Tata Chemicals, Church & Dwight, and FMC announce joint venture for air pollution control
September 22, 2011

Tata Chemicals (Soda Ash) Partners, Church & Dwight Company 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, Natron_x Technologies, will be headquartered in Princeton, NJ. Natron_x will produce, sell and distribute sorbents to users of the dry sorbent injection (DSI) technology. The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that DSI technology will likely be employed by nearly 20 per cent 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.Natron_x intends to invest approximately $60 million to construct a 450,000 tonne-per-year facility to produce trona sorbents by the fourth quarter of 2012. The investment will be shared equally by the partners.  

"We are pleased to have three well-established companies joining forces to provide potential customers with innovative and cost-competitive solutions that effectively address their air emission compliance needs," stated Arthur Esposito, general manager, Natron_x. "Natron_x combines the best of each company's technologies and know-how in building a world-class business, based on new technology, with manufacturing capability to produce and supply sodium sorbent products."

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.

Church & Dwight Company (Princeton, NJ), founded in 1846, manufactures and markets a wide range of personal care, household and speciality 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, speciality chemicals and industrial chemicals.