Percarbonate Demand Increase Leads to Solvay Interox Expansion

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Solvay (Houston, Texas) plans to expand sodium percarbonate (PCS) capacity from 16,000 metric tons per year to 50,000 metric tons per year at their Deer Park, Texas plant. The project, currently in the design phase, will be engineered and constructed by an in-house team, and should begin construction this summer, with completion by the end of the year.

OCI Chemical (Shelton, Connecticut), which opened a PCS plant last year in Decatur, Alabama and produces over 40,000 metric tons per year, is the only other PCS manufacturer in the U.S. PCS capacity expansion is essential in the U.S. to meet increasing domestic demand. The European market, which has a more extensive PCS supply base, is also continuing to expand to meet worldwide demand increases. One primary competitor continuing to expand PCS capacity in Europe is Degussa AG (Frankfurt, Germany).).

Over the past two years, several industrial strength detergents and cleaners have been introduced in the U.S that contain over 50% to 99% of PCS. Brands including Shout, Oxypower and Clorox Oxygen Action are "Oxy" based, which means oxygen is released from the PCS causing a stain lifting affect.

Laundry detergents have replaced perborate with PCS because of the innovative improvements and the environmental benefits. Solvay closed its sodium perborate capacity last year at its Deer Park, Texas plant, but continues to manufacture PCS in Europe.

Solvay Interox is also a manufacturer of hydrogen peroxide products and is headquartered in Houston, Texas and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solvay America, Incorporated (Houston, Texas).