Aniline: Nitrobenzene Reduced with Iron and Acid, Cain 1919

Nitrobenzene fed slowly onto cast-iron borings with a little hydrochloric acid and steam is reduced to aniline, the base of the dye industry. The iron ends up as oxide; the aniline is steam-distilled off, settled and finished in a vacuum still. Cain (1919): 1,000 lb nitrobenzene to 9 cwt of borings over about ten hours. The picture: our diagram of the reduction.