I am not that familiar with the chlor-alkali industry aside from the information that it uses electrochemical processing which is getting to be popular as well in its potential to produce renewable carbon-based chemicals (example is Avantium’s Volta technology). Electrochemical processing can use renewable energy sources like solar, thermal or wind power but the problem with the Chlor-alkali processing, according to this interesting article from Forbes, is that electrochemical cells traditionally can’t be turned off, as bad things happen chemically. That’s why traditional plants basically never shut down. They require constant energy like fossil fuel, and cannot use intermittent sources like wind. Most plants must have spinning reserve power capacity as backup, usually idle gas turbines.

In this article, Forbes featured a company called Achíni Scientific, which combines special hardware and software components that allows steel, titanium, aluminum, magnesium, chemicals, and silicon to be electrochemically produced using a variable power source, like wind. Achíni’s special ramping technology is a way to put the system in stasis when no energy is available. Instead of fitting the power to the process, Achíni fits the process to the power. The Forbes article reported the company’s first project called Aztlán (pronounced “Oz” and “Lawn” and refers to the Aztec Garden of Eden in Nahuatl). Aztlán is a green Chlor-Alkali Chemical Plant using the abundant low-cost, but intermittent, wind energy from West Texas to run electrochemical processes to make these chemical products without using fossil fuels or clean water.

In the Aztlán Chlor-Alkali Chemical Plant, wind energy provides relatively green electricity, brackish (salty) water is pumped out of the ground and desalinated into freshwater, several million gallons a day. This waste brine from the desalination is used to make the chlorine, caustic soda and hydrochloric acid products, and hydrogen is formed as a by-product.

Here’s an interesting video featured by Forbes regarding the company’s technology. By the way, there will be an incoming Chlor-Alkali Virtual Conference hosted by Tecnon OrbiChem and ICIS coming soon this October. Email info@orbichem.com for further information!