Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment:

Property, plant and equipment, at cost, consist of the following at December 31, 2014 and 2013 (in thousands):

	Useful Lives (Years)	December 31,
		2014		2013
Land	—	$	56,249	$	63,153
Land improvements	5 – 30	49,099		52,452
Buildings and improvements	10 – 45	214,364		235,929
Machinery and equipment(a)	2 – 19	1,443,154		1,731,247
Machinery and equipment (major plant components)(b)	20 – 45	663,297		688,284
Long-term mineral rights and production equipment costs	7 – 60	85,888		85,514
Construction in progress	—	108,619		115,505
Total		$	2,620,670	$	2,972,084

(a) Consists primarily of (1) short-lived production equipment components, office and building equipment and other equipment with estimated lives ranging 2 – 7 years, and (2) production process equipment (intermediate components) with estimated lives ranging 8 – 19 years.

(b) Consists primarily of (1) production process equipment (major unit components) with estimated lives ranging 20 – 29 years, and (2) production process equipment (infrastructure and other) with estimated lives ranging 30 – 45 years.

The cost of property, plant and equipment is depreciated generally by the straight-line method. Depreciation expense amounted to $97.9 million, $99.3 million and $88.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Depreciation expense related to discontinued operations was $2.3 million, $8.6 million and $8.7 million during the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013 and 2012, respectively. Interest capitalized on significant capital projects in 2014, 2013 and 2012 was $2.4 million, $6.1 million and $5.8 million, respectively.

In 2014, we sold our antioxidant, ibuprofen and propofol businesses and assets to SI Group, Inc. Included in the transaction were our manufacturing sites in Orangeburg, South Carolina and Jinshan, China, along with our antioxidant product lines manufactured in Ningbo, China. In connection with the sale, net property, plant and equipment was reduced by $100.0 million. See Note 2 “Discontinued Operations” for additional information about this transaction.

In 2012, we announced our plan to exit the phosphorus flame retardants business, whose products were sourced mainly at our Avonmouth, United Kingdom and Nanjing, China manufacturing sites. In connection with our exit of this business, net property, plant and equipment was written down by $30.9 million, and in the fourth quarter of 2012 we received cash proceeds of $7.7 million from the sale of our Nanjing, China manufacturing site, which resulted in the recognition of a gain of approximately $2 million. See Note 3 “Supplemental Cash Flow Information” and Note 20 “Restructuring and Other” for additional details about our exit of the phosphorus flame retardants business.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, we received proceeds of $1.9 million in connection with the sale of land adjacent to our regional offices in Belgium.