Document pojqJNLZMd3bNRR68X19Gnza

V;' ft. MOMS 0 3 7 3 6 9 Refiners may try to meet octane de mand by boosting severity of cracking--a step which entails some reduction in yield, BAM indicates that the refining indus try could meet the 1979 limit of 0.5 gm. if capacity cost pass-throughs were allowed and few delays were encountered in re finery siting; on the whole, however. BAM expects gasoline shortages in 1979. Imports are a second option that might ease the gasoline crunch over the next few years. But both Pace and the BAM studies concluded (hat imports would not be able to make up the shortfall. Nearly half of the estimated 300.000 bpd. of im ports that would be required would have to come from Europe which is having problems of its own with gasoline. More over. it would be high priced gasoline. Aromatic imports could olfer some help to petrochemical producers and un der normal conditions, notes one Texas company, imports could make up the dif ference between rising benzene consump tion and a somewhat slower increase in benzene capacity. But whether large amounts of benzene would be available under crisis conditions is problematical. Toluene stockpiling also offers some potential for alleviating possible benzene shortages next year and later. Some stockpiling is now thought to be taking place in anticipation of a ruture crunch. Toluene hoarding, however, implies that there will be no wait at the TDA unit and that ample storage capacity exists. And there's a risk involved if EPA decides to be generous with the lead phase-down chedule-a development that could push toluene prices downward. Full scale use of new manganese anti knock additives would reduce the gaso line shortfall to a limited degree. BAM estimates that at the 0.07-gm./gal. level, the 1977 summer shortfall could be cut from an estimated 646.000 bpd. to 361.000. At that level, the additives boost RON by 1.8 and motor octane by 1 oc tane. Problem; the only present manga nese antiknock supplier (Ethyl) may not bs able to supply the estimated 5.4 mil lion lbs. of antiknock additive (at Mn metal) that will be required in 1977. Neither the petroleum refining indus try. now facing a serious Congressional demand for divestiture, nor the govern ment want a replay of the 1973-1974 gasoline shortages, climbing prices and consumer outrage. Yet. that's what the handwriting on the wall suggests if the EPA sticks to a tight phasedown. And in the process, a good part of the petro chemical industry could be seriously hurt. End of trail for mirex? v The stale of Mississippi, sole U.S. man ufacturer of mirex, has told the Environ mental Protection Agency it wants to phase out production and use of the con troversial pesticide by June 30, 1978. Re cent teats have indicated the material is harmftii both to health and the environ ment, and as a result, EPA has been con sidering banning the pesticide. In a letter to EPA, Jim Buck Ross, Mis sissippi Commissioner of Agriculture, said the state wants to replace `'current mirex registrations with an unquestion ably safe registered material as quickly as possible." Mirex, a chlorinated hydrocarbon, is an ingredient in a poisonous bait used to kill destructive fire ants in nine Southern suites. It has been io use for 14 years (sprayed in the air or applied to the ground), but Mississippi began producing the pesticide only last spring, when it pur chased a mirex manufacturing plant from Allied Chemical. Recent tests have shown it to be haz ardous (Of, July 28, p. 23). Studies at the National Cancer Institute have found it to be a cancer agent in rodents; environ ments! tests show small amounts of mirex may degrade into Kepone, a toxic pesti cide; and EPA found mirex in more than one-fourth of human tissue samples from the South. Ross cited the proposed phase-out as an opportunity for the slate to conduct research on less-barmAil Are ant killers. Although he claimed that mirex is not "too harmAil to the environment." he conceded that it is a persistent pesticide. A less toxic mirex formula (10:5) has been developed and, under the state's plan, would replace the current 4X bait by 1977. Ross also said he is "most en couraged" by tests on a new biodegrad able mirex bait Two EPA-deared in secticides, dimethoate and diazonan, are also being considered for fire ant control. But the use of mirex remains contro versial. There has been strong opposition, for instance, to the planned spraying of 700,000 acres in three Alabama counties. Especially loud protest centers on the possibiity of contamination of the Cahaba River, which supplies water to Bir mingham and surrounding counties. Alabama has been plagued by fire ants, which have been known to attack animals and children. Although the pests usually don't eat crops, they threaten farming be cause their tall mounds make plowing difficult. The program in Alabama was origi* top of the news nally scheduled for Sept 13. It has been delayed until early October. The delav. according to John Bloch of the Alabama Dept, of Agriculture, u caused by the late delivery of mirex supplies from Hooker Chemical. Hooker stopped manufacturing mirex in 1967. Recent shipments presumably would have had to come from inven tories. Heat over herbicide Agent Chemical (Houston) is reconsidering plans to dispose of a toxic herbicide contaminant-2.3,7.8-tetrachlorodibenzopara.dioxin (TCDD)-in a landfill built to hold toxic materials in West Covina. Calif., because of public controversy The firm had applied for a state health de partment disposal permit. The company has developed a process for removing TCDD from agent orange, a defoliant formerly used in Vietnam, m an effort to reprocess the Air Force's 2.3million-gal. stockpile snd make the mate rial suitable for commercial use. But con troversy has occurred recently over TCDD contamination in Seveso. Italy, when an incident related to trichloropheno! production occurred at a nearby chemical plant (CW. Aug. //, p. IJy The latest dispute apparently began when concerned citizens deluged West Covina city officials with telephone calls after reading newspaper accounts that nine cannisiers of charcoal filter elements containing TCDD from the herbicide had been shipped to landfill operator Ben K. Kazarian Co. (Wilmington. Calif) for ex perimental tests. West Covina officials and the landfill firm have "mutually agreed" to eliminate the landfill for con sideration as a disposal site. Agent Chemical says it has not vet been notified by California authorities, but expects that the permits will not be is sued. It notes that the entire 2.3 million of herbicide contain about 40 lbs. of dioxin, and each cannistcr contains about an 18th of an ounce after processing. The company removes TCDD by ad sorption on activated coconut charcoal at about 100 C at atmospheric pressure. Columns are 6 in. in diameter. 6 ft. long and have H-in.-thick steel walls. When the requisite amount of dioxin is ad sorbed. the column is removed from the system, welded shut at both ends, primed, painted and covered with a l-m. layer of polyethylene. The company estimates that these con tainers would retain integrity in a landfill for about 1.000 years. i r September 15. 1976 CHEMICAL WEEK 13 top of thenews GE settles on PCBs General Electric and New York State's Environmental Conservation Dept, last week agreed on terms of a $7-million program to deal with polychlorinated biphenyls in the Hudson River. Under terms of a consent order, GE will contrib ute $4 million. The agreement settles le gal proceedings brought against GE in September 1975 because of discharges of PCBs at its Hudson Falls and Fort Ed ward, N.Y., capacitor manufacturing plants (CW, Aug. 4, p. 34). The agreement provides for the com pany to make a S3*million lump-sum conbritution to the state environmental department within 60 days, to be used in a $6-million program directed by the agency to monitor and take remedial ac tion against PCB contamination in the Hudson River. GE will also perform SI million in research on PCBs. and grant the state agency nonexclusive rights to use results of the studies. Included: S400,000 to research the environmental compatibility of its substitute non-PCB dielectric capacitor fluids; $400,000 for research and pilot-plam studies for means to remove and treat PCBs; and $200,000 to study the effect on the envi ronment of three substances that may be hazardous. In addition. GE agreed to halt use of PCB. in c.Mriln, manufacturing hv Inly T. 1977. The firm will also reduce dis charges from its Hudson Falls and Fort Edward plants to an average of I gram/day following completion of a $3.5-million treatment facility in April 1977, Moasanio's Search: Meanwhile, Mon santo disclosed more details of a medical search of cancer incidence among its present and former plant workers ex posed to PCBs. George Roush, director of Monsanto's Medical and Environmen tal Health Dept, reported that the latest I preliminary results show no cases of ei-1 1 (her malignant melanoma or pancreatic I I cancer among the 300 present or former, I workers at the Sauget, III., plant--the Arm's only U.S. facility that makes PCB products. In comparison, Roush notes, a recent Mobil Oil study found three cases of melanoma and two cases of pancreatic cancer among 72 employees exposed to PCBs io a New Jersey Mobil plant. Previously. Monsanto's study found! seven cates of lung cancer among SO de-' ceased workers investigated, which ex ceeds the netionel average of 2.7 (CW, Sept. 9, p. 26). TIRE PRODUCTION is expected to be back to normal levels withm two weeks. Back to making tires As the longest rubber strike in tire in dustry history ended last week, three of the "Big Four" tire makers agreed that 1976 could be the largest passenger tire sales year ever. Goodrich and Uniroyal each reached agreement with the United Rubber Workers on new three-year contracts, ending the strike that idled almost 70,000 union members since Apr. 21. Ratiflcalion by local unions sent Goodrich and Uniroyal employees back to work Sept. 8. Workers`at Goodyear and Firestone returned to work last month when those companies reached contract settlements (CW, Sept. l.p. 13). Terms of both the Uniroyal and Good rich agreements followed the industry's basic economic pattern established in Washington last month by the union and Firestone. In addition to a basic threeyear wage increase of $ 1.35/hour and a cost-of-living adjustment, the contracts call for extra wage boosts to compensate for "carve-outs." or money taken out of hourly wages in the 1973 contract. The return of the Goodrich and Uni royal workers means that now all U.S.based tire plants, including Armstrong, Richardson and Dayton, have settled or are in the process of ratifying new con tract agreements. Tire production is ex pected to be normal within a week or two. In spile of the prolonged strike. Good year economists report that this year will be a "banner year for the lire industry, with auto tire sales equaling their highest single-year increase in 30 years." 14 CHEMICAL WEEK September 15. 1976 More than 191 million auto ores will be sold in the U.S. this year, the cnmp.im said-nearly 21.5 million more than were sold in 1975. Only once in (he Iasi .V* years-in 1968-has the increase been .is great, the economists stated. Goodyear attributed the "tremendous demand for auto tires" to a resurgence m new-car sales, recession-delayed pur chases. and the sale of replacement tires for 1973 cars. The company said ihe in dustry wa able to meet this demand de spite the strike because of large inven tories. "resourcefulness" in production and increased tire imports. Curbs on vitamin ads Hudson Pharmaceutical has agreed to a Federal Trade Commission consent or der. which prohibits the companv from directing its advertising for a children\ vitamin to juvenile audiences The order is based on an FTC com plaint alleging that Hudson's comic hook and television ads for (he Spider-Man vitamin are "unfair and deceptive" be cause they use a child's hero figure to en dorse the product. "Such advertising can induce children to take excessive amounts of vitamins, which can be dan gerous to their health." FTC said The FTC order specifically prohibits Hudson from running any Spider-Man vitamin advertisements "whose dominant appeal is to children." and from tele vising ads "which utilize Spider-Man or other hero figures" before 9 05 p m The FTC agreement applies onlv to ads for children's vitamins manufactured by Hudson. Other vitamin makers, such as Miles Laboratories and Brisiol-Mvcrs. say they withdrew vitamin advertising di rected to children several yean ago A Hudson official reported (he com pany expects no sales loss as a resuli oi the restriction and said that Hudson pUns to run ftiture advertisements for SpiderMan vitamins, omitting the hero figure. He said Hudson has always directed -id" to adults, never to children FTC has also been involved with a sepante petition filed with the Federal t orn munications Commission by numerous state attorneys general requesting a ban on televised over-the-counter drug adver tisements between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m The term "drug" as defined in the petition in cludes products such as vitamins, tooihpaste. cough drops and shampoos. j> * ell as more traditional drug items, an K ' official said. No deadline for a ruling ha% been scheduled. MONS 037370