Barium chloride soluble in water. On an industrial scale, it is prepared via a two step process from barite (barium sulfate): This first step requires high temperatures. In place of HCl, chlorine can be used. Barium chloride can in principle be prepared from barium hydroxide or barium carbonate. These basic salts react with hydrochloric acid to give hydrated barium chloride. Although inexpensive, barium chloride finds limited applications in the laboratory and industry. In industry, barium chloride is mainly used in the purification of brine solution in caustic chlorine plants and also in the manufacture of heat treatment salts, case hardening of steel.
Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp. Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp. Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., 855 F.2d 1188 (6th Cir. 1988), was an environmental lawsuit filed by citizens of Hardeman County, Tennessee, led by Steven Sterling, who sued Velsicol Chemical Corporation for contaminating their water supply through improper disposal of toxic chemicals. In August 1964, Velsicol Chemical Corporation acquired of rural land in Hardeman County, Tennessee. Velsicol used the site as a landfill for by-products from the production of chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides at its Memphis, Tennessee, chemical manufacturing facility. Before Velsicol purchased the landfill site and commenced depositing chemicals into the ground, it neither conducted