SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
New Technology Underlies Air Products' Multinational Stance Firm exemplifies new wave of multinational chemical companies in developing diverse technology to support aggressive global activity Joseph Haggin, C&EN Chicago
Those in the chemical industry are accustomed to an international ambience. Science and technology are intrinsically international and multinational, and no industry is more closely wedded to them than the chemical industry. But the demands on multinational operations are greater than ever and this presents new problems that will test the resolve of firms gone multinational. The demands are occasioned by rapid economic expansion in the Pacific, forthcoming economic integration in Western Europe, the economic and political shakedown in Eastern Europe, and growing expectations of the Third World. Although popular interest in multinational industry is largely confined to politics and the gyrations of the stock markets, officials of multinational companies have become ever more keyed to generation and development of the new technology necessary for corporate growth. One firm that exemplifies the new wave of multinational chemical companies is Air Products & Chemicals. Now 50 years old, the Allentown, Pa.-based firm has grown from a domestic supplier of industrial gases to a major force in gas processing, specialty chemicals, new biodegradable films, food processing, and energy/environmental systems. This expansion and increasing diversity is based on consolidating old markets and actively seeking 20
April 23, 1990 C&EN
new ones. The company's 1989 sales were $2.64 billion. Air Products' aggressive multinational activity is based on the continued generation of new technology and the improvement of that already in place. One of the newer areas of operation for the company is the environmental/energy business, which company officials believe could generate $50 million of net income by the mid-1990s. Included are waste-to-energy systems, advanced flue gas desulfurization systems for coal-fired power plants, and cogeneration plants that use cheap solid fuels. Six environmental/energy projects have been completed or are now under construction. These include a waste-to-energy plant jointly developed with Browning-Ferris Industries. Previously, in 1988, Air Products completed a cogeneration facility in Stockton, Calif.—a 50-
MW, fluid-bed coal-fired plant. A larger version of this plant is now under construction in Pennsylvania. The Stockton project has been routinely meeting San Joaquin County's lowest achievable emission rate (LAER) standards. In this case, the LAER limits were 23 ppm NO x and 39 ppm S 0 2 for a corresponding C 0 2 content of 12% (dry). The NO x reduction is achieved with low combustion temperatures, typically 1720 °F, and ammonia injection. Ammonia reacts with NO to form nitrogen and water, with reaction products being vented to the atmosphere. S 0 2 control is achieved with reaction with limestone in the fluid-bed according to the reaction: CaC0 3 ->CaO + C 0 2 CaO + S 0 2 + U02 — CaS0 4 The latter reaction is temperature sensitive and requires local reaction control that can be best achieved in the fluid-bed. Stack-gas composition
Small (50-MW) cogeneration plant includes advanced emissions control Ammonia
Convection zone Double cyclone
Combustion chamber Solids recycle
To baghouse for *-• particulate removal and then to stack
Coal Limestone Primary air
Ash
Typical operating data: Coal fired — 655 tons per day Sulfur content of coal — 0.44% S0 2 in stack — 0.060 lb per million Btu NOx In stack — 0.037 lb per million Btu
Greater global access to markets needed in the '90s The principal guidance for Air Products & Chemicals comes from Dexter F. Baker, chairman and chief executive officer. He has been a multinationalist since being sent to England in the 1950s to establish an Air Products presence there. Baker is also the U.S. chemical industry's trade adviser for the current Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT). Upon returning from recent European talks at the end of last month, he reaffirmed his belief that greater global access to markets is the largest single issue facing business in the 1990s. Baker says that his message in a speech presented in New York City the day after his return was: "Given the concessions that the U.S. has made in earlier GATT rounds, it is time for other countries to give U.S. exporters greater access to their markets. We want to support the [Uruguay] round and we expect to, but other nations have to 'give' more in the 'give and take.' " The markets that Baker and Air Products are concerned about are truly global and highly variable in character. In Eastern Europe, for example, socialism and communism have left their mark on the economies. Baker believes that many in the Orient may understand the free markets and capitalism better than do most socialist and communist groups. There are other problems, too. In Eastern Europe, there
is continuously monitored for control feedback. Ammonia is injected in quantities about four times the stoichiometric requirement for the overall reactions. This has raised questions about venting ammonia from the stack. The designers claim that excess ammonia will further react to form nitrogen and water. The first cogeneration plant at Stockton was designed to provide efficient operation with close emission control for the smaller power consumer. The idea is to build, own, and operate small power plants, selling power and steam for fixed rates. This would be a radical departure from Air Products' usual business, possible through the development of new technology.
are about 500 million potential individual customers with a trading and distribution infrastructure already in place. That makes Eastern Europe superficially easier to develop than Far Eastern markets that may have many more potential individual customers but must industrialize first. The multinational companies must serve both individuals in a developed society and those societies that are still developing. Markets are simultaneously consumers and industries. A big problem in international markets, says Baker, is that some coun-
Baker. other nations must give more
Other environmentally related projects include extracting methanerich gas from landfills, processing and upgrading the gas to mediumBtu gas for sale to utilities, and using it to generate electricity in a small power plant. A major venture along these lines is in the works, in cooperation with Browning-Ferris Industries. The first plant to be established was a waste-to-energy facility at Hempstead, Long Island. It consumes 2250 tons per day of municipal solid waste to generate 60 MW of electric power. Two other plants are under construction in New Jersey and at least four more elsewhere. An environmentally hot topic these days is the regeneration of
tries do not invest their profits at home. Once capital is developed, it often is invested abroad, and this does little for the domestic economy. A number of Third World countries have done this to their own detriment. Mexico and some other Latin American countries are examples. If greater access to global markets could be achieved, it could double the world's trade in the next decade, Baker believes. Another highly visible issue these days is the environment. Yet another is greater access to and more equitable distribution of energy. With the impact of the European Community's unified market in 1992 and the changes in Eastern Europe, unprecedented growth in the Pacific Rim, and rising demands for a cleaner environment, Baker believes that Air Products is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities. The general strategies are expanding the company's core business in industrial gases and chemicals, adding related new products in both areas, continuing with present international expansion, and building a new environmental and energy business. In the past five years, Air Products has invested about $1.5 billion in pursuit of these strategies. The greatest growth rates are expected in the Pacific (5.5% per year). Growth in Europe will be about 3 % per year and in North America about 2.5% per year.
former dumping sites, especially those that are susceptible to Superfund politics. David R. Taschler, group manager at Air Products for cryogenic and environmental systems, estimates that there are about 1500 priority (Superfund) sites, 30,000 nonpriority sites, maybe a million underground sites, and 400,000 other sites of various kinds. The really hazardous sites are the "priority sites." The others may be foul and unaesthetic but not always hazardous. Air Products is limiting its attention to those sites where there is combustible waste. Taschler says that from 30 million to 60 million tons per year of waste is combustible in this sense. There are already 300 incinerators at work, April 23, 1990 C&EN
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Science/Technology most of them being some form of kiln with direct oxygen or air injection. In 1989, the environmental services industry was estimated to be worth about $56 billion. The remediation industry in 1989 actually spent about $9 billion. The estimated annual growth in this industry is from 20 to 35%. From 10 to 20% of the wastes produced each year are considered to be combustible. Municipal wastes are not necessarily hazardous. Among the new products from Air Products' R&D department are resins tradenamed Vinex. These are copolymers of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and poly(alkyleneoxy)acrylate. Cecil C. Chappelow III is the company's director of polymer technology and has been particularly interested in the biodegradability of the resins in the presence of water. PVA polymers have been of limited use, mostly because they had to be used in water solution. This limitation derives from the decomposition temperature of PVA lying be-
low the crystalline melting point, meaning that thermoplastic behavior is not possible before significant decomposition of the polymer. Chappelow believes that this limitation has been overcome with the synthesis of the new resins. PVA is biodegradable, says Chappelow, and has useful properties in itself. It is used extensively in adhesives, textile sizing agents, and paper coatings among other things. The major problem with PVA resins is that the current methods of film casting are expensive, and there is a limit on how thick the films can be made. Ideally the film would be extruded from the melt, but this has been difficult if not impossible. Molding from the melt would also be of considerable economic advantage. The solution is to develop copolymers that retain the advantages of PVA without the disadvantages. Air Products has recently introduced its Vinex resins. The acrylate copolymer function has three purposes. A long side chain of polyeth-
ylene oxide reduces the crystallinity of the PVA. The acrylate side chains are effective, internal, nonmigrating plasticizers. The acrylate also retains the cold-water solubility. The Vinex resins, therefore, become thermoplastic, cold-water soluble, biodegradable, and thermally stable. Much of the work on the Vinex resins has been done by F. Lennart Marten, manager of PVA R&D and research chemists Amir Famili and James F. Nangeroni. With the approach of more stringent antipollution laws and the rapidly approaching closure of many sanitary landfills, the biodegradability of Vinex resins has generated considerable interest. According to Chappelow, Vinex resins will biodegrade as long as moisture is available to them. Initial availability of the new Vinex resin technology has been followed up with authorization of a 75 million lb-per-year PVA plant at Air Products' Pasadena, Tex., chemical complex. The capacity is potentially
Air Products expanding rapidly in Europe If the general interest of industry is global, the most appealing immediate expansion appears to be in Europe. Harold A. Wagner, president of Air Products & Chemicals, Europe, says that industry assumes unification will happen on schedule and is ready for it. Industrialists don't perceive Europe as individual countries; for all practical purposes they treat it as a unit for trade and business purposes already. Unification in 1992 will merely emphasize that fact. As far as Air Products is concerned, there will be an organizational shift of modest proportions as business increases over the long term. The company is already established in 11 European countries. In many of them, there is a large replacement business now active. Demand for oxygen, nitrogen, and argon will grow apace, and hydrogen production also is expected to be a rapidly growing business. Helium is a lucrative business for Air Products in Europe. Most of the helium consumed there is imported from the U.S. Air Products says it is now the largest helium supplier in the world.
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April 23, 1990 C&EN
What little helium there is in Europe comes from offshore gas wells. As for chemicals, the principal Air Products exports to Europe are urethane additives, polyvinyl alcohol for safety glass manufacture, and specialty amines. The volume was about $60 million in 1989. Two years ago, Air Products acquired Anchor Chemical in England to solidify the epoxy coatings business there. Wagner says that Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have been in the company's plans for some time. At present, there is little business, but the prospects are improving rapidly. Wagner notes that Air Products' recent acquisition of about 3 0 % of Carburos Metalicos, in Spain, has been a major extension of the gas business in Spain and Portugal. This is regarded as an integral part of the company's expansion in Europe. During the past three years, Air Products has invested about $500 million in Europe and has doubled its industrial gas base there. Air Products & Chemicals, Europe, is the company's largest operation outside the U.S. About 8 5 % of European
sales come from gas operations. In 1988, these sales were $500 million. Wagner expects business growth in Europe to be comparable to that in the U.S.—about 2 to 3 % per year. The gas market, which is Air Products' staple business in Europe, is about the same as that for the U.S.—namely, about $4.5 billion. Both are roughly twice as big as Japan's gas market. The current estimated world gas market is about $14 billion. The major users in the European gas markets are producers of metals (8%), chemicals (27%), food (29%), and electronics components (22%). Air Products' goal in Europe is to triple business volume by the end of the century. In the Far East, Air Products has more than doubled its asset base and has entered the colony of Hong Kong and four other countries: China, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia. The company has been in Japan and South Korea for some time. In 1989, it completed merchant gas plants in Thailand and Taiwan. The largest project now under construction is a $35 million facility in South Korea.
Typical structure for Vinex resins (CH 2 Cr%
ι
(CH 2 CH h: y
OH
ι
Ο I
c=o R = Η or CH3 Ri-H.C-^^.alkyl, Cr-Cao alkylaryl groups η s 1 to 1000 x s 50-99.9 mole % y s 0-50 mole % ζ = 0.001-50 mole %
I CH 3
(CH2CH)_
ι
C=0 I
ο Λ ι·
,
2
| Ο ι v y ^J—
