JOINT VENTURE

The industry is increasingly acknowledging the value of oontractors and service companies in improving their individual core capabilities through alliances, i.e. a joint venture for a particular project or a number of projects. A lead contractor e.g. a drilling company may form alliances with a number of sub contractors to be able to cover a wider spectrum of activities e.g. completions, workovers and well interventions. 

Supply and demand statistics for 1988 for all regions of the wodd as compiled by SRI International are given in Table 5. The wodd producers of acetal resins and their aimual capacities are Hsted in Table 6 (29). Hoechst Celanese and Ultraform Corporation (a joint venture of Degussa and BASF) have aimounced capacity expansions in the United States to 77,000 t and 16,000 t, respectively both were due in place in 1990. Part of general capacity expansion plans, aimounced by Du Pont for completion in 1991, are beHeved to apply to acetal resins. 

Joint venture, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical and Tongyoung Nylon Plants are beheved to be located in the USSR and Poland. 

Ma.nufa.cture. AU. manufacturers of butynediol use formaldehyde ethynylation processes. The earliest entrant was BASF, which, as successor to I. G. Farben, continued operations at Ludwigshafen, FRG, after World War II. Later BASF also set up a U.S. plant at Geismar, La. The first company to manufacture in the United States was GAF in 1956 at Calvert City, Ky., and later at Texas City, Tex., and Seadrift, Tex. The most recent U.S. manufacturer is Du Pont, which went on stream at La Porte, Tex., about 1969. Joint ventures of GAF and Hbls in Mad, Germany, and of Du Pont and Idemitsu in Chiba, Japan, are the newest producers. 

Because of projected nylon-6,6 growth of 4—10% (167) per year in the Far East, several companies have announced plans for that area. A Rhc ne-Poulenc/Oriental Chemical Industry joint venture (Kofran) announced a 1991 startup for a 50,000-t/yr plant in Onsan, South Korea (168,169). Asahi announced plans for a 15,000-t/yr expansion of adipic acid capacity at their Nobeoka complex in late 1989, accompanied by a 60,000-t/yr cyclohexanol plant at Mizushima based on their new cyclohexene hydration technology (170). In early 1990 the Du Pont Company announced plans for a major nylon-6,6 complex for Singapore, including a 90,000-t/yr adipic acid plant due to start up in 1993 (167). Plans or negotiations for other adipic acid capacity in the area include Formosa Plastics (Taiwan) (171) and BASF-Hyundai Petrochemical (South Korea) (167). Adipic acid is a truly worldwide... 

Dedicated Vehicles. Only Brazil and California have continued implementing alcohols in the transportation sector. The BraziUan program, the largest alternative fuel program in the world, used about 7.5% of oil equivalent of ethanol in 1987 (equivalent to 150,000 bbl of cmde oil per day). In 1987 about 4 million vehicles operated on 100% ethanol and 94% of all new vehicles purchased that year were ethanol-fueled. About 25% of Brazil s light-duty vehicle fleet (10) operate on alcohol. The leading BraziUan OEMs are Autolatina (a joint venture of Volkswagen and Ford), GM, and Fiat. Vehicles are manufactured and marketed in Brazil. 

The Ziegler process, based on reactions discovered in the 1950s, produces predorninandy linear, primary alcohols having an even number of carbon atoms. The process was commercialized by Continental Oil Company in the United States in 1962, by Condea Petrochemie in West Germany (a joint venture of Continental Oil Company and Deutsche Erdid, A.G.) in 1964, by Ethyl Corporation in the United States in 1965, and by the USSR in 1983. 

Oy Tech MonopolarE,lectroly rs. OxyTech Systems (a joint venture company of Occidental Chemical and Eltech Systems) suppHes monopolar diaphragm electrolyzers of two designs the OxyTech "Hooker" H-Type (27,28) shown in Figure 11 and the "Diamond" MDC-Type (28,29) in Figure 12. 

A worldwide Hst of spandex fiber and related elastomer producers is shown in Table 2. Most process developments have occurred in the United States, Germany, Japan, and Korea. A large proportion of worldwide capacity is controlled by Du Pont, either directly or through subsidiaries and joint ventures. These include three plants in North America, two in South America, two in Europe, and two in Asia. 

The acquisition of the rights to the viscose process became one of the most profitable investments of aU time. Interest in the new fiber was intense, and growth of production capacity was exponential. By 1907, the Courtauld company was selling aU the artificial sHk it could produce and proceeded to expand into the U.S. market. In 1910 they formed the American Viscose Co. and in 1911 started the first U.S. viscose factory at Marcus Hook. By 1939, Courtaulds had six factories in the United States, seven in the United Kingdom, one in Erance, one in Canada, and joint ventures in Germany and Italy. 

Data-Star. This is Europe s leading on-line database service (39) and covers worldwide business news, financial information, market research, trade statistics, business analysis, healthcare / pharmaceuticals, chemicals / petrochemicals, chemical industry, biomedicine /life science, biotechnology, and technology, with an emphasis on Europe. It was originally formed as a joint venture among BRS, Predicasts, and Radio Suisse (the Swiss telecommunications company) (37). Data-Star offers access to about 300 bibliographic, abstract, directory, and fuU-text on-line databases, of which approximately 150 are also available on Dialog (40). 

Flame-Retardant Filler. Demand has increased for Mg(OH)2 as a nonhalogenated, flame-retardant filler for thermoplastics used in the aerospace, microelectronics, and cable and wire manufacturing industries (90). Producers of nonhalogenated, flame retardant fillers include Kyowa, Aluisuisse-Lonza (Magnifin product line), Morton, and a Dead Sea Periclase/Dead Sea Bromine joint venture (91). 

The classic strategies are weU known acquisition, internal development, licensing, and joint ventures. 

Joint ventures are recommended if the respective companies have complementary strengths. Eor example, one may have the process, the other the raw materials, a strong position in the market, or an appropriate geographic location. 

Until 1982, almost all methyl methacrylate produced woddwide was derived from the acetone cyanohydrin (C-3) process. In 1982, Nippon Shokubai Kagaku Kogyo Company introduced an isobutylene-based (C-4) process, which was quickly followed by Mitsubishi Rayon Company in 1983 (66). Japan Methacryhc Monomer Company, a joint venture of Nippon Shokubai and Sumitomo Chemical Company, introduced a C-4-based plant in 1984 (67). Isobutylene processes are less economically attractive in the United States where isobutylene finds use in the synthesis of methyl /i / butyl ether, a pollution-reducing gasoline additive. BASF began operation of an ethylene-based (C-2) plant in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1990, but favorable economics appear to be limited to conditions unique to that site. 

Isobutjiene [115-11-7] or tert-huty alcohol can be converted to methacrylic acid in a two-stage, gas-phase oxidation process via methacrolein as an intermediate. The alcohol and isobutjiene may be used interchangeably in the processes since tert-huty alcohol [75-65-0] readily dehydrates to yield isobutjiene under the reaction conditions in the initial oxidation. Variations of this process have been commercialized by Mitsubishi Rayon and by a joint venture of Sumitomo and Nippon Shokubai. Nippon Kayaku, Mitsui Toatsu, and others have also been active in isobutjiene oxidation research. 

A trade secret owner may also beneficially exploit the trade secret through licensing, sales, or various other business ventures based on the confidential information. Such cooperative ventures often raise other issues. Exploitation of trade secret information may also occur through the unintended disclosure of this information to the pubHc. Generally, the people who learn of trade secret information tend to be the trade secret owner s employees, customers, Hcensees, suppHers, and joint venture partners. 

A second pressure on elemental production was the development of processes which remove impurities from phosphoric acid made by the wet process, to generate acid of equivalent purity to that obtained by the electric furnace route. Two such plants were brought on stream one at Aurora, North Carolina in 1990 by a joint venture of Albright Wilson, Texasgulf, and Olin, and another at Geismar, Louisiana, in 1991 by Rhc ne-Poulenc. These units have reported capacities of 47,600 and 31,700 t/yr elemental phosphoms equivalent, respectively (14). 

Worldwide capacity available for production of isophthahc acid was about 270 x 10 t in 1994. About 200 x 10 t was actually produced. Amoco Chemical with plants in the United States and Europe is the principal producer, with over 60% of the production, and AGIC, an Amoco—Mitsubishi Gas Chemical joint venture in Japan, and SISAS produce the remainder. 

Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Co. in Japan produces pyromellitic dianhydtide in the same unit used for trimellitic anhydtide production (105). This process starts with pseudocumene, which is first carbonylated with carbon monoxide in the presence of boron trifluotide and hydrogen fluotide to form 2,4,5-trimethylbenzaldehyde. The Hquid-phase oxidation of the trimethylbenzaldehyde to pyromellitic acid and subsequent processing steps ate much the same as described for the Mitsubishi Gas Chemical process in the trimellitic acid section. The production of pyromellitic anhydtide is in conjunction with a joint venture agreement with Du Pont. 

Toray—Du Pont joint venture Japan aramid... 

The roster of PPS suppHers in Japan is much larger than in the United States. Multiple market presences in Japan include TOPPS (Toray PPS, formerly TO—PP, which was a joint venture between Toray and Phillips) Dainippon Ink and Chemicals, Inc. Tosoh Tohpren Kureha/Polyplastics and Idemitsu. PPS marketed by Toray is sold under the Torelina trademark. Production capacity in Japan was estimated in 1995 at 11,400 t of neat resin per year. At the time that this capacity was created, the situation in Japan was characterized by overcapacity and underutilization. Additionally, further PPS capacity was brought on by Sunkyong in Korea, which is marketing a low cost PPS product. Although excess PPS capacity still exists in Japan, market growth has narrowed the gap between supply and demand. 

The second PPS process practiced commercially was developed by Kureha Chemical Industry Company. Kureha has built a commercial PPS plant in Nishiki, Fukushima (46), and has formed a joint venture, Fortron Industries, with Hoechst Celanese (47). Fortron Industries has completed a commercial PPS plant at Hoechst Celanese s plant in Wilmington, North Carolina. Fortron Industries represents the only other PPS producer in North America. Figure 3 shows a flow diagram for the Kureha PPS process. 

As of 1995, Union Carbide was the leading Hcensor of gas-phase technology, acquiring SheU s polypropylene business. Montel, a joint venture... 

These discoveries were followed by two key publications describing the work that marked the beginning of the commercial siUcone industry (18,19). Production increased rapidly with the need for siUcones in World War II. In 1943, the Dow Corning Corp. was formed in Midland, Michigan, as a joint venture between Corning Glass and Dow Chemical. In 1947 GE opened a plant in Waterford, New York, for manufacture of siUcones, and in 1949 Union Carbide opened a siUcone manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, New York. 

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