Eighth International Scientific and Technological Conference

Dear colleagues,

Association of the Russian chlor-alkali industry (Association "RusChlor") held on December 03 through 04, 2013 its Eighth International Scientific-and-Technological Conference "Problems faced by the producers of chlorine, alkalis and their derivatives: Modernization, Safety, and Ecology". The conference was both organized and conducted in cooperation with Federal Service for Ecological Technological and Atomic Supervision of the Russian Federation and with the assistance of Russian Chemists Union.

There participated 120 specialists from the Russian Federation, Italy, Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, China, India, Canada, Estonia, and Ireland in the conference. They were representing more than sixty legal entities including:

15 such plant facilities that are either producing chlorine already or making plans to produce it or its derivatives in the nearest future;
16 engineering companies and design organizations;
7 industrial consumers of chlorine, caustic soda, and chlorine derivatives;
28 equipment & solution providers servicing the chlor-alkali industry.

There were heard 28 presentations at the conference, 17 of which were delivered by the foreign participants. This conference’s both representativeness and diversity has proved that it provides the Russia’s major forum on not only the acute and actual problems faced by the chlor-alkali industry but also the problems felt by the whole chemical industry.

The programme of the conference has been oriented to share views on the chlor-alkali sector development trends under the circumstance of coming into the legal force of first the new Russian technical regulation legislation and second the latest global legally binding instrument on mercury (Minamata Convention). Therefore, the programme consisted of the following bundles of themes for presentation:

Current state and the future prospects of the Russian chlor-alkali subindustry.

The problems felt in reconstruction and extension of the production of chlorine and its derivatives.
Experience gathered in designing, constructing, and commissioning the brand-new chlorine production facilities.
Modern technological equipment, pipelines, fittings, fixtures, and control instruments employed by the clor-alkali production processes.

Improvement of the State technical regulation system governing the hazardous chemical activities.

New approaches to formation of the regulatory legal base for Federal Service for Ecological, Technological, and Atomic Supervision aimed at updating the safety legislation and relieving the business of the administrative burden problems.
Improvement of the procedures for conducting the examination and certification of the manufacturing processes, instruments, and equipment destined to be operated at the hazardous productive facilities.
Conceptual layout of new draft National Standard "Safety rules for production, transportation, and use of chlorine and chlorine-containing substances".

Accident rate analysis and assurance of a sufficient level of the industrial and ecological safety in the course of production of chlorine and its derivatives.

The following issues considered in a few presentations have stirred a great interest among the participants in the conference:

The Draft Chemical Industry Development Strategy to be presented to the government of the Russian Federation for consideration and approval;
Outcomes and implications of the reform of the system for the technical-and-normative regulation and supervision over the hazardous industrial facilities;
The engineering decisions taken and progress made in carrying out the projects aimed at modernizing the chlor-alkali industry, which includes both the conversion from the mercury-cell technology to the membrane one and creation of the brand-new membrane-cell facilities;
Contemporary trends in the development of the applied membrane electrolysis technology and equipment for the chlor-alkali production facilities including both the large-scale such facilities and low-capacity ones;
Contemporary practice in manufacturing the sodium hypochlorite;
The constructional materials used in production, transportation, and storage of chlorine and chlorine-containing substances;
Safe storage and transportation of chlorine.

The new information announced by the presenters to the participants in the conference has helped in not only the participants’ better understanding the technologies, equipment, and materials suggested to be used in the chlor-alkali production process but to identification of the new trends in the technical policy implemented by the government in regard to the chlor-alkali industry.

Therefore, the conference will be no doubt instrumental in strengthening the existing business ties, establishing the new ones, and sharing the gathered experience.