Solvay’s US closure removes 300 000 tonne/year of soda ash

HOUSTON (CNI)--Solvay’s mothballing of its American Soda soda ash facility at Parachute, Colorado, will remove some 300 000 tonne/year of soda ash production from a "balanced market," Solvay told CNI Monday.

Dick Hogan, Houston-based vice-president with Solvay Chemicals, also told CNI that Solvay will supply its customers with production from its Green River, Wyoming facility following the Parachute mothballing. 

Green River has a production capacity of 2.8m tonne/year and is a 80:20 joint venture between Belgium’s Solvay and Japan’s Ashai Glass, Hogan added.

Hogan said Solvay will not mothball its sodium biocarbonate plant at Parachute. That plant has a capacity of 120 000 tonne/year and will be supplied with lower-cost feedstock from Green River, he said.

Solvay announced last week it expected to mothball within four months soda ash production at  American Soda's Parachute site due to high energy costs and continuing losses but it did not disclose the production volumes involved.

Hogan said American Soda last year produced some 600 000 tonne of soda ash at Parachute but the company had not been running the facility at that rate lately due to high energy cost there.

Hogan would not disclose Solvay’s current production rate at Green River, citing confidentiality. But he said Green River has sufficient production to supply the Parachute sodium biocarbonate plant and all of Solvay’s customers.

An industry source last week estimated that the Parachute mothballing would remove some 500 000 tonne/year in soda ash production from the market.

Solvay bought American Soda last year from US energy firm Williams.

Solvay’s US offices are in Houston.