Sohio to buy Pfaudler process equipment unit Sybron Corp. has agreed in principle to sell its Pfaudler process equipment business to Standard Oil Co. (Ohio) for $43 million in cash. Pfaudler makes glass-lined steel reactors and storage tanks used in the chemical, plastics, and pharmaceutical industries, as well as equipment for other industries. Sybron disclosed last year that it was seeking a buyer for the Pfaudler business. In a statement issued at that time, Sybron chairman William G. von Berg and company president Herbert W. Jarvis said, "We have decided to sell our worldwide Pfaudler process-equipment business and concentrate on developing those
Air law changes would affect health, study says Hopes for clean, healthful air in the western U.S. will be shattered, a National Audubon Society study claims, if Congress votes to weaken the Clean Air Act now up for renewal. In fact, based on what its principal author Jan Beyea calls "cautious and responsible calculations," 2200 people in the West will die prematurely each year, from the year 2000 onward, if Congress allows an increase in sulfur emissions from western coal-fired power plants. The release of the study comes just before the expected introduction of an amendment to the Clean Air Act that would repeal the requirement that new coal-fired power plants install stack gas scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions 70 to 90%. The repeal of this so-called "per cent-reduction" requirement is expected to be offered by a western Senator on the Environment & Public Works Committee when that panel reconvenes next week. "Coming at this time," says Jeff Conley, project officer of an industry coalition known as the National Environment Development Association's Clean Air Project (NEDACAP), "the [Audubon] study is clearly an effort to stampede Congress." Conley adds: "Every study we have seen shows that emission trends are downward, including those for sulfur dioxide." Sierra Club's Blake Early says that's true for all pollutants except nitrogen oxides. "We take exception with NEDACAP on the rate of the decrease and
segments of business with demonstrated profitable growth such as laboratory, chemical, health care, and instrumentation products." Sybron was formed as a combination of Pfaudler Permutit and Ritter Corp. The Permutit part of the business was sold off in 1977. Permutit made water and wastewater treatment equipment. The Pfaudler process equipment business will fit nicely into Sohio's chemical process equipment businesses that it got as part of its acquisition of Kennecott. These businesses had been part of Carborundum, acquired by Kennecott in 1978. Sohio's purchase, which doesn't include Pfaudler's manufacturing facilities in Scotland, is expected to be completed in the third quarter, following government approvals. • the time it will take to get to an emissions level that protects public health," Early says. The Audubon study shows that even with moderate energy growth characterized by a substantial shift to coal use and present pollution controls, sulfur dioxide emissions in western states will increase 18% over 1975 levels. If the per cent-reduction requirement is removed from the law, western states can expect a 78% increase in sulfur dioxide emissions, the study finds. Increasingly, epidemiological studies are implicating long-term exposure to sulfur air pollution as a cause of excess mortality, the Audubon study points out. A relaxation of the law would cause an increase in deaths in the eastern U.S. also, the study claims. Most of the deaths would occur from an exacerbation of preexisting health problems. •
Washington U. research pact with Monsanto Monsanto and Washington University in St. Louis are starting a fiveyear, $23.5 million biomedical research program with a focus on peptides and proteins that regulate cellular functions. A major goal is to make Monsanto a "21st century drug company.. .as part of our portfolio," says senior vice president for R&D, Howard A. Schneiderman, who was instrumental during the past two years in arranging the companyuniversity agreement. The program with Washington University represents yet another
Schneiderman: strong research partners
step by Monsanto toward the biological end of the chemical spectrum. Molecular biology and other such disciplines are "where our in-house strength is developing," Schneiderman notes, adding: "We can be a strong research partner with Washington University." A joint university-company advisory committee has been established to supervise and evaluate the program and also to allocate funds, 30% of which will go to "exploratory or fundamental research" with the remainder going to more applied specialty projects. Though details of the program have not been drawn up, Schneiderman says, six departments at the university, mainly in the school of medicine, will be involved. University researchers will be free to publish their findings, and Schneiderman anticipates that Monsanto scientists will coauthor some of those papers. However, Monsanto reserves the right of prior review for any patentable developments as well as the right to an exclusive license on patented inventions. The patents will be Washington University's sole and exclusive property, for which it is entitled to receive royalties, according to the agreement. Schneiderman describes this program and other elements in Monsanto's recent large-scale support of biological research as "strategic, not a tactical move." Payoffs from these programs aren't expected before the end of the decade—though naturally they will be welcomed, he says. Also, certain broader goals are envisioned, including the ambitious one of ensuring the technologic well-being of the St. Louis area. Monsanto has established programs at other uniJune7, 1982C&EN
7
