Plastic unions

Research and Development Department, Chemicals and Plastics, Union Carbide Corp., South Charleston, W. Va. 25303... 

Johnston, F., Plastic composition comprising a vinyl hahde polymer and a phosphorus-containing compound as a plasticizer. Union Carbide and Carbon, U.S. Patent Appl. US 2668800, 1954 Chem. Abstr, 48, 8586h, 1954. 

Flexol Plasticizer. [Union Carbide] Plasticizers for rubber, q>oxy. 

Uniflex, Monomeric and polymeric plasticizers. Union Camp Corp., Chemical Products Div. 

A.crolein, Material Safety Data Sheet, Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc., Specialty Chemicals Division, August 15,1989. 

Plastic materials represent less than 10% by weight of all packagiag materials. They have a value of over 7 biUion including composite flexible packagiag about half is for film and half for botties, jars, cups, tubs, and trays. The principal materials used are high density polyethylene (HDPE) for botties, low density polyethylene for film, polypropylene (PP) for film, and polyester for both botties and films. Plastic resias are manufactured by petrochemical companies, eg. Union Carbide and Mobil Chemical for low density polyethylene (LDPE), Solvay for high density polyethylene, Himont for polypropylene, and Shell and Eastman for polyester. 

Ethylene Glycol Brochure F-49193B-ICD, Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Co. Inc. Danbury, Conn., 1991. 

Plastics, Environmentally Degradable" in ECT 3rd ed., SuppL VoL, pp. 626—668, byj. E. Potts, Union Carbide Corp. 

Mixtures of isomeric amyl alcohols (1-pentanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol) are often preferred because the different degree of branching imparts a more desirable combination of properties they are also less expensive to produce commercially. One such mixture is a commercial product sold under the name Primary Amyl Alcohol by Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc. 

Commercial primary amyl alcohol is a mixture of 1-pentanol and 2-methyl-1-butanol, iu a ratio of ca 65 to 35 (available from Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc. iu other ratios upon request). Typical physical properties of this amyl alcohol mixture are Hsted iu Table 2 (17). 

Prior to 1975, reaction of mixed butenes with syn gas required high temperatures (160—180°C) and high pressures 20—40 MPa (3000—6000 psi), in the presence of a cobalt catalyst system, to produce / -valeraldehyde and 2-methylbutyraldehyde. Even after commercialization of the low pressure 0x0 process in 1975, a practical process was not available for amyl alcohols because of low hydroformylation rates of internal bonds of isomeric butenes (91,94). More recent developments in catalysts have made low pressure 0x0 process technology commercially viable for production of low cost / -valeraldehyde, 2-methylbutyraldehyde, and isovaleraldehyde, and the corresponding alcohols in pure form. The producers are Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastic Company Inc., BASF, Hoechst AG, and BP Chemicals. 

Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc. is the only producer of C-5 oxo derived alcohols (148,150) in the United States. About 75% of the 30,000 t of valeraldehyde and 2-methylbutyraldehyde produced by the oxo process was converted to the isomeric mixture of primary amyl alcohols in 1988 (150). The primary amyl alcohol mixture was available in tank car quantities for 1.02/kg in 1991. The Dow Chemical Company appears to have stopped commercial production of / fZ-amyl alcohol (151). 

Another significant appHcation for amyl alcohols is for production of amyl acetates. Production of amyl acetates in 1987 is estimated to have been 4.5-5.5 X 10 t about 50% of the domestic demand is for lacquers (150). Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Company Inc. is the only U.S. producer. 

UCAR n-PentylPropionate, Brochure F-60454A, Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics Corp., Danbury, Coim., May 1987. 

Random copolymers of vinyl chloride and other monomers are important commercially. Most of these materials are produced by suspension or emulsion polymerization using free-radical initiators. Important producers for vinyl chloride—vinyUdene chloride copolymers include Borden, Inc. and Dow. These copolymers are used in specialized coatings appHcations because of their enhanced solubiUty and as extender resins in plastisols where rapid fusion is required (72). Another important class of materials are the vinyl chloride—vinyl acetate copolymers. Principal producers include Borden Chemicals Plastics, B. F. Goodrich Chemical, and Union Carbide. The copolymerization of vinyl chloride with vinyl acetate yields a material with improved processabihty compared with vinyl chloride homopolymer. However, the physical and chemical properties of the copolymers are different from those of the homopolymer PVC. Generally, as the vinyl acetate content increases, the resin solubiUty in ketone and ester solvents and its susceptibiUty to chemical attack increase, the resin viscosity and heat distortion temperature decrease, and the tensile strength and flexibiUty increase slightly. 

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