BNSF is moving the initial shipment of three cars, each carrying 115 tons of soda ash, to Pevely, Mo., and Dunkirk, Ind., where the soda ash will be used to produce canning jars and other glass products. American Soda is the only company in the world to solution mine nahcolite, a 99-percent pure sodium bicarbonate.
Sodium bicarbonate is converted into soda ash, which is used to make glass and detergent.
American Soda's Parachute plant is currently operating at about a quarter of its capacity while its nahcolite wells in the Piceance Basin can gradually be brought into full production. To solution mine the nahcolite, hot water is injected 2,000 feet into the ground. The soda-laden water is pumped back out and moved 44 miles to the Parachute plant by pipeline. There it is boiled, dried, filtered and spun into soda ash and soda bicarbonate. Sodium bicarbonate is a primary ingredient used in animal feeds and baking soda, as well as health and beauty products.