Document k6219zJVoNnrmg07Ep8pNqk9J

MEMORANDUM TO: (See Attached Distribution List) BY: Hr. J. F. Erdnann Mr. M. E. Sutherland RECEIVED ~ JAN 311967 B- N Vheeler DATE: December 27, I960 SUBJECT: Impressions and Observations while Visiting Suspension Resins Plant of the Pantasote Company at Passaic, New Jersey___________ _________ -**.* I. INTRODUCTION It was the privilege of the autho'rs to visit and observe the operation of the suspension resins plant of the Pantasote Company ati Passaic, New Jersey, on October 15 and 16, i960. The purpose of this visit was to assist and advise the Pantasote Personnel in regard to serious production apd quality problems which had arisen in their plant starting late in September. These problems were blamed on impurities in UCC vinyl chloride monomer, the major portion of which was shipped from the South Charleston Plant. A previous visit concerning the same problem was made on October 5, i960, by G. K. Grpeber and M. E. Sutherland. Mr. P. G. Magnusson and Mr. J. K. Marshall of Chemicals Sai.es were present for both visits, Pantasote was our largest customer for vinyl chloride monomer before the shipments were discontinued in November because of continuing operation end quality difficulties. Thi-s- year we have shipped them more than 10 MM pounds, and in September alone, shipments amounted to 2.5 MM pounds. Potential sales to this customer are estimated to be 50 MM pounds per year within several more years. II. FACILITIES The suspension resins plant is a clean, attractive, compact plant designed and built by the Scientific Design Company. It is an adjunct to their calendering plant which has been in operation for a number of years. The first increment of production was installed and put Into operation in 1956. This first unit; consisted of only four autoclaves and was operated at about 11 MM pounds per year, but last year two more autoclaves were added to this unit which brought the capacity up to.15 MM pounds. In August, I960, an expansion was Completed which trebled the-capacity of the modifledroriginal unit to a total annual capacity for PVC suspension resins of 45 MM pounds. This new unit, consisting of 12 autoclaves, was put into operation in September, and the old unit wa^ shut down. There are three complete and independent;polymerization and resin recovery lines, each having a capacity of 15 MM pounds per year of PVC resins, and two monomer de-lnhibiting and recovery systems. Description of the facilities in detail follows and a Jb lock_d lag ram of the plant is shown in the attached Figure I: UCC 042099 - 2- \ A. Monomer Storage Monomer storage facilities consist of four underground tanks of which two are 40,000 gallons capacity and two are 26,000 gallons capacity. Tanks are provided with heating coils through whiich warm water Is circulated to maintain the tanks at 80 psi pressure. No inert gas is used and only inhibited monomer as received from tank cars is stored in these underground tanks. B. inhibitor Removal System Each system consists of a horizontal tank for engaging and separating the monomer and caustic solution, pumps for causjtic solution and monomer, a spent caustic tank, a 30-plate rectifying column, a condenser, and a purified monomer storage tank of approxi mately .2,000 gallons capacity. The old monomer de-inhibiting and refining system serves only the original unit while the new system serves the expanded part of the plant. C. Reaction System The reaction system consists of eighteen - 2,200 gallop glasslined Pfaudler autoclaves. As mentioned before, there are six in the old unit and twelve in the new untt. The piping on the autoclaves is very simple, with only four process lines connecting to a manifold on a 3-inch nozzle on each autoclave. The heat of polymerization is removed with river water flowing through a completely filled overflow jacket. The water is circulated through the autoclave Jackets, to forced-draft cooling towers, and back to the autoclaves. A two-stage vacuum jet is provided for evacuating the autoclave during the charging procedure* The agitators are of Pfaudlier design and are driven by a two-speed motor with a normal operating speed of about 120 rpm and another speed about 1/2 this value which is used during charging. Only one recording instrument, a combined temperature controller-pressure recorder, plus a pressure gauge are provided on each autoclave. A demineralizing unit provides process water for the autoclave charges. D. Monomer Recovery These facilities consist of a 100 gallon foam trap, a vacuum pump and two small centrifugal compressors, a small condenser, dnd a 100 gallon recovered monomer receiver. The vacuum pump and compressors are operated in series, with appropriate by-pass controls to correspond to the autoclave pressure reduction as charges are stripped after polymert zation. E. Resin Recovery, Drying and Packaging These facilities include for each line, an autoclave transfer pump, two 10,000 gallon stainless agitated slurry tanks, a Sharpies PY-3000, conical bowl centrifuge, a centrifuge feed pump, a Louisville warm air rotary dryer, a Mikro-Pulsalre collector (baghouse), a 3' x 3' Bar-Nun 40-mesh screen, and a St. Regis Fluo-Packer. There are no facilities for storing dried resin in bulk. They have storage space for approxi mately 3 MM pounds of resin in bags or Pillar-Paks. ucc 042100 -3- III. PROCESS - = . - Inhibited monomer is received in tank cars and unloaded to the under ground storage tanks. Usually two or three cars are unloaded at a time. This procedure involves the use of a small, compressor which pulls vapors qff the Storage tanks and compresses and discharges them on into the vapor space of the :tank car to facilitate unloading. After a car is unloaded, the valving is changed"ao that the compressor pulls vapor from the tank car and discharges into the liquid filling line of the storage tank. The pressure on the tank car is thus reduced to about 5 psig. As mentioned before, these tanks are maintained at an 80 psl pressure - which corresponds to a temperature of 112F by circula ting warm water through coils in the tanks. honomer is fed continuously from a storage tank through a Small cooler by means of a pump located near the monomer de-inhibiting system several hundred feet away. The new monomer pump, recovered monomer pump, and a caustic pump discharge into a common line in which there are several mixing orifices. The mixture is discharged to a decanting tank where the caustic and yinyl chloride are separated. From this tank the caustic is re-circulated while thp monomer Is fed into the rectifying column at the l2th tray from the bottom. Caustic is replenished about once a week, and the spent material is hauled away in a special container for disposal. The column is operated at 80 psig pressure, and feed is controlled by means of a hand operated globe valve and rotometer. The vapor from the column Ms condensed in a horizontal condenser. The purified monomar make is drawn off through;an overflow loop on the overhead receiver, and reflux is.manually Controlled. The purified VCl from the overhead receiver, drops into the purified monomer storage tank. The feed rate to tne column is manually controlled so as to maintain the level in the storage tank at the desired operating level. A 'flow diagram of the monomer-de-inhibiting system is appended In Figure 2. , The autoclaves are charged in the following manner: After cleaning . and inspection, warm demineralized water (50^) is charged via a meter to the autoelave to the prescribed volume, and the catalyst, suspending agept, and other ingredients are added through the open manhole. The mar.head is assembled, and a vacuum is pulled on the autoclave with a two-stage steam jet to anj absolute pressure of approximately 3 psi, This is the equilibrium pressure ait the tempera'ture of the charging water. A close check is maintained to assure that air is ~Cot' leaking i-nto-the autoclave during-this-'Step. It is required that the vacuum JhoVd for 3<y seconds with the-suction line to the jets shut'off. -Whew tightness. ct>f the" autoc live" ! s assured, vinyl chloride is charged from the purified monomer tank through a meter into the autoclave. The charge is then brought up to the " reaction "temperature by cl rculati ng hot water (heated by means of li ve steam) through the jacket." : -- -`-' M Once the charge is up to temperature and the reaction is started, the temperature controller takes over, regulating the cooling water flow through the jacket to maintain the temperature at the set point. The reaction is allowed to proceed until the desired conversion of 85 to 92 per cent is attained, which point is determlnect by the drop in pressure of the autoclave. The reaction requires about 15 hours. UCC 042101 -4- *<> When the desired conversion is reached, the reaction is terminated by strtpping with two centrifugal compressors operated in series. When the pressure reaches near atmospheric on the autoclave the vacuum pump automatically kicks in ahead of and In series with the two compressors and pulls the pressure down to 3 psi absolute. Then the compressors and vacuum pump are shut down ahd the vacuum on the autoclave is broken with air. The stripped autoclave charge is transferred to one of the slurry tanks by means of a high capacity, low head pumpi. After the charge is transferred from the autoclave, the vessel is washed down with a water hose. It is necessary to manually clean the autoclaves by scraping only after about every third or fourth run. For runs in between cleaning, the hose washing serves to clean the walls sufficiently for the next run. A total cycle time of about 18 to 20 hours is obtained on the autoclaves. The monomer vapors stripped from the autoclaves by the compressors and vacuum pump are compressed to about 80 to 85 p$ig and condensed in a Small water cooled condenser. The liquid drops from the condenser into a small recovered monomer receiver and thence to a pump which discharges into the new monomer line feeding the de-inhibiting system. Thus, all recovered monomer is mixed with fresh monomer and receives caustic treatment and distillation before re-use. During normal operation recovered monomer consistently comprises about 10 per cent of all autoclave charges. Five autoclave runs, blended together In one of the two agitated slurry tanks provided for each production line, comprise a blend consisting bf about 28,000 pounds of contained resin. While a blend is being made In one tank, a completed blend in the other tank is being fed out to the recovery sySten. The slurry (about 35 per cent solids) Is pumped from the slurry tank to the Sharpies centrifuge. The de-watered resin, which Is about 80 per cent dry, drops by gravity into the Louisville dryer. A stream of hot air within the dryer picks up the resin and carries it to the Mikro-Pulsal re baghouse where the fesin and air are separated. The dried resin drops from the baghouse through ajsmall 40 mesh screen into the Fluo-Packer by which the resin is packaged in vajve-type bags.. IV. RESIN RECIPE OBSERVATIONS Since the dry blending resin (Kohinor 652) was the particular material which Pantasote was having the most difficulty in.producing at the tinie of our visit, we were permitted to observe their charges for several autoclayes. None of the amounts of materials was related to us, but our observations ahd knowledge of thi.s type of operation permitted certain relationships ahd conclusions to be drawn as to the recipe used for this type of resin. This recipe is approximately as follows: A. Vinyl chloride/water ratio B. Vinyl chloride charged, lbs. C. charged, lbs. D. Suspending agent, polyvinyl alcohol (probably E88H), per cent of vinyl chloride E. Catalyst, dilauroy! peroxide, per cent of vinyl chloride F. Total charge volume @ 50C, gals. G. Conversion, approximate H. Resin produced per run, lbs. 40/60 5,800 8,700 0.035 (approx. 2 lbs.) 0.185 (appros. 10.7 lbs.) 1,980 90% 5,250 ucc (042102 -5- Several comments seem justified. The vinyl chloride/water ratio Is a guess, but Mr. John Ertel, resin plant supervisor, spoke several times of producing about 5,250 pounds of resin per run. On other occasion^ he said their conversion was approximately 90 per cent - this was in turn confirmed by the approximate 10 per cent recycle of recovered vinyl chloride. Although we commonly call this size of Pfaudler autoclave a 2200-gallon vessel, the Pfaudler people refer to them as 2000-gallon vessels on the basis of operating them filled just to the level of the top man head gasket. This was the approximate lev 1 of operation noted for these cnarges, taking into account the deep vertex produced by the agitator. Thus, the figures for the total charge and ratio were derived. 4 The type and concentration of'suspend!ng agent was not directly dis closed. Others have reported seeing bags of duPont Elvanol in this tylant on previous occasions. The amount of suspending*agent was determined from a charge sheet and observation of an actual charging operation. In contrast to our practice of making an aqueous solution of the suspending agent prior to charging, th dry suspending agent was poured through the open manhead directly into the warm water in the autoclave just ahead of the granular dilauroyl peroxide. The use of dilauroyl peroxide as their catalyst was freely discussed. As best we could determine, no other ingredients were used]in this recipe, although notations of "glycerine added" were seen in several log sheets. The scattered timing of these additions suggests that glycerine may l|>e used as the seal fluid for the mechanical seals and the additions were made to the seal fluid reservoirs on the autoclaves. For reference, a sketch of one of the Pfaudler autoclaves Is shown In Figure 3. V. MANPOWER A. Technical and Supervisory The entire suspension resin plant operation is under the direction of John Ertel who reports to Ted Barks, the worki manager of the combined operations of the calendering plant and thf resin plant. Ertel has reporting to him two production engineer^, one development engineer, three laboratory technicians, a clerk, and all of the hourly personnel. Ertel and one of his production'engineers, Ed Biehl, formerly worked in Firestone's vinyl resin plant at Pottstown, Pennsylvania. They came to Pantasote when the first unit was started up In Both of these men impressed us as being technically competent and efficient production men. No doubt much of the Information which they acquired while working at Firestone was helpful in their develop ment of the excellent line of resin which they now produce. The development engineer, Charles Gionatti, who has been with Pantasote since August, was previously employed by Borden In their vinyl resins plant. We learned that his main project at the time we were there was the development of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate co polymer. We understand that they made their first production trial on this resin late in November. ucc 042103 -6- * Harry Russell, vice-president of Pantasote in charge of all vinyl operations, reported that he had recently hired an expert on extrusion compounds who formerly worked for Western Eleqtric Company. It was not clear just what functions this man would be responsible for, but the impression was given that he wquld work mainly in the marketing of the resin, performing technical service in the wire-coating and insulation industries. The laboratory technicians gave the impression of being very competent in their testing of the resin although their testing equipment and laboratory facilities were very simple and limited. They could predict, for example, how the dry-blend resin wquld behave in the customers operation with a simple dry-blendiqg test based on visual observations and time. No testing of the rjew monomer as received in the tank cars is done. Equipment is available for funning only simple tests Such as acid content of the monomer. A qualitative test Is sometimes run for acetylene. B. Hourly There are a total of 35 people on the hourly payroll. Each of four shifts has seven operators, and there are four day operators and three day maintenance men. There are no relief men sipce each shift group works six straight shifts and then is off two days. Vacations are covered by men from the off-shfft. The" shift operating assignments and general duties are as follows; 1. Lead Operator - Supervises entire plant operation ~='--on shift. Assists in operation wherever needed. :ri: i ^ j ; . ........ r-~Z%~ Hohomer Purifying Operator - Unloads tank cars ' and operates ground level functions of the monomer de-inhibl c(rig system. 3. Reaction Operator - Assembles, charges, reacts, and strips autoclaves. Removes autoclave manhead after charge is transferred. Controls feed flow to monomer de-inhiblting system; controls reflux "'-.- flow to monomer refining ti 11. ^ '-- 4. Utility Operator - Transfers charges to slurry tanks. Washes or cleans autoclaves after trans- -z- T-:fers." Operates water demineralizing system. ; - - - 5. Recovery Operators (Two - one for each line) "Switches slurry feed tanks. Operates centrifuge, ; " rotary dryer, baghouse, and screen. Packages w": resin in bags or "Pi 1lar-paks". :- 6. Fork Truck Operator - Helps recovery operators stack bags of resin into pallets and transports to storage area. ycc 042104 -7- F r time worked in excess of 40 hours in one week and ^ hours ,,In one day a 50 per cent premium is paid. Double-time is j^aTd for Sundays-worked, and we believe this same rate is paid for holidays worked. Each operator gets paid, on the average, an equivalent of 51-1/2 straight time hours for each 40-hour week. --rrThe--lead operators receive the top hourly pay rate of $2.54 'per-hour. The pay rates of the other six operators vary from about 15 cents per hour below this top rate down to' a minimum of $1.84 per hour according to the iob classification. The p4y rate for the three maintenance men. is probably equivalent to or slightly under that of a lead operator. Despite the fact that this Is a union plant the operators perform a variety of duties such as cleaning autoclaves; assembling and dismantling autoclaves; painting equipment, lines, and the work area; changing valves and lines; replacing steady bearings on auto claves; packaging, storing, and loading resin; and sweeping floors and whatever else Is necessary to maintain an excellent stqte of housekeeping. The three maintenance men do jobs which are beyond the scope of the operators such as repairing valves, repairing pump seals, replacing autoclave shaft seals, etc. We asked Ertel how he was able to get the union to agrde to having operators perform such a variety of functions in view of organized Tabor's historical and notorious attitude against the efficient use of manpower in such a manner. He said that before the plant was started up, he'and others in Pantasote management had an under standing with the union that management would be allowed this fre dom of manpower utilization. They laid their cards on the tab!|e stating that they were a small company and unless they were granted such freedom they could not hope to have a profitable operation and, therefore, would not even venture into the resin business. The union agreed to Pantasote's request and, according to Ertel, relations between the union and management have been excellent thus far. Ac cording to Ertel and Biehl, the operators are extremely conscientious, quality conscious, and have the company's interest at heart. Ertel believes, however, that is is only a matter of time until the union will be asking for concessions because of outside pressures of other. Unfbns^ He claims the reason"Tor thelr success in bui ldin<J -up such a'good relationship with the hourly men is that none of them had pre viously worked in a chemical plant and, therefore, had no preconceived notions concerning duties restricted to craft lines and the like. These men . thought that the way supervisors told them to do a job was the best'way, if not the only way,'to do it. This attitude is likely to chang . 'As mentioned earlier, the old 15 MM lbs./yr, unit is now shut down and only the new 30 MM lbs./yr. expansion is being operated. When sales require It, the old plant will be reactivated requiring the.addition of 16 hourly men. No additional salaried employees should be necessary. ucc 042105 -8- VI. PR00UCT5 Pantasote produces four types of ,PVC resins which are marketed under the trade name Kohinor. A brief description of each is as follows: Kohl nor 652 - This is- the!r dry-blend resin and, according to evalua tions of our own'Development Department",'1 s by far the best dry-blen)d resin on the market. Prior to thier expansion the demand for this resin exceeded th lr production capacity. In order to protect the!r market position, they produced all the dry-blend resin they could for sale and purchased calendering i^sin for their compounding plant. This resin has a specific viscosity of approximately 0.220 and .is-produced wi-th a polyvinyl alcohol recipe. Kohinor 650 - This is'a s'peciVf calendering resin having a specific viscosity somewhat lower than that of 652. We know nothing of the recipe for th r s res in-. " - `; Kohinor 648 - This is their main calendering resin and next to 652 In importance. Since the plant expansion went on stream, sufficient quantity of this resin has been produced to supply the compounding plant adequately as well as to provide some excess for sale. This is a medium viscosity resin probably similar to our Q.YSM-5 (0 - * 70 specific viscosity). We beiieive It is produced with a methyl cellulose recipe. Kohinor 635 - This is a low viscosity resin used for rigid! sheeting. It Is probably similar to our QYSA-5 (0.115) or Q.YSJ-5 (0.145) in specific viscosity. This resin is probably produced with a methyl cellulose recipe along with trlchlorethylene molecular weight degrader. As mentionedearlier, they are working on the development of a vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer, presumably for the flooring and record molding market, and successfully accomplished an initial production trial just recently. VII. OTHER COMMENTS A< The Pantasote suspension resins plant is very well designed. It lends Itself to good housekeeping and efficient use of manpower and raw materials. There are no evidences of over-design or under-design of.piping or equipment,.. The piping is very slimp-le-and ispafnted according to a'colbr code for purposes-of identification. Piping on the autoclaves is exceptionally simple and uncluttered, yet adequate. Instrumentation is simple and used sparingly. Control ol-iflows -i-n most cases is efficiently and effectively accoirpifshed bycuse of indicating rotometers and manually operated giobie valves gather than by automatic controllers and motor valves. Measurement of water and monomer which go into the autoclave charges is satis factorily accomplished by means of displacement meters. Etc -Jrt.the plant there is wide-spread use of aluminum insulation sections on lines and equipment. This type of insulation Is extremely easy to assemble or remove, makes a very neat job, and isi undoubtedly much cheaper than the type.of insulation used in our plants. If ucc 042106 -9- maintenance needs to be done on an insulated tank or line which involves removal of insulation, the aluminum insulation sections may be easily removed and then reinstalled after the maintenance work is completed. In our plant the foam glass or magnesia insula tion Is a one-time job and if removed is not salvagable. It seems that our design and maintenance'engtneers should investigate and adopt-the use of cheaper and more modem insulation method? and materials such as this. Much money could be saved. C. We were impressed with the high productivity of the 2,200gallon autoclaves. With the 33 per cent larger ratio of wpll cooling surface area to charge volume in these small autoclaves as compared with our 4,600-gallon autoclaves, they may use water at atmospheric temperatures to effectively remove the heat of reaction, whereas we must use -20C brine for equivalent productivity. Another mors important advantage of the small autoclaves may be that this Is the secret of their producing an excellent dry-blending resin, it is possible that the critical agitation required for this resin cannot be scaled up to a larger vessel. 0. According to Ed Biehi, the monomer efficiency under normal cir cumstances 1$ arour.d 95 pan cent, and the overall final repin cost (including all ove-head and selling expanses) exclusive of freight is about $0.16 par pound. This is with a monomer purchase) price of $0.116 per pound delivered Since this conversation the monomer price has been reduced to $0,096 per pound and the overall resin ""cosF should be lower by about $0,021 per pound. A good portion of the resin shipped to customers is,pi eked up by customer 's own trucks so that frelght expense is extremely low. Biehi stated that on the average they pay about $0.25 per 100 pounds or 1/4 cent per pound for freight. This would faring the overall (monomer pricefreight adjusted) resin cost to about $0,142 per pound. E. The Louisville rotary drying systems impressed us as being vastly superior to our flash drying systems from the standpoint of resin con tamination, resin losses, and ease and smoothness of operation. Becaus of the absence of conditions conducive to overheating and fusing of the resin, such as exist in a flash drying system, this dryer is par ti cular1y well suited for drying of the soft resins such as the suspension resin*, VYSR and QYSA-5, and the solvent resins VYLF, VYHH, and VMCH. F. AH of their pumps and agitators are equipped with mechanical shaft seals supplied by John Crane Co. They had a considerable amount of trouble with failures of theorlginal seals on most of their pumps, and all have been replaced with the John Crane seals which are reported to gfye^service in excess of a year. They have obtained excellent co operation and customer service from this supplier and are Very well pleased with the improved seals which, according to Ed Biehi, were developed through the joint efforts of Pantasote and Crane. ucc 042107 I 1*/ t ^ t t it n*. t / i ' 'i * ' -./,*/ ,-ifJ v i - ' ! } *1 i , *-v'/ * \ i i 1 -1 Bi.ac.tc. S-/lov</ D/a<t/Ia*\ of-.. Sv-SPEMXiOA/ &*tN /^OCE5S...gg rnc t~ritTT*A a org , A/sW J&AEffV. y ^r* 'rv\c5J II- 7*5 -*0 'ysjW-ooj.f v Jwo 4 Wrfv/\ >3/\ UCC 042109 V$S. MessOX? XATWG206 ps/iSr /1///60 DISTRIBUTION LIST Mr. J. V. Biddle Mr. A. A. Boehm Mr. J. A. Bruton Mr. J. E. Deitzler Hr. L. L. Dintiman Mr. D. L. Engle Mr. R. 0. Glenn Mr. G. J. Hanks, Jr. Mr. J. H. Howell Dr. T. R. Miller Mr. A. E. Montagna Mr. W. W. TenEyck Mr. C. R. Welter Mr. W. R, Wheeler ucc 0421n TO: Hr. J. W. Biddle Mr. A. A. Boehm Mr. J. A. Bruton Mr. J. E. Oeltzler Mr. L. L. Ointiman Mr. 0. L.Engle Mr. R. 0. Glenn Mr. G. J. Hanks, Jr. Mr. J. H. Howell Dr. T. R. Miller Mr. A. E. Montagna Mr. W. U. TenEyck Mr. C. R. Welter Mr. W. R, Wheeler OATE: December 29, i960 WWT/01/03/61 Memorandum entitled; SUBJECT: "Impressions and Observations while Visiting Suspension Resins Plant of the Pantasote Company at Passaic. Mew Jersey" Gentlemen; Please make the following correction in your copy of the subject memorandum: Page 5, second paragraph under "Manpower" heading, second senteennce snould read: "They came to Pantasote when the first unit was started up in 1356". Thank you. M. E. Sutherland HES/JFE/bcm