Chemtrade will tell you that their plant is integral to water treatment efforts in the region, but they aren’t telling you the whole truth: 

• Although the terms chlorine and bleach (or sodium hypochlorite) are often used interchangeably, chlorine is rarely used directly for water treatment.  It is typically converted from chlorine gas to liquid sodium hypochlorite (bleach), which is the most common disinfectant used for water treatment. 

• Chemtrade produces chlorine, but it does not produce bleach.   

• CHEMTRADE COULD EASILY INSTALL A LOW COST, AND MUCH SAFER, BLEACH PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND MAKE BLEACH FOR ITS WATER TREATMENT CUSTOMERS 

• Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is available from Canada and the US by truck or railcar 

• Chemtrade has a nameplate capacity of 244,000 short tons of chlorine gas per year 

• They produce approximately 200,000 short tons per year (82% of capacity) 

• 75,000 tons (chlorine gas) are converted to hydrochloric acid (HCl), mainly for the oil & gas industry.   

• 40% of this HCl is exported to the US due to lack of demand in western Canada. 

• Of the remaining 125,000 ton of chlorine, the majority is shipped to the US as a liquid in railcars due to the lack of chlorine demand in western Canada 

• Total North American chlorine capacity is 17M short tons 

• Chemtrade Vancouver produces 1% of total capacity 

• North America is a net exporter of chlorine derivatives, which means there is far from enough demand to consume North American supply.