Document x18zBrGROQObBDjNjQqXz5eNg

a+u/ C&em*cat- INC. ESCAMBIA PLANT INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM \ /----------------To: 'Mr. R. ETrJones-- From: Re: J. E. Greasel VCM Storage Dote: Copies: July 17, 1974 E. A. Primeau I understand the following: 1. Current VCM storage capacity is 120, 000 gallons or 6 tankcars. 2. Current usage is 1-1/2 tankcars per day-. 3. Storage capacity is equivalent to 4 days usage. 4. Unloading system will handle 2 cars per day. 5. Loaded cars are normally received in groups of 4 - 6, each 2-4 days. 6. New Conoco policy effective 1 January 1975 allows 7 days free time before demurrage charges begin. 7. With present system and usage, little demurrage should result if cars are spotted at plant on a "first in - first spotted" basis. 8. However, there will be only 2-4 days of VCM requirements in storage. 9. lEmore equivalent days of capacity are desired, then tankage should be added. 10. Tankage probably cannot be justified on demurrage savings. 11. We should proceed with discussions with Conoco to liberalize demurrage policy. 12. What are your desires? JEGjfls J. E. Greasel 1 AP00034873 Thurtdoy, August 1, 1974 flcnencota jourwal3B Firm Releases Results of Study Air Products and examined were from plants Chemicats Inc.. has in Pace and Calvert City, completed medical Ky. examinations of 492 Air Products Group Vice employes and found no link President for Chemicals between exposure to said. "Results of medical polyvinyl chloride (PVC) testing of our current and a rare form of cancer, employes, and our review of according to a company sta the death certificates of our tement. former employes, show no The study was prompted case of cancer of any kind by a B. F. Goodrich report related to employe work in January that during a 27- experience." month period, three workers Medical examinations In Its Louisville. Ky.. plant were conducted In combina had died of cancer of the tion with a compete liver (giosarcomal. program to reduce employe Air Products employes exposure to PVC at Air Products plants, a company spokesman said The program was spurred by announcement of the three PVC-reiated deaths at Goodrich. Physicians reported no case of cancer among the employes. They did find one case of bone deterioration of the hand (acroosteolysis) which the company said was known to be related to PVC operations. Dr. Paul Kotin, a pathologist and former dean of the Medical school and Vice President for Health Sciences at Temple Univer sity, Philadelphia. Pa., headed the medical study. He reported his findings at U.S. Department of Labor hearings. Medical examiner for the Pace plant was Dr. Barkley Bridleman of Pensacola. AP00034874 PVC Fabrication ^T- Suspect in Deaths __ Death fCQ.m cancer by vinyl chloride-re lated causes took an ominous turn last week, when it was -learned that a sixtyyear-old - employee. of General Electric Company's Bridgeport, -Conn.' works who had operated,machines that processed vari ous plastics, including polyvinyl chloride, died of angiosarcoma, a rare form of liver cancer previously thougbt to have been re lated only to vinyl chloride manufacture. Anotjver death by the same malady oc curred to an accountant in a PVC fabricat ing plant in Stratford, Conn. The name of this firm was aofdlaclosed. --------- The report of death by angiosarcoma in the PVC fabrication industry would seem to make prospects for the future of this resin doubtful in many areas. Previously, the rare cancer had been linked only to those in contact with vinyl chloride gas. Connecticut health officials cautioned that the link be tween the two deaths by angiosarcoma and PVC might be coincidental. 1 ii\i i ? 1974* R. E. JONES AP00034875 OSHA Propose } * * * f Chemical industry witnesses last week warned that the proposed Occu pational Safety & Health Administra tion standard covering the exposure of workers to vinyl chloride monomer is too stringent and will cause great eco nomic consequences lor the industry and its workers if adopted- The state ments came from a long list of indus try witnesses as the OSHA hearing in Washington continued into its second week. John L. Nelson, vice-president of manu facturing for B.P. Goodrich Chemical Com- CMR 7/15/74 X'S. . _____ ___ __________ ______________ standard'In with 30 million pounds of capacity at five * atalament-given"by~Dr.' Stephen T. Qu> plants, a* well aa a billion pounds of mono- gley, ACS pointed oat the lack of available mer capacity at Calvert City, Ky., told the data establishing a safe level of exposure to hearing a no-detecubl* level of VCM iifttt viify] chloride and concluded that "even the operations u not technicallyfeasible nw4t "putamWartbreaV ot exposure to vinyl eble- full-tlme use of respiratory protection by workers He says the company will be forced to shut down it* PVC and monomer operations ride justifies the adoption of the proposed standard-' - Dr Walter Harrea of Uniroyal, Inc.; rep resenting the Hubber Manufacturers Asso if the standard is adopted. Goodrich, ha ciation, said that Mao prudent manufactur says, has embarked on a multi-mlllion-dol- er, knowing that VCM is capable of causing lar program to generate new technology cancer, will expose men at concentrations which might make possible further reduc likely to cause harm." tions In levels of vinyl chloride exposure.. The American Chemical Society, howev er, took issue with industry spokesmen and However^haasked OSKA not to overlook our competitive system. A new criterion, he explained, has entered the marketplace and -the energies of the large 'companies will be turned loose to solve the problem, i He asked what is available to take the place of VCM and urged OSHA to keep the stan dard as simple as possible. Richard P. Carter, director of govern ment relations, environmental affairs, fop Johns Manvllle, Inc., expressed concern ebout two distinct goals of the standard. On the one band, he said, there It the recognised necessity to protect workers ex posed to potenttsl hazsrdous amounts of VCM and-on the other hand that PVC resin has become "a critical component in an enormous variety of products upon which a substantial portion of our economy :U^de- ^"aB^rged OSHA achieve a balance be tween the two factors in its final standardHe also expressed concern that the stan dard could well result in stopping or reduc ing the available resin vail*bl,'.forfhe Ann's PVC pipe and plpellttiug plants, re sulting in closing those operation* and with the elimination of 860 Job*. Johns Manviile would lose about $01 million in sales andl vestments of about *1 million in It* PVC pip* and plpeflttlng units, he said. From data submitted at this hearing, be said, there 1* reason to believe that it would be both economically and teehnologicelJy unfeasible lor both the VCM and PVC resin industry to comply with the proposed stan dard by Oct. 5, 1974, or reasonably soon thereafter, -. Robert-1. Martin, president d M Manufacturing Co., a processor and fabri- cator. expressed deep concern mlt thAatbSth=e.tsata, n.dadrdtbw.Houtldcohaldver.o*n,,llthlne pricing them out of the world ra*r**' lids 3. Bibri. vice-president <4 Arm- .tMne Cork Co,, a larger user of PVC resin, lald tbat the proposed difference between VCM and PVC .and suggested that performance standard would be more meaningful. , .. He suggested that OSHA recognise tl difference between the type* of -hiring operations and employer exposun AP00034876 COATING** ELASTIC MATERIA^ 2:TM^^ Goodrich Discusses New' ,PVC Makers Bepin CfTangeSg, At last week's Occupational Health' and Safety Administration hearings in ~ So the truth seems to be Uisf Goodrich is nee expanding, and they pever cfaieie^to -bei'but arc instituting engineering rhlllijs Washington on vinyl chloride, Goo which may not only be mandated by,.the drich revealed publicly for the first time that it was constructing a "new facility" fgr the production of PVC in 1 Louisville^ Ky. (see news story P..4). mere age of- existing units but also by the desirs to get a head start an practical measures to reduce VCM levels. The larger reactors, as the Goodrich spokesman ex plained, contain less potential for leaking,' The news was met with surprise in having fewer valves, pumps, reducing vent-, some quarters for, despite the great n.jmberWff new planfTcomlnjr&nstream4aithe next, several months, ing operations, etc, ,, ` ^ v TJ " Producers who are scheduled fo expand during the next few months are also known to be taking similar measures'tb build-in Goodrich, the largest PVC producer in some safeguards in anticipation of OSHA the world, has steadfastly maintained that it was not contemplating any ex pansions (other than a proposed plant in Alberta, see CMR 7-1-74, P.TJ. regulations, which most feePwill be less strict than that proposed. Robintech, who with Shin-Etsu is constructing a 220 million pound plant in Freeport, Tex., says that it* is also going to use larger computer con Approximately 1 billion pounds of new trolled reectors to reduce emission poten annual capacity for the U.S. PVC Industry tial. A spokesman for Certain-TEED, which is scheduled 'to be completed within the is .completing its ftrst plant (300 million next year. Thera will not be enough mono pounds) in Lake Charles, La., says that en mer available to feed this new capacity, gineers are going through the facility and even if, as has seemed Indicated in recent making changes in anticipation of stiffer weeks, monomer producers are able to rules. again operate at full poteutial, There is not enough monomer capacity, even an nounced, to support such broad PVC expan sion, Industry people have been saying. In addition, since the beginning of the year, VCM toxicity problems have suddenly cast far more troubling clouds over future PVC ` production capabilities. The feeling bat been that no monomer producer was going to invest any "megabucks'', as one industry source said, In new plants until the OSHA problems were re solved, and that no PVC producer, unless already committed, was going to invest in new units until not only something happed at OSHA but until there was some signifi cant change itrrihe monomer-supply pic This spokesmen points out that new plarits may have to be particularly careful. - about sir levels, for, In his view, while open*, ating plants msy be given deferrments in. achieving whatever .reduced air levels are Anally put Into law< new plants may not be able to operate at all until ftftl ctrmplianee- 1 ls achieved. In this view thd engineering advantages owned by companies with new - plants making it easier for them to adjust - to regulations may also make them more liable than companies with older pltntffor - failure to achieve early compliance with.-.,, those regulations: Georgia Pacific, anotbeC' ' company entering the PVC market for the' first lime, with a 220 million pound plant hi - ture. So il'was stTadge, It seemedr-for Goo drich, who was not committed-some thought luckily - to risky expansions for the time being, to announce that it was going to have a new facility on-stream in a year, It not only announced the new unit but announced it at the OSHA hearings themselves, saying at the same time that if OSHA's proposed non-detectable exposure rule were adopted it, Goodrich,, would have to get out of the business. Plaquemine, La., declined to-beMpecliftc1 about engineering safeguards being built-in ` to their first plant, but a spokesman Mid that the facility "will be safe in-everyrde-' isil.'^* r- * 1. Another engineering ehangeT-`besides' larger reactors, which may become fcrtspu- - lar in the future in response to VCMTegbla-- Hons* is the bulk process of production' which " is now only used exclusively by Hooker. Bulk process involves no-water and NEW REACTORS consequently no VCM effluents.-'It Is also Contacted for more details about the new said to leave up to one-third less residual Louisville unit, a Goodrich spokesman said monomer after polymerization than sus that the "new facility" would be boused in pension and dispersion processes. These current plant buildings. The Louisville could be Important advantages.* plant Is one of the oldest In the country and Goodrich's announcement last ' week, also tbe site of discovery of tbe'first Ameri then, points up the action industry Is anx can angiosarcoma deaths linked to vinyl ious to take in reducing VCM levels in an eblortdb. The spokesman said that the new ticipation of regulation, while calling for production potential being added consisted easier "technically feasible" regulations, in the replacement of some older reactors and rather than being what seemed a re by new. larger reactors. He added that the sponse to former .(ancient) market condi project amounted to "making more effi tions - expansion, jt-is an early response to cient use of (existing) buildings." Goodrich the new market er - reprocessing._: I declined to caU the project either an "ex- I passion" or a "one to one replacement" of i current potential. The company would say only that the project would result In "no significant increase" of total company ca pacity. CMR 7/15/74 AP00034877 Top of the news * Cosmo: mixed reviews It was cosmetics show time at the New York Coliseum lest week. On JUge: CosmoExpo 2, the second annual trade show and conference for the cosmetic, fragrance, toiletry and proprietary Indus* tries. And like many a show on Broad* way, it received mixed notices. The primary reaction was that this year's show was bigger and better at* tended than last year's. According to Robert Grayson, of sponsoring Grayson Associates, registration of exhibitors was up to ISO, from about 120 Last year. But some exhibitors were disappointed by the product mix. They felt there was too much emphasis os packaging-glass and plastic bottles, caps, tubes, aerosols, labels and decorating materials. Exhibits by manufacturers of cosmetic and toiletry items and suppliers of raw materials were relatively few. Others, however, noted that there were more of these exhibitors than there were last year and saw this as an encouraging sign. Grayson Associates has been working to broaden the appeal of the show, con ceived to bring suppliers and marketers together {CW, Stpt. 27, `72, p. 27). For example, a small "machinery row" for packaging, processing and labeling equipment made it* debut. And seminar sessions in the morning were expanded, to include technical and research and de velopment topics as well u marketing. New Products: Some companies found the show a good time to introduce new products: The Lacquerite Division of Supron- ics Corp. (Livingston, N.J.) showed off its new nail enamel technology. The enimels are "seasheU" finishes--include pink in the bottle but with a blue flash on the nail, and orange with a red flash. - Both Richford American Corp. (New York) and Bakan Plastic* (Kansas City) exhibited mechanical aerosols ca pable of producing fine mills. NL Industries touted the benefits of Bentone-gelled perfhme systems, said to help prolong fragrance release. Meyeroord Co. (Carol Stream, 111.) showed a high-speed decal application process for cylindrical glass containers for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Other companies found the show an opportunity to reinforce corporate mar keting. Among them: Union Camp Chemicals, out to boost Its stake in the cosmetics industry, and Gentry Inter national (Fair Lawn, NJ-), an essential oils house beefing up its work in com pounded fragrances. capacity of 336,000 cons/year, "would do everything possible" to assure supplies to the British nylon makers, according to London sources. Although it will take two yean to rebuild the Flixborough plant, at an esti mated cost of S96 million, the benzolbased cyclohexane that was supplied by Stavely Chemical (43% owned by the Na tional Coal Board, 45% by British Steel, 10% Continental Oil) could be shunted to other caprolactam facilities. l VCM probe goes outside woe wenid EXPLOSION AND FIRE at Nypro plant caused 29 deaths, $96 million In damage. Blast will hurt nylon The explosion and fire that last week destroyed the Nypro plant in Flixborough, England, killing 29 persons and injuring more than 100, virtually wiped out the U-K-'s sole supply of cap rolactam--the chemical intermediate es sential for producing nylon-6. Moreover, according to Britain's Na tional Coal Board, which owns 45% of Nypro (Dutch State Mining owns the rest), the destruction of the 70,000tent/year plant may have significant re percussion on world nylon production. It aeeouatad for sae-uvemh of total world caprolactam output. Couitaulds was Nypro's biggest cus tomer (about 35,000 tons/ycar), and Brit ish Enkalon, a subsidiary of Holland's Azko, was No. 2 (25,000 tons/year). Pro- ' duction of caprolactam at FUxborough was below capacity. Only last June, Nypro had brought a new, $36-million, 50,000-tons/year cap rolactam unit onstream at the six-yearold, S48-million complex. The explosion is being tentatively blamed on a cyclo hexane leak-one of the highly flam mable materials used in making caprolac tam--but Nypro officers say they are still uncertain about the origin. Although Couitaulds and British Enkalon are reluctant to comment on the ef fects of the explosion on theit nylon pro duction, both .companies are scrambling for altemativef sources. So far, neither company is willing to say how much is available and at what price, although DSM, which has a reported caprolactam The Environmental Protection Agency last week asked 27 producers of vinyl chloride monomer and polyvinyl chloride to supply detailed information on VCM emissions into the air from their plants. EPA says the data will be used to help it decide whether rules to restrict the emis sions are necessary, Acting under the Clean Air Act of 70, EPA already is taking air simples outside some of the 14 VCM and 35 PVC plants on which it has requested data. A spokes man says the agency also expects to study liquid and solid wastes from the plants. EPA has asked the 27 companies to supply information about: Points in the manufacturing process where there may be vinyl chloride emis sions and in what quantities. Emission control procedures that have been or could be instituted, and cost estimates for installation and operation of necessary equipment Any results of ambient air studies the firms may have made by using their own monitoring equipment For several months before the EPA air study began, workplaces had been the major areas of concern in investigation of the possibility of a link 'between VCM and angiosarcoma, a rare liver cancer. Nineteen cases ofangiosarcoma had been confirmed among health records of dead and living VCM and PVC plant workers. Now, the focus has broadened to include the possibility of health hazards to per sons living near the plants. The New York Timet reported last week that New York state lists six cases of angiosarcomathree of them are persons who had worked in Goodyear Tire Sc Rubber's Niagara Falls PVC plant, and three are women who bad lived in the Niagara Falls-Buffalo area. Goodyear, however, says its own monitoring of air around the plant has turned up no measurable . amount of VCM contamination. It alsovjh disputes tbe Times' assertion that one vie*;, lira had lived downwind from the plant t 14 CHEMICAL WEEK June 12, 1974 AP00034878 Top of the news A vote for oxo alcohols W.R. Grace end Commonwealth Oil Refining said last week they had reached agreement on (1) new, higher prices of feedstocks for their Oxochem Enterprise joint venture in Penuelas, Puerto Rico, and (2) plans to expand capacity of the unit 70%. Grace also hiked tabs on oxo alcohols and said it plans to build later in this decade another J00-mi3lion-lbs./year plant for this product. The agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, came after about two years of negotia tions in which Corco sought an increase in prices of the propylene it supplies to Oxochem from its Puerto Rico Olefins joint venture with PPG Industries. Corco claims that Oxochem had been getting the propylene at below cost because of escalating crude oil prices Corco has had to pay. Neither Grace nor Corco would say what the new prices would be. what the total additional cost to Grace will be, nor why the negotiations took so long. The expansion at Penuelas will lift ca pacity of the unit, which came onstream in *71, to about SOD million lbs./year by '76. A Grace spokesman says the boost reflects tbe company's feeling that oxo al cohols are a "good business" for the com pany. Indication of that is seen in new prices posted by the company last week, effective June 15. Isobutanol is slated to go to 16C/lb. from 14c, n-butaool to l?*/lb. from 16c, 2-ethylhexanol to 18/Ib, from 17. Grace says the site for the additional plant has not been selected, and it has not yet decided whether the unit will be a joint-venture or solo effort Dow looks at the desert Add Dow Chemical and Saudi Arabia to the rapidly growing list of U.S. chem ical companies and Arab countries plan ning petrochemical joint ventures. Dow Chemical Europe said last week it had entered into a letter of intent with Petromin, the national petroleum firm of Saudi Arabia, to evaluate a joint effort to pro duce petrochemicals in that oounuy. Cost of the project, according to Dow Europe President Zoltan Merszei, could eventually be about 5400 million. Dow says the site has not been decided, nor is it known when tbe project would be com pleted or which petrochemicals would be produced. The venture is apparently the first in volving Saudi Arabia and a major U.S. chemical company. But seven! other U.S. chemical Aims, including Du Pont (with Iran) and Ashland (also with Iran in a deal that may fizzle), recently negotiated joint ventures with Arab countries to gain aecess to their crude oil supplies. Dow also has been acquiring domestic energy companies and facilities. So far this year, for example, it has leased 12 Louisiana oil producing wells owned by Quintana Production and bought a 20% interest in U.S. oil and gas producing properties of McMoRan Exploration. Tariff cuts mean little Last week's U.S.-Common Market agreement calling for European Commu nity tariff cuts on several products is less important to U.S. chemical companies in itself than in its probable effect of spur ring passage of the stalled trade bill. Enactment of that measure, in fact, ap pears to have been the Common Mar ket's prime objective in making the con cessions. To compensate the U,S. for loss of trading advantages with Britain, Den mark and Ireland when the three coun tries entered the Common Market, the EC will cut tariffs on polyamides to 16% from 17.6% and on antiknock prepara tions based on tetraethyl lead to 13% from 15.8%. The tariff cuts in these and other products will begin Jan. 1 and af fect up to $1 billion/year worth of UJ>. exports'. Du Pont notes that only 4-5% of total U.S. nylon shipments, and also 4-5% of Du Pont'*, are exported and most of those are in specialty products such as Qiana. Since U.S. producers cannot now meet nylon demand, exports to the EC are-unlikely to increase substantially, the company adds. Another producer says that the percentage tariff reduction corre sponds to an extra 1 e/lb. on staple nylon. This, the company says, might make a difference in normal times but not now, when yarn is on allocation and prices can be raised with regularity. Progress on BID: Reacting to the con cessions and to other developments, tbe Senate Finance Committee last week be gan to mark up the trsde bill in executive sessions. Committee Chairman Russell Long (D,, La.) privately has assured the Administration that he wants to move the measure through the Senate by the end of this month. One chemical- observer, however, rates the bill's ehanbei of enactment still at less than 50% and Says its failure would markedly hinder this year's international trade negotiations. Trying to sew up a pact Production ground to a halt in the men's and boys' apparel industry last week as 110,000 members of the Amalga mated Clothing Workers of America walked off their jobs. However, manufac turers of synthetic fibers said the strike would not affect them unless it is pro longed. The workers, who struck 750 plants na tionwide, demanded higher wages, costof-living allowances, better health and pension plans and more fringe benefits. The walkout did not affect clothing work ers outside the men's and boys' field. Un der the union's expired three-year con tract, the workers' average wage was $3.50/hour. Talks between the strikers and clothing manufacturers broke off when tbe walk out began, but were slated to resume later in the week at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service offices in Washing ton. Synthetic fiber producers did not seem worried about the strike. "The clothing makers are not direct customers," said a Celanese spokesman, noting that it would take some time for the strike's effects to reach fiber producers. Monsanto stated that fibers for the fall season are already at tbe mills, adding that spring of '75 would be the earliest tbe company could be affected. Du Pont said that if the strike lasts two or more weeks "we would expect the ef fects to be quite widespread." None of the firms CW calked to believed that a prolonged strike would lead to plant clos ings and layoffs. un MACHINES lie Idle in New York after 110,000 garment workers walked off Jobs, June 12. 1974 CHEMICAL WEEK 13 AP00034879