INDUSTRY THIS WEEK IN BRIEF
New construction Union Carbide plans to expand its molecular sieve plant at Mobile, Ala. Scheduled for completion in the spring of 1968, it is the second expansion undertaken since the plant began operation in June 1965. General Aniline & Film will begin construction this month on a major $16 million expansion project at its Binghamton, N.Y., photo products plant. GAF will build a photographic paper coating and finishing facility, experi mental film coating laboratories, and a pilot plant. Design and engineering work on the project is in the final stage. Completion is scheduled for late 1968. FMC's organic chemicals division will build a synthetic glycerol plant at Bayport, Tex. Construction of the plant will be handled by Badger Co., Inc., and will begin shortly. It is scheduled for completion by the fourth quarter of 1968. Annual glycerol capacity will be in excess of 40 million pounds. The project will be the first unit of a petrochemical complex planned by FMC for its newly acquired Bayport site. FMC says it expects the domestic market for synthetic glycerol to grow about 3 % a year with highest growth rates being in foods, drugs, and cosmetics. Shell and Dow are now the only U.S. producers of syn thetic glycerol. They use epichlorohydrin, which has been in short supply, as the starting material (C&EN, March 20, page 23). FMC has not disclosed its process details but says the raw materials it will use are readily available. ICI America, Inc., Providence, R.I., will build a plant at Bayonne, N.J., to manufacture polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). On stream by mid-1969, the new plant will form part of an existing complex that already makes chlori nated hydrocarbons, chlorinated rubber, and chlorinated wax. ICI America, Inc., is a subsidiary of Imperial Chem ical Industries, Ltd., London, England. The proposed plant will use ICI's Fluon process. PTFE's main uses are in the chemical, electronics, and engineering fields. Its best known use is the nonstick coating on cooking ware.
Corporate International Minerals & Chemical will cut production of potash at its Carlsbad, N.M., mine by 5 0 % on July 1. This move will bring production there to about 400,000 tons a year. The company says that reducing output will improve profitability by allowing miners to concentrate on high-grade ore. Current studies to extend the life of the New Mexico operation are in progress. Metallurgical International, Inc., Wallington, N.J., and Beryllium Corp., Reading, Pa., have entered into a licens ing agreement that will permit the installation of the Cold Stream Impact process at Berylco's Hazleton, Pa.,
plant. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Metal lurgical^ process, to be installed on a full-scale produc tion basis, converts metallic and nonmetallic materials to a finely divided, irregularly shaped state without oxida tion, change in chemistry, or introduction of contami nants, the company says. Equipment at Berylco's plant will be capable of turning out 250,000 pounds of beryl lium and beryllium alloy powder per unit per year. Air Reduction has acquired Temescal Metallurgical Corp., Berkeley, Calif., and has renamed it the Airco Temescal division. The acquisition was concluded in exchange for Airco common stock. Temescal produces highvacuum electron-beam processing equipment that has uses in Airco's welding, electronics, and other businesses. General Tire's patent infringement suits against Murphy Body Works and Isocyanate Products, Inc., and Isocyanate Products' suit against General Tire have all been con solidated in one suit to be tried in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del. The suit against Murphy Body Works, Wilson, N.C., had been filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (C&EN, April 25, 1966, page 20). The exchange of suits between Isocyanate Products and General Tire was started in Wilmington court. General charges Isocyanate Products and its cus tomer, Murphy Body Works, with infringing its polyurethane foam patent—U.S. 3,072,582, the so-called Frost patent. Isocyanate Products claims the patent is invalid in that it should have been granted to Kenneth P. Satterly, an Isocyanate officer, instead of Charles Bedell Frost, who assigned it to General. Similar suits against Union Car bide and Butler Mfg. Co., Kansas City, Mo., were settled out of court (C&EN, June 20, 1966, page 32). Commonwealth Oil Refining, San Juan, P.R., has arranged for $40 million in new financing and a $50 million bank credit agreement. Making up the $40 million is a $20 million convertible debenture issue and $20 million in notes to be sold to δη insurance company. First Boston Corp. heads underwriters for the debenture issue. Pro ceeds from the issue and the bank notes will be used to retire $34 million in outstanding debt. The company expects internally generated funds and bank loans under the bank credit agreement to finance its $130 million expansion of refining and petrochemical facilities.
International National Starch and Chemical Co. (Canada), Ltd., will build a corn wet-milling plant at the industrial park of Collingwood, Ont. Production of specialty starches pre viously imported from the U.S. is slated to begin there in April 1968. Full production of the complete starch line, previously imported from the U.S. and including those made from high amylose and waxy maize hybrids, is planned for late 1968. JUNE 19, 1967 C&EN
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