Kemira has started up water treatment chemical production in St Petersburg, Russia. It plans to develop the plant’s current production and will also construct a new production line for water treatment chemicals in St Petersburg. The total value of the deal and the investment will come up to about EUR 10 million. The agreement is in continuation to Kemira’s water treatment chemical exports to Russia started in the 1990’s. The plant in St Petersburg produces 70,000 tpy of liquid aluminium sulphate, which is almost entirely used for the treatment of St Petersburg’s drinking water. “After we have completed the planned extension to our existing capacity, Kemira will head for all the water supply markets in north western Russia, in addition to our current activity in the St Petersburg area”, says Mr Hannu Luhtala of Kemir. The company has completed the engineering design for the construction of the second production line, where it plans to process locally ferrous sulphate produced as a co-product at the titanium dioxide pigment plant in Pori, Finland. Kemira is also looking into possibilities of expanding its product range in St Petersburg to include other water treatment chemicals, e.g. polyaluminium chloride. Further growth is expected in the areas of chemical-biological solutions.
