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The natural way
Tata Chemicals is the world's second largest producer of
soda ash with a global capacity of around 5.5 million tonnes
per annum, of which 60 per cent capacity is from natural soda
ash deposits at Wyoming, USA and Lake Magadi, Kenya. The company
owns 35 per cent of the global low-cost and sustainable natural
soda ash capacity.
Soda ash is manufactured synthetically at TCL's Mithapur
plant in India and Brunner Mond's plants in the UK and the
Netherlands. At Mithapur, TCL uses the conventional Solway
process to produce soda ash. Its product line consists of
four categories:
Apart from TCL, soda ash is also globally manufactured and
supplied by General
Chemical Industrial Products, Brunner
Mond and Magadi
Soda Company. Today, TCL is the only soda ash player with
manufacturing facilities in four continents.
Uses: This multipurpose chemical is used in a variety
of industries, most prominently in the manufacture of glass,
where it reduces the melting temperature of the sand used
in glass formation
and helps in the 'workability' or shaping of glass articles
such as tableware and float glass.
Soda ash is a major ingredient in the making of soaps
and detergents. Here it is employed as a builder, or filler,
to give a smoother surface in formulations of soaps, detergents
and other cleaning compounds.
This resourceful alkali, the least expensive of soluble alkalis,
is widely used in the production of chemicals such as sodium
silicate, sodium bicarbonate and pecarbonate, sodium chromate
and dichromate, etc.
Soda ash is also used in pulp and paper manufacture, water
treatment, effluent treatment, metallurgy
and drugs.
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