INTE
RNATIONAL
Caprolactam Capacity Swells in Europe Current plans call for total capacity of 850 million pounds by 1967; DSM and BASF battle to be largest maker Western Europe is cutting loose on a caprolactam expansion binge. West Germany's Badische Anilin- & SodaFabrik (BASF) has just revealed that it will build a new caprolactam plant in Belgium and double its capacity to make the nylon 6 monomer at Ludwigshafen, West Germany. By 1967, BASF's moves, together with those of other producers on the Continent and in the U.K., will have pushed total annual capacity for caprolactam to 850 million pounds—more than double present in-place capacity of about 380 million pounds. Both Dutch State Mines and BASF are scrambling for the role of leading producer of caprolactam. After its present expansion plans are com-
pleted, BASF will be able to make 130 million pounds a year at a new plant at Antwerp, Belgium, and 220 million pounds a year of caprolactam at Ludwigshafen. Meanwhile, Dutch State Mines is again expanding its caprolactam plant at Geleen, the Netherlands, from 110 million to 155 million pounds a year. DSM's new capacity is slated for completion by the end of this year. BASF's new plant will start in 1967 and expansion is scheduled to be completed by the end of 1965. Dutch State Mines is also moving into world markets via the joint venture route. A 7 5 % DSM-25% Fisons Fertilizers venture at Flixborough, England, will add 44 million pounds
to western Europe's annual caprolactam capacity in mid-1966. Meanwhile, in the U.S., DSM and Pittsburgh Plate Glass, through a 50/50 joint venture, are moving ahead with plans to build a 44 million pound-per-year plant at Augusta, Ga. (C&EN, July 27, page 2 6 ) . Cyclohexane Popular. Starting materials for BASF's caprolactam plant at Antwerp will be cyclohexane and ammonia. The firm will obtain the ammonia from Pernis, near Rotterdam, where it is building a 725 million pound-per-year ammonia plant jointly with Verenigde Kunstmestfabrieken Mekog-Albatros ( V K F ) . The ammonia plant will probably be the first chemical plant to use Dutch natural
BASF Aims to Have Largest Caprolactam Capacity
COUNTRY
COMPANY
LOCATION
Netherlands
Dutch State Mines
Geleen
Belgium
BASF
Antwerp
Italy
Sicedison
Porto Marghera
Si ram
Snia Viscosa
Porto Torres (Sardinia) Torviscosa
Switzerland
Emser Werk
Domat-Ems
West Germany
BASF
Ludwigshafen
Farbenfabriken Bayer
Leverkusen
Fisons-Dutch State Mines
Flixborough
United Kingdom
CAPACITY AFTER EXPANSION PRESENT CAPACITY (millions of (millions of pounds pounds per per year) year)
110
66
REMARKS
155
Expansion by end of 1964; DSM process probably using cyclohexane
130
On stream by end of 1967; BASF process based on cyclohexane
100
Expansion by end of 1965 phenol-based process On stream by end of 1965 process based on phenol Expansion by end of 1965 uses Snia Viscosa process based on toluene
26 22
44
26-31
26-31
Inventa-Emser process which can use cyclohexane, benzene, or toluene
110
220
45
100
Expansion by end of 1965; process based on cyclohexane Expansion by end of 1965; based on cyclohexane
—
44
DSM process; on stream mid-1966
Source: C&EN estimates
OCT. 12, 1 9 6 4 C & E N
65
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gas and petroleum as a feedstock. BASF will also use ammonia from Pernis to make fertilizer at Antwerp in a plant having an annual capacity of 660,000 short tons of finished product. Cost of the caprolactam and fertilizer plants together will be about $50 million. BASF will control the Belgian plants through a wholly owned subsidiary as yet unnamed. Cyclohexane is taking over from phenol as the major raw material for caprolactam in northern Europe. Last year, BASF switched from phenol to cyclohexane, now will base all its production on the saturated hydrocarbon. Earlier this year, Farbenfabriken Bayer confirmed that it is building an additional caprolactam unit (C&EN estimates its capacity at 55 million pounds) at Leverkusen based on cyclohexane. However, the firm still won't say whether it plans to convert its existing caprolactam plant (about 45 million pounds a year capacity) from phenol. And DSM's process can use either phenol or cyclohexane. Italian Expansions. In Italy, Snia Viscosa says its caprolactam plant using the company's own process is operating "satisfactorily." The firm plans to expand its 22 million poundper-year plant at Torviscosa to 44 million pounds by the end of 1965. Snia's process involves direct oxidation of toluene to benzoic acid followed by hydrogénation to hexahydrobenzoic acid which is then treated with nitrosylsulfuric acid to give caprolactam. Elsewhere in Italy, Sicedison says it plans to increase its caprolactam capacity at Porto Marghera from 66 million pounds a year to 100 million pounds next year. The firm uses the standard phenol route, says it has no plans to switch to cyclohexane at present. Rhodiatoce, a 50/50 joint venture of Montecatini and France's RhonePoulenc, has not produced caprolactam since December 1963 when its Novara plant ceased production. Rhodiatoce had based its process on phenol. It is now essentially interested in making nylon 66. Rhodiatoce does, however, import very small amounts of caprolactam to make nylon 6 monofilament for fishing nets. Switzerland's sole producer, Emser Werk, has a plant at Domat-Ems with an annual caprolactam capacity of 26 to 31 million pounds. The company has its own Inventa/Emser process which can use cyclohexane, toluene, or benzene, depending on the going mar-
ket price. A company spokesman says the firm will probably raise its capacity, but gives no details. Meanwhile, France alone among western Europe's major chemical producers, makes no caprolactam. A representative of Rhone-Poulenc, France's big nylon 66 producer, says his firm does not make nylon 6 or caprolactam and has no current plans to do so. Nylon Demand. Though producers may wake up with a first-class hangover when all this capacity comes on stream, chances are they won't. The nylon 6 and 66 market looks very promising. In West Germany, for example, polyamide production jumped an impressive 34% (equivalent to an increase of 32 million pounds) in the first six months of this year (vs. the same period last year), according to the Verband der Chemischen Industrie. The situation in Italy looks just as good. Nylon 6 production there hit about 66 million pounds last year and has been rising 25 to 30% a year over the past several years. While there are few clear-cut differences between nylon 6 and 66, Europe has tended to favor nylon 6 while the U.S. favors nylon 66. One European producer says this is probably because the original development of nylon 6 was in Europe while that of nylon 66 was in the U.S. Existing U.S. caprolactam capacity is 250 million pounds a year. The PPG/DSM plant in Georgia will raise this to 295 million pounds by November 1965. U.S. production of caprolactam should reach about 200 million pounds this year.
BRIEFS Sinclair Oil #nd British Petroleum, Ltd., will dissolve the two companies in which they, or their subsidiaries, each own one-half interest. The companies are Sinclair and BP Sales, Inc., and Sinclair and BP Explorations, Inc. The former company sold Middle East crude to U.S. importers; the latter firm evaluated exploration opportunities, principally in Latin America. Changes in the oil import programs in the U.S. and Sinclair's development of its own petroleum sources overseas are two reasons cited for the dissolution of the companies. Sinclair and BP Colombian, Inc., which operates in Colombia, is not affected by the change.
SILICATE FACTS
sodium silicate 60 to 70,000 centipoises " C " silicate—viscosity 70,000 centipoises.
Did you know you could buy a soluble silicate with a viscosity of 70,000 centipoises (wt. ratio, S i 0 2 / N a 2 0 of 2.00; 59.3° B a u m e / 68° F . ) ? P e r h a p s your requirement is for a silicate which, conversely, is a very fluid solution. In this extreme we offer o u r clarified " S t a r " , or " N 3 8 " sodium silicate of 60 centipoises (42.0° Baume and 38.0° Baume, respectively). Between this r a n g e there a r e many more commercially available liquid soluble silicates of different proportions of alkali a n d silica, including t h e potassium silicates.
L I Q U I D S AVERAGE Weight Ratios Si02/Na20 from 3.75 to 1.60 Si02/K20—2.50, 2.20, 2.10 and 1.80
COMPOSITION Baume/68° F. Sodium Silicate from 35.0° to 59.3° Potassium Silicate—29.8°, 30.0°, 40.3°
and 47.7° Alkali and Silica Content % Na20 from 6.75 to 19.7 % Si02 from 24.1 to 36.0
% K20—8.30, 9.05, 12.45 and 16.40 % Si02—20.8, 19.9, 26.2 and 29.5 (Potassium)
T h e r e a r e powders a n d crystalloidal P Q silicates also. T h e bulletin offered below gives you a n outline on products. T h e r e is never a complete story on uses. W e hope you may be working on a product or process which would make such a catalog incomplete. PHILADELPHIA QUARTZ COMPANY, 1162 Public Ledger Bldg., Philadelphia 6, Pa. D Send bulletin, "PQ Soluble Silicates, Properties and Applications" D Send information for the following application D Send monthly "Silicate P's & Q's", discussing "PQ Silicate Facts". NAME
TITLE
COMPANYADDRESSCITY
\lfi|f! • ESTABLISHED 1831
-STATE-
-ZIP-
PHILADELPHIA QUARTZ manufacturers of
COMPANY
TRADEMARKS REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.
SOLUBLE
SILICATES
Associates: Philadelphia Quartz Co.of California, Berkeley, Calif.; National Silicates Limited, Toronto, Canada. 14. P L A N T S · D I S T R I B U T O R S IN 9 0 C I T I E S IN U . S . A N D C A N A D A
OCT. 12, 1 9 6 4 C&EN
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