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Methylamines Market Is Growing Smartly

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Page 1: Methylamines Market Is Growing Smartly

M A R K E T S

Methylamines Market Is Growing Smartly Output was 91 million pounds in 1963; demand is growing 8% a year; expansions are likely

Output of Monomethylamine Will Grow Faster Than That of Di- or Trimethylamine During the Rest of the 1960's Millions of Pounds

60

Dimethylamine

Monomethylamine

40

Trimethylamine

V

0i 1958 1960 1962 1964 Source: U.S. Tariff Commission and C&EN estimates

1966 1968 1970

Surface-Active Agents and Agricultural Chemicals Will Be the Big Growth Areas for Methylamines

Monomethylamines

Surface-active agents Agricultural chemicals Monomethylhydrazine Intermediates and miscellaneous uses

SUBTOTALS

Dimethylamines

Agricultural chemicals Rubber chemicals Solvents

Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine Surface-active agents Miscellaneous uses

SUBTOTALS

Trimethylamines

Choline salts Miscellaneous

SUBTOTALS TOTALS

Source: C&EN estimates

Consumption (millions of pounds) 1963 1970

3 12 1 4

20

7 7

17 12 9 3

55

11 2

13 88

12 24 8

10 54

12 9

22 6

24 8

81

17 2

19 154

Methylamines producers may soon be hard-pressed to meet the fast grow­ing demand for their products. Plans to expand present plants or build new ones seem likely to get under way shortly. Methylamines consumption should grow about 8% a year during the rest of this decade, and, at that rate, new facilities would be needed within two years. Potential candidates for entering the methylamines field are Union Carbide, Olin Mathieson, FMC Corp., and General Aniline & Film, but expansions by present producers cannot be ruled out.

Today, methylamines are produced by Commercial Solvents, Du Pont, Pennsalt, Rohm & Haas, and Escambia Chemical. The combined capacity of these companies' plants is 106 mil­lion pounds a year. All producers make the three methylamines—mono-, di-, and trimethylamine. Escambia Chemical is the only fully merchant producer. The other producers use their production captively and sell on the open market as well.

About 60% of total methylamines production is used captively. Last year, output reached 91 million pounds, roughly 17% more than in 1962. Production should rise to about 98 million pounds this year, and to about 160 million pounds in 1970. Consumption, which reached 88 mil­lion pounds last year, should climb to 154 million pounds in 1970. The main reason for this year's increased production and consumption is the rising demand for monomethylamine, which is used to make Union Carbide's insecticide, Sevin.

Major Share. Dimethylamines make up the major share of the methyl­amines market. Last year, they ac­counted for more than 60% of meth­ylamines' total market. About 55 mil­lion pounds of dimethylamines were consumed in 1963 and in 1970 con­sumption should hit 81 million pounds.

The most significant new outlet for dimethylamines is their use in de­tergents. Last year, 9 million pounds of dimethylamines were used to make surface-active agents. The biggest user of the surfactants is Procter & Gamble, whose new lauryldimethyl-amine oxide plant went into full-scale production at the end of 1962. Lauryldimethylamine oxide is used in Gain, Thrill, and Joy liquid detergents made by P&G. The amine oxides act as foam stabilizers for liquid de­tergents. P&G has several patents on the use of the amine oxides, and this

32 C & E N M A R . 23, 1964

Page 2: Methylamines Market Is Growing Smartly

U.S. Methylamines Capacity Is 106 Million Pounds a Year

Annual Capacity Producer and Location (millions of pounds)

Commercial Solvents Terre Haute, Ind.

Du Pont Belle, W. Va. La Porte, Tex.

Escambia Chemical Pace, Fla.

Pennsalt Wyandotte, Mich.

Rohm & Haas Bristol, Pa. Philadelphia, Pa. TOTAL

20

35 10

10

12

7 12

106

Source: C&EN estimates

could deter other producers from going into the business.

Solvents are the major outlet for dimethylamines. In 1963, about 17 million pounds of dimethylamines were used to make dimethylform-amide and dimethylacetamide, which are used as spinning solvents for fi­bers. Du Pont is the major producer of the solvents and uses most of the dimethyIformamide it produces as a spinning solvent for its acrylic fiber, Orion. The company also exports di-methylformamide to its plants in other parts of the world. Chemstrand uses dimethylacetamide for spinning its ac-rilan fibers.

Agricultural chemicals, another big outlet for dimethylamines, should con­tinue to grow at a steady pace. In 1963, about 7 million pounds of di­methylamines were consumed in pesti­cides. The market should expand at about 6% per year, which is roughly the expected growth rate for agricul­tural chemicals. Rubber chemicals such as thiuram accelerators and car­bamate salts, used to stop polymeriza­tion at a predetermined stage, took about 7 million pounds of dimethyl­amines last year. This outlet should increase at about 3.5% per year for the next six to seven years.

The outlook for dimethylamines in unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) is the one uncertain area in the dimethylamines picture. Most UDMH, a component of jet and rocket fuels, goes to the Air Force's Titan missile program. The Air Force passes on some of its supply to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for its Apollo program. There has been some discussion by the Air Force and by NASA of changing part of

their xuel requirements from UDMH to monomethy lhydrazine (M M H ) . Therefore, the outlook for dimethyl-amine is somewhat in doubt. NASA's needs for UDMH could decline rapidly after 1964. This year, NASA will take about 2.5 million pounds of UDMH but by 1970 NASA's require­ments may be less than 500,000 pounds. Total use of UDMH may drop to 6 million pounds in 1970, compared to 12 million pounds in 1963.

Fastest Growth. Of the three methylamines, monomethylamine will show the fastest growth. Consump­tion will probably rise from 20 mil­lion pounds in 1963 to 54 million pounds in 1970, an increase of more than 150%. Monomethylamine's growth is mainly tied to Union Car­bide's Sevin.

Consumption of Union Carbide's Sevin insecticide should continue to increase by about 15% a year, pro­viding a tidy outlet for monomethyl­amine for some time to come. The company is operating its 100 million pound-per-year Sevin plant at Insti­tute, W.Va., at close to capacity.

The use of monomethylhydrazine for jet and rocket fuel is increasing. Olin Mathieson, for example, has signed a contract to deliver 200,000 pounds of MMH to NASA between March 1964 and March 1965. This much MMH calls for about 100,000 pounds of monomethylamine. MMH is being used in the reaction control system command module of Apollo and also for the Gemini spacecraft. It may also be used in the reaction control system of the SIVB stage of the Saturn vehicle, and in the Surveyor program.

Surface-active agents, such as Gen­eral Aniline & Film's methyl taurine, will also provide a growing market for monomethylamines. A new use which could create a sizable demand for the products is that in methyliso-cyanates for making specialty ure-thane foams. Nematocides, such as Stauffer Chemical's Vapam, offer another growing outlet.

The largest outlet for trimethyl-amines is for making choline salts. Last year production of choline salts totaled 23.5 million pounds and about 11 million pounds of trimethyl­amine went into this application. Choline salts are added to poultry and animal feeds to stimulate growth. The other markets for trimethylamine are fairly static.

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MAR. 23, 1964 C&EN 33

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