Solvay is selling its chloralkali plant at Torrelavega, Spain, to Portuguese producer CUF for an undisclosed sum. CUF said it intends to invest €55 million to acquire the plant and install a membrane-cell chlorine facility at the site.

The new unit with capacity of 68,000 t/y is expected to start up within the next two years, replacing an older a plant using the mercury process and bringing the site into line with the latest EU environmental standards.

João de Mello, chairman of CUF’s board of directors, said the investment reinforces its leadership position in the Iberian market for chlorine and chlorinated products. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2018. Solvay said the 40 workers at the facility will not transfer to the new owner.

Alliances with Strata and Suez

In separate news, the Belgian group and Strata Manufacturing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi government-owned investment company Mubadala, have finalized their joint venture to produce advanced composites for the aerospace industry.

The 50:50 jv, announced in July 2016, will make pre-impregnated carbon fibers – also known as prepregs – for Boeing’s new-generation aircraft 777X. The partners will build a new facility in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, expected to start by 2021. Solvay said the jv will be the first supplier of prepregs in the United Arab Emirates.

Elsewhere, Solvay’s alliance with Suez China has won a contract to treat brine from reverse osmosis desalination at Wanhua Chemical Industry Park in Yantai, Shandong province, China. A treatment line with a daily capacity of 24,000 cbm is scheduled for start-up there in October 2018.

The contract is the first won by the alliance between Solvay’s Peroxides global business unit and Suez China, formed in April of this year to offer their jointly developed advanced oxidation processes.