.,29, 1283 (1937).
(2) Saokett, U. 9. P a t e n t s 2,028,413 (1936); 2,174,896 (1936);
2,174,897 (1937).
(3) Smith, I b i d . , 2,188,798 (1940).
PRESENTED before the Division of Fertilizer Chemistry a t the 100th Meeting
of the American Chemical Society, Detroit, Mioh.

Urea-Formaldehyde Film-Forming
Compositions'
Air-Drying Films by Acid Catalysis

T. S. HODGINS AND A. G. HOVEY

Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., Detroit, Mich.

HE hardening effect of Urea-formaldehyde film-forming compo- facturers of refrigerators, auto-

T acidic catalysts on hydro-

phylic urea-formaldehyde
condensation products was early
sitions, hitherto used in high-baking
enamel vehicles, are now made to air-dry
mobiles, bicycles, toys, and other
important industrial articles,
particularly when used with the
recognized (W,21). It has often by special acidic accelerators which are nondrying and semidrying alkyd
been stated in the literature that soluble in organic solvents, including resins. The new resins make
a pH below 7.0 tends to promote hydrocarbons. These accelerators consist possible not only greater hard-
instability of an aqueous urea- principally of inorganic acid esters of alco- ness without sacrifice in color,
formaldehyde solution and to but also many new types of en-
cause gelation (22,24). Calcium
hols; the latter contain at least 4 carbon amel such as the polychromatic
chloride as a catalyst for heat atoms in length i n the alcoholic radical, finish described by Hicks ( 3 ) .
hardening aqueous urea-formal- which imparts solubility in organic sol- To obtain conversion a t lower
dehyde plywood adhesives was vents, and yet since the acid components temperatures than the pres-
described by Ludwig (16) and are only partially esterified, a low pH of ent industrial baking schedules,
by others. The authors (6, 7) there appear t o be two prin-
and others (19, 87, 28) have
the vehicle system may be maintained cipal lines of attack-the use of
elaborated upon the effect of low which renders gelation possible in a rela- acidic catalysts and modification
p H by the introduction of acidic tively short time. By the use of these by melamine (2,4,6-triamino-
materials, but until recently this acidic accelerators, not only can baking l,3,5-triazine). Pollak (18)
work has been mostly confined schedules be shortened and the baking and Ripper (23) early described
to the aqueous type of urea- the uses of small quantities of
formaldehyde condensationprod- temperatures lowered, but also air-drying melamine in urea-formaldehyde
ucts. Ludwig (16) and others itself can be effected. condensation products. Re-
(go), in preparing urea-formal- cent discoveries (IO, 26) have
dehyde-butanol resins, used a shown that melamine modifica-
volatile organic acid (formic) 'as the catalyst during the tion of urea-formaldehyde-butanol resins not only gives better
processing, but made certain that it was removed by vola- heat resistance, but also promotes faster setting and lower
tilization before the final product was packaged in an effort baking schedules. The use of acidic accelerators with urea-
to improve stability of the resin solution; thus, any catalytic formaldehydc-butanol rcsins may be considered as more
action was stopped. desirable than their use with melamine-modified urea-form-
I n the past three years the butanol-etherified urea-formal- aldehyde resins in lowering the baking temperature and in
dehyde resins have achieved vast industrial acceptance effecting air-drying, because of the stability characteristics.
(1, 4, 6, 11, 12, 17, 35). These resins have been widely Where cost and package stability are not major factors, it is
adopted as part of the vehicle of baking enamels by manu- probable that some combination of both lines of attack may
1 For previous papers in this series, see literature citations 4, 6, and 11 produce the ultimate results.