Japan first commercial products

Polyuretha.ne, A type of spunbonded stmcture has been commercialized in Japan based on thermoplastic polyurethanes (15). This represents the first commercial production of such fabrics, although spunbonded urethane fabrics have been previously discussed (16). The elastomeric properties claimed are unique for spunbonded products and appear to be weU suited for use in apparel and other appHcations requiring stretch and recovery. Polyurethanes are also candidates for processing by the meltblown process. 

The proved reserves and levels of production for Japan, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Pakistan, Taiwan, and Thailand are insignificant by world standards. In 1979, the Philippines estabUshed the first commercial production in the small offshore South Nido field. This success came after more than 75 years of wildcat drilling in the Philippines. After several additional discoveries, production rose to 0.3 x 10 m (1.7 x 10 bbl) in 1991. 

Later workers, chiefly in Japan, used naphthalimides with alkoxy substituents at the 4- or 4,5-positions and obtained brighteners with good lightfastness for polyester substrates and good chlorite fastness for polyacrylonitriles. The first commercial product was 4-methoxy-iV-methylnaphthalimide (64) [3271-05-4] [113], Table 7.10 lists the most important compounds. 

The first commercial production of L-aspartic acid was started in 1973 by the Tanaba Seiyaku Company, Japan. The process uses aspartase contained in whole microorganisms and involves the immobilization of E. coli on polyacrylamide gel or carrageenan. The immobilized cells are then subjected to treatment in order to increase cell permeability. The substrate, fumaric acid, is dissolved in a 25 % ammonia solution and the resulting ammonium fumarate is then passed through the reactor containing the immobilized E. coli. The reaction is exothermic and the reactor has to be designed to remove the heat produced. The conversion of fumaric acid to aspartic acid is more economical than the direct fermentation of sugars. The key to economical production of L-aspartic acid for expanded use is a cheaper and more abundant source of fumaric acid. 

Production of pitch fibers was first investigated in Japan. In 1963, Sugio Otani obtained pitch fibers by the pyrolysis of lignin and later of PVC pitch. The first commercial product was the fiber from a pitch derived from crude oil pyrolysis, produced by Kureha,... 

In 1950, the first commercial production of synthetic lactic acid started in Japan [15]. Lactonitrile was produced from acetaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide and hydrolyzed in the second stage to lactic acid. For some decades, synthetic lactic acid competed with lactic acid obtained by fermentation, but currently almost all lactic acid is produced by fermentation. 

The first commercial production of superabsorbent polymer was began in Japan in 1978, as feminine napkins, using cross-linked starch-grafted polyacryalt. In 1980, superabsorb-ent polymer was used in baby diapers in Germany and France (154). At first, the diapers used only a small amount of superabsorbent polymer as a supplement to fluff pulp that... 

Standard Oil sold a number of licenses to manufacture high density polyethylene using their process, the first commercial product being made in Japan in 1960. The Standard Oil invention was not marketed as aggressively as the other two methods of producing high density polyethylene and played a minor role in the development of the global polyethylene industry. 

Production. Production of polycarbonate has steadily iacreased siace the opening of the first commercial plants ia the early 1960s. Worldwide capacity reached 665,000 t ia 1992 (38). Siace the mid-1980s, productioa has iacreased at 8—13% per year. Expected capacity ia 1995 is over oae million metric toas. Plants have opened ia several couatries, including Japan, Chiaa, Korea, and Brazil, although as of this writing (1995) the United States remains the primary producer of polycarbonate. U.S. production is about 47% of that worldwide. 

The first commercially available acetal resin was marketed by Du Pont in 1959 under the trade name Delrin after the equivalent of ten million pounds had been spent in research or polymers of formaldehyde. The Du Pont monopoly was unusually short lived as Celcon, as acetal copolymer produced by the Celanese Corporation, became available in small quantities in 1960. This material became commercially available in 1962 and later in the same year Farbwerke Hoechst combined with Celanese to produce similar products in Germany (Hostaform). In 1963 Celanese also combined with the Dainippon Celluloid Company of Osaka, Japan and Imperial Chemical Industries to produce acetal copolymers in Japan and Britain respectively under the trade names Duracon and Alkon (later changed to Kematal). In the early 1970s Ultraform GmbH (a joint venture of BASF and Degussa) introduced a copolymer under the name Ultraform and the Japanese company Asahi Chemical a homopolymer under the name Tenal. 

The first commercial Fischer-Tropsch facility was commissioned in 1935, and by the end of the Second World War a total of fourteen plants had been constructed. Of these, nine were in Germany, one in France, three in Japan, and one in China. Both German normal-pressure and medium-pressure processes (Table 18.1) were employed. The cobalt-based low-temperature Fischer-Tropsch (Co-LTFT) syncrude produced in these two processes differed slightly (Table 18.2), with the product from the medium-pressure process being heavier and less olefinic.11 In addition to the hydrocarbon product, the syncrude also contained oxygenates, mostly alcohols and carboxylic acids. 

Catalloy A gas-phase process for making olefin co-polymers, using Ziegler-Natta catalysts. It uses a series of three gas-phase reactors to which monomer is progressively added. The properties of the product can be varied according to the monomer grades used. Developed by Himont and first commercialized in 1990. Now operated by a joint venture of Montell Polyolefins and Japan Polyolefins. See also Hivalloy. 

L-aspartic acid is used in production of aspartame, in pharmaceuticals and as a food additive. A bioprocess for the production of this amino acid was first commercialized in 1973 by Tanabe Seiyaku Co. (Japan) and... 

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