Dow, Mitsui start up new Texas chlor-alkali facility

Dow Chemical announced Tuesday that its joint venture membrane chlor-alkali facility with Tokyo, Japan-based Mitsui & Co. has successfully initiated full-scale, commercial production in Freeport, Texas.

Dow’s share of the chlorine produced at the Freeport facility will serve the growing feedstock needs of its performance- and market-driven businesses. In addition, Dow will market the caustic soda on behalf of the joint venture.

“This world-class facility allows us to capitalize on our modern and efficient membrane chlor-alkali technology and serves as a real-life proof point of how new, competitive energy resources in the U.S. are re-shaping the landscape of US Gulf Coast manufacturing,” said James (Jim) R. Fitterling, Dow executive vice president.

“This joint venture bolsters the integration strength of the chlorine value chain at the Freeport site in a capital efficient model that allows Dow to invest in more downstream technology and customer-driven businesses with higher and more consistent earnings.”

The new facility has a name plate capacity of approximately 800,000 tpy of chlorine. As previously announced in December 2013, this new world-scale facility will replace 800,000 tpy of older capacity on the site, according to company officials.