Tata Chemicals signs agreement with US firms Church & Dwight, FMC

Tata Chemicals (Soda Ash) Partners, USA, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., and FMC Corporation have signed a definitive agreement to form a partnership to manufacture and market sodium-based, dry sorbents for air pollution control in electric utility and industrial boiler operations. The sorbents, primarily sodium bicarbonate and trona, are used by coal-fired utilities to remove harmful pollutants, such as acid gases, in flue-gas treatment processes. Independent estimates put market demand for these sorbents in the $200-$400 million range by 2015. The new entity, Natronx Technologies, LLC, will be headquartered in Princeton, NJ Natronx will produce, sell and distribute sorbents to users of Dry Sorbent Injection (DSI) technology . The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that DSI technology will likely be employed by nearly 20 percent of US coal-fired electric generation capacity as part of compliance with air pollution regulations recently issued in March 2011.

DSI technology enables utilities to reduce the significant capital investment required by the new regulations by using this sodium-based media in the removal technique. Natronx intends to invest approximately $60 million to construct a 450,000 ton per year facility to produce trona sorbents by the fourth quarter of 2012. The investment will be shared equally by the partners. Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (Princeton, NJ), founded in 1846, manufactures and markets a wide range of personal care, household and specialty products under the Arm & Hammer brand name and other well-known trademarks. FMC Corporation is a diversified chemical company serving agricultural, industrial and consumer markets globally for more than a century with innovative solutions, applications and quality products. The company employs over 5,000 people throughout the world. The company operates its businesses in three segments: Agricultural Products, Specialty Chemicals and Industrial Chemicals.

USA based Tata Chemicals (Soda Ash) Partners is an operating entity 75% owned by Tata Chemicals North America Inc which is wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Chemicals. TATA Chemicals (Soda Ash) Partners mining and processing facility in Green River, WY has a 40 year history of producing high quality soda ash for the world’s glass, detergent, and sodium based chemical markets.