INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
New construction Goodyear Tire & Rubber is increasing polyester resin capacity by 5 0 % to more than 150 million pounds per year at Point Pleasant, W.Va. The resin will be used primarily for tire cord (C&EN, Nov. 28, page 22). Du Pont plans to expand production of polyester film by more than 4 0 % at Circleville, Ohio. The new facilities are scheduled for startup within 18 months. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority has awarded a $6.3 million contract for a 2.5 million gallon-per-day desalination and power complex to Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, a subsidiary of Armour. The complex will be built near Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas Island and will triple the island's fresh water resources. The 38-stage flash distillation facility and 15,000-kw. power plant will be completed in 18 months. Air Reduction's Airco Chemical will increase its polyvinyl alcohol capacity at Calvert City, Ky. The multimilliondollar expansion is scheduled for completion early in 1968. PVA is used for textile applications such as warp sizing, wash and wear finishes, and as a binder for nonwoven cotton and rayon. Abbott Laboratories1 agricultural division, AMDAL Co., North Chicago, III., will increase capacity for arsanilic acid by more than 5 0 % early in 1967. Arsanilic acid is a growth-promoting additive for poultry and swine feeds. Union Carbide's Linde division has completed a 425 tonper-day oxygen plant at Lackawanna, N.Y. The oxygen will be supplied to Bethlehem Steel at the same site. Carbide will add a 120 ton-per-day liquefier by July 1967. Modifications to existing units will raise oxygen capacity to 1550 tons per day at Lackawanna. Drew Chemical Corp. has on stream a new $500,000 esterification plant at Boonton, N.J. The unit will increase Drew's specialty chemical capacity by more than 8 million pounds a year. It will produce fatty acid esters, glycerides, alkanolamides, ethoxylates, and polyesters. Corning Glass will construct a glass-melting tank to produce chemically strengthened flat glass at Blacksburg, Va. The chemically strengthened glass is five times stronger than ordinary window glass and can be made thin enough to bend and flex. Corning is also developing a new process for the glass at Blacksburg.
Corporate American Petrochemical Corp., Minneapolis, Minn., has acquired Lenoir Wood Finishing Co. and Industrial Chemical Co. Both companies are in Lenoir, N.C., and will be 40 C&EN DEC. 12, 1966
operated as wholly owned subsidiaries. They make finishes and protective coatings for the furniture industry. The purchase price was not disclosed. Combined annual sales of the two privately owned companies are $2 million. Upjohn has purchased 6 2 % of the stock of Macrosonics Corp., Carteret, N.J., for about $130,000 cash. Macrosonics, an ultrasonics laboratory for acoustics and fluid dynamics, will operate as a separate corporation. Harshaw Chemical will become a division of Kewanee Oil Co. (C&EN, Aug. 8, page 11). The merger, approved by stockholders of both companies, could be completed this month if there is a favorable tax ruling from the Internal Revenue Service.
International Kaiser Refractories Pty., Ltd., Australia, has started a refractories specialties plant at Port Adelaide, South Australia. The $300,000 unit will use raw materials from the U.S. and other non-Australian sources. Montecatini Edison is expanding caprolactam capacity at Porto Marghera, Italy, from 100 to 163 million pounds per year. The phenol-based process will continue to be used. Expansion will be complete late in 1968. Industrialimport, a Romanian State company, will build a plant for the synthesis of organic intermediates for the Romanian pharmaceutical industry. Petrole-Chimie Engineering Co., Paris, France, will build the facility. Sigri Elektrographit, GmbH, has been formed in West Germany by the major producers of graphite and carbon electrodes. Farbwerke Hoechst and Plania Beteiligungs, GmbH, will each own 5 0 % . Plania, in turn, will be twothirds owned by Siemens and one third by Rutgerswerke und Teerverwertung, A.G. Sigri will acquire 5 0 % of Ringsdorff-Werke, Bad Godesberg-Mehlem, continue to hold a substantial interest in Elettrocarbonium, S.A., Milan, and acquire the Griesheim works of Hoechst. As a result of this regrouping, two older participations of Hoechst, Siemens, and Rutgerswerke—Sigri-Kohlefabrikate, GmbH, and Siemens-Plania, A.G., fur Kohlefabrikate—will be dissolved. Esso Standard Libya, a division of Standard Oil (N.J.), will boost its capacity for desalinating sea water at Port Brega, Libya, from 266,000 to 666,000 gallons per day by March 1967. Two 200,000 gallon-per-day units are being built by Aqua-Chem, Inc., Waukesha, Wis. Total cost of the project is about $1 million. The multistage flash distillation plants convert sea water (35,000 p.p.m. dissolved solids) to water with less than 5 p.p.m. dissolved solids. The new plants are designed for continuous operation without shutdown for cleaning.
