INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
New construction Shell Chemical will build a unit at its Deer Park, Tex., plant to make plasticizer alcohols. Capacity will be 200 million pounds per year of linear alcohols and 2-ethylhexanol. The primary alcohols will be in the C4 to C n range, with the C5 to C n alcohols to be sold as blends, mainly as plasticizer raw materials. Alcohol output should begin late in 1968. Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. will spend $6.1 million to modernize and expand its alumina plant at Baton Rouge, La. Work will include updating calcining kilns and installation of electrostatic precipitators and automatic controls to counter air pollution. Shell and Commonwealth Chemicals, Inc., has started operation of its 30 million gallon-per-year cyclohexane plant at Penuelas, P.R. The first shipment, 2 million gallons, went to Europe, where it will be processed into caprolactam and eventually into nylon. The cyclohexane is produced from benzene and hydrogen supplied by the adjoining aromatics plant of Commonwealth Oil Refining Co. Shell and Commonwealth Chemicals is owned by Commonwealth Oil and a member of the Royal Dutch/Shell group, Shell Co. (Puerto Rico), Ltd. Mobil Chemical Co. has completed a multimillion pound-ayear high-purity m-toluic acid plant at Beaumont, Tex. The meta isomer is an intermediate in the manufacture of N.N-diethyltoluamide insect repellent and is also used in coatings, plasticizers, and pharmaceuticals. Diamond Alkali has started a $1 million expansion program at its Belle, W.Va., plant to double production capacity for methylene chloride and chloroform. The expansion is due for completion early next year. Vistron Corp.'s acrylonitrile catalyst production plant (C&EN, May 2, 1966, page 23) in Lima, Ohio, has gone on stream. Use of the new catalyst, designated Catalyst 21, results in a substantial reduction in raw material requirements (propylene and ammonia) because of higher conversions to acrylonitrile. Vistron is a subsidiary of Standard Oil (Ohio).
Corporate Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp. is the name of the surviving company after the merger of Gulf Sulphur and Lithium Corp. of America (C&EN, Feb. 6, page 23). Gulf Sulphur's common stock will remain as outstanding shares of the new company. Each share of common stock of Lithium is converted to one half share of a cumulative convertible preferred stock of Gulf Resources & Chemical. The new company will have 12 directors, four from Lithium. Harry D. Feltenstein, Jr., of Lithium becomes executive vice 24 C&EN JULY 3, 1967
president of the new company and Robert H. Allen, former president of Gulf Sulphur, becomes its president. Lithium will be operated as wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf Resources & Chemical. Upjohn has acquired Laboratory Procedures, Inc., Culver City, Calif., for 30,869 shares of Upjohn stock, valued at about $1.85 million. Laboratory Procedures, founded in 1957, performs laboratory analyses for physicians and hospitals and is a pioneer in the development of automated and computerized laboratory technology. Owens-Illinois, Inc., and Rayonier, Inc., have terminated negotiations for possible merger (C&EN, April 3, page 22). The termination was by mutual agreement. No reason was given. Humble Oil & Refining and Tidewater Oil are among the latest oil companies to expand exploration and leasing of mineral rights for uranium (C&EN, March 13, page 20). Working from its Denver office, Humble now is acquiring mineral leases in New Mexico and Wyoming. Tidewater, as operator for itself, Getty Oil, and Skelly Oil, has opened a uranium exploration office in Salt Lake City. The latter three companies are partners with Kerr-McGee Corp. in Petrotomics, which owns and operates a uranium ore mine and mill in the Shirley Basin of Wyoming.
Markets Commodity Exchange, Inc., New York City, plans to establish a futures market in liquefied petroleum gas. This action follows a two-year study by Harry R. Thomas of Tulsa, Okla., who was retained by the industry to investigate its marketing problems (C&EN, April 3, page 23). Exchange governors hope to initiate trading early in the fall, with the first delivery to be December 1967.
International British American Oil, in a $5 million, five-month project, is laying nine pipelines across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal East to Boucherville, Que. They will carry crude oil, refined products, and petrochemical feedstock. One of the three, 6-inch petrochemical lines will initially carry naphtha from the British American refinery at Montreal East to the affiliated Shawinigan Chemicals plant at Varennes. The two other lines will carry pyrolysis gasoline and ethylene from Varennes to the north shore of the river. Shawinigan is expanding at Varennes to become Canada's largest ethylene producer. British American will not identify the ethylene customer on the north shore. Possibilities include Union Carbide Canada, which is expanding polyethylene capacity at its Montreal East plant, National Distillers, and Canadian Industries, Ltd. (C&EN, May 1, page 25).
