INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
New construction Occidental Petroleum Corp. is constructing a sulfur mining plant at Lake Hermitage Dome in Plaquemine Parish, La. The facility will produce 200,000 long tons of sulfur a year by the Frasch process. When completed late in 1967, the plant will be operated by Occidental's Jefferson Lake Sulphur Co. Humble and Gulf own the site. Tennessee Corp. is building a contact sulfuric acid plant in Augusta, Ga. Leonard Construction Co. will complete the 300 ton-per-day plant, which it engineered to Monsanto's process design, early in 1967. Hercules, Inc., will erect a tall oil fractionation plant in Hattiesburg, Miss. The facility will produce rosin and several grades of fatty acid from a feed of 60,000 tons of crude tall oil annually. Construction will start in April 1967. Badger Co. will build the plant. Geigy Chemical Corp. will build a dye plant in Bayonne, N.J. John W. Ryan Construction Co., New York City, has scheduled completion for early 1968. To be operated by Geigy's dyestuffs division and designed for expansion, the plant will process dyes and auxiliary chemicals for the textile, leather, and paper industries. Celanese Chemical Co. plans formaldehyde expansion at Bishop, Tex., Newark, N.J., and Rock Hill, S.C. There will be a 50 million pound-per-year boost in capacity at Bishop, and 17% increases in the 100 million pound-peryear plants at Newark and Rock Hill. Just on stream at Bishop is a new 50 million gallon-per-year methanol unit. Standard Oil Co. (Ind.) is installing two interconnected computer centers at Chicago and Tulsa. The information system is designed to give rapid, selective access to operating, financial, economic, technical, and research data for the company and its operating subsidiaries. Two IBM 360 Model 65 EDP systems will be installed at Chicago with additional computers at Tulsa. American Oil Co. will operate the Chicago center, and Pan American Petroleum Corp. will operate the Tulsa center. Commonwealth Oil Refining Co. has started construction of the cyclohexane and ethylbenzene plants at Penuelas, P.R. (C&EN, July 25, page 26). The cyclohexane plant will have a capacity of 30 million U.S. gallons per year, cost $4 million, and be on stream in the first quarter of 1967. With a cost of $5.5 million, the ethylbenzene facility will be completed late in 1967.
Harold L. Gross, an adhesive specialist, will direct the new division, which will be expanded to cover areas outside the shoe industry. Miles Laboratories Corp. has purchased Union Starch & Refining Co. for more than $4.2 million in cash and $7 million in subordinated convertible debentures. Union Starch, with 1965 sales of $26 million, makes corn sirups and sugars, starches, corn oil, gluten meal and feed, other corn by-products, and cyclamates. General Aniline & Film Corp. will acquire Sawyer's, Inc., and its more than $24 million assets (C&EN, Sept. 26, page 35). The move was approved by Sawyer's shareholders for 1.3 million shares of GAF stock. Archer Daniels Midland Co., Minneapolis, Minn., has established a research group to develop resins for the paper and textile industries. Headed by Dr. David D. Taft, the group will work on resins for clay-coating binders, wrinkleresistant finishes, and permanent-press agents. Cooper Industries, Inc., Mount Vernon, Ohio, shareholders have voted a two-for-one split of its common stock. Also approved was a new class of preferred stock and an increase in common stock from 3 million to 10 million shares. Par value of the stock remains $5.00 per share. Cooper serves the gas transmission, oil and gas production, petroleum, chemical processing, and general industrial markets; its projected earnings per share are 6 0 % over last year. Essex Chemical Corp.'s affiliate, Paulsboro Chemical Industries, Inc., is buying Crescent Plastics Co. for $2 million in cash and other considerations. Crescent produces injection- and blow-molded plastics. International Montecatini Edison, S.A., Italy, will supply a complete melamine plant to Kirovakan, Armenia, U.S.S.R. The plant should be completed within three years and will have a capacity of 22 million pounds per year. The value of the contract was not disclosed, but it comes within the general agreement signed by Montecatini and the Soviet Committee for Science and Technology last December. Bayer Hispania, S.A., 7 5 % owned by Farbenfabriken Bayer and 2 5 % by Productos Electroliticos, S.A., has its first plant under construction at Barcelona. The plant will produce alkyd and polyester resins primarily for use in Spain. The firm was founded early this year.
Corporate Endicott Johnson Corp. has formed a new division, Endwell Products Co., to manufacture and sell adhesives, finishing materials, and chemicals for the shoe industry. 34 C&EN OCT. 31, 1966
Continental Oil Co. is erecting a benzene refinery at Immingham, England. The 30 million gallon-per-year plant will produce benzene by hydrodealkylation of toluene when completed in the second half of 1968.
