For pharmaceutical development and production:

Protected amino acids for peptides

Lipids for Liposomes

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BUSINESS

board of directors. Prior to that, he worked at General Electric, at Climax Molybdenum Co., and, just before forming his own firm, as scientific di­rector at the personal care products producer Shulton. In 1990, a manage­ment-led team acquired Kline & Co. and he continued to serve as an infor­mal adviser.

Kline is remembered as an influen­tial pioneer in the development of large, multiclient market research stud­ies and as one of the first to take an in­ternational view of the chemical indus­try. "He was a completely knowledge­able, honorable, and versatile man with a broad spectrum of thinking/7 says Alec Jordan, founding editor of Chemi­cal Week and personal friend of Kline's.

Kline was a member of numerous scientific, professional, and business groups, including Phi Beta Kappa, Sig­ma Xi, the American Chemical Society, and the Society of the Chemical Indus­try. In 1987, he received the Memorial Award of the former Chemical Market­ing Research Association. He wrote more than 70 articles and books on technical and marketing subjects.

Ann Thayer

Canadian resin makers find competition tough A Canadian government report on the country's synthetic resin industry paints a good-news, bad-news picture of the industry's future prospects.

The good news: Canadian producers of low-value-added commodity resins can compete in their domestic market and in the northeastern, midwestern, and northwestern markets of the U.S., where their products enter duty free. They are "close to being competitive" with U.S., European, and Japanese pro­ducers in Southeast Asia and South America.

The bad news: Canadian resin pro­ducers face strong competition from their counterparts in the Middle East who have access to low-cost petro­chemical feedstocks. And the agency that prepared the report, Industry, Sci­ence & Technology Canada (ISTC), says the competitiveness of Canadian resin producers is not likely to improve during the remainder of the nineties unless they make "significant" changes in the "factors affecting cost." Those

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BUSINESS

Canada's domestic sales of synthetic resins fa l l . . . $ Billions (U.S.)a

1983 84 85 86 87 88D 89D 90D

. . . but higher exports take up some slack . . . $ Billions (U.S.)a

1.5

1983 84 85 86 87 88D 89D 90D

. . . and resin imports inch higher $ Billions (U.S.)a

1 9 8 3 8 4 8 9 b 9 0 b

a $1.00 = $1,195 Canadian, b In 1988, Canada replaced its Industrial Commodity Classification with the Harmonized Commodity Description & Coding Sys­tem. The two systems are not ful ly compat ib le. Source: Industry, Science & Technology Canada

factors include raw materials, energy, capital, marketing and freight, and plant operating rates.

The Canadian resin industry will have to invest in and build new plants throughout the remainder of the de­cade to meet growing domestic de­mand and to replace obsolete units. Several projects—in Sarnia, Ontario; in Montreal; and in Joffre and Fort Saskat­chewan, Alberta, are on the drawing boards.

For the most part, these projects are aimed at exports to the U.S., which ac­count for about 60% of all Canadian ex­ports of synthetic resins. However, ISTC says the industry's capacity and plant modernization will be "gradual and limited" during the nineties.

The Canadian synthetic resin industry produces primarily commodity-grade thermoplastic and medium-volume thermosetting resins and compounds. These two resin types account for about 83% and 17%, respectively, of produc­tion. Canada imports most of the spe­cialty, low-volume commodity resins and engineering resins that it needs.

Taking these imports into account, ISTC believes the Canadian resin in­dustry has enough capacity to satisfy domestic markets for polyethylenes, polypropylene, and all commodity-grade thermosets including phenol-formaldehyde, urea-formaldehyde, and unsaturated polyesters. However, by the mid-nineties, the industry will need more capacity to meet domestic de­mand for polyvinyl chloride, polysty­rene, and ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resins.

ISTC also says "an opportunity ex­ists" to increase significantly produc­tion of several engineering resins. Less certain is how much resin Canadian plastics processors will need in the fu­ture.

Primarily as a result of the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and the pending North American Free Trade Agreement linking Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., widespread restructuring has hit the plastics processing industry in Canada. "The extent of (this) read­justment is unpredictable," says ISTC.

Because of their small Canadian do­mestic market, exports are critical for Canadian resin producers and their large, world-scale plants. During the eighties, resin exports grew from about one third of total shipments to approx­imately one half of the total.

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Accurate Automation Corp.

Advanced Technology

Albert Einstein Coll. Med.

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Argonne Labs/Harrison.

Sbepard

Autodesk Inc.

Bavlor University

BioCAD

BioCryst. Ltd.

BioKad/Sadtler Division

Biostructure SA

Biosvm Technologies

Bristol-Meyers Squihl)/

Bruccoleri

Bruker Instruments, Inc.

CABM. Rutgers/kamer

Caltech/Coddard

Cambridge Crystallographic

Data Centre

Cambridge Molecular Design

Cambridge Scientific

Computing

Cambridge University

Chemagnetics Inc.

Chemical Design Ltd.

Cognivision

Cold Spring Harbor

Laboratory

Columbia University

Computer Associates

International, Inc.

Cray Research

Daikin Industries

Daylight CIS, Inc.

DCU Systems International

Distributed Chemical

Graphics

Dyad Software

EMBL/Vriend

Enraf-Nonius Corp.

Eric Swanson

ET H

Gaussian. Inc.

Genetics Computer Group

Gensym Corp.

Goettingen University

Hampden Data Services Ltd.

Hare Research

IMSLCorp.

Intelligent Light

Iowa State University/Elbert

Janssen Research Eoundation/

De Bie

JEOL Trading Co.

Kuck & Associates

Laboratory Technologies Corp.

Lark Sequence Technologies

Los Alamos Nat. Lab

MDS. Inc.

MG Software

Mihalisin Assoc.

Minitab

MIPS Software Development

MIT Whitehead Institute/

Lincoln

Molecular Applications (/roup

Molecular Design Ltd.

Molecular Discovery. Ltd.

Molecular Structure Corp.

National Cancer Institute

National Center for Super-

computing Applications

National Instruments

Neuron Data

New Methods Research, Inc.

New Mexico State University/

Fields

Ν Rolf Numerical Algorithms Group Ohio Supercomputer Center Oxford Molecular Polygen/Molecular

Simulations. Inc. P-STAT, In<·. Precision Visuals Protein Identification Resource Proteus Biotechnology Ltd. QCPE Research Systems, Inc. Rutgers CABM San Diego Multiwire Systems, Inc. San Diego Supercomputer Ctr. SAS Institute Schroedinger, Inc. Scientific Computing Associates, Inc. SERC Daresbury Laboratory Serena Software Siemens SL Corp. SPSS Spyglass Statistical Sciences, Inc. Synthetic Peptides Inc. T.J. O'Donnell Associates Technical Utilization Corp. Technische Hochschule Darmstadt The MathWorks, Inc. Tripos Associates UAB Center for Macromol.

Cry st. UCSC/Wipke UCSD/Dempsey UCSE/Ferrin UCSF/Kollman UCSF/Kuntz Umetri/Wold UNIRAS University of Bern University of Groningen University of Karlsruhe/Ahlrichs University of Lund University of Marseille University of Montreal University of Uppsala University of Virginia University of Washington University of Western Australia University of Wisconsin VA Medical Center Pittsburg/

Furey Varian Instruments V.I. Corp. Vital Images Inc. Waterloo Maple Software Wavefront Wavefunction Inc. Wavetracer Wistar/Keiber-Emmons Wolfram Research, Inc. Yale University/Jorgensen

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24 MAY 11, 1992 C&EN

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BUSINESS

Data for 1990, the latest year for which data are available, illustrate the point. In 1990, during the eye of the re­cession, domestic shipments of Canadi­an resins dropped a hefty 20% to just over a billion dollars. However, exports jumped 11% to $1.2 billion.

Although resin exports have always accounted for a good part of total ship­ments, they exceeded domestic ship­ments for the first time in 1990. And, de­

spite the recession, resin imports grew 2% in 1990 to $1.4 billion, topping ex­ports as they consistently have.

With the economies in Canada and the U.S. apparently on the mend, both domestic shipments and exports likely will improve for Canada's synthetic resin producers. Just how much, says ISTC, will depend upon the pace of the economic recovery.

Earl Anderson

= Barrei ro/Estarreja (Portugal) 1992 =

IMPORTANT PUBLIC AUCTION DUE TO RESTRUCTURATION OF

QUIMIGAL - QUÎMICA DE PORTUGAL S.A. CHEMICAL PLANTS

PARQUE INDUSTRIAL DO BARREIRO, 2830 BARREIRO (35 KM FROM LISBON AIRPORT)

ON THURSDAY JUNE 4,1992 from 10.30 a.m.

at "Antigo Cinema C.U.F.", Rua da C.U.F., Barreiro (Portugal)

The auction will include:

FACTORIES OF BARREIRO SULFURIC ACID PLANT (contact 5), cap. 500 ton/day; SULFURIC ACID PLANT (contact 6), cap. 640 ton/day; SULFURIC ACID PLANT (contact 7), cap. 650 ton/day; SODIUM SULPHATE PLANT, cap. 35 ton/day; KOWA SEIKO (cinders pelletizing), cap. 1040 pellets/day; TCP. (pyrite cinders treatment), cap. 900 ton/day; ZINC OXIDE PLANT, cap. 30 ton/day; PYRITE MILLING AND STORAGE, cap. 45 ton/h; liquid pesticide plant, cap. 12.000 l/day; SOLID PESTICIDE PLANT, cap. 2.5 ton/day; COPPER SULPHATE, cap. 11.000 ton/year in cristal, 7.000 ton/year in powder; AMMONIA PLANT, cap. 170 ton/day; NITRIC ACID PLANT, cap. 146 ton/day; PHOSPHORIC ACID PLANT, cap. 35.000 ton/day; PHOSPHORIC MILLING, cap. 45 ton/h; FERTI­LIZER GRANULATION Ner 2, cap. 200 ton/day; AMMONIUM SULPHATE PLANT, cap. 750 ton/h; 3 STEAM POWER STATIONS CV1, CV 2 and CV 3; WATER TREATMENT PLANT, cap. 168 m3/h of water; BAGGING STATION Ner1, cap. 25 ton/h;

FACTORIES OF ESTARREJA WATER-NITROGEN DISTILLATION 1, cap. nitrogen-2000m3/h,oxygen-1000 m3/h; OXYGEN-NITROGEN PRODUCTION PLANT, cap. nitrogen-600 m3/h, oxygen-250m3/h; GASIFICATION, cap. 4000 m3/h; AMMONIA SYNTHESIS, cap. 50 ton/day; AMMONIUM SULPHATE, cap. 280 ton/day.

VIEWING: Monday June 1 till Wednesday June 3,1992 from 09.00 a.m. till 04.00 p.m. as well as on the day of sale from 08.00 to 10.00 a.m. at the plant, or by appointment.

PHOTO-LEAFLET on request

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I TROOSTWIJK VEILING EN B.V. Auctioneers and Appraisers

De Boelelaan 1065 -1082 SB Amsterdam Tel. 31(0)20-646.32.01, Telex 14692 artronl

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Oxygenates seen as hot market by industry Gasoline reformulation will change global markets for methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), methanol, ethanol, and other oxygenates virtually "overnight," according to a new study done by chemical industry consultants Probe Economics Inc., Millwood, N.Y. Conse­quently, it also may affect prices for a host of other petrochemicals.

'The combination of clean air legis­lation and raw material supply limita­tions has already begun to alter oxy­genate markets, and could entirely transform them during the 1990s," says Fred Peterson, Probe's president. He predicts world oxygenate demand could increase more than 10-fold from its level today by the year 2001.

Petrochemical producers and energy companies see "oxygenates as the hot­test game in town and all of them want a piece of the action." Although pro­ducers enthusiastically anticipate gains, Peterson cautions that they should ac­knowledge the risks of getting in­volved in a market in which the ulti­mate global supply and demand bal­ance is still uncertain.

The U.S. Clean Air Act created the initial attraction for oxygenates, ex­plains John Johnson, a Probe consult­ant. The law requires refiners to refor­mulate gasoline to reduce vapor pres­sure, decrease the aromatics content, and increase oxygen content between 2.0 and 2.7% of gasoline by weight for use in certain regions of the country; use in other regions will follow.

Conveniently, oxygenates such as MTBE, ethanol, and methanol provide both octane and oxygen. Most refiners prefer MTBE because they can produce it within the refinery, blend it easily with gasoline, and transfer the reformulated mix through existing pipelines.

In addition to clean air legislation, the other force buffeting oxygenate markets is supply of butane, a key raw material in MTBE production. Producers isomerize butane into iso-butane, dehydrogenate it to isobutyl-ene, and react it with methanol to yield MTBE. Most refiners now blend butane directly into gasoline, or use it in alkylate for gasoline. "There is only a limited supply of butane, which come from natural gas or crude oil,"

26 MAY1L1992C&EN