How is chlorine balanced in chlor-alkali plants after the shutdown of PVC production via the calcium carbide method?
Thread Content
This post was last edited by sunjl1981 on 2013-1-6 at 19:59. Due to energy shortages, the production of PVC via the calcium carbide method in the southeastern region came to a halt starting in the third quarter of last year; as a result, these chlor-alkali plants were able to operate at only about 50% of their capacity. Even so, chlorine prices have continued to fall due to weak demand, resulting in severe losses. It is now a profitable time for chlorine users. I invite my colleagues to discuss together how to achieve chlorine balance after the shutdown of the calcium carbide process In particular, develop promising chlorine-consuming products to help chlor-alkali enterprises overcome difficulties! This post was last edited by wang*neng on 2009-3-31 09:49 ] # ， ， &
Currently, liquid chlorine is the main option, but this won’t last long. There are also efforts to develop combinations of phosphorus trichloride and glyphosate, but overall, chlorine is saturated in the region. In the region mentioned by the original poster, PVC production in East China will face difficulties.
Currently, combinations such as phosphorus trichloride with glyphosate, and benzyl chloride with benzaldehyde are being developed.
Xi’an Chemical Plant produces sodium hypochlorite by reacting it with alkalis in order to balance out the excess chlorine; however, sodium hypochlorite is inexpensive, resulting in poor economic benefits, so further development of new products and processes is needed.
Our company has just started producing chloroacetic acid, and the market demand for it is high. However, this product is extremely toxic and corrosive!
Chloroacetic acid, chlorotoluene, benzyl chloride, propylene oxide, epichlorohydrin, and the like can be considered. However, regardless of which chlorine-consuming substances are chosen, it is important to ensure that the necessary raw materials are readily available in the vicinity in order to reduce production costs.
The advantage of this approach is that it requires little chlorine from sodium hypochlorite; moreover, the volume of sales is likely to be limited, and it tends to deteriorate over time. It’s still mainly liquid chlorine; we have to sell at a slight loss for now in order to maintain our market position. .
Faced with another economic crisis, the factory is now losing over ten million per month and plans to shut down; however, this is not allowed – stability takes precedence over everything. At present, the plant’s operating capacity is less than half of its maximum. Sodium hypochlorite is produced in small quantities and is used temporarily to adjust excess chlorine.
Although there are many chlorine-based products, it’s difficult to find those with market potential and the ability to generate profits, as everything is currently in a state of surplus. The era of huge profits from these products is over; at best, only modest profits can be expected. Since the financial crisis hit, our company has been constantly searching for a promising chlorine-based product; we have considered several options, but none of them met our requirements, and to this day we still haven’t found anything suitable, so we haven’t dared to make a decision yet. It’s hard!
We are currently producing chloroacetic acid; we already have trichlorosilane, and once this product is completed, the profits will be quite good
Could you talk about the chloroacetic acid production process?