Australia chlor-alkali industry

Australia has a population of only 18 million people, spread geographically over an area similar to that of the mainland USA. The chlor-alkali industry in Australia is small by world standards and has a product mix unique in being aligned neither with chlorinated solvents nor the vinyl chain. The chlorine/caustic soda balance is heavily skewed towards caustic use in the alumina industry however, none of the locally produced caustic soda reaches this market. This has resulted in an industry limited by outlets for the chlorine half of the ECU and based on a relatively large number of small plants scattered across the country to serve localised chlorine market needs. Australia remains a large importer of caustic soda to fill the gap between local manufacture and demand, primarily for the alumina industry. 

This chapter gives an overview of the chlor-alkali industry in Australia and examines the background to the decision to replace the mercury cell plants. It then describes the new plants, their technical and safety features and the process used to arrive at the selection of the technology supplier. 

The chlor-alkali industry in Australia is dispersed, with chlorine production capacity of 127 000 tonnes per annum from a total of nine plants spread across the country. 

World trade Most chlor-alkali electrolysis plants are situated in the vicinity of the chlorine users. The alkali users, particularly the alumina and pulp paper industries, are placed in the winning regions. Like the world trade with chlorinated hydrocarbons there are flows of liquid caustic soda with a volume between 2 and 3 million tonnes of NaOH (100%) per year. The net exporting regions are and will remain North America, the Middle East, Japan and Western Europe. Importing regions are South America (Surinam, Venezuela), Australia and South East Asia. 

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