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Olin Will Exit Mercury-Cell Chlorine

by Michael McCoy
December 20, 2010 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 88, Issue 51

Olin plans to end its use of mercury-cell technology to make chlorine and caustic soda. The company will convert 260,000 tons per year of mercury-cell capacity at its Charleston, Tenn., plant to 200,000 tons of membrane capacity. The project will cost about $160 million and be completed by the end of 2012. In addition, Olin will end chlor-alkali production in Augusta, Ga., and convert the 100,000-ton-per-year site to making bleach and distributing caustic soda. The company says an increasing number of its customers are unwilling to accept products made in mercury cells. Ashta Chemicals in Ashtabula, Ohio, and PPG Industries in Natrium, W.Va., are the two remaining U.S. mercury-cell producers, according to the environmental group Oceana.

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