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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

ASHTA Chemicals Plans $60 Million Investment To Improve Its Ashtabula, Ohio, Manufacturing Plant

06/25/2014
ASHTA Chemicals Inc. unveiled plans for a $60 million investment to improve its production facility in Ashtabula, Ohio. The company said its investment will result in ASHTA retaining and adding jobs in Northeast Ohio, improving energy efficiency in its operations and eliminating the use of mercury in its manufacturing process.

"ASHTA's plant has operated in this community since the 1960's…" said Brad Westfall, ASHTA's President. "This investment will allow us to operate our facility long into the future with significantly improved energy efficiency and increased production capacity. It will also result in the elimination of mercury from our manufacturing process. This is great news for our customers, our employees and the environment."

The company manufactures and markets chlorine and potassium-based chemicals to a broad customer base. Its products are used in a wide variety of end use markets including liquid fertilizers, runway deicers, food products and pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, alkaline batteries, photochemistry, oil and gas production, industrial cleaners and water treatment.

"ASHTA has consistently operated in full compliance with its environmental permits," said Westfall. "ASHTA has worked with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to complete supplemental environmental projects to reduce water and air emissions. This project is an example of the extraordinary measures we take to assure the environmental security of our operations, our products and our distribution networks."

"For more than fifty years, ASHTA has continuously improved its manufacturing processes, safety performance and environmental compliance while delivering these vital products to its customers," said Jose Valdes, ASHTA's CEO. "By converting to membrane cell technology, we will reduce electricity consumption by approximately 20 percent and produce the same high quality products with less waste and less of an impact to the environment."

According to the firm, the project is expected to take between 24 and 30 months to complete and will replace the current mercury cell processing technology with membrane cell technology. ASHTA has chosen Ineos Technologies Limited from Runcorn, England, as its membrane electrolyzer equipment and technology provider and Jacobs as its engineering, procurement and construction management provider for this project. This state-of-the-art sustainable technology has lower power consumption, longer component lifetimes, improved production quality and enhanced safety performance.

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