CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING
NEWS VOLUME 38, NUMBER 27
The Chemical World This Week
JULY
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1960
Expansions Expected in Methanol With producers pressed to meet present demand, more capacity will be needed to fill future requirements Methanol producers are sporting wide smiles this year. And for good reason. Demand is setting a pace which should push production to an all-time high around 290 million gallons—just about all the industry can make. Supply and demand, moreover, should remain in balance next year. Although rated capacity now stands at 319 million gallons, more is needed. Producers must shut down from time to time for periodic maintenance. And in some cases, methanol production is regulated by ammonia output. Long range forecasts call for methanol output to hit 360 million gallons in 1965, indicating a need for roughly 400 million gallons of capacity by that time. But chemical industry expansions rarely just parallel foreseeable needs, so methanol capacity is likely to climb above the 400 million gallona-year figure within five years. Already, some expansions are in the hopper:
vents—the big three in the methanol business—are among likely prospects. And newcomers may appear in the methanol business, if only for captive use. Two possibilities: American Cyanamid and Borden Chemical. Formaldehyde Sets Pace. Biggest single factor behind the current methanol surge is growing output of formaldehyde. About 40% of the methanol made is converted to formaldehyde and its slice of the pie should increase to around 4 5 % over the next five years. Credit plastics—the older
phenolics, ureas, and melamines plus the newer polyformaldehyde (Delrin) —for much of this growth. Phenolics continue to display great strength in the market. Output this year should hit 640 million pounds— 11% better than in 1959. However, production of ureas and melamines should not go much beyond last year's 401 million pounds. While these thermosetting resins should continue to move ahead over the next five years, competition from thermoplastics will retard their growth to around 5%
• Allied Chemical is adding 8 million gallons' capacity at its South Point, Ohio, plant to up its potential there to 24 million gallons annually. • Hercules Powder is building an 8 million gallon plant near Richmond, Calif., the first methanol plant in the West, that is due on stream early next year. This plant could affect western prices, since West Coast consumers have been paying a 4 cent-a-gallon premium on methanol. Although no other producer has announced expansions yet, it is a safe bet that more increases are coming in a year or so. Du Pont, Union Carbide Chemicals, and Commercial SolJULY
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a year on the average. Other formaldehyde end uses, such as pentaerythritol, hexamine, and paraformaldehyde, should post net gains which should average around 4r/c a year. But Delrin production will boost the output of methanol which goes into formaldehyde. Du Pont is the only Delrin producer now. Output could run 7 to 9 million pounds this year and rise to around 50 million pounds by 1965. Roughly 1 gallon of methanol gives 5.5 pounds of pure formaldehyde to make Delrin (1 gallon of methanol gives 15 pounds of 37% formaldehyde). Du Pont's big goal now is to get Delrin into as many commercial applications as is possible. To date, it is used mostly in items which weigh less than half a pound, but a breakthrough may be coming shortly. Instrument clusters on the 1961 Valiant and also on another compact car will
These Methanol Plants . . . Company and Location
Capacity, Millions of Gallons per Year
Allied Chemical South Point, Ohio Celanese Bishop, Tex. Commercial Solvents Sterlington, La. Du Pont Belle, W. Va. Orange, Tex. Escambia Chemical Pensacola, Fla. Hercules Powder Louisiana, Mo. Heyden-Monsanto Texas City, Tex. Rohm & Haas Houston, Tex. Spencer Chemical Military, Kan. Union Carbide Chemicals South Charleston, W.Va. Texas City, Tex.
16 20 48 20 90 19 8 25 12 9 12 40
. . . Will be Joined by These Next Year Allied Chemical South Point, Ohio Hercules Powder Hercules, Calif. 20
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be made from Delrin. These clusters will average about 2 pounds per auto, replacing a zinc molding which weighs 9 pounds. More strikes like this could send Delrin off to a flying start. Chemicals Push Ahead. As a basic chemical, methanol is used for a raft of other organics, such as methyl and methylene chlorides, methyl acetate, methyl formate, methyl sulfide, methyl methacrylate, and dimethyl terephthalate. Collectively, these synthesis products account for 30% of today's methanol output and should take 3 5 % by 1965. Methyl methacrylates continue to find wider use in the coatings field and promise to increase their need for methanol by 50% in the next five years. Also, methylamines may eventually provide another boost for methanol; much hinges on whether unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine gets much play in missile and rocket fuel programs. Dimethyl terephthalate should up methanol use somewhat as more polyester fiber capacity (expected to reach 158 million pounds in 1961) comes on stream. A terephthalate plant, once on stream, can recover methanol for reuse, however. Tetramethyllead is a poser in the methanol end-use pattern. TML is in limited use today as an antiknock additive for gasoline and some observers figure it will take up to 50% of the tetraethyllead market by 1965. Others figure it for only 2 5 % , or roughly 135 million pounds. Both Du Pont and Ethyl Corp. are building large scale manufacturing facilities and Chatham-Reading Chemical plans another. TML apparently responds better than T E L in highly aromatic fuels, and with the trend to more aromatics in today's motor fuels—particularly premium grades—it seems destined to make sizable inroads on the TEL market. The big question for methanol producers is whether methyl chloride for TML synthesis will be made .from methane or methanol. It looks now like it will be made both ways, so TML will contribute to methanol's use in chemical synthesis. Sliding Markets. Although many methanol uses are going up, some applications are on a downward trend. Antifreeze demands continue to shrink in the face of wider use of glycolbased formulations. Exports, which should hit 18 million gallons this year, may turn down by 1965 as foreign capacity comes on stream. Aircraft
fuel injection fluids using methanol (ADI fluids with 25 to 3 5 % methanol in water) continue to lose ground. New commercial jets are not using ADI and the Air Force plans to replace B-47's, which use the fluid, with B-58's, which do not. Most piston driven airplanes use ADI but the handwriting is on the wall for this one time sizable methanol outlet. Hence, the end-use pattern for methanol in 1965 adds up to a demand of 360 million gallons. Sales that year should near 195 million gallons compared to an expected 162 million gallons this year. The general pattern of about 4 5 % of production for captive use and 5 5 % for outside sales should not change much in the next five years. Price—30 cents a gallon in the East and 34 cents a gallon in the West—is expected to hold steady this year, particularly with demand strong.
Methanol Goes into These End Uses Millions of Gallons 1960 1965
Formaldehyde production 110 160 Other chemical production 88 120 Aircraft fuel injection fluids 18 5 Antifreeze 11 9 Solvents and dénaturants 12 18 Exports 18 11 Miscellaneous 33 37 Total 290 360 Source:
C&EN Estimates
Producers Sell This Much of Their Output Allied Chemical Celanese Commercial Solvents Du Pont Escambia Chemical Hercules Powder* Rohm & Haas Heyden Newport Monsanto Spencer Union Carbide
25% 95% 90% 35% 100% 33% 0% 25% 0% 50% 50%
* Hercules' West Coast plant will sell 66% of its production when it goes on stream.
