OxyChem to convert US chlor-alkali plant

23 January 2008 23:50  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--Occidental Chemical (OxyChem) will begin converting its chlor-alkali plant in Taft, Louisiana, to potassium hydroxide in late January or early February, a source close to the company said on Wednesday.

The plant, which currently produces about 210,000 tonnes/year of chlorine and 230,000 tonnes/year of caustic soda, will begin producing potassium hydroxide, or caustic potash, sometime in March, the source said.

While other producers have known of OxyChem’s plans for more than a year, it was not clear when the Taft plant conversion would actually begin, market participants said.

Converting the Taft plant will allow OxyChem to close a potassium hydroxide plant in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, that uses a mercury-cell process, the company said in its 2006 annual report.

Mercury-cell plants have been known to emit toxic mercury into the environment. While most have been either closed or converted to a cleaner and more-efficient membrane-cell process, the few remaining mercury-cell plants in the US are frequently targets of criticism from environmental groups.

The Taft facility is equipped with membrane-cell technology.

“The project...will not only improve our cost position but also will eliminate the last of our mercury-cell production facilities in the US,” OxyChem said in the 2006 annual report.

Although the conversion will reduce OxyChem’s total chlor-alkali production, sources said the effect on caustic-soda market supply will be minimal because polyvinyl chlorine (PVC) producer Shintech will add about 300,000 tonnes of caustic-soda production when its PVC and chlor-alkali complex in Plaquemine, Louisiana, begins operations in March.

ICIS Copyright © Reed Business Information 2009

Author: Greg Holt
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