Rouge: Pictured in Its Prime

17. By-Products

17 BY-PRODUCTS Henry Ford abhorred waste. Wherever there was scrap, he found a use for it. Whenever his manufacturing operations resulted in a by-product, he found a market for it. Surplus electrical power generated at the Rouge was diverted for use at the Highland Park Plant. Blast-furnace exhaust gases containing considerable carbon monoxide helped fuel the powerplant boilers. Slag from the blast furnaces was converted to cement, and tons of scrap sheet steel from the stamping plant were remelted in the foundry, electric, and open-hearth furnaces. Shortly after 1920, as an experiment, Ford utilized steam at his No. 3 powerhouse for the daily reduction of about 40 tons of garbage. By fermentation and distillation of the garbage, useful products such as alcohol, soap, drawing compound, soluble oil, Benzol, tars, and residual coke were produced and put to use elsewhere in the Rouge Plant. Exceptionally valuable were the Rouge coke-oven by-products. Using low-grade bituminous coal from Ford’s West Virginia and Kentucky mines, the coke ovens produced not only the coke necessary for the blast furnaces but also abundant amounts of energy-rich hydrogen-methane coke-oven gas to fuel the open-hearth furnaces. As additional by-products of the coke ovens, Ford marketed large quantities of liquid Benzol as an automotive fuel additive and tons of granular ammonium sulfate as an agricultural fertilizer. Surplus Rouge coke was sold and delivered at very low cost directly to the homes of employees of the Rouge, Highland Park, and Lincoln plants of Ford Motor Company. Ammonium sulfate fertilizer was sold through Ford automobile and tractor dealers and the Ford commissaries. Ford Benzol motor fuel was sold at a number of gas stations throughout the Detroit area. Ford Portland cement was distributed through dealers in construction materials. A wholesale distributor’s display using slag concrete blocks to promote Ford Portland cement. (833.65254) 114 A diagram of the many products of bituminous coal. The Rouge coke ovens, besides providing residual coke for the blast furnaces and gaseous fuel for the open hearths, release hundreds of chemicals that are not separated from one another but are instead sold by Ford to various chemical companies as impure tars and oils.(833.62890) 115 Above: A Ford truck being loaded with Ford coke to be delivered to a local address. The coke, considerably lighter in weight than coal, requires an unusually high box on the truck to carry a two-ton load. (833.58066) Left: Weighing and bagging Ford ammonium sulfate fertilizer at the Rouge coke-oven by-product plant. Ammonium sulfate, a high-nitrogen fertilizer, is produced at the rate of 95,000 pounds a day. (833.71247-A) 116 As sold to city and suburban gardeners, Ford ammonium sulfate is packaged in 10-pound rather than 100-pound sacks. (833.75023) Ford Benzol trucks at the coke-oven by-products plant to be filled for deliveries of Benzol to Detroit gas stations. Ford Benzol consists of one part of coke-oven light oil and three parts of regular gasoline. Production at the Rouge is 42,000 gallons a day. (833. 58065) 117 A 1937 Ford Tudor at a curbside Ford Benzol pump in front of a Ford dealership. Ford Benzol, a high-octane fuel, competes with the heavily leaded ethyl gasoline. Benzol, however, contains no toxic lead. (833.67410) ...