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Eti Soda’s 1m. tpa soda ash plant at Beypazari, Turkey. |
Soda ash is a vital raw material in the manufacture of glass, chemicals, and detergents, and is produced worldwide, predominantly as a synthetic grade through the Solvay Process (
see charts).
Natural soda ash production, usually from the hydrated sodium bicarbonate carbonate mineral trona, has a distinct processing cost advantage over the more widespread Solvay Process consuming limestone, salt, coal, and ammonia.
However, commercially developed resources of trona, or the sodium bicarbonate mineral nahcolite, are relatively rare. Indeed, recent years have seen leading Indian soda ash producers secure overseas natural producers in Africa and the USA.
Until 2009, production of soda ash from natural sources was limited to the USA, Kenya, Botswana, and China. But that year witnessed a new entrant to the natural soda ash market, Eti Soda AS of Turkey.
In its first year of...