Document rx2Lwxbz26Z2exz5zg0Qyvjkv

Inter-Office Memo TENNECO CHEMICAIS, INC. To M. W. Williams Prom H. B. Carr Subject VCM - Status Report At piscataway At Burlington Date Nov. 12, 1968 Copy to P. F. Albanese E. Farber J. C. Fisher E. J. Hourihan E. L. Kanyok F. W. Kanzler L. Medeiros P. R. Scarito A. C. Siegel R. A. Vallette A. V. Wagner In telephone conversations with P. M. Reed on 11/7 and 11/8/68, the following points were discussed concerning our program for moni toring monomer: 1. It was pointed out that eleven cars were enroute for which we do not have gas chromatography analyses. These analyses are now being forwarded. 2. Following the four-day Houston plant shutdown which ended 10/14/68, the quality of monomer improved with only methyl acetylene and 1,3 butadiene exceeding our tentative specs. The methyl acetylene ranged from 5-7 ppm on 6 cars out of 31 as opposed to our spec, of 4 ppm. The 1,3 butadiene ranged from 2-6 ppm as opposed to our 3pec. of 1.5 ppm on the first 12 cars sifter 10/14/68. Thereafter, only 2 cars of 19 exceeded the 1,3 butadiene spec, at 2 and 1.6 ppm levels, respectively. On 11/1/68, it was noted that the reported propadiene values jumped from the 20-40 ppm range to the 60 - 70 Plan (spec. 60 ppm) level. Paul stated that he has noted this and will follow propadiene closely. He feels that this may be an analytical problem with either his instru ment or column. 3* Houston has reported an "unknown" component ranging from a trace to 42 ppm on 10 out of 31 cars since 10/14/68. Paul is coordinating analytical data with Conoco and Dow on the identification of this "unknown". COLORITE 006216 VCM - Status Report Page 2 4. Paul reported the results on a recovered monomer sample that we sent to Houston on 10/18/68* This recovered monomer from our homopolymer process during a period of "poor" monomer quality shipments is compared to a typical recovered monomer analysis that you reported in your memo to M. G. Caine, dated 10/2/68. Propane Burlington Tentative Virgin Rec'vd. VCM MWW reported Spec. (range for period) 10/18/68 Rec'vd. VCM <1-290 162 Propylene Unknown - New Isobutane 20 23-148 <1-50 204 200 373 110 Propadiene Butane 60 60-205 1-47 1401 66 440 Butene-1 Methyl Acetylene Methyl Chloride 4 4 <1-9 5-86 <1-19 40 512 ND 35 1500 Cls-Butene-2 <1-2 1 1,3 Butadiene Ethyl Chloride (not confirmed) 1.5 1.6-3.0 ND 4.7 20 Vinyl Acetylene (not confirmed) 2.1 Acetylene Cyclopropane ND ND 100 ND ND COLORITE 006217 VCM - Status Report Page 3 There are a few points to note from this data: a. A new "unknown" peak is generated in our process. This "unknown" is in a boiling point range of propylene, but is not acetylene or cyclopropane as suspected by Dow, as these components have different retention times than the "unknown". Paul will trap the peak and attempt a mass spectrographic identification. b. Propadiene, butene-1 and methyl acetylene concentrate in our recovered monomer, but propylene, cls-butene-2, and 1,3 butadiene apparently do not concentrate. A tentative conclusion is that these latter three impurities polymer ize in our process. The following action is planned: 1. A recovered monomer sample representing a period of "good" incoming monomer shipments (since 10/14/68) was forwarded to Paul Reed on 11/6/68 for analysis. These results will be compared to the 10/18/68 recovered sample to compare concentration effects of "good" versus "poor" virgin mono mer. 2. Polymerization Research will be requested to run bottles on the following: a. the two recovered monomer samples b. a Conoco bomb sample c. a sample with a high level of the first "unknown" d. a sample of "good" quality virgin monomer that has been shipped since the plant shutdown. 3. Process Engineering has been requested to plot reaction rate history of 1730 and 1753 production from September 1, 1968 to the present to check for the correlation with trends in monomer quality. They have been given graphs to plot their data which already contain monomer analyses, light absorbance values, screen, and Tinius-Olsen results. HBC/rjl H. B. Carr COLORITE 006218 \ w From the Desk of M. W. WILLIAMS Mr. Herb'Carr: Shipments of Dow VCM must be preceded by the data requested, or they should not be received. Any exceptions made to this item are to be cleared with MWW. i The request for shipments in block to Burl ington is required so that we can derive maximum information on performance. Again, if we find Dow cars are being received, interspersed with Tenneco cars, unloading of the Dow cars should b& delayed until we can work on a solid block of Dow VCM. JPE^jQC^ave the responsibility to relate and report the differences in process performance and product quality caused by V4K. MWW S'* COLORITE 006219