which TAPPI just recently established. As chairman of the new depart ment and its manpower operations committee, Dr. Nissan lists four de partment functions: high school rela tions; college relations; curriculum guidance; and continuing education. These programs, he believes, will bet ter direct young technical people into rewarding careers in the pulp and paper industry.
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK \ v ' ^ V \ '^v-
CAPROLACTONE:
β Form from Taft Another important step in commercial ization of peracetic acid oxidations has appeared in Union Carbide's new large unit to make ε-caprolactone. The unit, just on stream at Carbide's plant at Taft, La., has a design capacity of 80 million pounds per year. ε-Caprolactone production has been a few million pounds per year until now. Most of this production has been consumed captively by the producers, including Carbide. Major use is in polyester polyols, which sub sequently are made into urethane products used as adhesives, coatings, and elastomers (not foams). Carbide has set the new price for ε-caprolactone at 48 cents per pound, f.o.b. the plant in tank-car or tanktruck quantities. This price makes it roughly competitive with other poly ester-type materials for urethanes for similar uses. Urethanes based on caprolactone polyesters, however, have greater hydrolytic stability and higher tensile strengths than do urethanes containing derivatives such as those of adipic acid. The process for making ε-caprolac tone has three basic steps—oxidation of acetaldehyde to peracetic acid, separation of peracetic acid from unreacted acetaldehyde and simultane ous reaction with cyclohexanone, and recovery and separation of product, cyclohexanone, and solvents. The oxidation step can be handled in either liquid or vapor phases. Car bide has disclosed no details, but likely uses the liquid phase in which acetaldehyde is oxidized, using oxygen, to peracetic acid. An adduct, acet aldehyde monoperacetate (AMP), quickly forms. Low temperatures, around 0° C , are used to minimize hazards. AMP is then pyrolyzed to permit removal of the peracetic acid. The peracetic acid—in an organic solvent such as acetone—then is re acted with cyclohexanone to form caprolactone and by-product acetic acid. Purification is by distillation. ε-Caprolactone monomer and a very small amount of polymer account for over 95 mole % of the cyclohexanone consumed.
Sources of gaseous energy for U.S. Imported LNGand high-B.t.u. gas from coal will gain prominence by 2000
NATURAL GAS:
Not Enough by 2000 The U.S. isn't about to run out of natural gas next week, or even this century. But projected discovery rates point to a deficit between con sumption and discoveries of 10 tril lion cu. ft. per year by the year 2000. And supply patterns will alter signifi cantly, as gas from coal and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) assume sizable shares of gas energy supply. This is the outlook projected by gas industry specialists at the Industrial Fuels Conference in St. Louis. Ralbern H. Murray, director of market ing, Consolidated Natural Gas Ser vice Co., Pittsburgh, and Martin A. Elliott, corporate scientific adviser, Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., Houston, Tex., both expect gas mar kets to increase and both expect sup plementary supplies of gas to take increasing shares. In assessing the need for supple mentary supplies, Mr. Murray cites the two most commonly accepted esti mates of economically recoverable ul timate natural gas reserves. The U.S. Geological Survey puts it at 2000 tril lion cu. ft., based on the total volume of sedimentary basins in which gas is normally found and the actual occur rence of gas in those which have been
adequately explored. The Institute of Gas Technology places the figure at 1500 to 1700 trillion cu. ft., based on the historical trend of gas production and discoveries. The supplies are therefore enough to meet demands through the year 2000, Mr. Murray points out. But historical trends indicate that discovery rates will rise to only about 25 trillion cu. ft. per year by then. At the same time, demand will reach 35 trillion cu. ft. per year. Part of the deficit will be taken up by imported LNG. Mr. Elliott points out that today LNG is being shipped from Algeria to England and France. In 1969, shipments of LNG will be made from Libya to Spain and Italy and from Alaska to Japan. Coal, which accounts for almost 70% of U.S. fossil fuel resources, will also be picking up a share of the nat ural gas deficit through gasification. In the past eight to 10 years, Mr. El liott points out, progress in coal gas ification technology has brought esti mated gas costs down from about $1.10 per million B.t.u. to about 50 cents per million B.t.u. A report from the Office of Coal Research (C&EN, Dec. 2, 1968, page 15) indicates that gas could be produced from North Dakota lignite for as little as 32.9 cents per million B.t.u. FEB. 24, 1969 C&EN 17
