Fabric blends hold key to rayon growth prospects
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Petro-Sulfur "Building Blocks" from Phillips in Commercial Quantities. MERCAPTANS Typical Purity Wt. % Ethyl Mercaptan 994 iso-Propyl Mercaptan 98 η-Propyl Mercaptan 994 η-Butyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Butyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Amyl Mercaptan 98 n-Hexyl Mercaptan 96 n-Octyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Octyl Mercaptans. 96 tert-Dodecyl Mercaptans 97 tert-Tetradecyl Mercaptans 94 tert-Hexadecyl Mercaptans 82 Mixed Tertiary Mercaptans 94-98 Cyclohexyl Mercaptan 994 Dipentene Dimercaptan 98 MISCELLANEOUS Ethyl Sulfide 96-99 η-Butyl Sulfide 96 tert-Butyl Disulfide 94 Sulfolane 994 Sulfolene - Ethylthioethanol 99 OTHER PETRO-SULFUR COMPOUNDS: If you don't see what you need above, let us know. We'll be happy to discuss your specific requirements. Contact: Special Products Div. PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY Bartlesville, Okla. 74003 Phone:918 336-6600 At Phillips 66 it's performance that counts 24 C&EN JAN. 26, 1970 Fabric blends hold key to rayon growth prospects "We seriously believe today that rayon can technically compete for the whole 4 billion pound cotton market," says Dr. Charles J. Geyer, Jr., vice presi- dent and general manager of FMC Corp.'s American Viscose division. Speaking before a recent joint meet- ing of the Chemical Industry Associa- tion and the Chemical Marketing and Economics Group of the New York Section of the American Chemical So- ciety, Dr. Geyer reported that the greatest volume potential is in rayon staple. American Viscose, anticipat- ing increased demand, is presently ex- panding its rayon staple capacity by 100 million pounds to a total capacity of 550 million pounds. The market for rayon blends is ex- pected to grow considerably. Accord- ing to Dr. Geyer, all of the 600 mil- lion pounds of polyester staple pres- ently going into apparel fabrics has blended with it a cellulosic fiber—ei- ther cotton or rayon staple. Cellulo- sic fibers are necessary, Dr. Geyer says, to lend versatility of styling, color, and comfort to apparel fabrics, and to take up or react with perma- nent press finishes. Currently 85% of the polyester blends contain cotton and 15% contain rayon. The nonwoven disposables market is the only area showing substantial gains for rayon staple at present. This market consumed 217 million pounds of fibers in 1967 and 295 million pounds in 1968. Nonwoven use of rayon staple is now at 140 million pounds per year, and it has been grow- ing at a rate of about 10% per year. Cotton created the nonwoven market, but rayon and other man-made fibers, such as nylon, polyester, and polyole- fin staple, have rapidly taken over. Cotton's share of the market in 1968 was about 47 million pounds, and rayon's share was 127 million pounds. The tire cord market, however, has dropped off appreciably for rayon. Consumption of rayon in tire cord has dropped from 221 million pounds in 1960 to 120 million pounds in 1969. Rayon tire cord producers—FM C's American Viscose, Beaunit Fibers, American Enka, and Midland-Ross' IRC Fibers—are still bullish in their outlook concerning the fierce competi- tion with polyester and glass fiber, but nobody is investing capital in expan- sion of rayon tire cord capacity. In 1969 total shipments of rayon staple, tow, and filament amounted to 1.15 billion pounds—less than 10% more than the 1.08 billion pounds shipped in 1964. Production of con- tinuous filament was 135 million pounds in 1969. The scarcity of high-quality, long- staple cotton for a while gave impetus to a takeover of a healthy chunk of the cotton market by man-made fibers, mainly rayon and polyester. Growing cotton requires prime land, whereas wood, the raw material for man-made cellulosics, can be quite readily grown on inferior land. However, cotton crops have come up from a low in 1967 of 7.5 million bales to 10.9 million bales in 1968 and Viscose's Dr. Geyer Competition for cotton 10.1 million bales in 1969. The share taken by rayon staple from the cotton spinning system market has fluctuated between 11 and 14%, without any really substantial gains, even during the period of small cotton crops. Dur- ing 1969, use of rayon staple by cot- ton spinning systems declined from a high of 14% in January to 12% in November. Cotton's share of the spin- ning market was about 67% in No- vember. The remainder of the cotton spinning system market is taken up by noncellulosics, mostly polyester. This noncellulosic's share has increased from about 5% in 1962 to about 20% in 1969. One factor to be noted is that gov- ernment price-support payments to cotton farmers have increased from about 9 cents per pound in 1966 to about 17 cents per pound planned for 1970. Cotton prices have decreased from about 30 cents per pound in 1960 to about 20 cents per pound in 1969.
Transcript of Fabric blends hold key to rayon growth prospects
Petro-Sulfur "Building Blocks"
from Phillips in Commercial
Quantities.
MERCAPTANS Typical Purity Wt. %
Ethyl Mercaptan 994 iso-Propyl Mercaptan 98 η-Propyl Mercaptan 994 η-Butyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Butyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Amyl Mercaptan 98 n-Hexyl Mercaptan 96 n-Octyl Mercaptan 98 tert-Octyl Mercaptans. 96 tert-Dodecyl Mercaptans 97 tert-Tetradecyl Mercaptans 94 tert-Hexadecyl Mercaptans 82 Mixed Tertiary Mercaptans 94-98 Cyclohexyl Mercaptan 994 Dipentene Dimercaptan 98
MISCELLANEOUS
Ethyl Sulfide 96-99 η-Butyl Sulfide 96 tert-Butyl Disulfide 94 Sulfolane 994 Sulfolene -Ethylthioethanol 99
OTHER PETRO-SULFUR COMPOUNDS:
If you don't see what you need above, let us know. We'll be happy to discuss your specific requirements.
Contact: Special Products Div. PHILLIPS PETROLEUM COMPANY Bartlesville, Okla. 74003 Phone:918 336-6600
At Phillips 66 it's performance that counts
24 C&EN JAN. 26, 1970
Fabric blends hold key to rayon growth prospects "We seriously believe today that rayon can technically compete for the whole 4 billion pound cotton market," says Dr. Charles J. Geyer, Jr., vice president and general manager of FMC Corp.'s American Viscose division. Speaking before a recent joint meeting of the Chemical Industry Association and the Chemical Marketing and Economics Group of the New York Section of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Geyer reported that the greatest volume potential is in rayon staple. American Viscose, anticipating increased demand, is presently expanding its rayon staple capacity by 100 million pounds to a total capacity of 550 million pounds.
The market for rayon blends is expected to grow considerably. According to Dr. Geyer, all of the 600 million pounds of polyester staple presently going into apparel fabrics has blended with it a cellulosic fiber—either cotton or rayon staple. Cellulosic fibers are necessary, Dr. Geyer says, to lend versatility of styling, color, and comfort to apparel fabrics, and to take up or react with permanent press finishes. Currently 85% of the polyester blends contain cotton and 15% contain rayon.
The nonwoven disposables market is the only area showing substantial gains for rayon staple at present. This market consumed 217 million pounds of fibers in 1967 and 295 million pounds in 1968. Nonwoven use of rayon staple is now at 140 million pounds per year, and it has been growing at a rate of about 10% per year. Cotton created the nonwoven market, but rayon and other man-made fibers, such as nylon, polyester, and polyole-fin staple, have rapidly taken over. Cotton's share of the market in 1968 was about 47 million pounds, and rayon's share was 127 million pounds.
The tire cord market, however, has dropped off appreciably for rayon. Consumption of rayon in tire cord has dropped from 221 million pounds in 1960 to 120 million pounds in 1969. Rayon tire cord producers—FM C's American Viscose, Beaunit Fibers, American Enka, and Midland-Ross' IRC Fibers—are still bullish in their outlook concerning the fierce competition with polyester and glass fiber, but nobody is investing capital in expansion of rayon tire cord capacity.
In 1969 total shipments of rayon staple, tow, and filament amounted to 1.15 billion pounds—less than 10% more than the 1.08 billion pounds shipped in 1964. Production of con
tinuous filament was 135 million pounds in 1969.
The scarcity of high-quality, long-staple cotton for a while gave impetus to a takeover of a healthy chunk of the cotton market by man-made fibers, mainly rayon and polyester. Growing cotton requires prime land, whereas wood, the raw material for man-made cellulosics, can be quite readily grown on inferior land.
However, cotton crops have come up from a low in 1967 of 7.5 million bales to 10.9 million bales in 1968 and
Viscose's Dr. Geyer Competition for cotton
10.1 million bales in 1969. The share taken by rayon staple from the cotton spinning system market has fluctuated between 11 and 14%, without any really substantial gains, even during the period of small cotton crops. During 1969, use of rayon staple by cotton spinning systems declined from a high of 14% in January to 12% in November. Cotton's share of the spinning market was about 67% in November. The remainder of the cotton spinning system market is taken up by noncellulosics, mostly polyester. This noncellulosic's share has increased from about 5% in 1962 to about 20% in 1969.
One factor to be noted is that government price-support payments to cotton farmers have increased from about 9 cents per pound in 1966 to about 17 cents per pound planned for 1970. Cotton prices have decreased from about 30 cents per pound in 1960 to about 20 cents per pound in 1969.
