Document 71vgB34k99QkzX72mBMRaDnZg

EP/^RTMENTAL COMMUNICATION from SUBJECT; Mr. C. W. Lehnert x. W. Richards FIG DATE; LOCATION; LOCATION; March 5, 1969 Tigard Lab Portland Attached is some information sent to me by John Clark of Fort Dodge. While we do not want to destroy our normal fire-rated products, John thought the information might have some future value; therefore, I am passing this along to you for informational purposes. TWR/ab Attachment cc: Mr. John Clark T. W. R. PLAINTIFF'S EXHIBIT RECEIVE*) MAR 6 1969 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 2T tT'.Jc OO /" c& f^ / <y>b y*. A< e 5>C<S <1 a 3 f /. t?*S? /a e ^ lf6\ <aE i ^ ^ Y_ * |/V .a ** ' la/r- 'if W Jt/H tr7 *t '. re** // <z s> .j s- /sifi/cp-r/ /p* pp ^_Y <s rffir rt.o . S uc~L Ccsi"/' - 1^3 ^ C j- - .1 x ye iLe d i ;</' r' &t ( Sl^ythfy Of- 3 7 0 f p (-fy t> y\ , A I o c 7y . c e- y! it >3 . ^ <3* , '3 S'1t/ C^c yt&Y' p / 0 'k'c? ** j & a *< 7 ' ^ f cu / V< *\ / //&"/? ^ CT'; ^ ' C- .Jk V 7-J /o-*^ i s '?. _,/ h j C ka 5 , I . 5 // c of l c> / * y- .* fk, f U-* >' rWy-.' 7 & US ,-. "r:^~s.S / S "b , r-s SGP 0015852 TECHNOLOGY Newsletter CHEMICAL WEEK FEBRUARY 22, 1969 The secret to Monsanto's new acetic acid process may turn out to be halogen-promoted noble metal catalysts. The company is putting up a 300-mil lion-lbs./year plant to make acetic acid from methanol and carbon monoxide and hydrogen (synthesis gas) at Texas City (CW Technology Newsletter, Dec. 28, '68). The company has said the key to the process is the catalyst. Two Belgian patents to Monsanto describe a process for making carboxylic acid compounds. The first (713,296) involves rhodium (in halide, complexed, or in metallic form) promoted by bromine, iodine or compounds of them. The other (913,297) mentions these catalysts: iridium, platinum, osmium as halides (trihalides), carbonyls, etc., on a carbon carrier. That methanol, carbon monoxide and hydrogen react to form acetic acid has long been known. Du Pont worked on the process decades ago (e.g., U.S. patents 2,135,448; 2,135,451; 2,135,453; British patent 483,577). But the process called for strenuous reaction conditions, posed serious corrosion difficulties. Badische's Walter Reppe used metal carbonyl catalysts and made a big step forward in development of a workable commercial process. That was the basis of commercial plants--Borden's in the U.S., and BASF's in Germany. Mon santo has said that the Reppe process permitted reaction conditions milder than did any earlier method but still called for 250-300 C temperatures, pres sures of 3,000-10,000 psi. Its process, Monsanto says, is a big improvement on that. The Belgian patents deal in general with temperatures as low as 50 C and as high as 300 C. Id's billion pounds/year ethylene plant began producing last week. The plant was 18 months behind schedule, due to both labor and technical problems. It uses Lummus furnaces, is the first of the new breed of billion- pound, single-train giants. It is the company's fifth olefin plant at Wilton. Teeside, represents a $36-million investment. SGP 0015853 A new nuclear team has been formed in chemical reprocessing and fuel fabrication for electric power generation. National Lead and Anaconda have joined to study the field. The initial phase of the program is expected to take one year. Both have impressive backgrounds in nuclear matters. Anacon da has been a leading producer of yellow cake (UsOa). National Lead has operated the Atomic Energy Commission's feed-materials production center in Fernald, O., and other AEC installations. Its Nuclear Division's activities in clude fabrication of fuel elements research and reactor tests. It has also publicly stated its desire to reprocess fuel commercially, probably in '73. To that end, it signed a contract with Saint-Gobain Techniques Nouvelle for preliminary process and plant design and cost estimations. [l,^- 1 ' ------------------- --' A new coating process is looking for work. Marquardt has a tech nique for vapor deposition of silicone carbide on graphite. Developed for Vr / SGP 0015855 SGP 0015856