Mercury Phaseout Spurs Investment

European companies are putting money into new facilities to replace older mercury-cell-based chlor-alkali production, which the European Commission says must end in 2017. Inovyn, the new Ineos-Solvay joint venture, plans to build a 160,000-metric-ton-per-year potassium hydroxide plant in Antwerp, Belgium. Set to open in 2017, the facility will provide “continuity of supply to customers at a time when mercury-based production plants need to be closed or converted,” the firm says. And Kem One, the former Arkema vinyls business, says it has begun a project to convert its chlor-alkali plant in Lavéra, France, to membrane technology by the end of 2016 at a cost of around $170 million.