The Chemical World This Week INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
• Some chemical marketing men are concerned about a change to voluntary reporting for the Government's statistical reports on inorganic chemicals and gases. They fear that if one or two producers fail to report, the statistics could be m a d e valueless. Until January, reporting was mandatory for "Inorganic Chemicals and Gases" (series M28A of Current Industrial Reports). Now, monthly reporting is voluntary, although annual reports are still mandatory. The Bureau of the Census, which issues the statistics, doesn't anticipate any trouble, but it promises to watch closely during the next three months to see if any producers are failing to report. If failures become serious, Census says it can go to the Bureau of the Budget and ask that reporting be made mandatory again.
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14,
1966
CONCENTRATES
• American Mineral Spirits plans t o g e t into the p o l y m e r business "in a big w a y . " T h e com pany plans to build five plants in the U.S. to make "over several h u n d r e d million p o u n d s " of poly vinyl acetate, acrylics, styrene-butadiene resins, and specialty polymer resins. A M S C O says that it intends to serve the paint, paper, textile, and adhesives markets. Total expenditure for the polymer plants will be more than $10 million. T h e company also plans to become basic in raw materials for polymers.
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FEBRUARY
Reynolds Metals w a n t s t o build a primary aluminum plant in Mexico. Its Reynolds Inter national subsidiary has applied to the Mexican government for the necessary license. Proposed capacity was not disclosed. The plant would be located near Reynolds' present fabricating facili ties 15 miles from Mexico City. Alumina raw material would come from the company's Texas refineries. Mexico's present primary aluminum industry consists of one 22,000 ton-per-year smelter owned by Alumino, S.A., in which Alcoa has a 35'< interest. Reynolds' plan to build a primary aluminum plant in the coal region of Kentucky (C&EN, June 1, 1965, page 27) is still alive, but no details have been made public. B. F. Goodrich Chemical is n e g o t i a t i n g with Iran's National Petrochemical to form a joint company that will build a petrochemical complex at Abadan, Iran. National Petrochemical is a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil, a governmentowned company. Last year. Allied Chemical joined with National Petrochemical in a project to put up a S100 million petrochemical complex
in Iran's Bandar S h a h p u r - M a s h u r area southwest of Teheran (C&EN, Nov. 1. 1965, page 17). Construction work on this complex, which is to produce ammonia, urea, mixed fertilizers, and sulfur initially, will begin this summer. • The market for Du Font's Nomex will grow 10-fold by 1970. Present volume for Nomex, an all-aromatic, high-temperature—resistant nylon, is about 1 million pounds annually. It goes mainly into fire-resistant military uniforms. D u Pont says a 6 million p o u n d share of the huge market for industrial protective clothing, now held by glass fiber and chemically treated cotton, is vul nerable to Nomex. Nomex chars above 700 F. (nylon 66 melts at 482° F. ), resists chemical attack, and has the lowest thermal conductivity of any commercially available fiber material. As a nonwoven paperlike product, Nomex is gaining acceptance as protective material for electric motor windings, a market equal in potential to that for Nomex fabric. Current demand for Nomex is being met from a 1 million pound-peryear pilot plant at Richmond, Va. D u Pont is now building a full-scale plant there that is due on stream in the first quart IT of 1967. • Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., is trying again for more heavy-water capacity. It is now negotiating a contract with Deuterium of Canada, Ltd., to double D e u t e r i u m s heavy-water capacity at Glace Bay, N.S. The increase would be from 200 to about 400 tons a year. The com pany is due to bring in its 200 ton-a-year plant this summer (C&EN, June 7, 1965, page 30). A E C L has been trying for some time to arrange construction for additional heavy-water capacity ( C&EN, Aug. 23, 1965, page 31 ) . A E C L says its negotiations with Canadian General Electric Co., Ltd., for a 4(X) ton-a-year heavy-water plant are proceeding satisfactorily. Thus, C a n a d a plans an (S00 ton-a-year capacity for heavy water. ί
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry ( M I T I ) is mulling over a new form of "antidepression" cartel designed to foster only the healthiest firms. T h e plan is to help basically sound firms prune themselves of obsolete equip ment through tax and financial aid, and at the same time liquidate, under government guidance, the hopelessly inefficient. The new-type cartel would be aimed at correcting structural problems in Japan's economy, reflected in the anomaly of a recession and rising prices. FEB. 14, 1966 C&EN
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