Butyl Alcohols Moderate growth should continue, but no startling increase i s i n sight
MAJOR U. S. PRQDUCERS
n-butyl and isobutyl alcohols
Union Carbide Chemicals
Texas Eastman
Celanese Chemical
Publicker Industries
sec-Butyl alcohol
Shell Chemical
Enjay Chemical
tert-Butyl alcohol
Shell Chemical
Production of butyl alcohols, which came to 622 million pounds in 1960, and may reach 655 million pounds during 1961, is expected to continue upward at a leisurely, but steady pace. The alcohols will ride along on the modest increases expected for most of the major end use markets into which they go. Projected production of butyl alcohols in 1965 is an estimated 775 to 800 million pounds. Probably the most dramatic event in the butyl alcohol market is the ascendancy of the oxo process, route to n-butyl and isobutyl alcohols, among many other things. The oxo process converts propylene to a mixture of n-butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde which is then hydrogenated to the respective alcohols. Its versatility for making a variety of other chemical transformations has added a bit more confusion to the already clouded capacity picture. n-Butyl and isobutyl alcohols can be made by several processes, anyway, and the oxo process added another complicating factor, making it even more difficult to estimate industry capacity. Virtually all the butyl alcohols produced in the United States come from six companies. Union Carbide accounted for about 170 million pounds of n-butyl alcohol last year. Celanese produced approximately 55 million, and Texas Eastman about 30 million pounds. Publicker Industries made 35 million pounds, using the carbohydrate fermentation process to complete the total of 290 million pounds of the normal alcohol. Texas Eastman and Union Carbide turned out a total of about 65 million pounds of isobutyl alcohol from their oxo process plants, and Celanese produced an additional 3 million pounds of isobutyl. Some 3 million more pounds came mostly as a byproduct of methanol synthesis, to make the isobutyl total 71 million pounds. Shell and Enjay produced an estimated total of 255 million pounds of n-butyl alcohol, and Shell made about 6 million pounds of tert-butyl alcohol--the only major production of tert-alcohol. Most n-butyl alcohol is produced from acetaldehyde via the aldol condensation. Between 65 and 70% is made by this route. Hydrogenation of n-butyraldehyde from oxo process plants now accounts for over 20%, but in five years it will probably turn out 35 to 45% of the normal alcohol. Bacterial fermentation of carbohydrate materials still produced between 10 and 15% of the n-butyl alcohol output in 1960. Of the isobutyl alcohol, over 90% is from the oxo process, which gives n-butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde in about a 2 to 1 ratio. Something less than 5% of isobutyl alcohol comes as a by-product of methanol synthesis, and a like amount comes from other sources. Isobutyl demand generally lags behind supply, leading to lower pricing in an effort to make it more attractive. sec- and tert-Butyl alcohols come from the absorption in sulfuric acid of n-butylene and isobutylene, respectively. VOL. 53, NO. 12
DECEMBER 1961
25A
M A R K E T R E P O R T OF T H E MONTH
Less than half of U. S. production of butyl alcohols gets to market. Roughly 60% is captive production. A big slice of this is sec-butyl alcohol. Over 90% is converted directly to methyl ethyl ketone. About 20% of n-butyl and isobutyl alcohols go to make about 90 million pounds of n-butyl acetates annually. About 80% of the butyl acetates wind up in surface coatings and lacquer solvents. The rest go into other solvents, adhesives, exports, and miscellaneous uses. Butyl acetates compete to some extent with methyl ethyl ketone (about 200 million pounds per year) produced from sec-butyl alcohol. Almost 90% of the methyl ethyl ketone is used in nitrocellulose lacquers, acrylic lacquers, and vinyl or polyvinylidene coating materials. Some 10 to 15% of n-butyl alcohol and 5 to 10% of isobutyl alcohol go into amine resins. Between 5 and 10% of n-butyl alcohol is made into dibutyl phthalate, which is used as a plasticizer, but no more than 1% of isobutyl alcohol finds its way into plasticizer uses. About 25% of isobutyl alcohol output is used in lube additives. Approximately 10% n-butyl and 5% isobutyl alcohol are used for coating solvents. About 18% of n-butyl and up to 40% of isobutyl alcohol are exported. Exports of butyl alcohols totaled 80 million pounds in 1960. When the figures for 1961 are all in, exports should equal 1960. It is doubtful, however, just how long the export market will hold firm. New oxo process plants overseas are slated to increase, removing some foreign sales outlets for U. S. producers. Prices for butyl alcohols have remained stable over the last few years, with plenty of capacity available to meet demands. Current listings for tank car lots are: 15.5 cents a pound for n-butyl, 13 cents for isobutyl, 12.5 cents for secbutyl, and 13.5 cents a pound for tert-butyl alcohol. As end uses for butyl alcohols grow, oxo process plants coming on stream will keep pace with the rising demand. Dow Badische already makes some n-butyl and isobutyl alcohols in its new oxo process plant at Freeport, Tex. The plant has 24 million pounds annual design capacity, and Dow--aiming for a share of the U. S. market-will sell the output domestically. In contrast, Monsanto will use internally the entire production from its oxo plant under construction at Chocolate Bayou, Tex. Monsanto has a process technique which boosts the ratio of n-butyraldehyde to isobutyraldehyde to about 4 to 1, as compared to the current 2 to 1 ratio. This technique may be used in the Chocolate Bayou plant.
U. S. Production and Sales of Butyl Alcohols (n-, iso-, sec-, and tert-)
Thousands of Pounds Production Sales
Year
323,532 348,977 305,682 392,208 408,061 475,406 515,031 487,072 505,116 546,123 622,508
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960°
Preliminary. Source:
26 A
u. S. Tariff
INDUSTRIAL AND ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY
Commission
114,946 98,790 95,406 118,029 155,182 176,467 182,261 193,702 207,731 236,411 254,927
Value of Sales, Thousands of Dollars 15,094 19,274 13,289 14,358 18,236 20,956 23,169 24,394 25,623 29,656 32,342
