Ontario Gets Superphosphate Plant Electric Reduction aims to supply local and U.S. agricultural and animal feed markets A new 70,000 ton-a-year phosphate (as P 2 0 5 ) plant has gone on stream at Port Maitland, Ont. Operated by the Electric Reduction Co. of Canada, Ltd.—a subsidiary of Britain's Albright & Wilson group—the $14 million plant makes normal and triple superphosphates, phosphoric acid, and liquid phosphates for use in fertilizers and dicalcium phosphates for animal feeds. The new plant makes ERCO one of the few producers of phosphatic fertilizers in an area that at present consumes about 750,000 tons a year, most of which was previously imported, the company says. As well as supplying Canadian needs, ERCO is developing markets for its phosphates in the U.S., particularly around Lake Erie. "The United States market," says ERCO, "is rich in potential and an entry has been facilitated by agreement with International Minerals &
Chemical which provides for IMC's handling ERCO material in return for supplying phosphate rock." ERCO expects to market at least 25,000 tons of its P20 5 , in the form of high-analysis phosphates, in the North Central U.S. Up to 500,000 tons of phosphate rock will be transported by rail from Florida to the new plant each year. The plant has extensive storage facilities which will allow stocking of up to 50,000 tons of superphosphates. ERCO's Process. Operating a standard process, ERCO grinds Florida phosphate rock and reacts it with sulfuric acid piped from the adjacent plant of Sherbrooke Metallurgical Co., a subsidiary of Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Co. After filtration, precipitated gypsum is discharged as waste. This is done in a Pray on plant to produce weak wet phosphoric acid (about 30r/c PoOr>). The acid is concentrated to 54% P 2 0 5 by an Ozark-Mahoning sub-
ACID BELOW. Under this floor, Electric Reduction reacts sulfuric acid with phosphate rock to make phosphoric acid
PHOSPHATES FOR CANADA. 38
C&EN
OCT.
2 3,
merged burner acid concentrator. At this stage, the acid is reacted with ground phosphate rock to produce triple superphosphate. After clarification by a process developed by ERCO, part of the concentrated acid is prepared for shipment in tank cars as phosphatic fertilizer solution, mainly to the northern United States. To make dicalcium phosphate—a mineral animal feed supplement— ERCO uses a defluorination technique, developed by ERCO, prior to reacting the acid with ground limestone.
Gypsum Problem.
ERCO's Port
Maitland plant produces large amounts of gypsum as a by-product of the wet acid process. The company has no economic use for the gypsum by-product at present, since supplies of cheaper gypsum rock are readily available in southwestern Ontario. So ERCO is creating a gypsum disposal pond and installing equipment to eliminate both atmospheric pollution and pollution of the Grand River, into which the treated effluent from the plant flows. ERCO is Albright & Wilson's biggest company outside Britain.
DCP STREAM. Dicalcium phosphate is conveyed on this belt to the kiln in the background at the $14 million Ontario plant
ERCO's 70,000 ton-a-year plant at Port Maitland, Ont., will supply Canadian and U.S. markets
1961
ultimate in
11^^
RUTGERSWERKE A.G. FRANKFURT A.M. Available in Commercial Quantities
Modified Carbon Steel Lowers Cost of Barges Phoenix Steel Co. produced a modified carbon steel for the tanks on these refrigerated barges used to transport liquid anhydrous ammonia from Phillips Petroleum's plant at Galveston, Tex., to East St. Louis, III. The metal used in the tanks had to pass drop-weight tests of 20 foot-pounds at —40° F. in order to pass U.S. Coast Guard safety requirements for ductility at low operating temperatures. The modified carbon steel costs less than $200 a ton, compared with $400 a ton for the alloy steels conventionally used for the same low-temperature performance. Without the lower-cost modified carbon steel, the economics of refrigerated shipping of anhydrous ammonia would be questionable, Phoenix and Phillips say (C&EN, Aug. 22, 1960, page 46).
Standards May Lower Nuclear Plant Costs Lower cost nuclear power plants can result if industry and Government develop nuclear standards. A 30% cut in capital cost may be possible if standards are set for safety, plant sites, and materials, says Harvey A. Wagner, assistant vice president, Detroit Edison Co. Today in a medium price fuel region, capital cost in a modern coalfired plant amounts to 42% of total cost. Fuel cost adds up to about 49%, operation and maintenance about 9%. In an atomic power plant capital cost is closer to 55% of the total cost, fuel cost runs about 36%, and operating and maintenance cost probably about 9%. Studies on Standards. Study groups today are analyzing such problems as reactor design, containment,
and control. Requirements for a proper site are also being studied. In some cases proposed standards have been prepared. Full use of existing knowledge and quick evaluation of lessons now being learned should result in broad standards being set up, says Mr. Wagner. These will lower frequency and number of design decisions, and individual company specifications which can only lead to chaos, he told the American Standards Association's national conference on standards in Houston, Tex. Standards in materials for a nuclear power plant could put a real dent in capital costs, says Mr. Wagner. For example, no specification or standard was available for reactor grade graphite to be used for shielding of the Enrico Fermi Atomic Power Plant now going up near Detroit, Mich. Graphite used by plant engineers made to their own specifications proved unsatisfac-
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tory. Result was that it was necessary to remove and replace about 200 tons of graphite. This same plant bumped into problems with liquid sodium used as a coolant for the reactor. This application required sodium of utmost purity. No sodium meeting required specs was available and no instruments are yet available that can measure the low level of impurities called for in this application. So makers of sodium and instrument manufacturers are now working out solutions to this problem. If standards had existed here, says Mr. Wagner, much time and money could have been saved.
NEW FACILITIES National Starch & Chemical's vinyl acetate plant (C&EN, July 31, page 17) will be built at Seadrift, Tex. Construction of the 45 million poundper-year plant will start late this year; the plant is expected to be in operation late in 1962. Brown & Root will handle construction. Acetylene raw material will come from the Olefins Co., a division of Union Carbide. Output will be mostly for captive use.
Standard Oil of California will build its proposed 100,000 barrel-a-day refinery near Pascagoula, Miss., now that Mississippi voters have okayed two amendments to the state's constitution (C&EN, Aug. 28, page 17). The amendments allow Standard to receive tax exemptions and to acquire a section of school land for its 1000acre site.
Du Pont is expanding and modernizing its photo products plant at Rochester, N.Y. A three-story addition to the present building will provide for finished product storage and shipping operations and enlarged facilities and new equipment for plant technical activities. Total cost will be about $1 million.
Wyeth Laboratories division of American Home Products has dedicated its new plant at East Whiteland Township, near Paoli, Pa. The plant has 300,000 square feet of production area, 23 automated lines for packaging and labeling prescription drugs, and 260,000 square feet of warehousing. 40
C&EN
OCT. 2 3, 1961
Diamond Opens Ohio Research Center An organic chemist at Diamond Alkali's new T. R. Evans Research Center watches a solvent distillation. The center has been completed at a cost of more than $4 million at Concord Township, Ohio. Located around a quadrangle are three major buildings—a research administration building with 75,000 square feet of floor area, a process development lab with 35,000 square feet, and a high pressure lab of 3250 square feet. About 200 scientists, engineers, and other personnel work at the center; most of them previously were located at Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Diamond spent just over $4 million for research and development last year.
Enjay Chemical, a division of Humble Oil, will build a new unit for producing solvents and chemical intermediates at Humble's Bay way, N.J., refinery. Principal product will be methyl isobutyl ketone. The unit is expected to be on stream by the middle of 1962.
Plymouth Oil Co.'s new Udex extraction unit at Texas City, Tex., is completed and ready to turn out about 5 million gallons of benzene, 12 million gallons of nitration-grade toluene, and 14 million gallons of virgin mixed xylene and ethylbenzene a year.
Leonard Construction has a contract to build a Leonard-Monsanto contact sulfuric acid plant near Hobbs, N.M., for Climax Chemical Co. The plant will use hydrogen sulfide and recovered sulfur as raw materials, will have a rated capacity of 150 tons a day, and is to be finished in about seven months.
Armstrong Cork has completed modernization and expansion of its Fulton, N.Y., plant, doubling its capacity to produce Hydrocord and similar materials made by combining asbestos and other materials with synthetic rubber. Hydrocord can be used for gasketing, oil filter cartridges, shoe insoles, and other applications.
Fairchild Semiconductor has started to build a $1.5 million research and development center in Stanford Industrial Park, Palo Alto, Calif. The company's present R&D staff of about 250 will be expanded to 400 when it moves into the new center by the end of 1962.
U.S. Stoneware has moved its engineering laboratories to a newly acquired building in Akron, Ohio. The new location provides more floor space for the lab's activities in research on packed-tower design and operation.
Few, if any, high boilers give you such a desirable combination of 1 ) dilution ratio 2 ) flowout 3 ) blush resistance, and 4 ) solvency as do Shell's new Pent-Oxol and Pent-Oxone solvents.
NITROCELLULOSE: Shell's new Pent-Oxol* solvent has a 4.7 dilution ratio, excellent flowout and blush resistance, good solvency— and evaporates fully in 3375 seconds Pent-Oxol glycol ether solvent is one of two new Shell high boilers with impressive properties for nitrocellulose. The other is PentOxone,* ShelFs broad-spectrum keto-ether. These t w o Shell solvents can be stocked for use in nitrocellulose lacquers and thinners, then utilized in virtually every other type of coating system. Result: quality nitrocellulose formulations, bulk-purchase savings and simpler inventory. HELL'S n e w Pent-Oxol and Pent-Oxone
S
solvents offer a unique combination of desirable properties for nitrocellulose lacquer and thinner formulations.
Viscosity, blush, dilution, flow Eight grams of R.S. ^-Second Nitrocellulose in 100 mils Pent-Oxol solvent gives these readings: Viscosity of 100 cps; blush resistance to 93 per cent R . H . at 80° E; dilution ratio of 4.7 for toluene, 1.3 for high boiling aliphatic naphtha. Similar readings for Pent-Oxone solvent are 67 cps, 91 per cent R.H., 3.1 dilution ratio for toluene, 0.9 with aliphatic high boiling naphtha.
Both Pent-Oxol and Pent-Oxone solvents are evenly evaporating, true high boilers. Total evaporation times are 3375 a n d 2450 seconds. They give you the even flowout and resulting high gloss you expect.
Broad spectrum of Pent-Oxol, Pent-Oxone uses By using Pent-Oxol and Pent-Oxone solvents in many other coating systems, you can take advantage of bulk-purchase savings and simplify inventory: In acrylics, Pent-Oxol and Pent-Oxone solvents combine unparalleled gloss with excellent solvency. In vinyls, P e n t - O x o n e solvent c a n
lower your costs and give you a bettersmelling finished lacquer. In urethanes, Pent-Oxone solvent combines low isocyanate reactivity with good solvency, eliminates the need for premium priced specialty solvents. Pent-Oxol a n d Pent-Oxone are also h i g h l y active solvents for m e l a m i n e s , maleics, alkyds, thermosetting acrylic epoxies, cellulose acetate butyrates of all types and a number of other basic resins. N e w technical bulletins, plus samples, are available on all these applications. Write any of Shell's 9 Industrial Chemicals Division offices, or directly to Shell Chemical Company, 110 W. 51 St., N e w York 20, N e w York. * Shell Chemical Trademark
Shell Chemical Company Industrial Chemicals Division
C&EN CHARTS Industrial production dipped last month, after having run up a string of six monthly increases. Figures re leased last week by the Federal Re serve Board show output down about 1 % from August and also slightly under the July level. The decline gives concrete evi dence to add to other signs that the pace of business has slowed down
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with the advent of autumn. "The economy appears to have done little more than hold its own," says the monthly survey of business conditions of Morgan Guaranty Trust. "This has been a disappointment, and business sentiment has been colored by it." Another sign of slowdown comes in the latest Commerce Department sur vey of manufacturers' sales expec-
SALES AND INVENTORIES CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS
Toluic Acids provide ideal inter mediates for the manufacture of aromatic esters, amides, acid chlorides, nitrile and anhydride compounds. Cowles' facilities for large-scale production of m-Toluic, o-Toluip and p-Toluic acids make it possible to pro duce specially formulated esters and metallic salts of the Toluics where commercial quantities are indicated. Coif Cowles to discuss it, today.
CHEMICAL
COM PANY
Cleveland 20, Ohio
42
C&EN
O C T . 2 3, 1 9 6 1
ALL MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
|
This Week In Business tations. Manufacturers expect sales to climb 1.5% (to $ 9 6 billion) in the current quarter from the previous three months, compared with a sales rise of 3 . 4 % in the t h i r d quarter and 5 . 3 % in the second. But few observers see in the recent slowdown signs of a major switch in economic trends. For one thing, the rapid business expansion of last
summer hardly could have been maintained without a pause. Moreover, output of some materials, particularly petroleum products, was cut by Hurricane Carla on the Gulf Coast. Even more serious has been labor unrest in the automobile industry, last month at General Motors, this month at Ford. The impact of lower car output has spread beyond Detroit to the
RATIO Ol
OCTOBER
1961
industry's many suppliers. Steel production dropped back slightly during the first half of this month, for example. In fact, last month's decline in industrial output centered on durable goods—metals, motor vehicles, clay and glass products, machinery. Output of chemicals and paper products climbed to new highs; textiles also were up.
>GE
CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS
2.2
2 3,
.1960
tmaassa 1961
2.0
Source: Federal Reserve Board
INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS ,1961
150
i1960
CHEMICALS AND ALLIED PRODUCTS
130
150
130
110
110
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4
90
I
n t f W—
'' n if n r p a qj
ALL INDUSTRY
I
D J F M Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
A
M
90
J
J
II
I I I I I I I I I I I
DJ
F M A M J
J
A S O N D
Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
INORGANIC CHEMICALS
ORGANIC CHEMICALS
RUBBER & PLASTIC PRODUCTS
150
150
150
130
130
130
110
110
90
90
90
I || D J
I I I I I I II
F M A M J
J
Not Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
I I I I I I I I I I I II
I I
A S O N D
DJ
F M A M J
J
Not Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
A S O N D
D J
F M A M J
J A S O N D
Seasonally Adjusted. 1957-100
OCT.
2 3, 1961 C&EN
43
