MARKETS Methanol: More Coming Up Several plant projects in building and planning stage despite record production of almost 2 0 2 million g a l . JVLETHANOL or methyl alcohol is but one product ,in the imposing and fastgrowing group known as petrochemicals. One might think that methanol (in this case synthetic methanol) could meet any demand when it entered the billion-pound class of chemicals in 1953. Since then its requirement for formaldehyde and other processes has become so great that a billion pounds today would amount to a serious shortage. Production of methanol in 1955 from natural gas actually went to 1,331,598,000 pounds (201,757,270 gallons) and in December the industry was turning it out at the rate of 1,567,000,000 pounds a year (237 million gallons). That these amounts are not considered sufficient is evidenced by the plans of the industry to push the capacity for methanol to still higher figures. One of them is Commercial Solvents, which announced at the end of February that it would spend $10 million to expand its facilities for methanol and other petrochemical derivatives. Most of this sum will cover construction of an addition to its Sterling, La., plant. Another part will be spent at Terre Haute, Ind. The joint project of Monsanto and Heyden Chemical at Texas City will add 25 million gallons to the supply. • Hercules Project. The newest methanol venture is that of the Her-
cules Powder Co. at Louisiana, Mo., costing $2 million. Its capacity will be around 7 million gallons a year, two diirds of which will b e captive production for the company's formaldehyde and pentaerythritol operations. The remaining one third will b e for sale. The methanol will be made through the Swiss Inventa process. Of the 201,757,270 gallons of methanol made last year, about 40% was converted to formaldehyde while the remainder went into the antifreeze market and into chemical processing. Use of methanol as an antifreeze gained steadily after the market was returned to it in 1946. Its consumption that year was 20 million gallons. It had doubled by 1948 and in 1952 reached 47 million gallons. Last year, however, it was 35 million gallons. • Petrochemical Growth. Methanol is but one item in the growing giant known as petrochemicals, or that group of crude materials derived from natural gas and petroleum from which some 3O00 chemicals are processed. The tremendous investment entering this branch of chemicals today is estimated at around $4 billion b y Henry C. McGrath of The M. W. Kellogg Co., and since the petrochemicals industry has been doubling every five years, the investment may total as much as $8 billion in 1960. Right now it is said
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to comprise as much as 55 to 6 0 % of the chemical industry's entire assets. In the recent discussion before the ACS Delaware Valley regional meeting, it was said that new products are arriving at a rate of 400 per year. In terms of constant dollars the petrochemical industry has expanded its output more than three times. To illustrate the extent that synthetics have taken over, McGrath showed that resins and plastics are more than 95% and rubber more than 50% synthetic. • Production Totals. Annual outputs for the three petrochemical divisions were estimated as follows: Aliphatics Aromatics Inorganics
40 billion lb. 5 billion lb. 15 billion lb.
Corrected growth rate estimate for the chemical industry is 10.896. This compares with the 1929-1954 annual growth rate of 7.8% for natural gas; 4.5% for petroleum; 5.496 for rubber products; and 4.5% for all manufacturing industries. Last year, petrochemical sales amounted t o $4 billion; rubber goods to $5.2 billion; and petroleum products to $11.6 billion. Latter figure is based on wholesale prices before state and federal taxes. • New Investments. It was shown by McGrath that capital investment and production in the petrochemical branch of the chemical industry have increased "better than fourfold from 1940 to 1950. From 1950 to 1955 the industry doubled, and this rate of growth is expected to continue from 1955 to 1960. This wouia make capital investment in the latter year $ 8 billion. The expanding activities of petroleum companies in this field were summarized. Petrochemical sales by Phillips Petroleum were estimated at $130 million for 1955, and its n e w plants may enable it to double the 1955 result in the next three years. Gulf Oil has two ethylene plants with an estimated capacity of 370 million pounds. Among the petrochemicals produced by Standard Oil of Indiana are dodecyl benzene, polybutene, and the oxo alcohols. A. large synthesis plant for gasoline and chemicals from, natural gas may b e in production this spring. Lion Oil (Monsanto) has been operating chiefly in ammonia and derivatives. Their production in 1954, assurning a sales value of $80 per ton of nitrogen, would represent $18 million, or 11.2% of gross income. Petrochemical sales by Esso in 1955 were above those for any previous year, or 6% of total domestic sales. Sales by Shell Chemical in 1954 were $139 million, or 11% of gross income. From 1950 to 1954 the gross income from chemicals was doubled.
