 Half of the soda ash collected was to be processed into calcium hydroxide (lye) at a series of plants nearby.Unfortunately, poor understanding of the principles of alkaline brines made the process (particularly the refining) more expensive than SOSA Texcoco expected, and the venture was not profitable.In the late 1950s the company was absorbed into the government-administered Fomento Industrial SOMEX conglomerate, which began exploring more profitable uses for the facility.