GE still will dominate polycarbonate capacity Current capacity Capacity to be added by mid-1980s
General Electric 48%
Mobay 29%
Dow Chemical 5%
General Electric 18%
Total capacity in mid-1980s 555 million lb per year Source: Industry estimates
will become only the third commercial U.S. producer of polycarbonates. General Electric and Mobay are the other two. Dow, with its 30 million-lb plant, will be the smallest of the three. General Electric has a current estimated annual capacity of about 265 million lb; Mobay has an estimated capacity of about 160 million lb. However, between 25 million and 30
million lb of Mobay's capacity was closed earlier this year. A spokesman for Mobay says the shutdown is for an indefinite period, but this capacity could come back on stream if the market improves. Apparently the market will have to improve if anyone is going to do very well. Current U.S. capacity totals about 400 million lb. However, Dow estimates that total U.S. consumption last year was only about 240 million lb. Dow says polycarbonate consumption is expected to grow about 7 to 8% per year. At that rate, it will take some time before consumption catches up with current capacity, let alone what is scheduled to come on stream in the middle of the decade. Besides Dow's 30 million lb slated for 1985, General Electric has a planned expansion of 100 million lb to its Montgomery, Ala., plant on the boards. This expansion originally was scheduled for 1985, too, but General Electric has delayed it for at least a year. Industry observers say that exports of polycarbonate were about 50 million lb in 1981. Most of this went to Japan, almost all from General Electric. Dow's plan seems to be to take some market share away from current producers, and also to develop some of its own specialty niches through developmental work. D
Gulf restarting plant after extortion attempt Gulf Oil Chemicals expects to be well on the way toward a complete restarting of its bomb-threatened plant at Cedar Bayou, Tex., this week. The plant was shut down in late September after a group attempted to extort $15 million from the company by placing bombs in the plant. Startup of the unit began on Oct. 5 and is expected to require about two weeks. A Gulf Oil Chemicals spokeswoman confirmed that it cost $1.5 million to shut down and restart the plant and t h a t losses ran about $300,000 for each day the plant didn't operate. Total costs for coping with the extortion attempt therefore will run between $4 million and $5 million. The Cedar Bayou plant, largest of Gulf Oil Chemicals' plants, produces ethylene, propylene, and derivatives such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and alpha-olefins. Initial production of ethylene and propyl-
ene began in late 1963. Expansions to original capacity and addition of other products on the Cedar Bayou site, which covers more than 1000 acres, has increased employment to 1100. Five of the 10 explosive devices threatened for the plant in letters to the company from the extortion group were found Sept. 30. Four were disarmed and the other exploded harmlessly. The remaining devices apparently were not put into place. Employee safety was the paramount reason for shutting down the plant. After shutdown, only a small number of employees stayed at the plant doing security and maintenance work. Lost production at the Cedar Bayou plant did not keep Gulf from meeting its contracts for sale of the various chemicals, according to an official. Inventories are judged sufficient to cover sales commitments along with product exchange agreements. D
Progress in nonanimal cosmetic irritancy test Two scientists at Rockefeller University are making progress toward a nonanimal test for irritancy of cosmetics' ingredients. Their work could lead to a replacement for the Draize test used now. Animal rights activists have objected to the Draize test, in which the substance tested is put into one eye of a live rabbit and the degree of irritation is judged by comparison with the other eye. Biochemistry professors Ellen Borenfreund and Charles Shopsis of the university disclosed their findings to a New York Academy of Sciences conference on cellular systems for toxicity testing. The Rockefeller investigators are correlating literature results in the Draize test to either uptake of radioactive uridine or light microscopic observations in cell cultures. They use either a mouse fibroblast cell culture called 3T3 or a human liver cancer cell line called Hep G2. Compounds tested to date in order of increasing severity of irritation in the Draize test are methanol, propylene glycol, ethanol, isopropanol, tetrahydrofuryl alcohol, tertbutanol, allyl alcohol, 1-pentanol, and 1-octanol. The research is supported by a three-year, $750,000 grant from Revlon (C&EN, Jan. 5, 1981, page 21). For tritiated uridine uptake, the biochemists measure either volume
ln-vitro test for irritancy of cosmetics would replace rabbit eye testing Oct. 11, 1982 C&EN
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News of the Week % of alcohol in water needed to in hibit uptake in 50% of cells (UI 50 ); or the highest tolerated dose (HTD). They assay HTD as the maximum concentration that falls short of pro ducing gross cell shape changes, in creases in numbers of vacuoles, and inability to prevent uptake of a dye. For example, UI 50 in mouse cells ranges from 3.5% by volume for pro pylene glycol to 0.1% by volume for 1-octanol. H T D in the same cells runs from 3.5% by volume for meth anol to 0.1% by volume for 1-octanol. Moreover, the researchers' UI 50 re sults are reversible. Placing cells in media without alcohol restores abil ity to absorb uridine. The Rockefeller research workers find this result encouraging, because the Draize test irritation also is reversible on remov ing the irritant. Elsewhere, replacement of t h e Draize test is only one effort at Johns Hopkins University Center for Al ternatives to Animal Testing. The center was founded a year ago un der the direction of toxicology pro fessor Alan M. Goldberg with a $1 million grant from the Cosmetics, Toiletries & Fragrances Association. Since then Bristol-Myers Co. has given $200,000; and Eli Lilly & Co., $25,000. Progress reports on the first seven projects, including Draize test replacement, are expected in March 1983. D
science education activities were the big winners, however. Congress once again rejected the Administration's plan to phase out all of these ac tivities, except for $15 million for graduate fellowships, adding $15 mil lion to the budget request for a total funding level of $30 million. NASA's R&D programs are up 17% to $5.5 billion, 1% above the request. Changes from the budget request include an increase of $30 million for planetary mission opera tions, data analysis, and research, including no less than $5 million for
physics and astronomy and $5 mil lion for technology transfer. The bill also says that the Department of Defense should pay its fair share of the cost of using the space shuttle. Congress also provided 10% more funding than t h e Administration wanted for EPA's R&D programs. However, this still means a slash of 23% below fiscal 1982 levels to $119 million. Congress directed that the extra $10.3 million above the request be targeted for work on indoor air quality and acid rain among other high-priority research areas. D
Chemical capital spending slashed again
A continuing rugged year for U.S. new 1982 estimate of $19.1 billion chemical companies' cash flow (earn actually is down slightly from $19.2 ings plus depreciation) is taking an billion in 1981. These data run parallel to com even worse toll on their outlays for new plant and equipment. Spend panies' increasing squeeze on capi ing plans never were especially high tal spending in the U.S. A Com for 1982, and they have been falling merce Department survey out last month shows that chemical com steadily all year. The latest indication of the spend panies' U.S. project budgets for 1982 ing cuts is a roundup by the Com are down to $13.97 billion for just a merce Department on capital bud 3% gain from $13.60 billion in 1981. gets for projects outside the U.S. The original plan was a 13% increase For the chemical industry, fully 80% to $15.38 billion. Last spring, this of the original increase planned for figure was pruned to $14.24 billion, 1982 has been lopped off. What had or a 5% gain. C&EN's own capital spending sur looked like an aggressive gain in spending, $1 billion to a total of veys for the largest U.S. basic chemi $4.0 billion, now is down to $200 cal companies have turned up much million or about the rate of inflation. the same results for 1982. After ini This spending is specifically by tial plans for a 6% increase in majority-owned affiliates of U.S. worldwide capital spending this year, Research funding set companies cut the gain to just 1% companies. for NSF, NASA, EPA The results in the new survey for by midyear (C&EN, June 14, page manufacturing as a whole look even 53). This follows a 5% boost to ac The amount of money that will be stingier. In all manufacturing, the tual spending in 1981, which was available in fiscal 1983 for the re originally planned 10% increase to down from the originally estimated D search programs of the National Sci $21.4 billion is gone completely. The gain of 9%. ence Foundation, National Aeronau tics & Space Administration, and Foreign chemical spending plans are pruned in 1982 Environmental Protection Agency is set. These three agencies will not $ Billions have to go through the uncertainty that most others will of having their • Initial plan funding provided by a continuing D Current plan resolution that must be renewed by Congress every few months. This happy state of affairs is due to the fact that the HUD-Independent Agencies' appropriation bill cleared Congress and was signed by President Reagan just hours before the start of the new fiscal year and Congress' two-month election recess. Total funding for NSF is set at $1092.2 million, 2% more than the Administration requested and 10% 1983 1982 1981 1980 1979 1977 1978 more than the agency received in fiscal 1982. Funding for research and a Capital expenditures by majority-owned foreign affiliates of U.S. companies. related activities is up 9% to $1060.0 Source: Department of Commerce million, 1% above the request. NSF's 3
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