Document nkyX8E0Gmk2rKb41rYxyOVvda

1 i<4v , *j Environment - / igsSaji&W '&!&*&^ * but "underestimated the difficulty." NIOSH also will be getting approxi mately 18 standards per month from three consulting groups: Stanford Re search Institute, Kaiser Foundation and ;u. Arthur D. Little. Future Unclear. Opposing what he !ff%'*a I called "blackmail" over the alleged con-' diet between job losses and worker safety, Peter Bommarito, president of the United Rubber Workers and chairman of AFL- V/1 AV CIO's health and safety committee, says "this country survived for nearly 200 I'r^,**W ' .* * years without PVC and we can survive in the future without it" But Arthur D. Little (Cambridge, Mast.), in its examination of the poetible demise of the PVC industry for the Society of the Plastics Industry says: "It would not be possible to duplicate the sgafife ks^sk: PACKAGING OF FOOD and other product* it a major market for polyvinyl chloride. exact properties of vinyl plastic products by using substitute raw materials." And even if it were possible to find a product with the exact or equivalent properties, says ADL, cost of production would Second thoughts on using PVC probably price the substitute out of the market. Packagers stick with PVC, but seek substitute materials for "Choice of a packaging material is a series of complex considerations," says an new products and as hedge against possible forced cutbacks Continued discovery of liver cancer cases among workers in polyvinyl chlo contending that imposition of a no detec table level limit--essentially 1 ppm.--for industry observer. Fot many applications it's difficult, if not impossible, to find a material that fits the bill exactly. PVC has clarity and excellent oxygen and, carbon ride plants is posing a threat to the mate rial's future in the packaging field. Sev worker exposure is technically impos sible. Enforcement of such a standard, dioxide barrier qualities. Polypropylene does not. On the other hand, polypropyl eral food manufacturers are dropping they claim, would cause shutdown of all ene is a tough construction material. plans for packaging new products in the PVC plants in the U.S., eliminate 1.7-2.2 According to Modem Plastics' 1973 controversial plastic and PVC users are searching for possible substitutes in case federal regulations covering worker expo million jobs in consuming and related in dustries and result in a loss of domestic production value of $65-90 billion/year. survey on plastics production, some 79 million lbs. of PVC were used for bottles, compared with only 19.8 million lbs. of sure force cutback* in output. Manufacturers of substitute materials polpropylene for tbs same purpose. And At 325-million-lbs./ye*r consumption, are not crowing over PVC's setbacks. while polypropylene is more, available packaging is a major outlet for the 4.6 bil Most, suffering feedstock shortages, are than PVC, a Phillips Petroleum spokes lion lbs./year of PVC resin produced. And the reluctance of food packagers to struggling to satisfy their own markets. Moreover, for many applications, there is man says, "We don't have that much." Search for Substitute*: There was an use PVC could signal the beginning of no substitute for PVC. earlier spur to the search for PVC substi harder times ahead for the material. And the vinyl industry's occupational tutes when a problem arose with the test Reports earlier this month of two cases health problems may be precurson of marketing of half-gallon PVC bottles for of angiosarcoma in Czechoslovakian difficulties for other segments of the or liquor in 1973. Alarmed by reports of PVC plant* has raised the toll to 24. And ganic chemical industry. "It's only one VCM migration into the liquor, the Food as those numbers mount, public pressure, tree in the forest," says Cesare Maltoni, and Drug Administration propoeed to. is building on the Occupational Safety of the Institute of Oncology (Bologna, drop to zero the allowable VCM. migra and Health Administration to promulgate Italy), whose research first predicted the tion into food, drugs and ooametira.oni^-. tv -T its "no detectable level" exposure limit for vinyl chloride monomer in work envi link between VCM exposure and cancer (CW, July 17, p. 30). May 9, 1973. -Almost immediately, the V Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco -and Fire-. t ronments. With the final standard due The National Institute of Occupational arms .cancelled its approval for.the teat Oct. S, OSHA is said to be seeking a com Safety and Health has taken on the task marketing of the half-gallon.PVC liquor promise position that will avoid lawsuits of developing work exposure standards bottles. (Final FDA decision on VCM from industry on the one side and labor for some 400 chemicals by 1976. By No migration limits is still pending.) and consumer groups on the other. One vember the agency hopes to publish ex According to one packaging supplier, source tells Chemical Week that "trial balloons of 20-25 ppm, have been lofted posure standards it has developed for five ketones--2-butanone; cyclohexanone; 2- "We lost some business in PVC over the liquor decision, and it wa^ picked up by by the agency.7' pentanone; hexone; and acetone. It had our glass operation." \ Industry representatives have been hoped to have 40 chemicals completed, Glass is probably the best qualified al- ucc Julv 31 1974 CHFMICAI WFFK 19 006750 rnmk Environment tentative across the board, but it, too, is door" PVC plant alongside its Louisville oppose use of respirators, too. "Have you io tight supply. plant, where the VCM-angiosarcoma link ever tried working all day with a respira For ccnaio film applications, poly- was first reported last January. tor on?" asks Tony Masmcbi of the Oil, vinylidene chloride could benefit For ex ample, Dow notes that for odd shapes and barrier packs, such as for cheeses, it Four basic polymerisation processes Chemical and Atomic Workers union. are*usediorPVC production-suspension doe possible answer is to collect the es (which accounts for more than 75% of the j caping monomer and vent it to the atmo is "ideal." But a spokesman notes, it is toniuge). emulsion.-solution and bulk, sphere. Ini die Environmental Protection more difficult to handle than PVC in ma the reactor or autoclave, where polymer Agency.ooncemedaEootescaping mono chines, and it is more costly. Other packagers report little if any in* ization takes plaoe. is the keyjyece o mer. has been monitoring the air around equipment in_each. Conversion of 85% of 1 1{fpvcf plant* ~"When <jSHX~"jcta crease in interest from marketers anxious the* monomer is considered highrun.-/ through EPA will move in rod _won't to switch. But most agree that the PVC reacted monomer is removed from the1 want monomer going oufthe stack,_"_says problem is influencing new-product in* unitpy vacuum for recycle to the process a Union Carbide spokesman. EPA con- troduction. Case in point: Borden's before the polymer is fed into a pitying i tends that there are 6% VCm losses from ReaLemon Subsidiary, which was test tower'or storage tank. PVCrpIania. and concentration* Ql 1-2 . marketing a line of cocktail mixes called Moreover, some polymer stick* to the I nranjn air outride plants. On the Rocks in PVC containers. The reactor side*, hardens and accumulates, Another- possibility: absorbing the PVC packaging idea has been dropped. lowering theyheat transfer in the units. monomer in the vent gases on activated ';, "We're exploring a number of alteraa* Whcnthe hem transfer becomes too low, carbon. Calgoa baa reported snooenM. - rives," a qtokesman reports. or a different man is produced, it be laboratory studies of the technique and i*' Opinion seems unanimous that large come* nccesiary to dean the reacton. installing a system for the effluent from market drift* from PVC would be impos High-pressure water jets are used pri the vent condensers at a southwest PVC sible to soak up. Construction is the larg marily to do the bulk of the cleaning. But plant The company says the monomer est consumer of PVC resins. Last year, for in some older plants, the ports in small can be regenerated with steam. example, 1.34 billion' lb*, of PVC were kettles arc positioned so that water jets But other companies are skeptical, say used to make pipe and fittings. That's can't be used. Some efforts are under way ing relatively concentrated streams of more than 25% of total PVC consump inert gases with relatively small amounts tion, estimated by the SP1 to be 4.6 bil lion lbs. in 1973. An additional 464 mil lion lbs. went into flooring. And siding use as well as miscellaneous construction applications pushed total construction It will be impossible to duplicate exact properties of vinyl of oxygen arg^needed-ior. activated car bon aKutnrptina/One company reports itr , estimated cost for activated carbon V scrubbinaTn its tesin-drvmToncration at / ^J~'~000perwxcL > markets for PVC well over 2 billion lbs. Carcinogens: Maltoni is al in 1973. Auto upholstery, seat covers, to develop new monomer-absorption, ready looking for other chemical carcino mats and decorative tops accounted for hardened resin removal methods. For ex gens, based on evidence supporting his 256 million lbs. ample, GaF has patented a solvent addi predictive cancer techniques. He is sus PVC output has risen about 70% dur tion method. picious of all carbon-chloride groups. ing the past five years, for a compound One producer's engineer, who has . Maltoni is also doing more work on growth rate of about 11%/year from 1968 . worked around PVC plants andbeen ex VCM, studying inhalation doses of 25 to 1973. This year's growth, however, is posed tn the monomer for over 20 years, ppm. down to 1 ppm. and doing tests cm likely to be much slower. Output during . thinks companies will have to "sharpen the effect ofingestion. . the first five months of 1974 was up only up polymerization techniques and meth- *Tm sure 25 ppm. will show cancer, ` 1.7%, according to data compiled by the i odsofstripping free monomer " ~ too," says Joseph Wagoner, chairman of Tariff Commission. That's partly an indi | He would like to see free-monomer NIOSH's occupational carcinogen com- ,, cation of slackening growth in demand j concentrations in the dryer reduced to mittee. but alto reflects shortage* of capacity. 1 5W ppm., claiming they are now up to "There's no way to demonstrate the Reactor Rote Of the 24 reported cases | 3,000-4,000 ppm, on resin leaving the safe level of a carcinogen," he warns. of angiosarcoma linked to VCM expo plant "The plant of the future--if we Wagoner it also concerned that other dis sure, only one, in Sweden, involved a have one--will be able to strip moat of the_ eases may be caused by worker exposure worker at a monomer plant Of the rest free monomer." he savs. to VCM. While critical of: the "serious 20 were in PVC plants, two among com eeting____S_t_a_ndar_d_s_:___A_c_k_n_o_w__le__dg__in__g__ w w limitations" of the Tabenbaw-Cooper. pounders and fabricators (one wire extru that the 1-ppm. standards are "going, to - epidemiological studies'sponsored by the. T ' sion plant one plaitic.fabric plant)-and be tough-to-achieve," Daniel Boyd, diiec- , Manufacturing Chemists AsstL, he note* one West Oennan worker engaged in fill tor of OSHA't standards development of-, - ithWaa4t ftlhiaewy dJne--moenwsSteraskteAdjI *b---r--a---in-- uanidl !lun>g ' "> - J ing aerosol pesticide containers with , a fice, says a combination of engineering damage linked to VCM exposure. VCM propellant controls, work practice methods,and-re*-* > Oocupationalibealth: standards may be*' Because vinyl chloride plants are gen- - piraton could Ms-used"' 1 . one of the greatest problems the chemical V; erally automated they can be built with-' A gpokn" ftw manufacturer industry baa faced. But great optimism out enclosures. But PVC production is la savs he fears "well behung withjww*-f*d and faith in' the industry har been ex - -. f- bor-intensive, and in the colder climates positive pressure masks." All sources pressed in some unexpected quarters. it's necessary to enclose the plants. "Less agree that~sclf-contained supply^ packs, "The ingenuity of American industry than half are open," estimated one com similar to those used by astronauts, never fails to surprise me," says NIOSH's pany spokesman. Goodrich has an couldn't be used because the workers Wagoner. "Somehow, surprising things nounced that it plans to build an "out- couldn't function. In fact, labor sources ucc 20 CHEMICAL WEEK July 31, 1974 006751 budget analysis and product cost ***'' PROFIT RENTER'381*^^ ^" m^v~ '.'r- SOLVENT VlNY Ls - TEXAS CITY **- SYSTEM. 08310 (Dry Resin) . r^i , ' ' w .w .S '.`V-.-J-'-vi"-' it ' ir v* Budgeted Cost 1970 Actual Source Maintenance (repair) Maintenance (rearrange.) 512 736 103 Total Budgeted Cost 1,351 Apportioned & Assigned Insurance & Taxes Maintenance overhead Laboratory All Others Total Apport. & Assigned 211 197 115 523 Allocated 232 Environmental - Blending (Texas City only) 221 . Refrigeration & Water * total Period cost 2,327 Total Production (MM Lbs.) 80.9 Average Period Coat /Lb. 2. 88 Utilities Cost </Lb. 1. 16 Raw Materials Cost </Lb. 6.22 Total Product Cost */Lb. 10.26 1971 Actual 534 849 77 1,460 M$ 1972 Actual 1973 Actual 582 635 720 950 97 52 1,399 1,637 212 200 123 535 277 195 * 2,467 73.0 3. 38 1.30 5. 82 10. 50 200 185 123 184 692 215 206 118 129 668 223 234 * 2,728 269 32 236 241 3,083 81.0 . 89. 0 3. 36 3.46 1.48 1.20 5. 84 5. 84 10.68 10.40 1974 Plan- 1974 Estimated 706 , 861 98 700 1,050 150 1,665 1,900 243 215 120 109 687 288 56 217 349 3,262 243 275^ 142 100 760 325 52 210 240 3,487 90. 0 93.6 3. 62 3. 76 1.47 1.30 6. 26 6.44 11. 35 N 11.50 * Included with Utilities 4*- w> n m c- i ny S"-r uortri' c> T"ft a -v s p-ert- f'fu.cersr K. E. Ross - May 28, 1974 ucc 006752