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It seems hardly necessary to repeat to an audience of this kind the importance of the process known as photosynthesis in the interaction and the interdependence of organisms and in the very existence of life as we know it. This process by which green plants are able to capture electromagnetic energy in the form of sunlight and transform it into stored chemical energy in the form of a wide variety of reduced (relative to carbon dioxide) carbon compounds provides the only major source of energy for the maintenance and propagation of all life.

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Investigations on problems related to the use of MgX and other feed materials in the Plant 6 U refinery at St. Louis, Mo., have continued, with emphasis on the extraction of process feeds by neutral ether. Results of Scheibel column extraction tests wtth neutral ether on a variety of pitchblende, MgX, and V-20 soda salt feed materials indicate that the addition of Fe to complex interfering elements can reduce U losses in raffinates to lower levels than are attainable with acid ether in the absence of Fe. The beneficial effect of neutral ether on transfer of contaminants, especially Mo, to the ether extract was substantiated. It is indicated that the inclusion of V-20 soda salt in a feed tends to increase U losses in extraction; the addition of Fe was shown to be advantageous here also. Sources and costs of added Fe are considered. (G.Y.)