NORWALK, Conn., April 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arch Chemicals' (NYSE:ARJ) HTH Water Products business will be installing new drying technology at its largest global water sanitizer plant that will reduce operational costs, cut energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions and expand production capacity. Under this two-year project, the Company's plant in Charleston, Tennessee will be upgraded to a more efficient technology for drying slurries of calcium hypochlorite. After this phase of production, the water sanitizing product is transformed into dry tablets, granules and other user-friendly forms for use in swimming pools and spas and other applications.
Luis Fernandez-Moreno, Arch Chemicals' Executive Vice President who oversees the HTH Water Products business, explained that, "This project will strengthen Arch's position as the largest global supplier of calcium hypochlorite water treatment products by enhancing both the efficiency and sustainability of our operations. We have already successfully demonstrated a similar drying technology at our plant in South Africa, and we're excited to be implementing it at our largest global facility in Tennessee."
Michael E. Campbell, Arch's Chairman, President and CEO, commented, "This project exemplifies our approach to sustainability: it both benefits the environment through greater energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint, and it makes us a more valuable supplier. In addition, this technology upgrade will lower operating costs in our HTH water products business and is a vital part of the Company's multifaceted margin-improvement plan."
The project will cost an estimated $30 million over several years. Arch expects to realize initial savings from this project starting in 2012 and the full annual benefits of the lower operating costs in 2013. This upgrade will be completed in several phases during the Company's annual maintenance outages in 2011 and 2012. In addition to the Charleston plant in Tennessee, which is the world's largest calcium hypochlorite manufacturing facility, Arch also has calcium hypochlorite plants in Brazil and South Africa.
Beyond being the world's largest supplier of swimming pool and spa treatment chemicals, Arch's Water Products business also supplies feeder equipment and sanitizing chemicals for use in municipal drinking water systems and for treating water used in poultry processing plants, beverage bottle facilities, shrimp farms, and fruit and vegetable processing operations. This business also provides products and services for controlling algae and other nuisance aquatic vegetation in various surface waters, such as drinking water reservoirs, private and public lakes and ponds, golf course water hazards and irrigation systems.
Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (USA), Arch Chemicals, Inc. is a global Biocides company with annual sales of over $1 billion. Arch and its subsidiaries provide innovative, chemistry-based and related solutions to selectively destroy and control the growth of harmful microbes. The Company's businesses are concentrated in water treatment, hair and skin care products, wood treatment, preservation and protection applications, such as for paints and building products, and health and hygiene applications. Arch Chemicals operates in two segments: Biocides Products and Performance Products. Together with its subsidiaries, Arch has approximately 3,000 employees and manufacturing and customer-support facilities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
Except for historical information contained herein, the information set forth in this communication contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's beliefs, certain assumptions made by management and management's current expectations, outlook, estimates and projections about the markets and economy in which the Company and its various businesses operate. Words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "opines," "plans," "predicts," "projects," "should," "targets" and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions ("Future Factors"), which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes may differ materially from what is expected or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise. Future Factors which could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from those discussed include but are not limited to: general economic and business and market conditions; no improvement or weakening in U.S., European and Asian economies; increases in interest rates; changes in foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar; customer acceptance of new products; efficacy of new technology; changes in U.S. or foreign laws and regulations; increased competitive and/or customer pressure; loss of key customers; the Company's ability to maintain chemical price increases or achieve targeted price increases; higher-than-expected raw material and energy costs and availability for certain chemical product lines; unexpected changes in the antidumping duties on certain products; increased foreign competition in the calcium hypochlorite markets; inability to obtain transportation for our chemicals; unfavorable court decisions, including unfavorable decisions in appeals of antidumping rulings, arbitration or jury decisions, tax matters or patent matters; the supply/demand balance for the Company's products, including the impact of excess industry capacity; failure to achieve targeted cost-reduction programs; capital expenditures in excess of those scheduled; environmental costs in excess of those projected; the occurrence of unexpected manufacturing interruptions/outages at customer, supplier or Company plants; unfavorable weather conditions for swimming pool use; inability to expand sales in the professional pool dealer market; the impact of global weather changes; changes in the Company's stock price; ability to obtain financing at attractive rates; financial market disruptions that impact our customers or suppliers; gains or losses on derivative instruments; implementation of the Company's R&D consolidation consistent with the Company's expectations; achievement of the Company's multi-faceted margin improvement plan, including technology improvements which result in lower processing, energy and other costs; and unfavorable changes in the regulatory status of the Company's products.