FMC to Expand Soda Ash Producton at Green River

摘要

FMC Corp., Philadelphia, announced Jan. 20 that its board of directors approved an expansion of the company's soda ash production facility -at Green River, Wyo., utilizing a new low cost technology. The 45 million dollars expansion investment will add 700 thousand tons in 1997, raising FMC's total annual soda ash capacity to 3.55 million tons from 2.85 million tons. According to William G. Walter, FMC Alkali Chemicals division manager, the expansion will give the added capacity necessary to meet the anticipated growth from Asian and Latin American markets. "This growth and a contract commitment to supply a major new domestic application will absorb much of the expansion capacity," Mr. Walter added. The 45 million dollars cost of the expansion makes it the most capital efficient in the industry and the only expansion that is justifiable at current low soda ash prices, he said.