Hydrogen chloride gas was converted to chlorine gas, which was then used to manufacture a commercially valuable bleaching powder, and at the same time the emission of waste hydrochloric acid was curtailed.
New catalysts based on ruthenium(IV) oxide have been developed by Sumitomo.
The Leblanc process was notoriously environmentally unfriendly, and resulted in some of the first Air and Water pollution acts.
In 1874, Henry Deacon had derived a process to reduce HCl emissions as mandated by the Alkali Act.
This was widely used in the paper and textile industries as a bleaching agent, and as a result sodium carbonate was no longer the primary product of these plants, and henceforth sold at a loss.