Akzo Nobel puts Botlek chlor-alkali on turnaround

04 April 2008 12:20  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--Akzo Nobel has begun a three-week long maintenance turnaround at its 715,000 tonne/year chlor-alkali plant at Botlek in the Netherlands, a company source said on Friday.

"It produces almost 2,000 tonnes/day, so there will be a big impact," the source added.

The shutdown marked the beginning of the traditional chlor-alkali maintenance season, and was expected to further tighten the European caustic soda market which had seen February stocks fall by 9% on January, players said. 

German chlor-alkali producer Vinnolit also planned to shut down its 350,000 tonne/year plant at Knapsack for a maintenance turnaround that would go on from the last three days of May till 5 June.

Following this, Vinnolit would shut down its 90,000 tonne/year plant at Gendorf, ahead of a plant conversion from mercury to membrane-based production.

Other European chlor-alkali producers include Arkema, INEOS Chlor and Solvay.

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By: Adal Rafiq
+44 20 8652 3214

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