BUSINESS & FINANCE Capital Spending on the Rise Chemical construction programs have increased substantially this year, will rise further in 1957 finishing touches to next year's budgets, and so far the evidence points to the need for greater plant capacity in many basic and intermediate chemicals. Large sums of money also are being poured into polyethylene facilities, with the great bulk of completions expected next year. This program alone has helped t o accelerate the capital spending tempo, as expenditures of close to $100 million for polyethylene facilities, mostly of the low-pressure variety, are being compressed in an 18-month period. In the over-all picture, chemical industry seems to have operated at 85 to 90% of capacity in the month of October, perhaps a litde better. With prospects good for modest sales gains in 1957, basic capacity may b e substantially increased. • M o r e Capacity for Dow. D o w is ballooning capital expenditures from $59 million in the fiscal year ended last May 31 t o as much as $120 mil-
EXPENDITURESin new plant and equipment for chemical and allied product producers in the second half of 1956, scheduled at $853 million, according to latest estimates released b y the Department of Commerce, will bring the full-year total to $1.5 billion. Such an amount represents a 5 % increase over the previous peak in 1953. But t h e government survey hedges its estimates by saying, "It remains to be seen whether investment in new plant and equipment i n t h e second half of this year may b e delayed or deferred as a result of the recent steel strike, shortages of some critical items, the currently tight money supply, and higher prices for materials." T h e situation as regards construction programming differs among many chemical companies, b u t there is unanimity i n higher rates of spending this year as well as a trend toward a further rise in capital spending during 1957. Chemical companies are now putting
lion in t h e current fiscal year T h e following fiscal year's capital program may go even higher. D o w has evidently come to tlie decision that basic capacity is insufficient and that facilities for electric power production, chlorine, ethylene oxide, a n d a host of derivative products should b e enlarged. Its T e x a s Division plants are in line for a $45 million outlay, including money for elaboration of an acetylene line of petrochemicals. Two major undertakings for Dow, scheduled for operation in spring of 1958, are its Zefran staple fir>er plant at Lee Hall, Va., costing abolit $15 million, and a Plaquemine, La., petrochemicals plant costing over $5Q million, more or less duplicating its Freeport, Tex., set-up. • Carbide Boosts Polyethylene. Union Carbide, the second largest chemical compamy, expects to spend about $125 million this year for plant additions, a husky gain over the $102 million spent last year. Carbide's capital spending is on the way u p and may top $150 million in 1957. Polyethylene figures in Carbide's plans, as Montreal, Que., glycol and polyethylene faeilities will account for a substantial drunk of capital outlays this year a n d mext; two low-pressure
CHART CREEHTS: Inventories and Sal&s (Chemicals), Industrial Explos-. sives, New Construction, Plant Expenditures—Department of Commerce.
INVENTORIES & SALES (Chemical) INCLUDING ALLIED PRODUCTS, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
3.5
I
'·«?
i
i
.
.
3 2.5
CHEMICAL INVENTORIES
2.0 1.5
·* ·" &&s$0*gi \ *. 1954 •5 1
INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSIVES
NEW CONSTRUCTION
Shipments of Black Blasting Powder and High Explosives, Millions of Pounds
All Types Billions of Dollars
100
80
1
I
4^7 ÇFPT
^^^
1956 - > "'·'» ^i0$g^y. PLANT EXPENDITURES All Manufacturing, Including Equipment, End of Q u a r t e r s , Billioms of Dolla
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1955
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1955
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1956
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2.01 I I I 1 1 I 1 1 I I I I I I I I 1 I I I ! I I
1955
5860
C&EN
NOV.
2 6.
1956
1955
1956 ^^*zXjgiS&ti^^&ig**·
v^
1956
This was April, 1955...
I
"Pfizer t e a m probes low-cost fermentation t o m a k e industrial itaconic a c i d . . .
enthusiasm among potential customers is running high...early investigators are unanimous in agreeing that it's a highly versatile building block."—from Chemical Week, April 2,1955.
F*(=JZEF2 I T A C O N I C . A C I D .
I AVAILABLE I N QUANTITY
CttrÇ-CÔOff %C :COOH Then this announcement of the availability of itaconic acid brought hundreds of requests for samples.*
AND NOW, a reduced, price for Pfizer Itaconic Acid • T h r o u g h t h e development of a new h i g h - p u r i t y t e c h n i c a l grade o f Pfizer Ita.conic Acid, it is now possible to purchase this versatile chemical at approximately twenty-five per cent less t h a n before. (The refined g r a d e is, of course, still available a n d its price h a s been markedly r e d u c e d . ) All this m e a n s t h a t y o u r production men should t a k e a close look a t t h e ad-vantages y o u r chemists have found i n t h i s versatile c o m p o u n d .
Manufacturing Chemists for Over 100 Years
T w o carboxyl g r o u p s , a conjugated double bond a n d a n active methylene g r o u p make Pfizer Itaconic A c i d a reactive a n d versatile molecule. It «esterifies readily i n high yields. E s t e r s of low-molecular weight alcohols c a n be polymerized a n d f a t t y alcohol esters serve a s useful plasticizers. Polyhydric alcohol e s t e r s f o r m t h e r m o s e t t i n g resins. Monoesters c a n also be prepared. Thie double bond of t h e acid a n d its e s t e r s is h i g h l y r e a c t i v e ; addition polym e r s are possible w i t h acrylonitrile, methyl m e t h a c r y l a t e , vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, styrene a n d butadiene.
CHAS. PFIZER & CO., INC.
Chemical Sales Division 630 Flushing Ave., Brooklyn 6, Ν . Υ. Branch Offices: Chicago, III.; Atlanta,Ga.? Vernon, Calif.,· San Francisco, Calif.; Dallas, Texas.
*IF YOUR CHEMISTS HAVEN'T YET TESTED PFIZER ITACONIC ACID, SEND N O W FOR A FREE ONE-LB. SAMPLE AND/OR TECHNICAL BULLETIN # 8 2 . NOV.
2 6.
1956 C&EN
5861
POLLUTION ELIMINATION
Β U SINJESS & FINANCE
polyethylene plants are budgeted for next year. Its titanium plant a t Ashta bula, Ohio, was completed this year and started up a f e w months ago. Emphasis next year will be on spending for oxygen plants, uranium milling and concentrating plants, a chemical plant in Puerto Rico, and acrylonitrile expan Solvent recovery is effective in sion at Institute, W. Va. r Diverse Protects f o r Du Pont. D u preventing air pollution—a growing Pont has scheduled a larger construc business problem in m a n y "clean tion program this year—on the order of air" conscious communities. $165 million. By comparison, capital spending last year amounted t o $119 Removal of solvent before air i s million. T h e higher figure appears to discharged from your vent stack n o t represent a new level for D u Pont, only improves neighborhood rela whose budgets have averaged between t i o n s but returns up t o 9 9 % of t h e $100 million to $125 million for the solvent for re-use again and again a t past 10 years. Prospects are good for a small fraction of original cost. still higher expenditures during 1957; the company probably has projects of Learn h o w solvent recovery c a n some $250 million or more from which benefit y o u ; write for free technical to choose bulletins. Among t h e major items are a Cali fornia tetraethyllead and Freon plant which will be ready by the end of 1956; expansion of methyl methacry.D ώ υ Κ υ late capacity to supply intermediate for a n e w Lucite acrylic lacquer, expan BY REGF.NERATÏVE ABSORPTION, sion of nylon intermediates capacity at Niagara Falls, Ν. Υ., and Victoria, " B A R N E B E Y - C H E N E Y CO. Tex., and construction of a 40-millionpound nylon tire yarn plant at Rich mond, Va. Also included are bottle neck eliminations in its titanium pig ment operation plus a 50% enlarge ment of titanium metal capacity, in creases in Dacron intermediate and fiber production, and expansions in Orion a n d Cellophane capacities. Other expenditures may be made for H a v e y o u considered t h e benelow-pressure polyethylene capacity and fits of developing your future i n for a new plant to make high purity a small b u t rapidly expanding silicon metal. company? J o b freedom, oppor• Allied Pushes Basics· Expansion tunities for doing t h i n g s your plans for Allied Chemical will boost way, developing your ideas, and construction costs from $54 million to a real chance for your work t o an estimated $ 7 5 million and perhaps b e noticed are only a few of t h e slightly more i n 1957. Scheduled for plus factors w e offer. major capacity increases are the Toledo, Ohio, line of plastics and doubled out We need ceramic engineers put of chlorine and caustic a t Bruns who are recent graduates (or wick, Ga. Ammonium nitrate will be o t h e r s w h o feel t h e y h a v e produced i n a new unit at Hopewell, the equivalent experience) t o Va., and anhydrous hydrofluoric acid at handle a wide variety of r e Valleyfield, Que. search, development a n d pro• More f o r Hercules. Hercules Pow duction projects in the latest der is spending money faster than ever high-temperature ceramic fields. before and should reach expenditures If y o u would like t o talk over of $33 million this year—$20 million t h e additional advantages o f over the 1955 total—but does not expect locating in our pleasant sumto maintain this higher rate during mer resort t o w n with its i n 1957. However, the company does formal atmosphere, send us a seem to b e on a higher spending level resume t o d a y . Remember—it approximating a $ 3 5 million annual average. Gibbstown, N. J., p-cresol costs nothing t o investigate! Dept. CEN-7 and Savannah, Ga., tall oil plants are L A B O R A T O R Y E Q U I P M E N T CORP. nearing completion, and early in 1957 S t . Joseph, Michigan | the company expects to start ι.:;*) an ex
with Solvent Recovery
Ceramic Engineers
5862
C&EN
NOV. 2 6, 1 9 5 6
plosives plant at Bacchus, Utah, form aldehyde a n d pentaearythritol units at Louisiana, Mo., and a Ziegler poly ethylene plant at Parlin, NL J. A methanol plant i n Missouri is scheduled for later in the year, and sometime in 1958 the Hercules-Imperial Chemical Industries methyl imethacrylate plant should start up. • Others in tiie Act. Diamond Al kali is spending $14 million this year for n e w plant facilities a n d i s thinking in the range of nearly $ 2 0 million for next year. Chlorine capacity at Hous ton, Tex., will be imcreased 4Q*%> t o 700 tons a day by early 1958, while perchlorethylene and polyvinyl chlo ride capacities will b»e doubled and on stream by the first half of 1957. Some expenditures may be made for petro chemical acetylene production at Hous ton. W. R. Grace nas a big chemical pro gram encompassing capital expendi tures this year o f $33 million for a n e w polyethylene plantât Baton Rouge, La., Cryovac expansion both here and abroad, catalyst expansion, and a n e w research laboratory for Davison Chemical Division. Stauffer is raising capital spending from about $ 1 5 million this year t o $20 million next year for added chlorine capacity a t Niagara Falls, Ν. Υ., and for titanium chloride a n d boron chloride prodmction, for doubled petrochemical capacity at Louisville, Ky., and for added, sulfuric acid c a pacity at two locations. Air Reduction has elevated its spend ing 50% t o an annual level o f $ 1 5 mil lion, with emphasis on air separation plants. Pennsalt is pushing hard o n hydrofluoric acid and Isotron propellant projects. Rohm & Haas has jumped capital expenditures: to over $ 2 0 mil lion for its Houston, Tex. acetylene and ammonia plants. American Cyanamid is emphasizing its Fortier, La., develop ment in acrylonitrile and methylstyrene.
Mixture as Before Late third quarter reports continue to show crosscurrents in process industry operations J L A T E STRAGGLERS a m o n g third quarter
financial reports from process industry firms show pretty much the same pic ture developed b y earlier figures (C&EN, Nov. _5, page 5 4 4 0 ; Nov. 12, page 5 5 6 4 ) . fciales ^voiimie i s generallyhigher this year, but net income has in more cases than n»t h a d a hard time keeping n p with rising gross. Foe Machinery & Chemical, for one, reports a 13% rise in sales during the
