NEWS OF THE WEEK REGULATION The number of sites that must comply
ANTITERRORISM: Facilities are taking steps to become less attractive targets
I
N THE PAST YEAR, more than 700 chemical facili-
ties have been dropped from the government’s antiterrorism program for the sector because they are no longer considered “high risk” targets, new federal data show. A report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) indicates that 3,471 facilities are currently regulated under its Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) program, down from 4,199 facilities a year ago. Over the longer term, DHS says that more than 3,000 facilities have “voluntarily removed, reduced, or modified their holdings of chemicals of interest” since the program began in 2007 and are no longer regulated under CFATS. Chemical industry officials say the sharp decline in the number of regulated facilities shows that the security initiative is working as intended. “CFATS is driving facilities to reduce inherent haz-
EUROPE’S POLYMER MAKERS EXPAND PLASTICS: Three expansion projects
are slated for the Southeast U.S.
T
HREE EUROPEAN chemical makers are invest-
ing a combined $100 million-plus in U.S. production of specialty polymers. Taken together, the projects are a sign that the U.S. is a preferred investment location for more than just ethylene crackers and other basic chemical plants. Solvay is spending $85 million to build a grassroots polyether ether ketone plant in Augusta, Ga., and expand output at an existing facility in Panoli, India. The project will add more than 2,500 metric tons of capacity for the high-performance polymer by mid-2016, according to Solvay. Arkema will build a facility in Mobile, Ala., for polyether ketone ketone, a high-performance polymer the firm debuted in 2013. Arkema says the plant will open in the second half of 2018. At the same time, the company plans to double capacity at its existing facility in France. And focusing on a lower-end polymer used in coatings and adhesives, Wacker Chemie will spend more
than $50 million to build a vinyl acetate-ethylene dispersions plant at its site in Calvert City, Ky. To open later this year, the plant will add 85,000 metric tons per year of capacity and make the complex the largest of its kind in the Americas, Wacker says. The polyaryl ether ketone expansions by Solvay and Arkema make sense given the economic growth the U.S. is enjoying as much of the rest of the world stagnates, according to Jay Dwivedi, who completed a study of the highend polymers market last year for Principia Consulting. “The U.S. is not only a large market for high-performance polymers, it is also growing,” Dwivedi says. Arkema points out that U.S. demand for its polymer, trade-named Kepstan, is expanding in the aerospace and defense sectors, where it is used in structural thermoplastic composites and to make semistructural parts via three-dimensional printing. Other attractive applications for polyaryl ether ketones, Dwivedi notes, include medical implants and specialized electronics. Moreover, the polymers are lucrative products. They can sell for more than $60 per kg, he says, and should enjoy growth rates of close to 10% per year.—MICHAEL MCCOY
CEN.ACS.ORG
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MARCH 16, 2015
SOLVAY
CHEMICAL PLANTS IMPROVE SECURITY
with the federal Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards has dropped in the past two years while the
ards, relying on the number with appproved security plans has grown. company’s expert judgment to do so, Number of sites 5,000 and without transferring risk to some 4,000 other point in the High-risk chemical facilities covered by CFATS 3,000 supply chain,” says William E. Allmond 2,000 Facilities with security plans IV, vice president approved after inspection of government and 1,000 public relations 0 at the Society of AM J J A S O N D J F MAM J J A S O N D J F M Chemical Manufac2013 2014 2015 turers & Affiliates, NOTE: No update was published in December 2013 because of the government shutdown. CFATS = Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. an industry trade SOURCE: Department of Homeland Security association. “Thousands of facilities have changed processes or inventories in ways that, under DHS’s definition of high risk, no longer make them attractive targets to terrorists,” Allmond adds. CFATS requires facilities that make, use, or store threshold quantities of certain hazardous chemicals to assess their risks, develop site-security plans for DHS approval, and then put the security measures in place. The latest statistics also indicate that DHS has confirmed through on-site inspections that 1,600 of the 3,471 facilities have fully implemented their security plans.—GLENN HESS
Engineering polymer pellets from Solvay.
