News of the Week engineering firm and is expected to take four months. Du Pont, which uses ethylene glycol in making polyester fibers and plastics, currently does not produce the chemical in the U.S. PPG already has a plant at Beaumont that has an annual capacity of more than 200 million lb. PPG's output from Beaumont goes to the merchant market. Ties between Du Pont and PPG in ethylene glycol go back some years. In 1975, PPG purchased the tradename and business of Du Pont's Zerex antifreeze operations. PPG closed these operations in 1979. And according to PPG, Du Pont remains a large customer for its ethylene glycol. After evaluation of the study results, the two firms will consider agreements to operate and share in the output of both the present Beaumont facility and the plant that would be moved from Puerto Rico. If the plant is moved to Beaumont and restarted, it would add about 8% to present U.S. capacity for ethylene glycol of about 5.4 billion lb. It also would mean that Du Pont and PPG would account for about 10% of U.S. ethylene glycol capacity between them. D
NSF to stress metals, minerals research As part of its effort to increase basic research in the engineering fields, the National Science Foundation is consolidating all of its mineral processing and extractive metallurgy programs into a newly formed Engineering Directorate. The new program will become part of the agency's Chemical & Process Engineering Division. Its budget will be about $1.2 million for fiscal 1982 and is expected to be about $1.3 million for 1983. The program will support two- and three-year research projects and encourage research collaboration between universities and industry. According to NSF, the program's goal is to provide fundamental engineering knowledge for developing technologies ranging from ore preparation to production of metals, ceramics, and inorganic chemicals derived from minerals. Other goals involve processing of scraps and solid waste, and safe disposal of unrecoverable wastes. Tapan Mukherjee, director of the minerals and primary materials processing program, says that NSF is trying to attract more chemists and 6
C&EN March 30, 1981
materials scientists to these areas. "A major emphasis is to get more nonmetallurgists into the program," Mukherjee says. "Mineral-related research is getting more and more complicated and research needs are often at the molecular level." Some of the areas needing more research, Mukherjee says, include solution mining and hydrometallurgy, solution chemistry, reactions at interfaces, and solvent-solvent extraction of metals. An example of a specific area needing more research is colloid chemistry of small particle muds, such as the red mud produced in aluminum processing. Also, reactions at electrodes need study. The electrolytic refining process is very energy intensive, Mukherjee points out, and trace elements in solutions can foul electrodes, dropping production considerably. D
Engelhard may spin off industrial operations Engelhard Minerals & Chemicals is well known in the U.S. chemical industry as a precious metals refiner and producer of petroleum cracking catalysts, coating and extender pigments, absorbents, and other chemicals. However, the real financial force in the company is a giant, less wellknown international trading arm, Philipp Brothers of New York City. In recent years, Philipp Brothers has provided about 90% of Engelhard's huge sales volume, which rose 47% in 1980 to $26.6 billion. Engelhard now says it is considering spinning off most or all of its chemical and other industrial operations to its shareholders. The idea, says executive vice president Clyde W. Moonie, is that the company would be essentially a trading organization with little or no industrial operations. Moonie adds quickly that nothing is final and that no decisions have been made whether chemical or other industrial units would be involved in a spinoff. Engelhard merely is making official note of the possibility because of heightened activity in trading of its stock on Wall Street. A spinoff of Engelhard's precious metals and other industrial operations would create a sizable, profitable new entity. Although 1980 product data are not yet out in the company's annual report, Engelhard's initial 1980 earnings report in February stated that profits in the minerals and chemicals division were
about on par with 1979. In 1979 these nonmetallic minerals operations had operating earnings of $33.1 million on sales of $177.0 million. The precious metals business at Engelhard had 1979 operating earnings of $64.2 million on sales of $1.63 billion. •
OECD ministers focus on science policy A ministerial declaration on future policies for science and technology has been adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, the 24-nation organization of industrialized countries, including the U.S. The declaration followed a mid-March ministerial-level meeting in Paris of OECD's Committee for Scientific & Technological Policy. The declaration stresses the need for integrating policies for science and technology with other aspects of government policy. It identifies major orientations that the ministers believe should be followed in the decade ahead at both national and international levels to better take advantage of the research and innovation capabilities of member countries. And it emphasizes the role of OECD in this area. Recommendations, fairly general in nature, are made mainly in four areas. For example, with regard to technological innovation, OECD recommends steps be taken to assign priority to investment in research, development, and innovation so as to ensure that short-term pressures do not jeopardize the sources of future economic growth, higher levels of employment, and structural adjustment. With regard to long-term research, OECD recommends steps to maintain the strength and continuity of fundamental and long-term research to increase the stock of basic scientific and technological knowledge throughout the range of disciplines. With regard to social, economic, cultural, and political effects of technological change, it recommends steps to take into account the social and cultural implications of new technologies, in respect to the employment, mobility, and training of the labor force. And with regard to international cooperation in science and technology, it recommends steps to stimulate exchange of scientists, engineers, and students among member countries, facilitate exchange of scientific and technical data, and encourage the flow of technologies. •
