INDUSTRY
&
BUSINESS
Diammonium Phosphate Capacity is Swelling Fertilizer industry can cope with extra capacity this season, but more capacity coming in 1966 may bring problems As the fertilizer season moves into top gear this spring the industry will find itself with about 1 million tons of new capacity for diammonium phosphate. This will add (on a Ρ 2 Ο δ basis) about 500,000 tons to last year's 1.5 million ton capacity for fertilizer ammonium phosphates of all types. Projects al ready started, plus others not yet an nounced, will probably add up to a similar jump in capacity in 1966. Is the industry going to be able to cope with this phenomenal increase in capacity? Chances are that it will this year; 1966 may bring some prob lems. Over the long term, however, optimism is probably justified. Use. Consumption of ammonium
phosphate fertilizers in the U.S. is growing rapidly. In the 1962-63 fertilizer season consumption of all types of ammonium phosphates (on a P 2 0 5 basis) was 630,000 tons. In the 1963-64 year it was about 880,000 tons, and this year, 1964-65, it will probably be about 1 million tons. The gap between capacity and con sumption is not so great as it appears. Some plants can make either DAP or triple superphosphate. Others may be limited by the supply of phosphoric acid on the site and used for other products in addition to DAP. Phos phoric acid output is seldom great enough to run all the derivative plants at maximum output at the same time.
Added to domestic consumption is the export business. In 1963 ammo nium phosphate exports were about 180,000 tons. This year they may total 300,000 tons. Next year they could be 400,000 tons. Sell Out. While producers will probably be able to sell all the DAP they make this year, there is some possibility that prices may not hold up. At the current price of $77.50 per ton at plants in Florida, DAP producers are probably selling at a price lower than the market can bear. A relatively small price drop will mean a serious cut in profits. Production costs in the newer plants in Florida are about $65 to $70 per ton.
Currently Producers Have about 4 Million Tons of Capacity Capacity (thousands of short tons)
Capacity Producer
Location
AFC
E d i s o n , Calif.
American Cyanamid
B r a d l e y , Fla.
(thousands of short tons)
Remarks
40 120
Adding
200 Arkla Chemical Corp. Armour Borden (SmithDouglass)
Helena, Ark. Cherokee, Ala. Bartow, Fla. Texas City, Tex. Streator, III.
100 in 1966 180 30
Kerens, Tex.
100
Nichols, Fla.
60
Carolina)
52 12
Occidental Petroleum (Best Fertilizers)
Lathrop, Calif. Plainview, Tex.
40 20
Olin-Mathieson
Pasadena, Tex. Joliet, III. Pittsburg, Calif.
440 170 15
T a m p a , Fla.
225
Pascagoula, Miss.
190
Pueblo, Colo.
Lone Star Producing M o b i l Oil ( V i r g i n i a -
Luling, La.
Cities Service (Tennessee Corp.)
Colorado Fuel & Iron
F o n t a n a , Calif.
St. P a u l ,
80
Shell Chemical Addin £265 in 1965
Southwestern Agri cultural
14 100
Continental Oil (American Agricul tural Chemicals)
Pierce, Fla.
175
Deere
Tulsa, Okla.
75
Farmers Chemical
Joplin, Mo.
120
Ford Motor Co.
Dearborn, Mich
20
W. R. Grace (Davison Bartow, Fla. Ridgewood, Fla division) Hooker Chemical (National Phosphates) Marseilles, III. Taft, La.
100
Simplot
International Minerals & Chemicals
Bonnie, Fla.
200 in 1965
160 350 in 1965
500
240 in 196£
Minn.
Pocatello, Idahc) Chandler, Ariz.
75 40 80 50 20
100
Swift
Harvey, La. Agricola, Fla.
140 100
Tennessee Valley Authority
Muscle Shoals, Ala.
40
U.S.I. Chemicals
Danville, III.
30
Valley Nitrogen Producers
Helm, Calif.
100
FEB.
Chiefly nonfertilizer
30
Long Beach, Calif. Pasadena, Tex.
(With Phillips Petroleum)
Adding 4( in 1965
90
Stauffer Chemical Garfield, Utah (Western Phosphates) Kellogg, Idaho (Bunker Hill) (Victor) Chicago Heights, III. (Dominguez)
Remarks
15
Kaiser Steel
Northwest Cooperative Mills
Soda Springs, Idaho
Consumers Cooperative Pierce, Fla. Assoc.
Location
Monsanto
Central Farmers (El Paso Natural Gas)
Coastal Chemical
Producer
1, 1965
C&EN
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The advantages of DAP which have sparked its present rapid growth will undoubtedly keep it headed up over the long term. By 1970 U.S. and ex port demand may triple. One of the big advantages of DAP is that it is such a highly concentrated plant food. Fertilizer grade DAP usually contains 46 or 48% Ρ 2 Ο δ . This is about the same as triple super phosphate, the only other large-vol ume phosphatic fertilizer with as high a phosphorus content. But in addi tion to its phosphorus, DAP contains 16 to 18% nitrogen. So, in effect, it is possible to ship additional nitrogen in DAP, instead of the nonnutritive material in triple superphosphate, at no extra cost. Blending. Bulk blending has given DAP a big boost. Bulk blending plants serve relatively small market ing areas. They make the particular grade of fertilizer the farmer wants by blending granules of basic fertilizer materials, such as potash with DAP, and other nitrogenous or phosphatic materials. Blending is a relatively simple operation compared to making complete fertilizers. In complete fer tilizers the various nutrients are more intimately associated. DAP is a gran ular, easy-to-handle product which lends itself well to bulk blending. DAP is also a good material for mak ing complete fertilizers. For the lat ter, the DAP granules usually serve as nuclei around which potash and other materials may be coated. Ammonium phosphates are used even more as a direct application material. High N-P Ratio. DAP's high con centration of plant nutrients is not al ways desirable. Ammonium phos phate with 16% nitrogen and 20% P 2 0 5 is a popular grade for direct ap plication. Farmers use it when they want a high nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio—an important consideration in many crops. Generally, such grades are made by neutralizing part of the ammonia with sulfuric acid rather than phosphoric, so that the resulting material is a mix ture of ammonium sulfate and ammo nium phosphates. Most DAP plants can also produce the whole spectrum of ammonium phosphates, from grades corresponding to pure monoammonium phosphate to nearly pure diammonium phosphate. Increasing the nitrogen content by making grades approaching pure triammonium phosphate is not practical. Triammonium phosphate is unstable 18
C&EN
FEB. 1, 1965
and highly alkaline (an agronomic disadvantage). Competition. One highly concen trated material which might some day give some competition to DAP—or at least DAP now made in plants close to the phosphate fields—is superphosphoric acid. This material is made by concentrating ordinary phosphoric acid (54% P 2 0 5 ) to 70% P 2 0 5 . Its high concentration is an obvious ad vantage in shipping. It can be con verted to DAP with ammonia pro duced near the marketing area. The economics, among other things, depend on the price of ammonia lo cally vs. the price at the acid plant site. Cost of evaporating the ordinary acid to superphosphoric is high. Operating costs in the range of $5.00 per ton, plus amortization of a plant invest ment of about $500,000 for a 100 tonper-day (Ρ 2 Ο δ ) evaporating plant, must be added to the cost of the phos phate. Other highly concentrated materi als, such as potassium phosphates, are possible competitors for DAP. But it will probably be a number of years be fore the technology of making these materials cheaply advances to the point where DAP will suffer.
GSA Calls for New Bids on Mercury The General Services Administration rejected all bids on its initial offering of 4000 flasks of surplus mercury. The agency immediately issued a call for a second round of bids. GSA says industry's response to the bid invitation was not "sufficiently broad or meaningful enough" to serve the purpose intended, which was to help GSA arrive at a price for an offthe-shelf sale of another 10,000 flasks (C&EN, Jan. 4, page 7 ) . GSA has more than 1000 firms and persons on its bid list. But it says it received only 66 bids. With offers running a con fusing gamut of from $25 to $451 a flask. "Because of the diversity in the bidding," GSA says, "it was impossible to assess a fair market price level on which to base the balance of the sale necessary to meet the needs of in dustry." Bids for the second round are due Feb. 5. The shelf sale of the 10,000 flasks will follow in 20 days from that date. The current price of mercury, which ranges from $480 to $500 a flask, should hold.
COMMENT We have come to understand in this country that the success of a free enterprise society depends in signifi cant part on the expansion of entre preneurial leadership. . . . Nowhere is the need to expand this leadership greater than in the de veloping countries. . . . Yet . . . the hard fact is that the current trend in these developing countries is against it. . . . A survey of businessmen in Latin America re cently, for example, showed an ex tremely strong emphasis on family loyalty leading to the exclusion of outsiders from responsible positions, no matter how much they might be able to benefit the family firm. . . . Such an attitude is hardly conducive to the establishment or expansion of employee training programs in the older type of enterprises. Accordingly, many of the young people from these developing coun tries have sought their training else where. . . . A significant number of them are enrolled in our business ad ministration and engineering schools. . . . Yet my impression is that a num ber of these graduate students com plete their graduate study and return home without . . . the chance to com bine what they know about their own country with what we know about the techniques that could help them. . . . . . . Perhaps it would be worth con sidering the establishment of "enter prise fellowships'' whereby students can acquire while they are here prac tical experience to augment their edu cational training. . . . A simple way to implement such a proposal would be to offer . . . promising students . . . an opportunity to spend a year here work ing for a private enterprise engaged in similar work to that which the student toould want to do tohen he returns to his own country. . . . He would, in effect, spend the year in on-the-job training, learning the techniques for putting together a business proposal, for getting it financed, for putting it into operation, and for its day-to-day management. . . . Such a program properly implemented could represent a truly productive approach to sharp ening talents. . . . Sol M. Linowitz, chairman of the board, Xerox Corp., before the Council for International Progress in Manage ment, New York City, Jan. 27, 1965.
Dow's Freeport Ethylenimine Plant on Stream With onset of production at the first large-scale ethylenimine plant in the U.S., the company has lowered the price for the imine from.$1.25 to 95 cents per pound Dow Chemical's ethylenimine plant has gone on stream at Freeport, Tex. The new plant marks the first largescale production of ethylenimine in the U.S. Dow has been offering the highly reactive cyclic compound in development quantities since mid-1963 (C&EN, June 24, 1963, page 59). Already under way are plans for a second production unit, to be in operation by the end of 1966. Also, Dow has reduced the price of ethylenimine from $1.25 to 95 cents per pound. "Eventually, as the demand grows, we hope to offer the compound at 50 to 60 cents per pound," says Gerry Pearson, product sales manager in the company's industrial sales department. Ethylenimine holds promise as a chemical building block for a variety of materials, including petroleum additives, adhesives, polymer stabilizers, paper additives, and pharmaceuticals. Up to now, though, it hasn't been available in large quantities and thus hasn't achieved any widespread use. Chemirad Corp., East Brunswick, N.J., both makes and imports the imine. K&K Laboratories, Plainview, Long Island, makes ethylenimine in limited quantities. West Germany's Badische Anilin- & Soda-Fabrik, the major producer outside the U.S., makes ethylenimine at its plant in Ludwigshafen. Before Dow entered the market, ethylenimine in development quantities cost well over $5.00 per pound. But the company has done more than simply offer ethylenimine at an attractive price. To help get the imine off the ground commercially, Dow has been giving a series of seminars. Topics covered include handling (ethylenimine is very toxic and flammable), reactions, and potential uses. To date, nearly 200 seminars have been conducted in the U.S. As a result, the company has answered requests for 3000 samples from nearly 100 companies. This sample program has led to tank-car orders for ethylenimine from several customers. "Fact is, our pilot
ON STREAM. Part of the large-scale ethylenimine plant at Freeport, Tex. plant, newly on stream, is based on a one-step process developed by Dow
plant production of about 100,000 pounds per month has been sold out since late last year," says Mr. Pearson. Derivatives. The new plant is based on a one-step process developed by Dow over a 10-year period at a cost of $10 million. Dow describes the capacity of the plant, which cost $3 million, as "several million pounds of ethylenimine per year." Dow will use part of the imine production to make derivatives. Dow has been offering three deriv-
The
atives—two polyethylenimines ( with molecular weights of 40,000 to 50,000, and 50,000 to 100,000) and tris- ( 1 -aziridinyl ) phosphine oxide (APO). Potential uses for the polyethylenimines are as corrosion inhibitors and de-emulsifiers. APO can be used to impart fire-resistance and crease-proofing properties to textiles. Dow is currently field testing it for these applications. In addition, the company is now offering development quantities of 10 FEB.
1, 1965
C&EN
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mgrjgÇm Meets Stepped Up Needs: 100 GPM Ultra-Pure Process Water
Manufacturer needed new central supply purification system to meet stepped up process water requirements, turned to Penfield. System supplied included pre-filters to remove turbidity, two-bed demineralizers for economical first phase deionizing, several mixed bed exchangers in parallel (shown in photo) to complete ion removal to desired ultra-pure level. All demineralizers were equipped for automatic shutoff at preset purity limits; also for fully automatic regeneration cycles. "Packaged" shipment made installation simple, minimized in-plant expense. User reports all process water requirements now fully met.
"Packaged" Dl Equipment custom engineered to your Purity Needs
Marked Increase in Use of Polyethylene Shipping Bags
Need central demineralizing? Point-ofuse polishing? Ultra high purity makeup or rinse water? Whatever the need, it will pay you to check Penfield. Close to two decades of engineering Dl systems means that Penfield has hundreds of field-proven designs to draw upon. And "Packaged" means that your Penfield equipment arrives fully unitized and ready to operate. Installation and start-up expense is held to a minimum. For assured Dl performance — and important savings in time, trouble and total outlay, check Penfield. Phone today — Area Code 203, 235-1694.
: j : •
New! Penfield CUBS
:
100% stainless steel, including distrib- •' utors. Snap-on covers for easy recharg- · ing. Flow rates: 100, 200, 300 GPH. : These inexpensive pressure units are ideal for small scale production, polish- I ing, special ion exchange applications. '·
: I •
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Send for new eighty-page catalog.
PENFIELD MANUFACTURING CO.. INC. 48-B Britannia St., Meriden, Conn. 06450 "Nineteen years of Dl equipment pioneering... Specialists in system design, automation"
20
C&EN
FEB.
1,
1965
aziridinyl derivatives, a polyethylenimine of molecular weight 1000 to 2000, four open-ring derivatives, and four reaction products of polyethylenimine. More derivatives will be added in the near future, Mr. Pearson says. This spring Dow will begin giving a new series of ethylenimine seminars in Europe, the U.S., Japan, and other countries. In the works are a programed instruction booklet and a movie which detail Dow's 10 years of experience with ethylenimine. This spring Dow will also firm up its plans for a second production unit, which will use a new process to make the imine. The process, entirely different from the process now used at Freeport, is currently being checked out in a pilot plant. Outlook. Definitely rosy is the outlook for ethylenimine, says Mr. Pearson. "By the end of 1965, demand for the imine should hit 2 million pounds," he predicts. The derivatives, particularly the polyethylenimines, should do well, too. Consumption of the polymers should climb to a million pounds by next year, Mr. Pearson says.
Polyethylene shipping bags will be used in rapidly increasing numbers in 1965, according to John Sullivan, a market manager for U.S.I. Film Products, department of U.S. Industrial Chemicals. He expects use of the bags to increase 50% this year over last, or from 60 million to 90 million bags (from 8.5 million to 12.7 million pounds of polyethylene). The major growth will likely be in bags for fertilizers, he says. This market will take between 85 and 90% of the polyethylene shipping bags made this year. Mr. Sullivan explains that the predicted 90 million polyethylene bags are but a small portion of the total 2.8 billion shipping bags that will be used this year. He points out, however, that use of polyethylene bags was neglible in 1960, but by 1963 it had risen to 30 million bags a year. Mr. Sullivan explains that products such as peat humus, ammonium nitrate, and triple superphosphate are packaged in 50-pound pillow-type bags. He figures the major growth this year could be in the 80- and 100-
pound bags used for fertilizer, a market now dominated by paper multiwall bags. Polyethylene bags now cost about the same as paper fertilizer bags—from 6.5 to 7 cents a bag. He also believes that polyethylene will make inroads in packaging chemicals, sugar, dog food, and salt.
U.S. Made 3 Billion Plastic Bottles in 17 Months Almost 3 billion blow-molded plastic bottles were made in the U.S. during 1963 and the first five months of 1964, says the Bureau of Census. These statistics are based on a survey of the companies that make 97% of the plastic bottles; the survey was sponsored by the plastic bottle division of the Society of the Plastics Industry. Close to 2 billion plastic bottles were used for household chemicals. The next largest user was the toiletries and cosmetics industry (about 626 million bottles); 204 million bottles were used in the medicinal and health field. Combined use by industrial chemicals and specialties and automotive and marine categories came to about another 92 million plastic bottles. The Census Bureau also disclosed that 254.9 million pounds of highdensity polyethylene were used in making the bottles. In addition, 30.2 million pounds of low- and mediumdensity polyethylene were used, along with 770,000 pounds of all other resins.
BRIEFS Shaevitz Engineering has acquired Control Logic, Inc., in a stock transfer. Control Logic's production of digital circuit modules and systems for highspeed information storage and retrieval will enable Shaevitz to produce entire industrial automation units. The Natick, Mass., firm will operate as Shaevitz's subsidiary, and will add about $1 million to annual sales.
Sel-Rex Corp. has acquired Paul T. Smith Co., a supplier of decorative golds for the jewelry industry. The Providence, R.I., company will become a division of Sel-Rex. Sel-Rex manufactures precious metal electroplating formulations for industrial and decorative applications.
perhaps this
MILES COMPOUND + 0CH 3 N-BENZYL TRIMETHYL -J AMMONIUM METHOXIDE one of our quaternary ammonium compounds
Description — Yellow liquid. Assay 3 8 - 4 2 % in Methanol. D i s t i l l i n g range — decomposes on distillation. Chlorides— 1.0% maximum. Trimethylamine — 0 . 5 % maximum.
will give your company a lift Dravo Builds Iron Ore Pelletizing Plant in Ontario These pelletizing disks will be shipped to an iron ore plant being built at Caland Ore Co.'s Steep Rock Lake mine near Atikokan, Ont. The plant will be able to process up to 1 million tons of iron ore annually. Dravo Corp. made the disks, which its Canadian subsidiary, Dravo Construction, Ltd., will use to build Caland's plant.
NEW FACILITIES Solvay Process division of Allied Chemical Corp. will double its present capacity for chlorinated methanes at Moundsville, W.Va. The new facility is scheduled to be on stream by mid-June.
Stepan Chemical Co. has completed a 50% expansion of its continuous sulfur trioxide sulfonation plant at Millsdale, 111. It is also building two more sulfonation plants—another one in Millsdale and one in Fieldsboro, N.J. The new Illinois plant will be on stream by April 1, and the New Jersey plant by July 1. Stepan is considering still another sulfonation plant somewhere on the West Coast. This sulfonation process has widespread use in the production of biodegradable detergents.
Union Carbide's Linde division will expand its facilities for liquefied oxygen and nitrogen at Deer Park, Tex. Scheduled for completion in 1966, the new units will provide an additional 485 tons per day of liquefied oxygen and nitrogen. Linde's captive capacity will be increased by 285 tons daily, while the remaining 200 tons per day will be distributed to customers in the Southwest.
Superior Welding Co. has bought from Mersick Industries, Inc., N o r t h H a ven, Conn., the Sistersville Tank
Works in Sistersville, W.Va. The Sistersville firm, which produces industrial equipment for the petrochemical and chemical industries, will be operated as a unit of Superior. With this acquisition, the Decatur, 111., company will add more than $7 million to its sales annually.
Other uses — Catalyst in organic reactions or catalyst in basic curing of resins. Organic soluble strong base where alkali metal bases will not perform.
MILES CHEMICAL COMPANY DIVISION OF MILES LABORATORIES, INC. · ELKHART, INDIANA General Sales Offices: Elkhart, Ind., COngress 4-8716; Clifton, N.J.. 772-4800; New York. N.Y.. MUrray Hill 2-7970.
FEB.
1, 1 9 6 5
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