Ercros

Ercros plans to invest €6.5 million in eight projects at its Almussafes factory in Valencia, Spain. Half of the investment will expand production capacity of ErcrosTech technical resins, €2.5 million will go to digitalization projects, and the remainder to decarbonization projects.

Ercros will build a new sodium chlorite production line at its Sabiñánigo factory in Huesca, Spain, nearly doubling capacity from 6,000 t/y to 11,300 t/y. The new line is scheduled to start up in Q3 2022.

Ercros expanded its ATCC plant at Sabiñánigo, increasing capacity by 6,000 t/year to 28,000 t/year. The €14 million investment reached full capacity by end of 2019.

Ercros signed a new formaldehyde supply contract with its main customer, valid from 2021 to 2030, supplied from the Tortosa plant. It also extended the chlorine supply contract until end of 2021, supplied from the Vila-seca I plant.

Ercros has completed the third expansion of its chlorine and caustic soda production plant at the Vila-seca I factory in Tarragona, Spain, adding 26,000 tonnes per year of capacity. The total chlorine production capacity is now 217,000 tonnes per year.

Ercros has completed an expansion at its Tortosa factory, increasing pentaerythritol and dipentaerythritol capacity by 5,000 t/year (17%) to 35,000 t/year, and sodium formate capacity by 3,000 t/year (17%) to 23,000 t/year. The investment includes technological improvements and energy efficiency upgrades.

Ercros is investing €53 million in its Vila-seca and Tortosa plants as part of a plan to switch from mercury to membrane technology for chlorine production, and to expand capacity of PVC and pentaerythritol.

Ercros inaugurated two new production plants at its Sabiñánigo facility: one for chlorine-soda and one for hydrochloric acid. The expansion is part of a €30 million investment plan through 2020, with a total of €60 million invested since 2009.

Ercros announced a second expansion of 26,000 t/year at its Vila-seca chlorine-soda plant, expected to start by end of 2018. Total capacity will reach 191,000 t/year, reinforcing its position as Spain's largest producer.

Ercros has started tests for the expansion of its membrane-technology chlorine plant in Vila-seca I, with a capacity increase of 65,000 tons, after closing the mercury-technology plant there on December 4, 2017. The investment is 43.5 million euros.

Ercros ceased production at its mercury-technology chlorine plant in Flix, Spain, on December 10, 2017, after 118 years of operation, to comply with EU regulations. The closure results in a layoff affecting 43 workers; the site will retain only calcium phosphate production.

Ercros has received Integrated Environmental Authorization to expand chlorine production at its Sabiñánigo plant from 15,000 t/year to 45,000 t/year, with an investment of EUR 12 million. Completion is expected by end of 2017.

Covestro and Ercros signed a contract until 2020 for Ercros to supply chlorine to Covestro, preventing the closure of Covestro's MDI plant in Vila-seca and Ercros' chlorine plant in Flix. Covestro also plans to build a hydrochloric acid logistics center in Tarragona with a €3 million investment.