INDUSTRY
&
BUSINESS
Chemical Firms Lining Up Fiber Expansions Expansions and market entries shrouded in secrecy mark the noncellulosic man-made fiber industry. But there is little question that chemical firms are lining up to get into the fi bers business or expand present fiber operations. The latest is Hercules, with its upcoming joint venture in synthetic fibers with Farbwerke Hoechst (C&EN, Aug. 30, page 25), West Germany's largest producer of poly ester fibers. Earlier this year, Du Pont announced plans for its fifth U.S. nylon 66 plant, the company's first new nylon plant since 1958 (C&EN, March 22, page 19). Also, American Viscose division of FMC Corp. this year made its first move into noncellulosic fiber with plans to build a poly ester fiber plant (C&EN, March 1, page 9). Allied, Tennessee Eastman, and American Enka also announced expansion of man-made fiber facilities in the past year. Allied. In the polyester field, Allied Chemical bears watching. The firm now has pilot-plant facilities for poly ester, which it purchased earlier this year from Hans J. Zimmer, A.G., Frankfurt, West Germany (C&EN, July 12, page 39). Although the pilot plant has melt-extrusion equip ment, Allied demurs from calling it polyester spinning. Thus far, the company admits to using the equip ment only for its combination nylonpolyester fiber, EF-121, which it pro poses as suitable for tire cord. Allied may build a dimethyl terephthalate plant, but says it has not yet made a decision on DMT (a principal raw material for polyester). The com pany says its technical center in Vir ginia is evaluating new polymers and is interested in many things, polyester among them. Another company busy with poly ester fiber is Goodyear. It does not, as yet, extrude any fiber. But it makes the polymer and sells it to Beaunit and other fiber makers. Then it buys polyester yarn from Beaunit and other suppliers to use in making tire cord. Since last October, Goodyear has in24
C & E N SEPT. 6, 196 5
Chemical Firms Dig Deeper and Deeper (Capacities as of End of 1965, Millions of Pounds) Polyester Acrylic Nylon Capac CapacCapacType ity ity Type ity Type
P-c E-c P-a. b,c d,e
A.C.S. Industries Alamo Industries ( i n c l u d e s Gerfil C o r p . a n d Reeves Bros. plant) Allied Chemical American Cyanamid
6 a,b c a,d e
Pilot plant**
145
X 6 a,b, c,d
10*
65*
P-c
American Manufacturing Co. A m e r i c a n Thermoplastic Products Corp. ( s u b s i d . Phillips Petroleum) American Viscose (FMC Corp.) Bates Manufacturing Beaunit ( n y l o n j o i n t w i t h El Paso N a t u r a l Gas o n s t r e a m 1966)
E& P-c, g a,d 6 66
40
(25 in 1966) d 15 P-a,d,35 e,h
Carr-Fulflex Inc. Celanese Fibers Co.
a,d e
100*
6 66 Pilot plant-a 66 a.b, c
240
a,d
d d,e
14* 160
6 a,c
20
6 66 610 44a,b,c, d.e
490
H e p l o n , Inc. Hercules
X
a,df e,h
X
240
E& P-c 66 a 6 a.b, c 6-a 66-c
W. R. Grace ( D a w b a r n division) Hanover Mills, Inc.
12
E& P-c
Easthampton Rubber T h r e a d Co. ( d i v . of U n i t e d EJastic Corp.)
Foster Grant Co. General Polymer C o r p . Globe Manufacturing Co.
P-a,d, e
20
Columbian Rope Co.
Fiber Industries ( o w n e d by Celanese a n d ICI) Firestone
P-f
ΙΕ I p-c
a,d
Berkley
Courtaulds N o r t h America Dow Du Pont
30
27
American Enka
Chemstrand
Olefin Capacity Spandex
Type
6 66 a,c 6 d
40 35
a,df e,h
X Pilot plant
75* X
P-b, c
X E& P-a, c,g
P-a, b.d, e
45
creased the capacity of its polyester resin plant at Point Pleasant, W.Va., and is now expanding the plant again. The tire maker is also looking into combination polyester-nylon fibers, as is Allied. Other moves in the polyester field are being made by Tennessee Eastman and Fiber Industries. Early next year,
Tennessee Eastman will increase its polyester fiber capacity at Kingsport, Tenn., from 20 to 50 million pounds a year. Fiber Industries (owned 62.5% by Celanese and 37.5% by Imperial Chemical Industries) is build ing a new 20 to 25 million pound-ayear plant at Salisbury, N.C. When this plant comes on stream next year
into Fiber Manufacturing (Capacities as of End of 1965, Millions of Pounds) Company
Acrylic Capacity
Type
Type
Nylon Capacity
Olefin Polyester CapacCapacType ity ity
Type
Ε & P-c Ε &
Industrial Plastic Co. Industrial Wire & Plastic Co. (subsid. International Stretch Products) Interspan IRC Fibers div. of M i d l a n d Ross Lambeth Rope Corp.
6 c a
Lloyd Manufacturing Co. Newton Filaments Co.
6 c 6 d 6
Nichols & Co. Nypel Corp.
10
c
P-c
X
P-c P-c
X
P-c E& P-c
Plymouth Cordage Co.
X
Polythane Corp. (jointly o w n e d by M o n s a n t o a n d Pateco Corp.) Prest-Wheel Inc. Sauquoit Fibers Co. ( s u b s i d . R o h m & Haas)
P-c 6 66 a,b, c
Ε P-c
Schlegel Manufacturing Co. 6 66 c
Soo Valley Co.
Ε & P-c
Southern Lus-Trus Corp.
X Pilot plant
Spandex Products, Inc. Tennessee Eastman Thiokol Chemical Corp.
d,
d,e
Vectra (div. of N a t i o n a l Plastics) (jointly o w n e d by Enjay a n d J . P. Stevens)
c
d,e, h
25
Θ
Union Carbide U.S. Rubber
|
20*
P-e X
12 66 c 610 c
c
1
Waltrich Plastic Corp. Wyomissing Corp. 338
Capacities: C&EN estimates, as of end of 1965; given where known Sources: C & E N , Textile Organon, June 1965. a n d "Synthetic Fiber Markets t o 1970," Anita S. Kastens Key: * = capacity increase above a m o u n t shown already a n n o u n c e d for f u t u r e . Ε = polyethylene. Ρ = polypropylene, a = yarn.
X
P-a Pilot plant
Vogt Manufacturing Corp.
Total production capacity 1965
Spandex
1075
426
E-c P-a, c,d,e Ε & P-c P-c P-c
6
155
25
b = textured yarn, c = monofilament, d = staple, e = tow. f = strapping, g = ribbon, h = fiberfill. X = Firm makes product, other informa tion u n k n o w n . * * = Polymer for EF-121, a merged nylon polyester fiber
it will boost Fiber Industries' polyester capacity from 75 million to about 100 million pounds a year. And the com pany says it has plans for an ultimate capacity of 150 million pounds a year. Expansions in acrylic capacity have already been set beyond 1965. Chemstrand's capacity, up 25 million pounds by the end of this year from 1964's 100 million pounds, is due to be boosted to 150 million pounds. Dow will increase the capacity of its plant at Lee Hall, Va., from the pres ent 14 million to 45 million pounds in 1967. Nylon. The grandfather of the noncellulosics, nylon, still resists old age. Large capacity and new uses, such as the nylon-polyester combina tion fiber, mark its present status. Next year nylon 6 capacity will be in creased by an additional 25 million pounds by American Enka. As various moves are made and con templated in other fibers, polypro pylene fiber continues to attract at tention. Many companies make rel atively small amounts of this fiber, mostly monofilament. Four firmsAlamo Industries, Beaunit, Hercules, and Vectra—account for most of the output, particularly yarn. Polypro pylene fiber's main problem has been and continues to be that it poses difficulties during dyeing. However, Novamont, a wholly owned subsidiary of Montecatini, and other polypropylene makers believe a good solution to the dyeing problem will be found before too long (C&EN, June 14, page 2 4 ) . Allied, Hercules, Shell, and U.S. Rubber claim to have proc esses for solution dyeing fabrics made from polypropylene fiber. Labels. Producers of spandex were encouraged recently by a Federal Trade Commission decision that per mits naming of fibers that make up less than 5 % of the fabric, provided the fibers serve some useful purpose (C&EN, June 7, page 21). This means that spandex will show up more often on fabric labels. Spandex fibers, introduced in 1959 by Du Pont under the trade name Lycra, are now made by many companies. Among them are U.S. Rubber, Thiokol, Inter span, Firestone, and Easthampton. Rohm & Haas, the one firm with a spandex-like fiber (an elastomeric) made of acrylic rather than segmented polyurethane, says it is presently doing little with the acrylic elastomer. Pro duction capacity for spandex is now 25 million pounds a year. SEPT.
6? 1 9 6 5
C&EN
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