U.S.I. CHEMICAL NEWS September
1961
A Series of Advertisements for the Chemical Process Industries
Ethylene Seen as Most Valuable Petrochemical Building Block By Chemical Process Industries Properties and Reactions Detailed in New Brochure
(Photo courtes/ Metal Hydrides Inc.)
Use of dispersed sodium is key to efficient pilot and plant scale production of sodium borohydride. First step, shown here, is to make sodium hydride by reacting hydrogen gas with metallic sodium dispersed in mineral oil. The sodium hydride is later reacted with methyl borate to produce sodium borohydride. Further information on sodium dispersions is contained in U.S.I.'s 42-page brochure on the subject. For a copy, address Technical Literature Dept., U.S.I. Chemical News, 99 Park Avenue, New York 16, Ν. Υ.
New Brochure Covers Bulk Storage of S. D. Alcohols And Proprietary Solvents Users of specially denatured alcohol or proprietary solvents who are planning to install bulk storage tanks can get expert help from U.S.I.—America's oldest and largest marketer of industrial alcohol. The company has recently issued an 8-page data sheet: "Bulk Storage Tanks for Spe cially Denatured Alcohol and Proprietary Solvents." It lists four prerequisites for installing bulk storage facilities, reviews federal regulations, discusses tank design—cover ing materials of construction, size and location. Two final sections provide infor mation on auxiliary equipment and mea suring devices. (Continued
on next page)
Amino Acid Intake-Protein Efficiency Relation Is Basis of New Diet Concept Industry researchers have determined that the daily intake of essential amino acids should be proportional to the amount found in blood plasma. They find a direct correlation between dietary intake of these amino acids, their concentration in fasting blood plasma and protein efficiency. Based on these findings, they have helped National Institutes of Health de velop a diet concept which they feel will put nutritional studies on a sounder theo retical basis.
Over five billion pounds of ethylene as a softening, ripening and coloring agent were produced and used in the United for fruits and vegetables ; and as a condi States last year. No other petrochemical, tioning agent for nuts. with the exception of synthetic ammonia The values of ethylene to the CPI are (largely used for fertilizer), approaches its low cost and its ability to polymerize this versatile material in volume consumed or react by addition with simple, inexpen annually. Almost all of this volume is sive materials such as hydrochloric acid, employed in the synthesis of chemical in oxygen and chlorine—to yield extremely termediates, or commercial chemicals such useful intermediates or end products. as alcohol and polyethylene. A small End Products Extremely Numerous amount is used directly—as a refrigerant ; The largest quantity of ethylene pro duced is consumed by the chemical indus try in the manufacture of six derivatives: (1) Ethylene Oxide (2) Polyethylene (3) Ethyl Alcohol (4) Styrene (5) Ethyl Chloride (6) Ethylene Dichloride Ethyl ether is produced concurrently with ethyl alcohol. End products from these derivatives are very numerous, and extremely important in our chemical economy. Ethylene oxide, for example, is the starting point for monoethylene glycol, used primarily in automo tive antifreeze. It is also the building block for di- and triethylene glycols, ethanolamines, glycolethers, acrylonitrile, sur Ethylene in cylinders is sold by U.S.I, for food factants and other compounds. processing, as a refrigerant, and as a chemical Polyethylene is the fastest growing plas raw material. tic on the market today. Consumption of ethylene for polyethylene in the U.S., totalling six million pounds in 1945, is National Distillers, Owensexpected to reaeh 1.6 billion by 1965. Illinois Form Co. to Make Over 50% of all ethyl alcohol is con-
High-Density
Polyethylene
Formation of a new, jointly owned com pany to make high-density (linear) poly ethylene was announced recently by Na tional Distillers and Owens-Illinois Glass Company. The name of the new company is National Petro Chemicals Corporation. The new company will operate a plant in Houston, Texas, plans for which were announced by National Distillers last Feb ruary. The plant, scheduled for comple tion in late 1962, will have an annual capacity of about 60 million pounds. U.S.I. Division of National Distillers produces low and medium density poly ethylene resins at plants in Houston, Texas and Tuscola, Illinois.
(Continued on next page)
U.S.I, ethylene unit supplies 100-million lb.· per-year polyethylene plant at Tuscola, III.
s
—
Ethylene-Valuable
U.S.I. CHEMICAL NEWS
™
Building Block (Continued)
verted to acetaldehyde which in turn is the building block for countless deriva tives. These include acetic acid and its anhydride, the acetates, n-butyraldehyde, n-butanol and pentaerythritol. The need for styrene for butadiene-styrene synthetic rubber during World War II first brought ethylene to the fore as a chemical raw material. Today, styrene is the base material for polystyrene plastics and latex paints as well. Ethyl chloride yields tetraethyl lead and ethyl cellulose. Ethylene dichloride gives rise to ethylene amines and to a large part of the vinyl chloride produced.
TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Information about manufacturers of these items may be obtained by writing U.S.I. Low temperature properties of copper a n d its al loys is subject of literature now offered. For use in cryogenic equipment, copper said to provide remarkable retention of ductility at low tem peratures. No. 1750 Aleuritic acid (9, 10, 16-trihydroxypalmitic acid) now available in commercial quantities. Sug gested for use in perfumery (civetone, dihydrocivetone, epi-ambrettolide), p h a r m a c e u t i c a l s , plasticizers, plastics, adhesives, etc. No. 1751
90-Gallon, Blow-Molded Polyethylene Drum Liners Produced by New Machine
New filter holders, for use with submicron mem brane filters in processing liquids, can now be obtained. Typical uses include contamination analysis, bacteria detection, drug sterilization, production of super-pure water. No. 1752
Blow-molded polyethylene drum liners of 55- to 90-gallon capacity can now be obtained, thanks to the development of a new, giant blow-molding machine. It is felt that, in the near future, the adaptation of even larger molds to this new equip ment will make possible successful pro duction of up to 250-gallon containers. U.S.I.'s PETROTHENE® 106 polyethylene resin has been molded into 55-gallon drum liners on this new equipment.
Protective coating formulations, b a s e d on dis tilled tall oil a n d tall oil fatty acids, are described in a new series of d a t a sheets just issued. Give procedures for formulating, compositions, prop erties, suggested uses for each. No. 1753
Bulk Storage
New Ethylene Literature Available The demand for ethylene is expected to reach about 6.8 billion pounds by 1965. To help those working with the material, U.S.I, has just issued a new, comprehen sive brochure covering refined ethylene. It contains tables and charts of physical properties, a two-page table of refrigera tion data, specifications, shipping informa tion, applications, diagrammed chemical reactions, complete cylinder handling in formation and bibliography. Copies may be obtained by addressing Technical Literature Dept., U.S.I. Chemi cal News, 99 Park Ave., New York 16, Ν. Υ.
of Alcohols (Continued)
Included are diagrams of typical aboveground and underground storage tanks. Other diagrams show details for gauging wells and for anchoring underground tanks. For copies of the new bulk storage bul letin, write Technical Literature Dept., U.S.I. Chemical News, 99 Park Ave., New York 16, Ν. Υ.
Infrared physics is subject of new journal now published quarterly from London. Covers IR theory, experiment, instrumentation a s applied to IR detection a n d transmission, a n d research problems using infrared. No. 1755 New volumetric concentrates, for rapid prepara tion of standard solutions claimed accurate to 0.1%, h a v e been introduced. Come in spill-proof ampoules said to h a v e long shelf-life. 38 Con centrates now offered. No. 1756 Toluene, benzene and xylene specifications for maximum acceptable concentrations in all places of employment are provided in three newly re vised ASA standards now being sold. No. 1757 Scientific and Technical Societies of U.S. and C a n a d a , 7th edition, can now be purchased. This standard reference book lists 1,597 U.S. a n d 239 Canadian societies, both national a n d local, with complete details. No. 1756 Chlorine properties a r e detailed in 28-page book let now available. Booklet includes information on shipping, handling, safety measures, uses. Il lustrated with graphs, charts, photos, drawings. No. 1756
Please use number when writing.
U.S.I. Products Make News On these pages are news stories on ethylene, polyethylene, sodium, ethyl al cohol and proprietary solvents, all prod ucts of U.S.I. But the company also markets other chemicals which seldom make news. We'd like to list them here: η-Butyl alcohol, amyl alcohol, ethyl ace tate, η-butyl acetate, acetone, ethyl ether. Anhydrous ammonia, ammonium ni trate, nitric acid, nitrogen fertilizer solu tions, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, sodium peroxide.
Five new 5'-ribonucleoside di- and triphosphates, for large-scale experiments in nucleic acid chem istry a n d synthesis, h a v e been developed. In clude cytidine compounds CDP a n d CTP; uridine compounds UDP, UTP a n d UDP Glucose. No. 1754
U.S. INDUSTRIAL CHEMICALS CO. Division of National Distillers and Chemical Corporation 99
PARK AVENUE ·
NEW YORK 1 6 , Ν. Υ.
PRODUCERS OF: Industrial Alcohols, Solvents, Polyethylene Resins, Heavy Chemicals, Metallic Sodium U.S.I. SALES OFFICES:
Diagram of typical above ground storage tank is included in U.S.I.'s latest Technical Data Bulletin, "Bulk Storage Tanks for Specially Denatured Alcohol and Proprietary Solvents."
Atlanta · Baltimore · Boston · Chicago · Cincinnati Cleveland · Detroit · Kansas City, Mo. · Los Angeles Louisville · Minneapolis · New Orleans · New York Philadelphia · St. Louis · San Francisco
