Manufacturing company Shotwell Hydrogenics to produce free hand sanitizer for Southlake

With nationwide shortages of hand sanitizer, chemical manufacturing company Shotwell Hydrogenics has pivoted its production to making liquid hand sanitizer in addition to making chemicals for the oil and gas industry

Shotwell Hydrogenics has ties to North Texas, as its parent company, BPS Just Energy Technology, is based in Southlake. For that reason, approximately 500 bottles will be delivered to Southlake starting April 13 and available to the community on a first-come, first-serve basis, officials said.

“Like many businesses across the U.S., we asked ourselves how we could be of service to our community and to others during this unprecedented time,” Shotwell Hydrogenics CEO Bravis Brown said in a statement. “Our research and development team quickly identified what we would need to start producing hand sanitizer, and we’re ready to blend 25,000 gallons a day to help meet the needs of those industries with critical needs.”

Shotwell began producing the hand sanitizer this week with a 70% isopropyl alcohol formula as well as with a 70% ethyl alcohol formula. In total, there will be 5,285 eight-ounce bottles of liquid hand sanitizer the company will distribute across Southlake and Argyle over the coming weeks.

The initial 500 bottles of hand sanitizer will be available for free and for no-contact pickup starting April 13 outside the BPS JET office at 375 Commerce St., Southlake.

"We anticipate that we’ll have additional bottles in the weeks to come available locally," Brown said in an email.

Shotwell is not restricting or enforcing pickup guidelines at this time but is encouraging everyone to use "good judgement."

"We hope that community members who have not been able to access hand sanitizer or who are in critical need will be able to pick up a supply first," Brown said in his email. "This is not meant as a one-time pickup; we intend for this to be an ongoing service to the community with future pickup dates."

Editor's note: This article has been clarified to include that Shotwell Hydrogenics continues to produce oil and gas industry and agriculture industry specialty chemicals.