Cooking up new applications

Tata Chemicals' sodium bicarbonate business focuses on global markets and new business applications. The company makes sodium bicarbonate for pharmaceutical and industrial use, and as a food additive. TCL's sodium bicarbonate plant has a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum. Its products sell in India, the Middle East, Africa and Bangladesh.

The company produces three varieties of sodium bicarbonate that meet stringent quality standards:

	Sodium bicarbonate technical
	Sodium bicarbonate refined
	Sodium bicarbonate granular

TCL group company Brunner Mond is one of Europe’s largest manufacturers of sodium carbonate. The company's plants manufacture a wide range of grades of sodium bicarbonate to meet an expanding range of applications including:

	Hemokarb® for haemodialysis treatment
	Alkakarb® for animal feeds
	Sodakarb® for the food industry
	Briskarb® for flue gas treatment
	Pharmakarb® for the pharmaceutical industry

Applications:

Industrial: The sodium bicarbonate manufactured by Tata Chemicals meets the high standards required by the pharmaceutical industry. Sodium bicarbonate is a vital ingredient in the production of over-the-counter drugs such as effervescent antacids, analgesic tablets and powders, toothpaste and antacid gel formulations.

Food additives: Another wide application of sodium bicarbonate is in the form of cooking soda. TCL manufactures and sells this food additive under the brand name I Shakti Cooking Soda. Cooking soda is an ingredient already familiar to Indian consumers but so far, it has only been available in an unbranded form and is purchased either loose or in unmarked plastic pouches. I Shakti refined food grade soda bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is pure and unadulterated, and a value-for-money alternative to unbranded products available in the market.