INDUSTRY'S ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM ADVANCING

The U.S. petroleum industry's environmental enhancement campaign is advancing on several fronts.

There were these developments last week:

Mobil Corp.'s chemical subsidiary began a national program to recycle plastic carryout sacks it sells to supermarkets.
Expanding its expressway retail operations, Mobil committed to upgrade the appearance and install improved equipment at 10 service stations it operates under a new contract with the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
Unocal Corp. disclosed it has made appointments to scrap nearly two thirds of the 7,000 1970 and older model vehicles budgeted under its South Coast Recycled Auto Program (Scrap) in the Los Angeles Basin.
Also in California, ARCO awarded $25,000 in cash to the ARCO Products Co. team that developed EC-1 regular, industry's first gasoline reformulated to reduce emissions from older vehicles.

MOBIL'S PROGRAMS

Mobil Chemical Co. plans to help set up a program with supermarket clients to reprocess into plastic products all plastic grocery sacks returned by customers. It said some chains to whom it sells the bags, including Safeway, have expressed strong interest in a recycling program.

Mobil's Covington, Ga., Jacksonville, Ill., Macedon, N.Y., and Temple, Tex., polyethylene products plants have the technology and equipment to recycle plastic sacks. The company reprocesses its own polyethylene scrap and buys more scrap from other producers to recycle.

To help supermarkets set up the programs, Mobil Chemical will use its existing national marketing and distribution network. Company researchers also are boosting efforts to develop products that can contain greater amounts of recycled material.

In 1989, Mobil Chemical joined with seven other plastics manufacturers-Amoco Chemical Co., Arco Chemical Co., Chevron Chemical Co., Dow Chemical Co., Fina Oil & Chemical Co., Huntsman Chemical Corp., and Polysar Inc.-to form the National Polystyrene Recycling Co. The joint venture hopes to recycle 25%/year of all polystyrene used in food service and packaging in the U.S.

In retail marketing, Mobil will install Stage II gasoline vapor recovery systems and replace existing steel products tanks with new fiberglass tanks at the 10 service stations on the Massachusetts Turnpike. The action is designed to meet Massachusetts environmental rules and Mobil's standards.

Mobil assumed operation of the stations May 18 and will continue for a time to accept credit cards of former operators.

Mobil also operates stations on Connecticut's Wilbur Cross, Merritt, and 1-395 parkways as well as the Connecticut Turnpike, New Jersey Garden State Parkway, and Illinois Tollway system. It is heavily represented on expressways in Florida, New York, and Maine.

SCRAP SCORECARD

Under Scrap, Unocal plans to spend more than $5 million to buy and dismantle 7,000 older autos in the Los Angeles Basin, which it believes will rid the area of 6 million lb/year of smog (OGJ, May 7, p. 54).

Unocal said it has made more than 4,500 reservations to buy old autos, which it began scrapping last week.

The company also offered to match tax deductible donations to the California Community Foundation's Scrap Fund in an effort to dismantle 200 more autos. The fund was established in response to a $700 donation from Cypress Semiconductor and its chief executive officer, T.J. Rogers.

ARCO AWARD

ARCO's first Environmental Achievement Award went to EC-1 team members Jack S. Segal, Linda Cohu, Eric G. Lingman, and Larry A. Rapp of ARCO Products Co.'s Engineering and Technology Center at Anaheim, Calif.

The award will go yearly to a person or group within ARCO "whose innovative projects provide important environmental benefits while enhancing performance and efficiency." The cash award may be used to enhance the winning project, provide seed money for other projects, or support a worthy program of the winner's choice outside the company.

"EC-1 has revolutionized gasoline blending and made ARCO a leader in the search for clean burning fuels," said ARCO Pres. Robert E. Wycoff.

EC-1 regular is an unleaded gasoline designed for pre-1975 cars and pre-1980 trucks without catalytic converters that would otherwise burn leaded gasoline. ARCO said such vehicles make up 15% of the cars and trucks in southern California but account for more than 30% of the region's pollution from vehicles.

In developing EC-1, the ARCO Products team created a blend that is lower in sulfur, benzene, aromatics, and vapor pressure than conventional regular gasoline. The blend yields significantly lower emissions of carbon monoxide and reactive chemical components that are precursors to smog.

EC-1 contains the octane enhancer methyl tertiary butyl ether to retain the octane level of ARCO's regular leaded gasoline.

ARCO tests show that if all current users of leaded gasoline in southern California switched to EC-1 about 350 tons/day of pollutants would be removed from the air.