CENtral Science

The Chemical Notebook Visits Eastman

From Pittsburgh Chemical Day, I headed down to visit Eastman Chemical in Kingsport, Tenn., last week.

There the company has opened a 30,000 metric-ton-per-year Tritan polyester copolymer plant. The product is a bisphenol-A-free alternative to polycarbonate for house wares and baby bottles.

I toured Eastman’s Kingsport chemical complex, which was founded in 1920 by George Eastman to make wood alcohol. I have seen many chemical plants, but I’m not so sure that I have witnessed something of such a scale that wasn’t attached to an oil refinery.

Here are some facts I jotted down on my notebook while on a bus tour of the site:

• The site is situated on 858 acres.
• 7,000 people out of Eastman’s 10,000 worldwide workforce are employed in Kingsport.
• The site has 28 miles of paved roads and 37 miles of railroads.
• Some 500 rail switches are conducted at the site each week.
• The plant has 4 dedicated locomotives.
• The site generates 160 megawatts of power.
• The plant’s gasification unit, which makes acetyl products like cigarette filter tow, takes in 56 railcars of coal per day.
• 450 million gallons of water are drawn from the Holston River every day to cool the site’s reactors.
• The plant has two Subway restaurants, an Arby’s, a Honey Baked Ham, and other cafeterias.
• The site has a gymnasium that offers classes to workers such as aerobics and kickboxing.
• Eastman’s headquarters is just outside the fence line. The company also runs a 1,700-seat auditorium next door, which holds local Kingsport cultural events and first run movies. Now playing: The Spy Next Door.

The only other chemical industry company town that I have seen that compares with Kingsport, is Midland, Michigan, where Dow is headquartered. Without Eastman, I’m not sure that Kingsport would have a nice hotel and regional airport. In fact, there probably wouldn’t be much of an economy there at all.