INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
New construction Dow Chemical will modernize and start up half its idle magnesium capacity at Freeport, Tex., to boost its annual output by 25,000 tons. The modernization is to be completed early in 1968. It includes a doubling of the current-carrying capacity of the magnesium electrolytic cells and installation of a new process for recovering liquid chlorine. This is the third magnesium capacity increase by Dow in three years (C&EN, Nov. 22, 1965, page 17). Dow will produce about 75,000 tons of magnesium this year and 95,000 tons of magnesium in 1967. If all its facilities were modernized and activated, it could produce 150,000 tons a year. First Chemical Corp., a subsidiary of First Mississippi Corp., has started to build its 30 million pound-per-year aniline plant (C&EN, Nov. 1, 1965, page 29). The facility, at Pascagoula, Miss., will use a benzene-toluene nitration process developed by Josef Meissner in Germany and a hydrogénation process developed by Lonza, A.G., Switzerland. Completion is scheduled for the spring of 1967. First Chemical was originally a joint venture of First Mississippi and Permian Corp., but Permian, now being acquired by Occidental Petroleum, has since dropped out. Cabot Corp. has purchased a 63-acre site near Parkersburg, W.Va., for its planned 90 million pound-per-year carbon black plant (C&EN, July 25, page 32). Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., will build a multimilliondollar air separation plant to supply oxygen to Lone Star Steel Co.'s mill at Lone Star, Tex. When completed early in 1968, the plant will produce 400 tons of oxygen per day. Missouri Lead Smelting Co. will build a 200 ton-per-day contact sulfuric acid plant in Iron County, Mo. Leonard Construction Co. will build the unit to Monsanto's process design. Construction will be completed late in 1968.
drew its request for a 60-day deferral of the acquisition. It involves the exchange of about 1.3 million shares of GAF stock—0.9 share of GAF's for each share of Sawyer's. The company will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. Occidental Petroleum Corp. has taken a 40-year lease from Owens-Illinois on 40,000 acres near Occidental's phosphate mine in Hamilton County, Fla. OwensIllinois will receive royalties on the phosphate rock mined there. Occidental estimates that the land contains at least 70 million tons of phosphate rock. Kaiser Aluminum has completed acquisition of Southern Nitrogen Co. (C&EN, Aug. 15, page 21), which has become Kaiser Agricultural Chemicals division. In the merger Kaiser exchanged 0.074 share of its 4.75% convertible preference stock ($100 par value) and 0.40 share of its common stock for each share of Southern Nitrogen common stock. John R. Riley, president, and George V. Taylor, executive vice president, of Southern Nitrogen will retain their functions and become corporate vice presidents of Kaiser. Du Pont withdrew its 3 cent-per-pound price increase on Delrin acetal resin after Celanese, the other major producer of acetal resin, said it would not go along. Celanese vice president Franklin E. Eck said, "Rising costs, cited by Du Pont as a reason for their price increase, are being offset at Celanese by a high rate of increase in sales of acetal resins, and do not justify an increase in the prices of Celcon [acetal resin]." The current price is 65 cents a pound for 20,000-pound quantities. Sunray DX Oil Co. has completed acquisition of Red Barn Chemicals, Inc., Shreveport, La., formerly a subsidiary of Chemical Enterprises, Inc. Following approval from Chemical Enterprises' directors and stockholders, Sunray DX purchased Red Barn's outstanding stock for about $5 million. Red Barn will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. It makes fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals. Its sales were $15 million in fiscal 1966.
Corporate Du Pont workers at the Everett, Mass., plant of the fabrics and finishes department have voted for the International Chemical Workers Union as their collective bargaining agent. The vote, in a National Labor Relations Board election, was 27 to 26. ICWU has been conducting an organizing campaign among the 1400 hourly paid employees at the company's Louisville, Ky., neoprene plant and plans to petition NLRB for an election there soon. The union believes its new crisis strike fund (C&EN, Oct. 3 1 , page 30), from which members on strike are paid $20 a week, will help it win at Louisville. General Aniline & Film has completed its acquisition of Sawyer's, Inc., Portland, Ore. (C&EN, Oct. 3 1 , page 34). The deal went through after the Justice Department with38 C&EN NOV. 14, 1966
International Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP) has signed an agreement with India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research to build a pilot plant that will test IFP's process for converting kerosine to protein by bacterial action. U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has started construction of a $7 million production-scale plutonium fuel factory in Windscale, England. The plant will begin operation in 1969, producing a nnually 30,000 plutoniumuranium oxide fuel pins containing 1 metric ton of plutonium. UKAEA will use the pins for its 250-Mw(e). prototype fast reactor, which will go critical in 1970. The plant can also fabricate fuel elements for thermal reactors.
