TL: THE SHRINKING MARKET FOR CHC SOLVENTS IN GERMANY (GP) SO: Summary of a study for GP Germany. Made by Verlag der Oekologischen Briefe, July 1991 DT: October 24, 1991 Keywords: toxics chlorine hoechst germany europe abstracts dow greenpeace groups reports gp / Whole study available in German via Manfred Krautter, Greenpeace FRG, Hambrug; Toxics campaign. The situation and processes of adaption among manufacturers, recyclers and dealers Summary 1. CHC solvents in the chlorine chemicals industry. CHC solvents are produced by the three German manufacturers Dow, Wacker and Hoechst, for other production processes with chlorine chemicals in internal works production operations. Perchloroethylene, or PCE, is produced at Dow almost entirely from production residues which would otherwise have to be disposed of in another way. At Wacker this does not apply to the same extent as the starting materials for PCE are for the most part fresh raw materials (propylene). The waste from the PCE production (hydrogen chloride) is furthermore used for PVC manufacture. Methylene chloride accrues at Hoechst as a coupling product in the manufacture of CFCs. At Dow, methylene chloride is not produced of necessity but is produced as a result of relatively simple reprocessing ("re-chlorination") of an intermediate product also required for other purposes (methyl chloride). Wacker's trichloroethylene and 1,1,1 trichloroethane at Dow are only connected with other production processes as far as starting materials are concerned. Both plants can shut down without causing disruptions in other processes. It can be seen that nothing like all CHC solvents are inevitable by-products in the whole of chlorine chemicals production. It is possible to reduce CHC solvent production without curbing the chlorine chemicals industry as a whole. 2. The market, sellers and manufacturers. Domestic consumption of chlorinated solvents has decreased annually from 1986 to 1990 from 180,000 to 100,000 tonnes. The main causes are the substitution of CHC by aqueous cleaner in the metal industry and the use of cleaning processes lower in emissions. The German market is divided half (53.3 per cent) between domestic manufacturers, Dow, Hoechst and Wacker, and half (46.5 per cent) foreign manufacturers - Atochem, ICI, Solvay and a few others. The three domestic sellers far and away exceed the German market. By far the biggest producer, Dow Chemicals in Stade, annually produces 70,000 tonnes of methylene chloride, 60,000 tonnes of perchloroethylene and 60,000 tonnes of 1,1,1 trichloroethane. The Hoechst AG company in Frankfurt and its associate, Wacker Chemicals at Burghausen, produce 35,000 tonnes of methylene chloride / 16,000 tonnes of PCE and 7,000 tonnes of trichloroethylene. German production amounts altogether to 250,000 tonnes of CHC solvent, almost 200,000 tonnes of which are exported. The high export is nonetheless not sufficient to fully exhaust capacities at the manufacturers. Even after the shutdown of the CHC solvent plants at the Huels AG company in 1987 and at the Buna AG company (in the former GDR) in 1990, German production capacities are about 450,000 tonnes per year. With the domestic market having shrunk by 45 per cent since 1986, exports have clearly acquired a relatively greater importance. But exports have dropped by twenty per cent in the same period, having thus been unable to compensate for the decline in domestic demand. Prospects: The domestic market for CHC will halve yet again in the next five years. As far as domestic producers are concerned, after the withdrawal of Huels and Buna only the survival of the industry's leading company, Dow, is assured. Wacker's chances are much lower, as their production of PCE and trichloroethylene is burdened by a smaller scale and relatively high production costs. And the methylene chloride by- product connected with the manufacture of CFC must in itself become of no interest to Hoechst in the course of the staggered phase-out of CFCs. 3. Recycling. The sales price of new CHC solvent being lowered as a result of the fall in demand depresses the profitability of recycling. Competition between the 25 companies which between them recycle 35,000 tonnes of contaminated CHC solvent has increased here. At the end of the struggle in this competition the five largest firms, at best, may survive. 4. The CHC solvent trade A process of concentration is going on in the chemicals trade too. The only survivors here will be the big dealers, active nationwide, which either co-operate with big chemical companies or - as in the case of the biggest chemicals trader, the Brenntag AG company - belong to another big company (VEBA AG). 5. Concentration advocated by manufacturers. West European CHC solvent manufacturers adjudge that the use of CHC solvents in Germany can only be guaranteed politically in the long term if at ALL stages of dealing with them - production, sales, transport, storage, use in internal operations, in taking them back, reprocessing and waste disposal of them - a MINIMUM of environmental pollution is caused. For this reason they advocate that traders and recyclers be concentrated, so as to co-operate only with those concerns that can financially afford the necessary environmental investments. Every future environmental scandal concerning CHC solvents can then raise the question of their being banned completely.