products, including their fabric softeners, to supermarkets and grocery stores. These competitors include: Procter & Gamble with Downy; Lever Brothers with Final Touch; The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. with Sail and Bright Sail; Corn Products Co. with Nusoft; Beatrice Foods Co. with Miracle White; and Barcolene Co. with Defend. Why, then, has Du Pont delayed its entry into the fabric softeners market while these other companies have gained the marketing lead times they have? Certainly, the company has had more than enough technical expertise about textile systems—synthetic fibers, fabric constructions, and finishing chemicals—to develop the best of all possible fabric softeners. The answer is that the company is committing itself more than ever to increasing its identity and profits in consumer markets. The fabric softener is another step toward developing a sales and distribution network that will carry new consumer products to be forthcoming.
TITANIUM:
Castings Prices Cut Cost of large-size castings made of titanium will drop below $8.00 per pound in 1969. This may not seem much of a price breakthrough, but Frank Vandenburgh, president of TiLINE, Inc., Albany, Ore., points out that this is a decline of 25% in some cases. At about $8.00 per pound, titanium castings compare in cost with some castings of nickel alloys. Smaller castings have been cut in price even more—40% in some cases, though the price is still more than $8.00 per pound, Mr. Vandenburgh told a press conference last week at the 25th annual conference of the National Association of Corrosion Engineers in Houston, Tex. Cost reductions are the result of the startup of TiLINE's new titanium casting furnace and proprietary molding technology. The new furnace can handle castings weighing up to 2000 pounds, with diameters to 100 inches and heights to 5 feet. If molding capacity were available, Ti-LINE could pour 5000 pounds of titanium daily, 330 days a year, Mr. Vandenburgh estimates. In 1968, titanium castings of the types Ti-LINE makes were sold at a rate of about $1 million per year. Roughly three quarters of this volume went into corrosion-resistant pumps, vessels, and other equipment used by the chemical process industry. In 1969, the volume should double and then double again in 1970, with the chemical process industry
taking about the same three quarters of the output, Mr. Vandenburgh says. On the basis of $1 million sales in 1968, castings probably accounted for less than 100,000 pounds of titanium. This volume is small compared to the amount of titanium as forgings and mill products such as rods, sheets, and other forms used in the aircraft and space industries. The chemical industry, however, used more than 2 million pounds of titanium in other forms than castings last year. Continued technical development of titanium products will keep consumption of titanium increasing rapidly, Mr. Vandenburgh says. Others concerned with production and consumption of titanium have agreed and point to use of 110 million pounds annually by 1980.
CHLORINE:
More Efficient Cell U.S. chlorine production economics stand to be improved with a new de Nora mercury amalgam cell. Monsanto has an exclusive license from Oronzio de Nora, Milan, Italy, to market the cells in North America. The cell operates at 50% higher current density, increases cell productive capacity by 50%, reduces electrical power requirements by 10 to 20%, and requires less mercury initially. The new Type M2 de Nora cell is designed to operate with the dimensionally stable anodes introduced by the Italian company last year (C&EN, July 22, 1968, page 14). The largest single-circuit U.S. chlorine plant using mercury cells was put on stream last month by PPG Industries at Lake Charles, La. The plant uses de Nora cells that operate at
300,000 amp. and produce about 10 tons of chlorine per day in each of 68 cells. By comparison, the Type M2 de Nora cells can achieve up to 500,000 amp. Monsanto's manager of engineering sales Jack H. Nichols says that an M2 cell, operating at 450,000 amp., will produce 15 tons of chlorine a day. This is a 50% boost in the state of the art. At the higher current densities, as much as a 10% savings in electric power cost is possible, Monsanto says. Also, power cost is reduced by about 20% if the cell operates at lower current densities. Electric power cost represents 40 to 50% of the cost of making chlorine, Mr. Nichols explains. The Type M2 cells initially require about 750 pounds of mercury per tonday of chlorine capacity. At present, new mercury cells need 900 to 1000 pounds of mercury on the same basis. Also, Monsanto expects the M2 cell to operate at less mercury loss per ton of chlorine produced. With rising mercury prices, these are important cost savings. The current price for the liquid metal is about $530 per 76pound flask. The average price in 1967 for mercury was $489 a flask. De Nora has already contracted for about half a dozen plants to use the Type M2 cell in foreign countries. Now that the cells are available in the U.S., the current 50-50 balance of mercury cell vs. diaphragm cell for new plants might change. About 30% of the chlorine produced comes from mercury cells. U.S. chlorine production hit 8.5 million tons last year, up from 7.6 million tons in 1967. The Chlorine Institute expects production to increase by about 7.25% per year for at least the next five years. Capacity was 9.1 million tons on Jan. 1, 1969.
Chlorine gas production: thousands of short tons 15,000 13,000
—
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low
11,000 9000
v
^^-
^:
7,000 — ^ ^ - ^ ^ ^ 5,000 1964
1966
Source: U. S. Deportment
of
1968
1970
Commerce
Outlook for U.S. chlorine production Production could grow 7.25% per year for next five years MARCH 17, 1969 C&EN
13
