Chemical & Engineering
NEWS MAY 30, 1966
The Chemical World This Week Sun to own all of Avisun In almost identical and predictably laconic statements last week, Sun Oil and FMC Corp.'s American Viscose division confirmed that they have reached an agreement under which Sun will acquire FMC's half of the jointly owned polypropylene producer, Avisun Corp. Sun vice president Chalmer Kirkbride said that details are now being worked out. ( For more on polypropylene, see page 30.) Avisun's plant at New Castle, Del., on the Delaware River near Wilmington, came on stream in 1961. Its capacity—100 million pounds per y e a r makes it the second biggest polypropylene plant in the U.S., with about 17% of domestic capacity. (The biggest plant in the U.S., operated by Hercules at Lake Charles, La., has a capacity of 120 million pounds per year.) Avisun also makes polypropylene film at New Castle. The company's polymer grade propylene comes from Sun's big refinery at Marcus Hook, near Philadelphia. The value of the Sun-FMC deal is unlikely to be revealed until a bargain has been struck, if at all. At the end of 1963, however, Sun's interest in Avisun is known to have totaled $19.7 million in capital investment and loans. More has been added since. Last year, for example, Avisun expanded its capacity for colored and specialty polymers and completed the first phase of a $1 million expansion in Olefane copolymer packaging fiîms. Avisun lost money from the start (in 1959) through the end of 1965. Through the end of 1963, Sun's share of losses totaled more than $11 million. Sun expects Avisun to make money this year, a wish that came true in the first quarter. The polypropylene business is good and getting better, and prices should strengthen. Avisun is doing well abroad. Chisso Corp., the company's Japanese licensee, plans to expand its capacity to 57 million pounds per year. In 1964, Avisun won court suits on its polypropylene process in both Japan and the Netherlands. Thus far, Avisun has not been involved in polypropylene litigation in the U.S. Sun's other petrochemical interests include SunOlin, a joint venture with
V.p. Kirkbride Identical, laconic statements
Olin Mathieson, which makes urea, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, ethylene, and ethylene oxide at Claymont, Del. Standard Naphthalene Products, owned jointly with Standard Chlorine Chemical Co., makes (and sells) consumer products from Sun naphthalene.
Du Pont risks much to gain much What makes Du Pont tick is that the company "does not hesitate to risk much to gain much," president Lammot Du Pont Copeland said last week at the annual conference of the Financial Analysts Federation, in New York City. Opportunity for the chemical
President Copeland Boundless opportunity
industry (and Du Pont), he said, "is boundless simply because the chemist finds ways to make new products, and new materials, where none existed before." In risking much to gain much, Du Pont is producing "significant new products" at the rate of about one per month, according to vice president Wallace E. Gordon. Last year, about 45% of total sales resulted from additions made to the company's product lines since World War II. Dollar volume of these products amounted to more than $1.3 billion. Du Pont's newest product is Crofon light guides (see page 4 9 ) . These are plastic fibers that use the principle of fiber optics to transmit light to illuminate relatively inaccessible areas, such as auto and aircraft instrument panels. Other comparatively recent products are Surlyn ionomer resins, Detaclad explosion-bonded clad metals (such as those used in the new dimes and quarters), and Corf am poromeric material. In pharmaceuticals, a field new to the world's largest chemicals maker, Symmetrel (amantadine hydrochloride) is awaiting Food and Drug Administration clearance for marketing. Symmetrel is an oral drug for treating certain types of influenza, especially Asian flu. Du Pont hopes to market the antiviral drug "before the next flu season." One other product, now in a market development stage, is Kapton polyimide film (known as Η-film during the development stage). The film, Mr. Gordon explains, is a transparent, amber-colored product that will not melt, and for which there is no known solvent. When Kapton is used for in sulating the armature coils of diesel electric locomotives, its "superior" heat resistance and electrical insulating properties make it possible to increase horsepower about 20% without in creasing motor size, and the motor runs cooler. Du Pont has been just as successful in its noncellulosic fiber ventures, says Ford B. Draper, general director, mar keting divisions, textile fibers depart ment. Mr. Draper notes that a busi ness publication had described Du Pont's fiber business as a "problem." "All we can say is that, if this is a prob lem, give us more of the same," the MAY 30, 1966 C&EN
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