Document 6b8xE6g9oN4zYrRy9y1dyB9qR

Hooker's Wilkenfeld (standing) discusses environmental research with operating personnel. A day on the ecology front In typical workday, a chemical company's pollution control expert gathers technical data that he relays to colleagues What's a typical week in the field for a chemical company's director of envi ronmental health? Take Hooker Chem ical's Jerome Wilkenfeld, who flew into Buffalo, N.Y.,. to visit the company's Niagara Falls plant after conferring ear lier in the week with Dow Chemical pollution control specialists in Midland, Mich., and advising on plant operations at Hooker's Detroit plant. That's a thumbnail sketch of the kind of activities chemical companies' pollu tion control executives are involved in day to day (CW, June 29, '68, p. 48). "My function," says Wilkenfeld, "is to offer technical services in the pollu tion control field--such as legal, ana lytical and design information--to those with operating responsibility. To go fur ther than that is a mistake. After all, the plant manager is already responsible for costs, safety and efficiency, and he should be accountable for pollution control also." Wilkenfeld, to gain information he passes on to his colleagues, belongs to a multitude of government and industry organizations and reads voraciously on the subject of pollution. He is helping to develop a new compu`"'- ^meram for pollution control, spends a lot of time "bugging" plant managers and some times goes directly to Hooker's chair man of the board. Round of Activities: On his latest trip to Niagara Falls (where the company has its largest plant complex), Wilken feld inspected two major pollution con trol projects, was briefed on pollution control research projects at the com pany's nearby Grand Island technical services center, and had a breakfast meeting with the manager of. the Hooker plant at Taft, La., and the pol lution control specialist from Hooker's plant at Columbia, Tenn. The two big new pollution control projects at Niagara Falls: an $800,000 diversion sewer (90% complete) that will extend 400 ft. out into the Niagara River, carrying some 20 million gal./day of cooling water that had gone to the city's overburdened waste-treat ment plant; and a 3,200-ft.-deep dis- 40 CHEMICAL WEEK March 11, 1970 DSW 552106 .___ With Bird, Wilkenfeld plans " pollution control by computer. STLCOPCB4090523 '- ' X/v ENGINEERING Lead's loss could be coal's gain Aromatics in syncrude from cuai MgiIWveA Sitt Mpti>oAiViMuMumm venue If the lead comes out of gasoline (p. 13). synthetic liquid fuels from coal-- which are rich in naphthenic and aro matic hydrocarbons--may be in big de mand as high-octane blending stocks. Conservative pricing would peg the value of such materials at $4/bbl., but this is bound to rise with a shift in em phasis to nonleaded gasolines. Another important factor working in favor of coal: a projected paucity of new domestic natural gas supplies. Thus, producer gas (35-45% com bustibles, consisting mostly of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane) could be generated from coal char to augment dwindling reserves of natural gas. Commercial COED: Cheered by these two "plus" factors, R. Tracy Eddinger, director of FMC's Project COED (Char Oil Energy Development) at Princeton, N.J., updated the process economics of a commercial-scale COED plant at last month's Denver meeting of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers (CIV, Feb. 25, p. 20). Flowsheets have been developed for processing 3.5 million tons/year of Utah A-seam coal (10,600 tons/day, 330 operating days/year). Assumption: a portion of the COED product gas will be used for process heat. Coal would be crushed and dried, then pyrolized in several stages. The product charge is sent to an electrical power plant. The raw oil and gases are separated. Next, the gases are reformed with steam to produce hydrogen, and a portion of the hydrogen is used to hy drotreat the oil. Liquid product is a syn thetic crude oil suitable for con ventional petroleum refining. Excess hydrogen can be sent to an ammonia plant or to an oil refinery. Three Options: Eddinger offers three options in the economic analysis (table). Economics of synthetic fuels from coal Case Product gas Process fuel 1 Hydrogen Gas II Fuel Gas Gas III Hydrogen Char Investment (million $> Fixed capital Working capital, at 7% Total 36.17 2.53 38.70 32.70 2.29 34.99 44.65 3.13 47.78 Manufacturing COStS (million $/year) Coal, @ $3/ton Oxygen, @ $6/ton Utilities Taxes, insurance, depreciation, maintenance Labor, supplies, overhead Total 10.50 1.73 1.70 4.34 1.20 19.47 10.50 1.73 1.39 3.93 1.20 18.75 10.50 1.73 2.36 5.36 1.44 21.39 Product values and profits (mimon $,yean Char, @ $2.75/ton 4.78 Oil, @ $4/bbl. 18.80 Hydrogen, @ 25c/1,000 cu. ft. 3.90 Fuel gas, @ 11,8c/million Btu.- -- Total 27.48 4.78 18.80 -- 0.87 24.45 3.33 18.80 11.70 _ 33.83 Advertising, sales, research expense 1.38 1.22 1.69 Net sales value Gross profit Net profit, at 50% tax rate 26.10 6.63 3.31 23.23 4.48 2.24 32.14 10.75 5.38 Return on investment (percent) Before taxes 17.1 12.8 22.5 Discounted-cash-flow method 13 10 16 Basis: Commercial plant processing 3.5 million tons/year of Utah A-seam coal, operating 330 days/year. Source: Project COED. FMC Corp. Case I assumes that the process gas is upgraded to hydrogen and that part of the process gas is used as process fuel. For Case II, only sufficient hydrogen is made to hydrotreat the oil. A portion of the process gas, as in Case I, is sold as a fuel gas at coal value. Eddinger sets this at 11.8C7million Btu. In the third case, all the process gas is upgraded to hydrogen. A portion of the product char is gasified to producer gas and used as process fuel. Product Values: Product char is cred ited at 90% of coal cost, based on gross heating value ($2.75/ton instead of $3/ton). Hydrotreating studies have been car ried out on COED oil by ARCO Chem ical Co. as part of its Project Seacoke. On the basis of this work, and consid ering the unique character of the oil as far as aromatic content is concerned, Eddinger estimates that it has a value of at least S4/bbl. The syncrude oil has no sulfur in it and lacks a residuum frac tion. Therefore, Eddinger reasons, as lead is phased out of gasoline, syncrude val ues could rise from $4/bbl. to perhaps almost $5/bbl. Endorsements of this op timism are hard to come by..Rex Elling ton of Atlantic Richfield's fuel labora tories in Dallas, Tex., sees the octane content of syncrude oil as a potentially important property. For the record, Atlantic Richfield's position is that while the company is- continuing its research in this area, liq uid fuels from coal are not looked upon as a near-term answer to the octane question. Industry observers suggest that any other comment from oil companies at this time might prejudice the posture they've taken in Washington on the subject of unleaded gasoline. END March 11, 1970 CHEMICAL WEEK 39 DSW 552107 STLCOPCB4090524 DSW 552108 STEPPED-EIViD PASTED VALVE Available in 10 daysGuaranteed delivery from LITTLE ROCK AND DES MOINES! Why be back-ordered on steppedto 8 weeks! Our own fleet of trucks will deliver to your docks in 10 days (after print approval). Guaranteed, delivery by Great Plains Bag Com pany, manufacturers of: Sewn Open Mouth Sewn Valve-------- Pasted OpeH Mouth Pasted Valve Pinch Bottom Polyethylene - heavy duty plain and printed CALL COLLECT: Des Moines, Iowa (515) 283-2041 Little Rock, Arkansas (501) 982-1573 GREAT PLAINS BAG COMPANY Home office - 2201 Bell Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50315 SODIUM SULPHATE (Anhydrous) SALT CAKE pmoR\ 1 Chemical Corporation 420 Lexington Avenue Phone: 212-532-9811 New York, N. Y. 10017 42 CHEMICAL WEEK March 11, 1970 SAME-DAY SHIPMENT OF ISOOCTVL AND ISODECYL ALCOHOLS We can ship them the day you order them, even if it's today. Any day of the year. Your own phone is the Houdry Hotline for fast service: just pick it up, order, and we'll have a bulk shipment on its way to you in hours from our plant in Delaware City, Del. Chemical Sales Department, Houdry, Division of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., 1339 Chest nut Street, Philadelphia, Pa.19107. FOR SAMPLES. QUOTATIONS, OR SHIPMENT. CALL: HOUDRY HOTLINE (215) 568-6000 FOR EMERGENCIES AFTER NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS, (215) 236-8004. ENVIRONMENT posal well, for certain type acid wastes. With Nickerson Hinckley, works manager, and Fred Olotka, technical supervisor for the environmental pro grams for Hooker's industrial chemicals division, Wilkenfeld examined core samples that have been taken on the well site. But now it appears some of that acid waste stream might be salable. Ernest Gedeon, assistant commis sioner of environmental health for the Niagara County health department, joined Wilkenfeld and Olotka on an in spection of the two pumping stations and control apparatus for the company diversion project. When the state power authority di verted the river's flow to build an in take, three local industries, including Hooker, installed effluent outfalls into the river. The idea was that the city would upgrade its waste-treatment plant, and the plant's cooling waters (which don't have to be treated) could be diverted directly into the river. Research Round: At the company's technical services center, Wilkenfeld was briefed on developments in effluent control research by D. Bruce Merrifield, Hooker's director of research. Together they viewed the work being supervised by chemist Sung Ki Lee. Wilkenfeld describes the project as "very promising," involving "a method of oxidizing materials in solution." With M.O. Bird, manager of techni cal information systems, Wilkenfeld talked of his project for computerizing the quantities of information needed for efficient management of the company's pollution control efforts. Back Home: On the wall of his New York office is a picture of Wilkenfeld shaking hands with former President Johnson. The occasion: signing of the '67 Clean Air Act. Wilkenfeld--as chair man of the Air Quality Committee of the Manufacturing Chemists' Assn.- had testified three times at hearings. Wilkenfeld has also been chairman of MCA's Water Resources Committee, member of the New York State Air Pol lution Control Board, and a member of . the advisory committee of the Con servation Foundation. For Jerome Wilkenfeld each day is different. But like all chemical industry pollution control specialists, every day is aimed at the same goal: under standing among industry, government and the public, and achievements to meet a real need. END DSW 552109 STLCOPCB4090526