INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
N e w construction Dow Corning plans to build a lubricants plant at Trumbull, Conn., near the company's silicone rubber compounding plant. Construction will begin soon with completion slated for next spring. The plant will produce lubricants based on silicones, fluorosilicones, molybdenum disulfide, and other materials and will also produce Dow Coming's line of friction and wear testing machines. The facility will include a lubricant evaluation laboratory and service center.
Corporate Georgia-Pacific Corp., Portland, Ore., has acquired Tops Chemical Co., Del Mar, Calif., in an exchange of 90,000 shares of Georgia-Pacific common stock for all outstanding shares of Tops. Tops products include municipal and industrial water and waste treatment chemicals, swimming pool chemicals, and detergents. Fisher Scientific Co., Pittsburgh, and National Patent Development Corp., New York City, have formed a joint venture—Fisher-Hydron, Inc.—to develop, make, and market laboratory apparatus and chemical specialties using a new acrylic polymer called Hydron. The polymer was developed by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Ritter Pfaudler Corp. will acquire all outstanding capital stock of Tanatex Chemical Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J., for approximately 450,000 shares of Ritter Pfaudler common stock. The transaction is valued at more than $18 million. Tanatex makes specialty chemicals for the textile industry, which are used primarily in dyeing of synthetic fibers. It will be operated as a subsidiary in Ritter Pfaudler's chemical group. Standard Oil Co. (N.J.) has sold a Puerto Rican affiliate, Borinquen Chemical Corp., to Arkay Polymer Corp., New York City, for an undisclosed amount. Borinquen Chemical was established in 1966 by Esso Chemical, an affiliate of Standard Oil Co. (N.J.), to build and operate a polyvinyl chloride facility in Puerto Rico. Arkay Polymer says that construction of a plant to make polyvinyl chloride resins in Puerto Rico will begin in October 1968. AeroChem Research Laboratories, Inc., Princeton, N.J, a subsidiary of Ritter Pfaudler Corp., has awarded exclusive rights to its nonequilibrium plasma jet to Plasma Physics Corp., Hicksville, N.Y. Plasma Physics plans to develop and market the jet for inducing gas phase reactions and for surface treatment applications in the metals, chemical process, packaging, and textile industries. Ethyl Corp. has purchased manufacturing and marketing rights in the U.S. and Canada to two Shell Chemical patented antioxidants—lonox 330 and lonox 100. The 330 24 C&EN JULY 1, 1968
product is a noncoloring stabilizer for plastics, resins, rubber, and waxes. It is especially useful in applications requiring high processing temperatures, according to Ethyl Corp. lonox 100 is also used with plastics, rubber, and waxes, particularly for stabilizing fats and oils in food applications. Sun Oil and Sunray DX Oil boards of directors have voted to extend until Aug. 1 the time in which to consummate a merger of the companies. On that date, the merger agreement will terminate unless a further extension is negotiated. Originally, the merger agreement was to terminate if the merger was not consummated by July 1 (C&EN., Jan. 29, page 15). The directors' action follows approval by Sunray DX stockholders of the merger agreement at an adjourned session at Sunray DX's annual meeting in April. Voting by Sunray DX stockholders was delayed about nine weeks because of temporary restraining orders and a preliminary injunction issued by the Federal District Court in Tulsa. The injunction was voided in a reversal by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver last month.
International African Metals Corp., Ltd. (AMCOR), Farbwerke Hoechst, A.G., and South African Iron and Steel Industrial Corp., Ltd., have formed a joint venture called HYMAT—Heavy Media Materials (Pty.), Ltd.—in the South African Republic. For this company AMCOR will build a plant at Kookfontein to make finely divided ferrosilicon with an initial annual capacity of 3000 metric tons. Based on a process of Friedrich Uhde, GmbH, and know-how of Knapsack, A.G., this product, with a 15% silicon content, will be used for mineral processing and will serve various consumers in South Africa for ore dressing and diamond production. Production and application are subject to numerous patent rights. Hoechst South Africa (Pty.), Ltd., will handle marketing. Farbwerke Hoechst, A.G., has formed a new company in France to coordinate its interests there. The new firm will be called Hoechst France and will have a capitalization of about $20,000 subdivided in stocks of $20 each. Hoechst's existing marketing companies in France will keep their independent status. Aramco Overseas Corp. plans to build a 288,000 gallonper-day flash distillation plant to process sea water from the Persian Gulf into fresh water with a purity of 5 p.p.m. at its oil refinery at Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. Scheduled for completion by the end of 1968, the desalting plant will replace a submerged-tube evaporator system installed more than 20 years ago. The industrial equipment division of Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corp., Eddystone, Pa., has received a contract through its licensee, DEMAG-Electrometallurgie, GmbH, Duisburg, Germany, for the design of the plant. DEMAG will fabricate and erect the plant.
