Talk:Ethyl Corporation

Cleanup
Re the cleanup question: I assume the methyl bromide alludes to the controversy over Ethyl/Albemarle's production of the stuff: see Corpwatch (strongly POV, but it indicates the issues). Tearlach 12:35, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

Should there be a section with a heading for TEL? RJFJR 17:13, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Ethyl is part of Newmarket (NYSE:NEU). As a company Ethyl mostly ships fuel additives made by Afton around the world. Ethyl has a marketing and servicing agreement with Innospec (nee Octel) to market and service remaining TEL customers worldwide

The key point about Ethyl is that it managed the shrinkage of the TEL market very nicely while preserving shareholder value. The company divested itself of non-core businesses (aquired during the conglomerate mania of the the 1960s-1980s), aquired complementary businesses to keep its postion as a leading supplier of fuel additives.

As for TEL, Ethyl shut down its TEL operations and bought/buys TEL from Octel (Associated Octel) which was Ethyl's Non-US operations (owned by Great Lakes Chemical Corp) Now Chemtura.Chemtura and ALB were big players in the bromine business. Ethyl needed bromine to make Ethyl Bromide.

GLCC spun out OTL in 1998. Sadly no one wants to be associated with the rich heritage of TEL anymore. So Ethyl changed its name to NewMarket in 2004, and Octel changed its name to Innospec. Of the five TEL plants operating in 1998, there is only one remaining Ellesmere Port UK.

"Lead pollution has increased by over 625% in the past century due in large part to pollution by leaded fuel." While I concur with the rise in lead contamination, the use of lead-based paint for both exterior and interior surfaces until recently outlawed also was a contributing factor to lead contamination. The paint will flake, erode, degrade resulting in a finely divided lead-containing powder. ASIDE: Children living in apartments or other dwelling with interior lead-based paint would consume the chips -- crunchy but sweet. Children in a middle class neighborhood were found to have high blood lead levels though their houses contained no lead-based paint. Investigation found the children were eating lead-based paint from a can in a neighbor's garage -- it tastes like bubblegum. Source: FDA investigator speaking at LSU seminar in the 1970's.  J. R. Madden 17:50, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Note
There is a good deal of information about Ethyl and leaded gasoline that has not been included on this page. I would also note that Mr. Madden is a longstanding Ethyl employee, (See http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesrmadden) and that this page needs to be flagged for bias. -- Bill Kovarik, Ph.D., wkovarik, April 20, 2010.


 * 2. From what I read, Canada was taken to court by the corporation under NAFTA rules because there are/were limits to the use Ethyl. Whether the Canadian Parliament ended up changing the legislation I do not know, could still be pending, but the whole thing is worth knowing in this context. 144.136.192.45 (talk) 03:13, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Proposed correction, and comments:
-Although many have found it entertaining to read, Bill Bryson's book contained a number of inaccuracies. This referenced date is one of them. Directly from Ethyl Corporation website: "In 1921 Charles Kettering discovered that a certain combination of chemicals added to gasoline could reduce the noisy and harmful engine “knock” produced by gasoline of that time. Kettering formed the General Motors Chemical Corporation, a joint venture between General Motors and Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1923. A year later, the company became Ethyl Gasoline Corporation and finally, Ethyl Corporation in 1942." (http://www.ethyl.com/index.htm) -"The purpose of a Wikipedia talk page (accessible via the talk or discussion tab) is to provide space for editors to discuss changes to its associated article or project page. Article talk pages should not be used by editors as platforms for their personal views on a subject." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.77.46.220 (talk) 21:00, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

One of the most cynical statements I have ever read on Wikipedia, or anywhere else for that matter...
"The use of tetraethyllead, while toxic, prevented the emissions of many millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which would have resulted from inefficient engines with lower compression ratios and larger displacement."

The worst thing about this statement is that it is, strictly speaking, true. However, ascribing ANY positives to the use of TEL is patently absurd. If you have the time and/or inclination, I heartily recommend that you read the article written by Jamie Kitman titled "The Secret History of Lead" (http://www.thenation.com/article/secret-history-lead), which documents the fact that Kettering and Midgley knew that ethanol was a perfectly suitable additive to gasoline that would solve both the knocking and compression problems.

At risk of jeopardizing my point, I submit the following: crediting TEL with reducing carbon dioxide emissions is approximately the same as crediting Adolf Hitler with staving off overpopulation. The solution is far, far worse than the problem, and made worse in this case by better (and well-known) alternatives. In summation, I badly want to delete that line (the whole paragraph, in fact) but if I did it would be restored for blanking a section. Instead, I make my case here in the hopes that a consensus can be reached. 2601:1:100:53D:DCBE:26ED:B916:579 (talk) 02:39, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

The other, possibly even MORE cynical, and certainly more disingenuous, part of the -opinion- (vice FACT) in the quoted statement is that the continued use of TEL as "the easy way out" of the engineering challenges regarding more efficient internal combustion engines actually -retarded- the production of such engines for literally DECADES, which is proven by the FACT that such engines became readily and widely available relatively shortly after legislators were forced by the people of this great nation to take action against the poisonous nature of TEL. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.164.128.3 (talk) 02:56, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

Cleanup and Rewrite tags
I have added pov and rewrite tags. This article has almost certainly been cleansed by corporate PR at some point. I have removed the cynical statement referenced in the previous comment, but I don't know enough to fix the article otherwise. 81.99.182.245 (talk) 04:14, 19 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Just came by to add the logo, but yeah, definitely POV issues. Faceless Enemy (talk) 11:42, 18 May 2015 (UTC)