WEW ORLEANS—CHEMICAL PRODUCTION CENTER
CHEMICM- AND ENGINEERING
NEWS APRIL 1 6 , 19S6
VOL.
3 4 , NO. 1 6
Director of Publications, Applied Journals, ACS: C B . Larrabee Editorial Director, Applied Journals, ACS: Executive Editorz - Managing Production
W . J„ Murphy
J a m e s M. Crowe
Editor: Manogerz
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R o b e r t F. Gould J o s e p h H. K u n e y
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Advisory Board; H a z e l Bishop, R. r l . B o u n d y , A . C. Byrrvs, J . T_ C o x , J r - , M a u r i c e F. Crass, Jr., R . JL. Ericsson, r i . i _ F i s h e r , Theodore S . H o d g i n s , J . R. Hoover, JE. Warren K i n s m a n , H» F . Mark,_ Lloyd HL Reyerson, E . G . R o c h o w , Carl S e t t e r s t r o m , ~ - Frank J . Soday The American Gicmical Society assumes no,responsibility for the statements and opinioas advanced by concrifaucori to its publications. Views expressed in the editorials arc those of the editors acd do act necessarily rcpro ' sent the official position of the American Chemical Society.
JiCS Louisiana Section -^Apf>-roprraie Time
50fh Anniversary
Comes ct α M o s t
. A C C O R D I N G to our geometry instructor, t h e shortest distance b e t w e e n two jpoinis is a. straight line. For a journey from Washington t o Dallas, site of -£he 1 2 9 t h National ACS Meeting, this is a four-hour direct flight. O u r ap^roaeeh, however, to t h e spring meeting was via i e w Orleans. Having lhear«l and read about t h e fantastic growth of t h e chemical industry adjacent -ίο tbae Crescent City d u r i n g t h e past two to five years, we w a n t e d to see St personally". S o m e o n e ' very aptly h a s said, "Every plantation near N e w Orleans is -grouping a chemical p l a n t / ' Literally, it is true. Our "Cook's t o u r " of both s i d e s of tlie Mississippi for a distance 30 miles above the city, courtesy of -ïhe chairrman o f the ACS Louisiana Section and the m a n a g e m e n t of several c h e m i c a l companies, dramatically demonstrated the demise of o n e era and ïïhe IbeginiMing o f a n e w one. O n e plant after the other, Shell Chemical at INorco, Para-Am at Destrehan, h o t h on the east bank, a n d Lion Oil-Monsanto snd -Cyanamid on t h e w e s t bank, appear i n settings of h u g e oak trees. At JDestzrehan^ the old plantation mansion, hand-riewn at the time t h e Consti"tutio*n of tiiis n a t i o n was ratified, now serves a s an ofHce against a backdrop o f 2€)th century equipment. Indeed, this combination presents a strange, .and a n m a n y ways, an a w e s o m e sight. WTiile flbe Mew Orleans area h a s been slow to develop a s a n important c e n t e r of rmuge-scale chemical production c o m p a r e d to t h e Texas Gulf XDoast, i t is now moving a h e a d rapidly. O w first: visit: to N e w Orleans was i n 1923 t o confer with t h e rice growers o n imsecfeidal problems with stored rice. At that time, there w a s little i n Λ β «diernioal l i n e in t h e area. Again w e were, there in 1 9 4 0 to inspect ZFreefport Sulphur's n e w a n d unusual installation at G r a n d e Ecaille. Both ZBatocn Roimge a n d L a k e Charles became chemical producing centers in the ^thirtâes, getting a big j u m p o n the Crescent City. T h e latter n o longer can Ibe cleniecL, however. i t s entrance into t h e industry i s perfectly natural. Basic r a w materials, inclmding lime., salt, sulfur, natural gas, a n d petroleum are close a t hand, ias aire basic chemicals such a s caustic a n d chlorine. Weather is ideal for -the amodeno type of construction and labor a n d transportation factors are ideaJL Th_e Mississippi is an almost inexhaustible supply of process water. "The Southern Begional Research Laboratory of the U . S. D e p a r t m e n t of ALgiioulture and a n u m b e r of long-established universities h a v e created an ^atmosphere favorable to basic research. If one looks at a m a p of t h e Gulf of Mexico, one sees a h u g e sweep of -territory roughly in t h e form of a horseshoe. At the lower lefthand corner i s Brrownsville, Tex.; at t h e right, Tampa, Fla. At the u p p e r e n d of the arc are JBreeport, H o u s t o n , Beaumont. Port Arthur, Lake Charles, N e w Orleans, ZBatocn Romge, a n d Mobile. W i t h New Orleans coming into i t s o w n and Avith definite indications that the Tampa Bay area is in the early stages of a ne^w surge of chemical p l a n t development, i t is fairly safe to p r e d i c t that -the «Gulf Coast from e n d to end is destined to be t h e greatest chemical prod-uctioa center a n y w h e r e i n t h e world. Developments of the past few years in t h e N e w Orleans sector constitute no f l a s h irm the pan. Shell, for example, i s expanding its plant facilities at j\ T orco; Cy^anarxiid on t h e d a t e of issuance of this edition of C & E N , at a jpress conference at its Fortier plant is announcing a n expansion t h a t will :more t h a s double present production. Lion Oil-Monsanto obviously is plamning o n further expansion. It is of considerable significance that the ACS Louisiana Section will celeh r a t e its SOth anniversary w i t h a three-day celebration Oct. 10 t o 12. The -thenoe will he, "The Louisiana Section Looks at the South—Industry, Research, Education." It is a ioost a p p r o p r i a t e theme, for t h e section has m a d e a n d will continue t o intake notable contributions in all three fields. If you stop a n d t h i n k about -the s r e a s ^ v h e r e the chemical industry has grown and prospered, inevitably you will End A C S local sections. T h e Society's local sections h a v e had a long and Honored history in each and every o n e of these fields. W i t h but zfevv excepuons, the pioneers and leaders w h o have built t h e industries in -these sections h a v e h a d a strong sense of responsibility to their, profession, their- industries, and their communities.
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