Pigment Plant Supplying Hydrochloric Acid to Chemical Manufacturer to Produce Ammonium Chloride

Summary

Dilute hydrochloric acid is generated from scrubbing the gas stream from the chlorination step in the titanium dioxide pigment process at Tiwest. The acid was previously neutralised in the waste treatment plant. Two initiatives were realised during 1997 to recover the hydrochloric acid: (1) as acid for sale and (2) for production of ammonium chloride to be used at the synthetic rutile production operation. By-product hydrochloric acid is transferred to neighbouring Coogee Chemicals, which converts it to ammonium chloride and tankers it for use to Tiwest’s synthetic rutile plant some 75 km from the Kwinana plant. The cost of the ammonium chloride to Tiwest is significantly cheaper than that previously imported (DEH 2001).

Industry

Industry Sector	Specific Industry
chemical industry	producer of inorganic chemicals
mining and minerals industry	producer of titanium dioxide pigment producer of synthetic rutile

Region

Kwinana Industrial Area, Kwinana, Western Australia

Applied Technologies

• waste gas scrubbing and purification

Triple Bottom Line Aspects (direct at operational level)

Economic	income for involved companies from sale of recovered hydrochloric acid avoided treatment costs to neutralise dilute hydrochloric acid capital and operational costs to convert dilute hydrochloric acid into saleable product
Environment	less waste from neutralisation process at pigment plant
Social	employment increased employee satisfaction due to improved environmental performance of pigment plant

Additional Comments

None.

References

• Department of Environment and Hertiage (2001) "Cleaner Production - Improving Process Efficiency - Tiwest: Kwinana Pigment Plant", Retrieved: May 2005, from http://www.deh.gov.au/industry/corporate/eecp/case-studies/tiwest.html
• van Beers, D, Bossilkov, A and van Berkel, R (2005) “Capturing Regional Synergies in the Kwinana Industrial Area – 2005 Status Report”, CSRP Report (for Project 3B1), August 2005

Last Update

20 July 2010