Tokyo, Japan, reports that following three years of experimentation, the Dai Nippon Sugar Refining Co. has decided to undertake the manufacture of aluminum by a process credited to Kato and Funaki of Tokyo University. According to available details, the new plant will use a phosphorus-bearing alumina which has been discovered in Manchuria. The ore is treated with sulfuric acid and the alumina, aluminum sulfate. The latter is treated with gaseous ammonia at 12oo deg. C., the products being ammonium sulfate and aluminum oxide. Reduction of the alumina is by the usual electrolytic method. It is planned to treat I5,OOO tons of ore annually, producing therefrom 51oo tons metallic aluminum, 25,80o tons of ammonium sulfate, and 2o,o0o tons of fertilizer containing 20 per cent. phosphoric acid and 16 per cent. ammonium sulfate. The plant is under construction at Hachinohe, where there is a favorable supply of power. No information is available regarding the cost of this process in comparison with the well known practice of producing aluminum from bauxite. The new concern believes itself in a favorable position, particularly since it is anticipated that the task of obtaining adequate supplies of bauxite promises to become more and more difficult.
R. H. O.