Transcript
Page 1: Nopco Dedicates Urethane Plant

Tests conducted by Allied show its new low pressure process polyethylene pipe compound to advantage . Allied claims this indicates the product poten­tials for cold water service and indus­trial pipe applications. Molecular weight of polymer is over 750,000

and conventional polyethylene waxes at existing and newly installed Buffalo, Ν. Υ., facilities. No immediate large scale expansion is p lanned although all available ethylene will soon be con­sumed. The resin is intended for plas­tic nines—water service and industrial applications. The major share of 1957 production will go to Orangeburg Mfg., which is fabricating and selling fin­ished pipe in lengths up to 400 feet.

The major advantage of Allied's resins according to corporate vice president Forbes Silsby, is absence of stress cracking—to a far greater extent than competing polyethylene. Silsby claims tha t failure due to environ­mental stress cracking is entirely over­come in pipe made from the new resin. High bursting strength and superior temperature resistance are other ad­vantages cited by officials of Allied and Orangeburg at a New York press conference this week.

Test data developed by company researchers and illustrated at the con­ference show no environmental stress cracking failures after 6000 hours of tests—far greater than other high den­sity or conventional polyethylene pipes tested by Allied. Unusually high melt viscosity requires special techniques to be employed in pipe manufacture.

The resin is earmarked for uses other than pipe, too—when production permits. Silsby anticipates other ap­plications and notes Allied develop­ment work now under way with films, tiles, moldings, and fibers. Initial price patterns will be competitive, but Al­lied won't give details.

Nopco Dedicates Urethane Plant

N e w Jersey plant is com­pany's first major step in plastics expansion; other urethane plants planned

Ν OPCO C H E M I C A L has dedicated its new plastics plant in North Arlington, N. J. The company claims it is the first in the Eas t devoted solely to re­search and production of urethane plas­tic foams. Now the company makes polyester types. But it is studying polyether types and hopes to produce them in the near future.

In dedicating the new plant, Ralph Wechsler, Nopco president, said, "this plant represents the first major step in Nopco's expansion into the plastics field. As the urethane foam market grows, Nopco expects to grow with it by expanding facilities and areas of investigation as the need arises."

Now Nopco is building a 10-million-pound-a-year resin plant at the North Arlington site. This unit should be on stream in about 60 days. It will supply polyester resins needed for Nopco's urethane production and also

prepolymers for company needs, as well as for sale to other companies.

The new urethane plant h a s an annual capacity of 5 million pounds, houses production units, labs, a n d sales offices. Nopco also has a pla_nt a t Richmond, Calif. It plans to a d d a t least three more plants in strategic locations throughout the U. S. "When this expansion is completed by 1962, it will raise Nopco's urethane capacity to over 40 million pounds a year*.

Company executives point out: that industry-wide urethane estimates for 1960 run all the way from a conserva­tive 100-million to a hopeful 300-mil-lion-pound-a-year market. F o r the short-term view, the company prefers to take the conservative figure?. In the long run, however, Nopco believes the urethane market potential f a r ex­ceeds 300 million pounds per year.

Nopco has been involved in foam developments since 1952. Trien it worked under a licensing agreement from Lockheed Aircraft which gave Nopco its know-how to make foam-in-place systems. Since then Nopco has been licensed by Mobay Chemical, Du Pont, and Elastomer Chemical Corp. This means, says Nopco, it is t h e only company in the U. S. licensed by all four major holders of patents which cover plastic foam formulations.

Capacity of Olin Mathieson's Mcintosh, Ala., plant has been doubled by t h e addi­tion of a second cell building ( r igh t ) . T h e enlarged plant now has a capacity of 250 tons of chlorine and 280 tons of caustic a day. The expansion of t t i e five-year-old plant cost $8 million. Besides the new cell building, the expansion in­cluded a new power input substation (background) , brine purifying and dechlo-rinating equipment, and chlorine liquefying and tankcar loading facilities. Part of the output will go to a new bulk storage facility near Brunswiok, Oa .

A P R I L 2 9, 1 9 5 7 C & E Î S 2 1

RESISTANCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS CRACKING

A!l,rd 0>e.-jl,c*i A C Polyethylene Ptpr Compound

Olin Maîhieson Adds fo Chlor-Causfîc Plant

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