New State-of-art Orica Plant for Laverton North

26th February, 1999

Orica, formerly ICI Australia, recently announced that a new $100 million chlor-alkali plant will be built at Laverton North.

"The new plant will be a state-of-art facility using sophisticated membrane production technology," said Orica project manager Dr Garry Clews. "It will offer significant benefits in terms of efficiency and reliability as well as delivering world class safety, health and environmental performance."

Construction will commence in March. Up to 200 jobs will created during the construction phase.

The plant is scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2000, replacing the company’s older chlor-alkali plant at Yarraville. "We are pleased to have been able to keep jobs in the Western suburbs," said Dr Clews.

The plant will manufacture:

• chlorine which is used extensively in a wide range of applications, including drinking water purification.
• sodium hypochlorite for treating swimming pools (‘pool chlorine’);
• hydrochloric acid which is used in steel manufacture and
• caustic soda which is used in the manufacture of paper, detergents and soaps, and in food processing.