S plants

The Chevron process was used in two U.S. plants, although it is no longer used. Cycle lengths tanged from 6—30 d, depending on catalyst age and OX content of the feed. Operating conditions were temperature of 370—470°C and space velocity of about 0.5/h. Addition of 5 wt % steam reduced disproportionation losses. 

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. 

In the 1980s cost and availabiUty of acetylene have made it an unattractive raw material for acrylate manufacture as compared to propylene, which has been readily available at attractive cost (see Acetylene-DERIVED chemicals). As a consequence, essentially all commercial units based on acetylene, with the exception of BASF s plant at Ludwigshafen, have been shut down. AH new capacity recendy brought on stream or announced for constmction uses the propylene route. Rohm and Haas Co. has developed an alternative method based on aLkoxycarbonylation of ethylene, but has not commercialized it because of the more favorable economics of the propylene route. 

In 1991, U.S. plant capacity for producing acetylene was estimated at 176, 000 t/yr. Of this capacity, 66% was based on natural gas, 19% on calcium carbide, and 15% on ethylene coproduct processing. Plants currendy producing acetylene in the United States are Hsted in Table 13. 

Table 7 presents 1991 statistics on limestone and dolomite uses, and includes production from 2338 U.S. plants (16). Generally the growth markets ... 

Obtainable only in modem plants. Average for U.S. plants is 32.8% Total oxygen concentration is 32 mol %. 

Applications Research. Specialty chemical producers devote a larger share of their time and costs to appHcations research than do producers of most commodity chemicals. As noted earHer, the most successful specialty chemical producers have been those companies that ate able to respond quickly to customer needs and problems under the conditions found in the customer s plant. This entails having, at the specialty chemical plant, equipment and procedural knowledge which closely approximate those found among customers. Tests can then be mn and a solution to the problem or need may result. If successful, even in part, it can be brought to the customers and tried there. In practice, of course, each customer s plant has some variables which make a single answer or product quite unlikely. Fortunately, slight modifications by the suppHer will often solve the next customer s problem. 

The primary environmental concern for the coating plant is actually the residual material on the anode stmctures being returned for recoating. Therefore the anode user must enact effective cleaning procedures prior to shipment. For example, anodes in chlorine use must be cleaned of all traces of mercury and asbestos (qv). Anodes used in electrogalvanizing or in copper-foil production must similarly be cleaned to remove all traces of process materials. If cleaning at the user s plant is not done effectively, the anode may well be shipped back to the user for appropriate action before it is considered for recoating. 

The surviving U.S. plants have embraced all types of waste treatment processes (see Wastes treatment, hazardous waste Wastes, industrial). The most desired poUution prevention processes are those which reduce the total amount of waste discharged. Treatment and disposal are less strongly emphasized options. Zero wastewater discharge faciHties and water recycling processes are becoming more common (55,56). 

The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) has been formed, consisting of nuclear plant operators over the entire world who have pledged to assist each other in the achievement of safe operations (25). There are four centers from which this international program is adrninistered one in the United States in Atlanta, Georgia, operated by INPO one in Paris operated by Electricitir de Prance one in Moscow operated by the Ministry of Nuclear Power and one in Tokyo operated by the Central Research Institute for the Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI). Through this mechanism, teams of operators from the U.S., Western Europe, and Asia visit CIS plants to share safety experience and know-how, and similarly, plant personnel from Russian and Eastern European nuclear units visit European, Asian, and U.S. plants. 

Plants. AsexuaHy reproducing plants, ie, those not propagated by means of seed, also represent a legally recognized class of patentable subject matter under U.S. patent laws. Additionally, the inventor must have discovered and asexuaHy reproduced the plant that is to be the subject of the patent apphcation. Plant patents are assigned a different series of numbers than the majority of patents discussed in the foregoing, such as U.S. Plant Patent No. 3,360 titled "Peach Tree" (7). 

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. 

This technique, widely used in U.S. plants during World War II, helped to ensure rehabihty and performance of military supphes. Once the war ended, SPG lost favor. However, in the face of rising Japanese product quahty, SPG was reintroduced. In the chemical industry the use of SPG continues to grow in popularity as a key element of an ongoing continuous improvement. 

For various reasons, including financial ones, the United States was slower than Japan and Europe to install continuous slab casters for the production of sheet. Electric melters cast billets continuously from about 1975 onward. Casting was done cmdely at first but the sophistication increased rapidly, culminating in the operation of a thin-slab caster at one of Nucor s plants. This opened up another avenue of attack on sheet markets, once the province of integrated mills. 

Sulfonation and sulfation, chemical methods for iatroduciag the SO group iato organic entities, are related and usually treated joiatiy. It is estimated that these methods were utilized ia approximately 1000 operational plants throughout the world, including about 170 U.S. plants as of the mid-1990s (1,2). 

Reagent Formula Physical form Cost, /kg Cost for SO3, /kg U.S. mfg U.S. plants... 

E/ectrothermlc Process. Electrothermic zinc smelting is described in refs. 29—30. The oxide furnaces in the one U.S. plant are 11-m high, three are 1.75-m dia. 

Type I (Normal). This is the general purpose Pordand cement used for all appHcations where special properties are not needed. Common appHcations include concretes for paving, building doors, roof decks, reinforced concrete buildings, pipes, tanks, bridges, and other precast concrete products. In 1989 Type I and Type II accounted for over 92% of the Pordand cement produced in U.S. plants. Exact data are not available that separate Type I and Type II Pordand cement, but it can be assumed that Type I production was much greater than Type II. 

Whereas commercial production of castor oil existed ia the United States ia the 1800s, production shifted to tropical and subtropical countries ia the early 1900s. World War I, World War II, and the Korean conflict each iafluenced efforts to produce hybrid castor species and iacrease U.S. planting, and by the late 1960s, approximately 80,000 acres of castor were grown ia the United States produciag 29,500 metric tons of castor oil. U.S. production was competitive until 1972 when Federal price supports were withdrawn. U.S. production dropped almost to zero by 1974. 

The first U.S. plant for acrylonitrile manufacture used an ethylene cyanohydrin feedstock. This was the primary route for acrylonitrile manufacture until the acetylene-based process began to replace it in 1953 (40). Maximum use of ethylene cyanohydrin to produce acrylonitrile occurred in 1963. Acrylonitrile (qv) has not been produced by this route since 1970. 

As of 1990, plastics are plated in fewer than 50 U.S. plants. The aimual electroless chemical costs range from 7—10 million for POP, and 5—7 million for REl shielding. Individual plants process from 4.6 x 10 to >1.3 x 10 /yr of plastic surface area. Automotive items make up over 50% of the market on a plated area basis the remainder is hardware, plumbing, electronics shielding, and decorative items. 

Many configurations of laboratory reactors have been employed. Rase (Chemical Reactor Design for Proce.s.s Plants, Wiley, 1977) and Shah (Ga.s-Liquid-Solid Reactor Design, McGraw-Hill, 1979) each have about 25 sketches, and Shah s bibliography has 145 items classified into 22 categories of reactor types. Jankowski et al. (Chemlsche Tech-nik, 30, 441 46 [1978]) illustrate 25 different lands of gradientless laboratory reactors for use with solid catalysts. 

Rase, chemical Reactor De.sign for Proce.s.s Plants, Wiley, 1977, pp. 195-259. 124 references. 

Truckload quantity price, FOB east-coast manufacturer s plant. 

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