News of the Week from flue gas under its belt, Carbide is now working in the lab on processes for nitrogen oxides. Such a process is expected to follow in the relatively near future, Ehrens says, and to be similar enough to S0 2 -removal technology that only modifications to CanSolv or a small equipment addition would be needed. James Krieger
Grace realigning, to sell organic chemicals unit W. R. Grace has adopted a new corporate strategy, which calls for selling off "nonstrategic" businesses worth $1.5 billion by the end of 1992, and focusing on five specialty chemical operations and its health care business. "The strategy outlines a new corporate mission, and sets forth a set of guiding principles serving as the road map for Grace throughout the remainder of this decade," says J. P. Bolduc, Grace president and chief operating officer. Among businesses Grace intends to jettison is its organic chemicals division, with more than 700 employees, whose products include hydrogen cyanide derivatives, organic divalent sulfur compounds, hydrophilic urethanes, and nitroparaffins and derivatives. These operations are a large part of the firm's chemical intermediates business, which garnered 1990 sales of $203 million, or 6% of Grace's 1990 specialty chemicals sales of $3.6 billion. Grace's total 1990 sales were $6.8 billion. Specialty chemicals are included among businesses Grace has sold recently or intends to sell in the next year, but Grace Specialty Chemicals remains the focus of the firm's growth strategy in the 1990s. The company intends to emphasize its specialty chemicals core businesses: flexible packaging, container sealants, construction products, water treatment, and catalysts and other silica-based products. Grace's other designated core business is health care, under the company's National Medical Care operating group, with 1990 sales of $875 million. A few days after the announcement, on Nov. 11, Grace's stock reached a 52-week high of $40^ on 8
November 18, 1991 C&EN
the New York Stock Exchange, up 37.5 cents. It has traded as low as $195/s in the past year. One objective of the restructuring is to raise earnings per share 10% annually; in 1990 they declined 21% to $2.36. Another goal is to raise aftertax return on shareholders' equity to 20% by 1995. In 1990, that return was 10.6%, down from 14.7% in 1989, 15.1% in 1988, and 11.9% in 1987. Of the $1.5 billion expected from the sale of company units, Grace intends to raise $600 million by the end of the year. It already has sold off agricultural and automotive chemicals, livestock feeds, and pharmaceuticals businesses worth $225 million. And it has signed a letter of intent to sell to a management-led
buyout group its Baker & Taylor book and video sales and distribution businesses, and its SoftKat software distribution business. The price for these operations, with 1990 sales of $785 million, has not been disclosed. Grace says it will extract additional savings by reducing overhead $50 million annually before taxes. Other businesses now on the block include Bekaert Specialty Textiles, a manufacturer of mattress ticking with 1990 sales of $155 million; Grace Energy, an 83%-owned oil, gas, and coal-mining concern with 1990 revenues of $480 million; and the firm's Caribbean fertilizer operations. Marc Reisch
OSHA to cut methylene chloride exposure limits The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) last week proposed lowering from 500 ppm to 25 ppm the permitted average hourly industrial exposure to methylene chloride, a widely used solvent. The lower standard arises from concern over its possible cancer-causing ability and its acute toxicity to the central nervous system. OSHA also proposes a short-term exposure limit of 125 ppm, averaged over 15 minutes, to replace the current 1000 ppm ceiling concentration limit and 2000 ppm maximum peak exposure. As well as diminishing the cancer risk, the exposure limit is designed to protect workers from heart attacks caused by reduction of oxygen to the heart when methylene chloride is metabolized to carbon monoxide. The proposed rule, published in the Nov. 7 Federal Register, is open for comment until April 6, 1992. Methylene chloride is widely used because it is an excellent solvent with low flammability. It is used, for instance, in paint removers, aerosol products, production of urethane foams and pharmaceutical products, and as a cleaning agent for metal parts and electronic components. Production of the chemical has been falling over the past decade, but about 470 million lb was made in the U.S. last year. About 186,000 workers handle methylene chloride.
OSHA has been under pressure to lower the standard, particularly from labor unions, since 1985 when the National Toxicology Program reported methylene chloride causes cancer in mice and rats. Regulatory action on it already has been taken by the Food & Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, and Consumer Product Safety Commission. To meet the new standards, employers will have to provide engineering controls and change work practices to reduce exposures. They also will be required to submit written compliance programs if exposure limits are exceeded, and may have to provide protective clothing and respirators. OSHA estimates total annual costs to meet the regulation will be $108 million. However, the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance, representing users and manufacturers of methylene chloride, calls the regulation unnecessary. It questions the assumption that the chemical is carcinogenic in humans at current exposures. It says data indicate tumors in mice result from metabolism of methylene chloride by a specific pathway that is significantly less active in humans. And it cites a study that finds no excess cancers in workers exposed at levels above the 25 ppm threshold. David Hanson
