Butadiene capacity will expand—but only through plant debottlenecking and increased yields from coproduction

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60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73

Sources: Tariff Commission and C&EN estimates

sources. If this figure is correct, the industry would have to operate at an average rate of nearly 95fA of capacity for the year to make 3 billion pounds projected as 1968 demand. This high demand and growing surplus of buta­diene in foreign countries have led to imports.

Capacity restrictions could end in a couple of years if the basic problem of low prices for butadiene ends. Pub­lished prices for the chemical range between 9.5 and 11.5 cents per pound in tank-car quantities delivered, but actual prices are below this range.

Even at 10.5 cents per pound for butadiene, the profitability of making it by dehydrogenation of either nor­mal butane or butylènes is too small to justify building new facilities. At lower prices even depreciated plants have low profitability.

The result is that expansions of U.S. capacity now are limited to debottle­necking existing butadiene plants and to increasing recovery of butadiene coproduced in making ethylene. This latter source should expand at a rela­tively rapid rate but it accounts for less than a quarter of current output of butadiene.

Butadiene imports for this year will range between 12 million and 24 mil­lion pounds. If imports total 20 mil­lion pounds they will account for less than V7c of domestic demand. This means domestic producers will have to keep pushing their plants.

Size of future imports could vary depending on U.S. prices and on avail­ability in foreign countries. U.S.

prices aren't likely to rise much if butadiene is available for import. The result could be a fast rise in imports even though the total is relatively small. In two years imports of buta­diene could quintuple to 100 million pounds annually and equal 3f/< of projected demand. They could dou­ble again in two more years and reach 69r of projected demand.

Beyond this time, the import pic­ture is less clear because projections of foreign capacities and demands aren't reliable. Opinion on the Gulf Coast, where much of U.S. butadiene is made, is that imports will level off in time and are unlikely to exceed 10% of domes­tic consumption.

QIANA FIBER:

Congener Forms Studied Last week, a spokesman for Du Pont's textile fibers department gave C&EN more insight into its new fiber, Qiana, about which the chemistry, technol­ogy, and business aspects are still largely undisclosed. He points out that the Qiana trademark serves only to identify those fabrics which are constructed with the new fiber and de­signed especially for the couture fashion markets.

Furthermore, this new fiber is only one of a family of chemically related polyamide structures. Other congener forms now under laboratory develop­ment are in Du Pont's long-range planning as possible fibers for vari­ous markets other than apparel,

THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK

such as home furnishings and tire cord. Whether Du Pont will affix the Qi­

ana trademark to such further fiber de­velopments remains a question. Says Du Pont: "At the present time, it's simply good marketing sense to asso­ciate the name Qiana only with the high-fashion fabrics." Certainly, to apply the name to the fiber as a tire cord fabric, for example, would dilute the trademark's prestige in the boutique salons.

On the other hand, consumers are gradually becoming more educated about the nature and versatility of synthetic fibers, particularly through producer advertisements. Celanese, for example, ran a full page ad last week which pictures several fashion models grouped behind some indus­trial hosing and auto tires. The copy reads: "From flowing fashions to ex­acting industrial needs, our fibers lead many lives."

However Du Pont names its Qiana-type fibers in the future, the fibers will, nevertheless, have the one common characteristic of containing amide linkages. With the enormous num­ber of polymer modifications possible, the company will be able to tailor the chemistry of the fiber to meet the specifications of many apparel, home furnishing, and industrial markets.

For example, one exceptionally im­portant requirement for tire cord fiber is that it have very low moisture re­gain. This means that the polymer

Goodyear polyester Qiana a competitor in tires

18 C&EN AUG. 12. 1968

should have weak hydrophilic proper­ties. On the other hand, it's desirable for the fiber in an apparel fabric, such as Qiana, to have strong hydrophilic properties so it may absorb and wick away body moisture.

Surely, the tire cord market for Qiana-type fibers ranks high in Du Pont's long-range planning. The mar­ket is an attractive one. Last year, tire cord and fabric production amounted to 123 million pounds of rayon and a combined total of 308 mil­lion pounds of nylon and polyester. And current thinking in the tire and rubber business sets 1977 as the year for a new tire cord entree. By that time the price structures of Qiana-type fibers will likely have declined to a point where their price-performance characteristics may prove acceptable in the economics of tire construc­tion.

SYNTHETIC LEATHER:

Uniroyal Turns To Japan Looking more and more like a candi­date in the poromeric shoe materials competition, Uniroyal, Inc., has com­pleted arrangements to license Japa­nese synthetic leather technology. Rights to a polyamino acid leather, ne­gotiated earlier this year with Japan Amino Acid Chemicals and Japan Leather Industry Co., have now been approved by the Japanese government. Uniroyal's license is exclusive in North and South America, the U.K., and Italy. This week a Uniroyal technical team is due in Tokyo to begin gain­ing the necessary knowhow in making amino acid resins and applying them to substrates.

This route to leather simulation is attractive because amino acid poly­mers are fairly close in structure to natural leather, which consists mainly of the fibrous protein collagen. Their molecular weights are in the protein range—an IV-carboxyl alkyl glutamate polymer, for example, runs about 600,-000. This likeness, the Japanese firms claim, means a close similarity to nat­ural leather in appearance and in phys­ical properties such as air permeabil­ity, dyeability, and resistance to ag­ing.

Seven Japanese companies are al­ready manufacturing polyamino acid leather. They're supplied polymer by Japan Amino Acid Chemicals' Oaza-nakabun plant near Tokyo, which turns out 10 to 15 metric tons a month of glutamic acid resin (equivalent to some 1 to 1.6 million sq. ft. of leather).

Most of this leather is made by coating resin onto a fabric base and is intended for upholstery, baggage, clothing, and the like. Its price in

Japan averages 21 cents a square foot. But Japan Leather Industry Co. is also probing the shoe materials market with a combination of glutamic acid resin and a nonwoven base of collagen fiber made from natural-leather cutting scrap. This base material, developed by Japan Leather together with Fuji Spinning Co., has also attracted Uni­royal's attention.

Though a number of amino acids are usable for making synthetic leather, glutamic acid was Japan Amino Acid Chemicals' choice for commercializa­tion. Purchased glutamic acid is first converted to the methyl ester, which then reacts with phosgene to form (after rearrangement) the monomer, R-methyl-L-glutamate-N-carboxy an­hydride. Polymerization is carried out in solution, with no catalyst required. The resin can be applied to materials ranging all the way from natural and synthetic fibers to glass fiber and plastic sheet.

DRUG PRICES:

Decline Continues The long-term decline in the price of prescription drugs continued last year. The index of drug prices at manufac­turers' levels, prepared by Dr. John Firestone of City University of New York each year for the Pharmaceuti­cal Manufacturers Association, reached an all-time low of 85.2 in 1967, down from 85.9 in 1966 and 100.0 in 1949, the base year.

In commenting on this continuing decline in drug prices, PMA president C. Joseph Stetler says that the decline reflects the industry's capability to increase efficiency with growing vol­ume. Probably with the many critics of the industry's pricing policies in mind, he adds that, "Price cuts have been achieved in a market situation marked by relatively keen competition and a relatively low degree of concen­tration. No company has as high as 1% of the total market."

Dr. Firestone points out that the Bureau of Labor Statistics wholesale price index for drugs shows an even greater decline than does his own in­dex. Since its revision in 1961, the New York economist explains, the BLS index for "ethical pharmaceutical prep­arations" has dropped 8.2%. This compares with a 5% drop in the more comprehensive Firestone index over the same period. Dr. Firestone also points out that in December 1967 the BLS consumer price index for prescrip­tion drugs at retail stood 11.6% below its 1957-59 base while the overall cost of living stood at 18.2% above this same base period.

A breakdown of Dr. Firestone's sta­tistics shows that the price index of

patented ethical products dropped to 74.5 in 1967, from 75.2 in 1966 and 100.0 in 1949. However, the index for nonpatented products stayed at the 1966 level of 101.1. "These sta­tistics do not support the theory that patents are responsible for maintain­ing price levels," Mr. Stetler points out. He goes on, "On the contrary, in the field of pharmaceuticals, there is strong cross competition among differ­ent products treating the same disease. A patent provides only partial, and not necessarily long-lasting, protec­tion."

Although the overall price indexes for drugs declined during 1967, many more individual drugs went up in price than went down, according to Dr. Fire­stone. Antibiotics were the only ther­apeutic group to show a price decline. Ten groups showed higher prices. However, antibiotics are the largest single factor in Dr. Firestone's index, accounting for 15.3% of all drug sales. This weighting, coupled with the large price decrease of 8.5% for antibiotics, more than compensated for the various price increases in the other groups of pharmaceutical products.

MERGERS:

A Total Energy Outlook Diamond Shamrock dives deeper into natural resources and joins the grow­ing list of petroleum-based compa­nies with a "total energy" concept. How? Pickands Mather & Co., with major interests in coal, iron ore, and manganese, will be merged into Dia­mond Shamrock by the end of this year if directors and shareholders of the companies agree. With the $75 million transaction, Diamond Sham­rock joins the ranks of major oil com­panies and others which have recently acquired coal interests.

Within the past two years at least four coal companies have been sold. Also, Humble Oil has acquired several hundred thousand acres of coal lands in Illinois, North Dakota, and several western states. Leading the quest for the black mineral was Continental Oil's acquisition of Consolidation Coal Co. in 1966. Occidental Petroleum bought Island Creek Coal last Janu­ary. In March of this year, Kennecott Copper purchased Peabody Coal. And on Aug. 29, Old Ben Coal Co.'s stockholders will decide on merger with Standard Oil Co. (Ohio).

The proposed merger of Pickands Mather into Diamond Shamrock "re­flects a continuing expansion of our in­terests in natural resources," chairman and chief executive officer Raymond Evans says. Shamrock Oil & Gas was acquired late last year. Pickands Mather is slated to become a subsidi-

AUG. 12, 1968 C&EN 19