Hurricane Andrew generally spares Louisiana chemical plants

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Poster session spotlights Russian materials research Russian scientists Ludmilla M. Bronstein (right) and Svetlana A. Sukhishvili (below) discuss their research results at a poster session surveying materials science research in Russia (above). The session was presented last week by the Division of Polymer Chemistry at the American Chemical Society national meeting in Washington, D.C. Featuring work by 11 teams of Rus­sian scientists, the session was organized by Norbert M. Bikales, head of polymer science at the National

Science Founda­tion. Bronstein, who is a senior researcher at the Nesmayanov In­stitute for Orga-no-Element Re­search, Moscow, described properties of organometallic groups immobilized on polymer chains. Polymer science professor Sukhishvili of Moscow State University discussed inter­actions of polyelectrolytes and proteins with latexes.

band gaps, such as using stronger do­nor and acceptor groups. But there's no assurance this strategy will lead to polymers with intrinsic, fully metallic behavior. After all, notes Heeger, it's not that easy to go from 0.5 eV to 0 eV. Nevertheless, Visser says, his Dutch colleagues are confident their approach will lead to further improvements.

Ron Dagani

Suit over biopesticide patent rights settled Two biopesticide firms last week set­tled out of court a pair of lawsuits over potentially lucrative patent rights on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).

Bt is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces toxins against insects, and is the basis of the budding biopesticide industry. The worldwide market for Bt-based pesticides is projected to grow at an annual rate of 20%, from $60 million in 1991 to $115 rnillion by 1995.

The lawsuits were filed in 1988 in the U.S. District Court in Southern Califor­nia by Novo Nordisk of Denmark. Novo Nordisk charged that Mycogen, a San Diego-based agricultural biotechnology company, infringed on and interfered with Novo Nordisk patents for Bt strains active against Coleoptera, or beetles. The patents are now assigned to Entotech, a Davis, Calif.-based biopesticide R&D unit of Novo Nordisk.

As part of the settlement, Mycogen formally acknowledges that the Bt strain it named B. thuringiensis subsp.

Hurricane Andrew spawned torna­does and severe flooding, and de­stroyed homes and communities along its Louisiana path last week. But the chemical industry remained largely unscathed and its employees unharmed, at least at job sites. Pro­cess units, columns, tanks, and ware­houses escaped debilitating damage. Water damage, power outages, and temporary shutdown of rail and ma­rine transport systems caused the biggest problems for area plants.

In preparation for the hurricane, petrochemical plants from Alabama to Texas halted or slowed production, se­cured outdoor equipment, and evacu­

ated or left skeleton crews. At press time, plants in south central Louisi­ana—where Andrew wreaked the most havoc—were still assessing the storm's effects, but many expected to resume normal operations within a few days.

Transportation became a problem for Louisiana plants, including Dow Chemical's facility in Plaquemine, when Union Pacific railroad tempo­rarily stopped operations. Many com­panies also experienced difficulties when the Coast Guard shut down the mouth of the Mississippi. For exam­ple, Du Ponf s Burnside, La., sulfuric acid plant had to halt a barge loaded

and ready to go upriver to Chevron's refinery at Pascagoula, Miss.

Two carbon black plants directly hit by the hurricane—Degussa's at New Iberia and Cabof s at Franklin—sus­tained only light to moderate damage. Thanks to a 12-foot dike surrounding the Degussa facility, just a foot of wa­ter remained in it after the hurricane. "The real key to getting back up is the restoration of power," says Charles Story, vice president of governmental and public affairs at Degussa. His plant experienced high winds for a prolonged period, but damage will not be as bad as feared.

Susan Ainsworth

AUGUST 31,1992 C&EN 9