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Kem One, Lavéra Pétrochemical Plant | Google Street View | La Dépêche, June 27, 2020

Located in Bouches-du-Rhône on a 450-hectare chemical platform shared with other companies, the KEM ONE plant at Lavéra is one of the major European chlorochemicals sites.

A chlorochemicals leader in Europe

Using the brine transported via a brine duct from Vauvert (Gard) and marine salt, the Lavéra site produces sodium carbonate, hydrogen and sodium hypochlorite from chlorine (electrolysed using the mercury-cell process and asbestos-free diaphragms).

All of the chlorine is used on site by different plants which make chloromethanes (chlorine + methanol), ferric chloride and vinyl chloride monomer (VCM).

This VCM is then polymerised at other sites belonging to the group (Balan, Ain and Saint-Fons, Rhône), to produce polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

The KEM ONE plant at Lavéra is therefore the source of 25% of French chlorine production (3% of European production) and 40% of French VCM production (8% of European production). 

Furthermore, the chloromethane plant at Lavéra is the biggest production plant in continental Europe (20% of production).