industry/Business
Chlorine production drops as demand lags Chlorine's largest markets, including vinyl chloride, chlorinated solvents, and paper production, face declining business At a time when overall chemicals production gives every indication of picking up, chlorine producers have little to be cheerful about. Output of this bellwether chemical continues to be off markedly from year-earlier levels. Production of chlorine gas (100%) in July (the latest month for which Commerce Department figures are available) amounted to 784,517 tons, down 7% from July 1970. For the first seven months of this year, it is down 5.8% from the same 1970 period. Reasons for chlorine's poor performance aren't hard to find. Production of vinyl chloride is off so far this year. An equally important market, chlorinated solvents, is also down. Paper production, which consumes huge quantities of chlorine as bleach, has dipped. Off, too, are chlorine exports, according to latest Tariff Commission figures. For the first eight
months of 1971, exports amounted to 121 million pounds, 5% below the yearearlier level. Adding to chlorine producers' woes is the fact that caustic soda (a byproduct of the bulk of U.S. chlorine production) is still very much in short supply. Caustic soda has been tight since late 1969 and the situation shows no signs of easing. Most chlor-alkali producers see the shortage continuing for another year or so at least. Indicator. For the past two decades chlorine output has grown at an annual rate of 8%. Traditionally it has been a lagging economic indicator. The 1957-58 recession officially started in July 1957 and ended in April 1958. But chlorine production didn't dip below the year-earlier level until November 1957. It remained below for 12 months until October 1958. The 1960-61 recession officially lasted from May 1960 until February 1961. Chlorine output didn't fall below year-earlier levels, however, until December 1960 and didn't recover until September 1961. The chemical's current decline, the first since September 1961, began last December. Again it is lagging the economy—the 1970 recession officially began in November 1969 and ended last November.
Chlorine growth lags industrial chemicals growth Production index (1949-51 = 100) 600 f
5001
I
Industrial chemicals
400 i Chlorine
300 [
200J j 100(s Ol 1950
1955
1960
1965
Sources: Federal Reserve Board, Department of Commerce, C&EN estimates
10 C&EN NOV. 8, 1971
1970
The recession may be ended, but apparently some of chlorine's major customers haven't gotten the message. Best known as a water purifier, chlorine finds major use (59%) as a raw material for chlorinated hydrocarbons. The chemical's single biggest market is vinyl chloride, whose production has been growing 15% per year on average. Last year, however, output of the monomer moved u p 8% to 4.04 billion pounds, according to the Tariff Commission. And production for the first eight months of this year at 2.72 billion pounds is down 2% from the year-earlier period. Vinyl chloride's sagging performance isn't surprising, considering what's been happening to polyvinyl chloride in recent months. Production of PVC and copolymers was u p only 3% in 1970 to 3.1 billion pounds. It had been growing about 13% annually. Output through August this year is running about the same—about 2% ahead of a year ago. So production of the plastic is apparently plateauing. Biggest weakness in use of PVC is wire and cable, the plastic's third largest market. The application is currently off about 20%. With PVC production leveling off, a lot of vinyl chloride is going into inventory, explains one major chloralkali producer. This in turn has cut sharply into chlorine purchases. Chlorinated solvents are also having their troubles. Both the dry cleaning and metal cleaning markets are off, the latter because of the depressed state of the aerospace industry. January through August production of trichloroethylene, used in metal cleaning, is down 9% to 359 million pounds compared to the same period in 1970. Production of perchloroethylene, used in both dry cleaning and metal cleaning, is up, but only 4% to 471 million pounds. The market for chlorinated pesticides has been on the decline, primarily because of the growing reluctance to use persistent products. The output of DDT, for instance, amounted to 59 million pounds in 1970—the lowest since 1949, according to the Tariff Commission. Overall production of pesticides and related
Goodyear worker checks PVC "bubble" during wrapping film production
products was down for the second straight year in 1970, dropping 6.4% to 1.03 billion pounds. Paper, which currently accounts for about 18% of the chlorine consumed in the U.S., is also contributing to chlorine's problems. Output of paper had been growing 5 to 6% annually— until last year when it dipped 2% to 23.1 million tons. So far this year production is running behind yearearlier levels, according to the American Paper Institute. Capacity. The chlorine industry is operating at about 85% of capacity and prices have remained generally firm. Capacity was 28,960 tons per day as of Sept. 1, according to the Chlorine Institute. This is down slightly from the first of the year, when it amounted to 29,131 tons daily. Most of the decrease is the result of the shutdown of BASF Wyandotte's mercury cell facility at Wyandotte, Mich., last March. The 22-year-old plant had chlorine capacity of 150 tons per day and was no longer "economically attractive/' says BASF Wyandotte. Increases in capacity will be slow in coming, as several of the major chlorine expansions planned are being drawn out. Last spring Dow delayed again its plans for facilities at Dallasport, Ore., to produce primary magnesium and chlorine (C&EN, April 5, page 12). Startup time has been pushed back to January 1975. The Dallasport plant will have an ultimate annual capacity of 100,000 tons of liquid chlorine. Dow has also
stretched out the modernization of its chlor-alkali complex in Midland, now slated for completion next year. The company is going ahead on schedule, however, with expansion of chlorine facilities at Freeport, Tex., to be completed in 1972. Last fall PPG Industries disclosed plans to double its chlorine-caustic soda capacity at Lake Charles, La. The plant will have a daily rated capacity of 1500 tons of chlorine and 1650 tons of caustic soda. The expansion, however, is still in the engineering phase, says PPG, and no target date has been disclosed. PPG's Puerto Rico chlorine-caustic soda plant has been delayed and is only now starting up. The unit, with a daily capacity of 500 tons for chlorine and 560 tons for caustic soda, is located at Guayanilla. Pollution. The mercury pollution problem has had little effect on chlorine capacity. At midyear there were 30 plants in the U.S. using the mercury cell process—only two less than when the Federal Government first cracked down on the problem, according to the Chlorine Institute. Loss of mercury in water wastes has been reduced on an industry average to 2% of the Jan. 1, 1970, level, the institute adds. Chlorine producers are now working hard to reduce emissions of mercury to the atmosphere. One producer, however, has had to close a plant because of this problem. In September GAF Corp. temporarily shut down its chlorine-caustic soda plant at Linden, N.J., because of labor problems involving unsatisfactory mercury levels in the plant. GAF encountered resistance from Local 146 of the General Industrial Workers Union in rotating workers out of the chlorine-caustic unit to minimize contact with the mercury vapors. Also employees were reluctant to wear respirators. GAF says it is continuing to work on the problem and doesn't know when it can reopen the plant. Meanwhile, mercury cell use is declining. Dow, for instance, no longer has any mercury cell production in the U.S. And most new plants probably will use diaphragm cells. Now, however, the mercury pollution problem is in all likelihood the least of chlorine producers' worries. Undoubtedly they—along with everybody else—are pulling for the Government's economic program to perk up the economy, and therefore chlorine's markets.
If you need oxidation protection in high-temperature (300°F-500°F) processing or applications, our six new antioxidants should interest you. For full information, tear out this page, attach your letterhead or business card, and mail in. For more routine applications we produce a full line of antioxidants, including some which meet FDA requirements. Maybe we can help you solve a formulating problem? Write: Chemical Products Division, 8 East Long Street, Columbus, Ohio 43216.
SEND US THIS RAGE TO TAKE THE HEAT O F YOUR ANTIOXIDANT PROBLEMS.
Ashland Ashland Chemical Campanq DIVISION OF ASHLAND OIL. INC.
NOV. 8, 1971 C&EN 11
