n e w s of the
w e e k
TOXICS TREATY COMPLETED Countries strike agreement to persistent pollutants
G
overnments around the world have agreed they will eliminate or minimize use of toxic chemi cals that persist for decades in the environment. Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, diplomatsfrom122 countries completed a treaty controlling the production, im port, export, disposal, and use of a dozen chemicals. Production of most of the 12 substances is banned immediately. The accord allows some de veloping countries to continue producing and using one of the substances, the pesticide DDT, for controlling mosquitoes that spread malaria. Although the pact bans production of polychlorinated biphenyls, it allows use of these compounds in electrical equipment to continue through 2025, provided that the equipment is main tained to prevent leaks. Countries also agreed to curb releases of dioxins and furans "with the goal of their continuing minimization and, where feasible, ultimate elimination." These compounds are by-products of combus tion and certain industrial processes. Brooks B. Yeager, deputy assistant secretary of state for environment and head of the U.S. delegation at the nego tiations, says, T h e treaty will help us rid the globe of a class of pernicious chemicals which contaminate people and wildlife farfromwhere they are pro duced and used." The accord also establishes a meth
eliminate
od for adding more persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to the 12 initially cov ered by the pact Klaus Tbpfer, executive director of the United Nations
Tôpfer (left) and Walls
Environment Program, says, This is a sound and effective treaty that can be updated and expanded over the coming decades to maintain the best possible protection against POPs." In the pact, industrialized countries agree to provide funding to help devel oping nations phase out production and use of POPs. Environmental advocates and chemi cal industry representatives hailed com pletion of the treaty as a success, albeit for different reasons. The American Chemistry Council (ACC, formerly the Chemical Manufac turers Association) calls the new agree ment "realistic and balanced," saying it "should protect public health and the environment" Meanwhile, Kevin Stairs, policy adviser to the environmental group Greenpeace, says, This agreement Chemicals covered by sends a clear message to industries new U.N. treaty that they must reform and stop using Aldrin Furans our Earth as a testing ground for Chlordane Heptachlor their dangerous pollutants." DDT Hexachlorobenzene Michael Walls, counsel for ACC, Dieldrin Mirex says the agreement includes a num Dioxins Polychlorinated biphenyls ber of provisions sought by industry. Eldrin Toxaphene It provides exemptions for trace
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DECEMBER 18,2000 C&EN
amounts of POPs unintentionally pr duced in industrial processes, POl contained in articles in use (such as tel phone poles treated with pesticides and manufacture of POPs for resean and development. In addition, the a cord leaves open the possibility th some POPs could be produced comme daily as closed-system intermediate that are completely consumed in furth chemical reactions, Walls tells C&EN Industry and environmental adv cates also lauded a provision on addii chemicals to the initial 12 covered 1 the pact This part of the treaty include language that says these listii decisions will be made in a pr cautionary manner, based on tl weight of scientific evidence. Clifton Curtis, director of tl World Wildlife Fund's Glob Toxic Chemicals Initiative, say T h e formulation on precautk sends a loud and clear messai that the era of 'regulate and r duce' will not be the paradig for chemicals management : this new century." Walls of ACC, meanwhil praises the treaty for requiring weight-of-the-science approac for adding more chemicals ' the pact The agreement will be formally cor pleted and signed at a conference he in Stockholm from May 22 to 23, 200 The treaty will officially have the fon of international law after the legislature of 50 countries ratify—agree to abic by—the terms of the pact Thefinaltext of the accord will not t available for several weeks. Walls sai ACC will study the language of the trea before it takes a position on whether Û U.S. should sign and ratify it Cheryl Hog
Sasol Wins Condea
South African chemical and ener$ company Sasol Ltd. will acquire Co dea, the chemicals business of Germs utility company RWE, for aboi $1.15 billion, through a combination cash and debt The acquisition is effe tive retroactively to July 1,2000. Sasol won out over New York Cit based private equity firm Kohlbei Kravis Roberts in a bidding battle to bi Condea. Earlier, there had been six bi ders in contention. Condea was put ι for sale when it was classified as ano
core" by RWE in a strategic review in 1999. According to Pieter Cox, managing di rector and chief executive officer of Sasol, the deal fits in neatly with Sasol's goal of growing through acquisitions, particular ly in the areas of α-olefins, solvents, and polymers. Condea is one of the world's largest producers of detergent surfac tants and related products, which contrib ute some 80% of the company's sales. It also makes a variety of solvents—oxy genated solvents make up 11% of Condea's sales. And it has a leading position in high-purity aluminas. For thefinancialyear ended June 30, 2000, Condea's profits, before interest and tax, were $100 million on sales of $2.09 billion. Sasol's sales in the fiscal year ending June 25,2000, were $3.36 bil lion, with sales of chemicals accounting for $1.62 billion of that Corporate operat ing profits were $835 million, of which chemicals contributed $75 million. Cox says that Sasol expects to achieve cost savings of roughly $124 million from the acquisition through synergies result ingfromaccess to technology, improved marketing access for Sasol's detergent al cohols, solvents, and other products; and optimization of logistics, marketing and distribution channels, and corporate services. Condea's surfactants businesses will be a particular boost to Sasol. The com bined businesses, Sasol executives say, will give it stronger market positions in detergent alcohols, linear alkyl ben zene, and paraffins. Through its Alpha Olefins division, Sa sol already produces and markets a range of linear α-olefins, including 1-pentene, 1-hexene, and 1-octene, for the world market Earlier this month, Sasol officially opened two plants—its third for producing 1-hexene and itsfirstfor 1-oc tene—at Secunda, southeast of Johannes burg, South Africa. And last May, Sasol began building a $140 million detergent alcohols plant, with annual capacity of 120,000 metric tons. The plant is sched uled to come onstream early in 2002. The Condea solvents portfolio also fits well with Sasol's present solvent portfolio. Condea has a strong market position in Europe, in particular, for oxy genated solvents such as ethanol, 2-propanol, and methyl ethyl ketone. In fact, the deal will expand Sasol's geographic reach considerably. Con dea's operations will boost Sasol's for eign-derived income from the present level of 10% to about 35%.
Sasol Alpha Olefins plant located in Secunda, South Africa.
Condea, which employs about 4,600 people, is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded in 1961 as a joint venture between Conoco and RWE's DEA petroleum subsidiary. But
it has grown over the past decade through acquisitions in the U.S. of Vista, the old Conoco Chemicals operations, and in Italy with EniChem Augusta, the surfactants division of EniChem. It now has plants in Germany, Italy, the Neth erlands, the U.S., China, Dubai, and Slovakia. Sasol intends to relocate its chemical operations' headquarters from Johan nesburg to Europe, according to Cox, al though it has not yet specified where. Sasol, which has about 26,000 employ ees around the world, was established in 1950 in South Africa to commercialize liq uid fuel and chemical production from coal, using Fischer-Tropsch chemistry. The company subsequently added petro leum feedstocks. And it has recently en tered a joint-venture agreement with Chevron to build and operate a natural gas-to-liquids plant in Nigeria. Natural gas will supplement coal as feedstock at Secunda and replace coal as feedstock at its other major complex in Sasolburg, also near Johannesburg. Patricia Short
Science Strikes Deal With Cèlera Over Paper Silence. Thaf s been the scientific community's public reaction—so far—to the deal between Science magazine and Cèlera Genomics to publish a Celera paper claiming full sequencing of the human genome. According to announcements from Celera and Science issued earlier this month, Celera will not be required to deposit its data for the human genome in the publicly accessible database journals normally require as a condition of publication. In addition, depending on their reason for accessing the genome data from Celera, researchers may be requested to sign one of a series of "material transfer agreements" designed to protect Celera's commercial interests. The agreement is a clear departure from the standards of scientific publishing. But thaf s about all anyone knows of the unprecedented deal, brokered by Science Editor-in-Chief Donald Kennedy and Celera President and Chief Scientific Officer J. Craig Venter. Requests to speak with Kennedy were passed to other magazine staff members with the explanation that he was out of the country. Repeated calls to Celera, requesting comment from Venter or other Celera staff members, were never returned. Kennedy has allowed
only a few people not directly involved with the agreement to actually see what has been put down on paper. Requests by C&EN for a copy of the agreement were declined. Even members of the board of directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the publisher of Science magazine, have not seen the agreement The same description of the deal, essentially a press r e lease, distributed to reporters was given to the board at a Dec. 1 board meeting. AAAS board members who did provide comment for this story, however, expressed support for Kennedy's decision. For its part, leaders of the Human Genome Project (HGP), the publicly funded project to sequence the full human genome, have notified Science in writing that they will submit a paper about their research to another journal. HGP staff members declined to say
No C&EN on Dec. 25 Chemical & Engineering News will not publish an issue on Dec. 25, 2000. Our next issue will be Jan. 1, 2001. The C&EN staff wishes all of our readers a joyous holiday season. DECEMBER 18,2000 C&EN 5
