A new chlorine plant being built by Bayer MaterialScience will use a new process that is more energy efficient than typical chlorine production methods.

Bayer is working with plant engineering company Uhde on the new facility, which will be the first industrial scale production plant to use Bayer's oxygen depolarized cathode technology in Uhde's electrolysis cells.

The technology requires a lower voltage than common production methods, Bayer said, and will use 30 percent less electricity than the standard membrane technology used to make chlorine. The company says that will result in 10,000 fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year, compared to membrane technology.

Bayer will be offering its oxygen depolarized cathode technology to other chlorine producers who want to use less energy in their facilities.

The new plant from Bayer and Uhde will be built in Germany and will be able to produce 20,000 metric tons of chlorine a year. It is expected to start up in the first half of 2011.

The two companies worked on the project with RWTH Aachen University, Clausthal University of Technology and Dortmund University, with funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research's Research for Sustainable Development program.

Chlorine production - Courtesy of Bayer MaterialScience