connects - solvay · pdf fileten trainee operators from saudi arabia (see page 19) ... laporte...

Spring 2014Nº 28

Magazine of the Solvay Group

in the UK

New Solvay UK website

Code of Conduct

Food for Thought

Connects

Solvay UK family goes digital!

Communications Manager: Martin Griffiths. Magazine Editor: Julie Hitchin. Lostock Co-ordinator: Julie Evans. Specialty Polymers Co-ordinator: Helen Plant. Novecare Co-ordinator: Kirsten Parrish. Contributors: Jean Allen, Andy Barton, Jean-Francois Berthiaume, Frédéric Bouchat, Valérie Braut, David Campbell, John Hamnett, Erica Kornijenko, Taunya Renson, John Sharples, Vic Walters. Design Layout: Paula Vickers Limited. Contact us at: Solvay Connects, Solvay House, Baronet Road, Warrington WA4 6HA E-mail address: [email protected] Website addresses: www.solvay.com and www.solvay.co.uk

Magazine of the Solvay Group in the UK. Quarterly nº 28 Spring 2014

Welcome

3 A spring in our step!

4 Warrington

6 Oldbury

8 Code of Conduct

9 A Sustainable Supply Chain

10 Food for Thought

Cover‘Connecting’ via traditional means – taken in Great Budworth, near Lostock, Northwich

12 Global Business Units

16 Charity

17 Community

18 HOBY Iraq

19 Solvay people

edito

rial

Hello and welcome to the spring edition of Solvay Connects, the magazine for Solvay’s employees in the UK, their families and our many business partners.

Spring 2014 heralded not just the welcome return of sunshine to the UK after what felt like weeks and weeks of rain – but the unveiling of www.solvay.co.uk. This website is part of a new digital landscape being created for the Solvay Group and brings all five Solvay UK sites - Halifax, Lostock, Oldbury, Warrington and Watford – under one virtual roof. It provides overviews of what we do, where we are located and what businesses we support. Have a look on-line and let us have your feedback; our contact details are below.

This edition of Solvay Connects includes the usual wide range of articles.

On page 4 we look back on the history of persalts production at Warrington, following the announcement that the sodium percarbonate plant is to close, but look forward to meeting the growing demand for hydrogen peroxide in the future. A similar theme

is followed on page 6 where our Oldbury site looks backwards and forwards.

On page 8 our corporate pages begin with the new version of Solvay’s Code of Conduct fol lowed by our Sustainable Supply Chain and a description of four of our Global Business Units.

Solvay is very proud of its work with local communities and Steve Waltho from Oldbury does us proud with his charity work on page 16. Martin Griffiths updates us on the launch of ‘Outbreak!’ by the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre on page 17 and over the page we have an interesting report on HOBY Iraq from Warrington Headteacher, John Sharples.

Finally, as Warrington site welcomes ten trainee operators from Saudi Arabia (see page 19) we wish them a safe and successful training visit and hope to provide some feedback in our summer edition. I do hope that you enjoy reading Issue 28.

Julie HitchinEditor

Welcome and Farewell

2 SOLVAY Connects[ Spring 2014 ] [ nº 28 ]

Regional

This is the first time I’ve written for Solvay Connects, but it comes at a good time. Previously Site Director at Oldbury for six years, I transferred to Halifax in 2012. I’ve just completed two years here, and will soon be taking on new challenges after 23 years with the company. It’s an opportunity to reflect on some of the changes I’ve seen, and also to look to the future.

We’ve seen some major changes at Halifax recently. The Solvay logo now takes pride of place above the entrance. The site has had three different owners in the past four years, and having an opportunity to align everyone towards the strong identity and clear values of the Solvay Group has given us a renewed sense of purpose. We certainly look different compared to this time last year. We’ve undergone a major refresh of our visual safety management programme, such as improved walkway definition, better traffic management and flow, and clearer identification of critical rules and equipment to encourage top class Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) behaviour. Spring also sees the beginning of the Novecare Manufacturing Excellence (ME) programme, a six month campaign across all levels of the organisation to focus on improving performance. Academies are being set up across all European Novecare sites to encourage sharing of ideas, support people development and help drive forward a performance improvement culture. It’s also an exciting time in terms of capital investment. There are a number of projects planned which will enable Halifax to further improve HSE performance and support growth – such as delivery of a new 100 tonne Betaine storage tank which will help improve customer service levels.

A spring in our step!

A major development which is a first for Solvay in Europe is manufacture of low salt products for use in highly challenging applications. Piloting work has been successful and we are now investing in an industrial unit which will certainly put a spring in the step of Solvay Halifax! There will be challenges ahead – but if everyone stays focused and works as a team, we’ll be well placed to meet them. For me, it is also a time to look forward as I will be moving to pastures new later this year. Halifax will be in the safe hands of Guillaume Peron, who joined us as Operations Manager last year, and the Solvay Group in 2006, where he was Technical Manager for Clamecy. Overall, spring is a positive time – and we can be positive about the future.

John HamnettSite DirectorSolvay Halifax

Welcome and Farewell

3SOLVAY Connects [ Spring 2014 ] [ nº 28 ]

Regi

onal

Warrington Peroxides

The market is also requesting more stable grades of PCS for the new detergent formulations that the Warrington site cannot produce without signif icant addit ional capital investment. In order to deliver the quality requested by the market, Solvay has decided to invest in its site of Bad Hönningen (Germany), which will be totally dedicated to the production of a new grade.

Persalts manufacturing historySodium percarbonate is one of several grades of solid bleaches (collectively known as “persalts”) which have been produced at the Warrington site since the 1950’s. Laporte Chemicals Limited was established by Bernard Laporte in 1888 to produce hydrogen peroxide and other chemical products. Laporte and Solvay pooled their interests in peroxygen products to form the Interox joint venture in 1970 and in 1992 Solvay took sole ownership of the worldwide Interox business with the UK company being renamed Solvay Interox Limited. Laporte first produced small quantities of sodium perborate (PBS) at its Luton site in 1910. Sodium perborate, as with all persalts, is essentially a solid form of hydrogen peroxide. It dissolves readily in water at the point of use to release hydrogen peroxide to carry out the bleaching process. Following the Second World War, newly developed synthetic detergents rapidly took over from traditional soap powders and by 1955 a quarter of a million tons of synthetic detergents were being produced in the UK. In order to meet this growing need, Laporte built a new sodium perborate plant at the Warrington site in 1958.

PBS manufacture required significant quantities of an imported boron ore (Rasorite or Tincal). A number of supply chain issues affected production capability in the early 1970’s and Interox decided to develop a continuous PCS process at the mothballed Luton plant. David Campbell, Process R&D Manager at the time, recalls “One of my first actions was

Solvay has announced its decision to close the sodium percarbonate (PCS) plant at the Warrington site. The main reason for the closure is the decline of the detergent powder market in Western Europe that has led to an overcapacity of supply.

Warrington PCS plant to close

A Kraus Maffei Centrifuge – a key componentSodium Perborate silo delivered to site in 1959PBS plant (right) under construction in 1957

Thanks to Andy Barton for the archive photos.4 SOLVAY Connects[ Spring 2014 ] [ nº 28 ]

Warrington site remains strategically important for the Hydrogen Peroxide business. Site Director, Len Sharpe, said “Whilst this is the end of an era, the Warrington site can now concentrate on maximising output of hydrogen peroxide, for which we are seeing strong demand. We are investing in our manufacturing process by b u i l d i n g a n e n e rg y recovery project which will recover low temperature reaction heat from the a u t o ox i d a t i o n ( AO ) process and recycle this energy”.

Regional

We were saddened to hear of the passing, last November, of John Mackenzie, aged 89. John worked on the development of the AO process at Luton in the 1950’s and oversaw the commissioning of the first full-scale AO Plant at Warrington in 1958. He later became head of Process Research at Widnes before moving to Houston with Interox America in the 1980’s. Len Sharpe recalls meeting John in Australia in 1987, “John was a very knowledgeable process specialist and was widely acknowledged throughout Laporte as the ‘father’ of the AO process. He was respected by Solvay colleagues within the Interox joint venture and will be fondly remembered by all who knew him”. The attached photo of the first pilot plant at Luton was sent to us by David Campbell, who worked for John during the 1970’s.

John Mackenzie

to visit Luton to inspect progress. I decided the plant was nowhere near ready and I was immediately sent to Luton (full-time) to head up the commissioning team. Luton production started in December 1974, but was limited to about 10 tons per day by the small centrifuge and rotary drier”. Once the pilot plant had been optimised, David oversaw transfer to Warrington where PCS was produced alongside PBS. For some years Warrington produced both PBS and PCS but demand for PCS reduced and the line was closed in the late 1980’s. Interox developed a new concentrated bleach, sodium perborate monohydrate (PBS-M) in order to meet growing consumer demand for concentrated detergent powders. A new plant was installed at Warrington and the first tanker load of PBS-M was delivered in August 1990. The product was successful for a short period but the market again looked to sodium

percarbonate for the new millennium. As a result, Solvay invested in a two-stage project to convert the PBS plant to produce solely PCS, using modern technology to improve process efficiencies and product quality. Wayne Allen, Process Engineer for the project, recalls “The process for manufacturing PCS is technically more complex than that for PBS. Commissioning of the new plant was therefore a real challenge but, with a lot of hard work, the team managed to successfully complete the commissioning and the plant went on to produce hundreds of thousands of tonnes until sales declined in 2013”.

Warrington remains strategically important for H2O2Thanks to the strong UK market and the increased demand from the fish farming market for the Paramove® grade, the

PBS Rasorite Filter PBS Mono plant under construction 1990 PCS Tanker 2001

The first product from the 2001 plant is still displayed in Len Sharpe's office!


Regi

onal

Oldbury

With a history spanning over 160 years, Oldbury employees have seen many logos adorn the front gate over the decades, ranging from Albright & Wilson, to Tenneco and from Rhodia to Solvay today. However, feedback from the popular exhibition – wrapped up in the fabulous word cloud (above) – shows Solvay dominating people’s thoughts today, surrounded by positive messages about how informative and interesting the displays were.

Oldbury produces phosphorus-based intermediates used in the manufacture of a wide range o f p roducts inc lud ing pharmaceuticals, paints, detergents, water treatment chemicals and flame retardants.

It seems Solvay’s 150th celebrations will have a lasting effect at the Oldbury site, following a highly successful poster and film exhibition designed to share the story of the parent company – and the role Oldbury itself played in establishing an industrial heritage in the West Midlands.

Oldbury celebrates the past – but relishes future challenges

The site is currently undergoing significant transformation as it seeks to develop higher value products for sectors such as food preservation, water treatment systems and mining, for example.

Recent developments include major plant modifications to reintroduce Bricorr 288 to the site – a product used for scale and corrosion control – and a €170,000 investment to support demand for a range of products with surface chemistry attributes which benefit a variety of applications.

Solvay has also recently announced an investment of €72,000 for a capital project

designed to transfer manufacture of CP-30 from the Pilot Plant to the Briquest unit. This will support growth in demand for the product, which is used in aluminium coating.

“We are going through a time of change, and the exhibition came at the right time for us – it was a great way of looking forward to the future as well as acknowledging the past,” said Jean-Francois Berthiaume, Site Director for Solvay Oldbury (pictured above).

“It was a thought-provoking, professional display and clearly made people feel proud to be part of the Solvay Group, and excited about our future prospects here at Oldbury.”

Looking Forward


Regional

The reactor is located in the Semi-Works plant, which produces phosphorus-based products for a range of applications. The investment will mean the plant will be better able to react to customer demands and capture new sales opportunities.

“We’ve been operating with one multi-product reactor in this plant for some time now, which has reduced how flexible we can be with urgent requests,” explained Gregory Druilhe, Process Engineer. “Re-commissioning this second reactor effectively means that we can cut the production campaign time from two weeks to a week and a half.”

The change will mean the total capacity of the Semi-Works plant on some products will increase by up to 20% – and that the Oldbury

site will be able to offer not just existing but potential new customers more flexibility.

The plant produces a range of alkyl phosphonate derivatives marketed as Rhodafac®. These are products with interesting surface chemistry which can be used as corrosion inhibitors in cleaning formulations and industrial applications, for surface treatment or to help disperse pigments.

IONQUEST® products, also made in the plant, are used to extract metals such as Cobalt from Nickel, as well as Zinc, Cadmium, Manganese and Magnesium. The mining industry tends to operate using so-called ‘spot’ orders on a just-in-time basis, which can be difficult to plan for.

“The improved capacity will mean we not only support existing customer demands more effectively, but we can also look for growth, particularly from some of the specialist products manufactured in the plant that offer high value market opportunities,” said Susan MacDonald, Regional Market Director for Industrial Commodities, Novecare.

“Once up and running, we will have a multi-purpose unit with greater flexibility and more capacity – and ultimately be able to serve different customers in different markets more effectively.”

Work to re-commission the reactor and install the necessary supporting infrastructure is expected to be completed by the end of April, with product coming off the line by May.

Oldbury celebrates the past – but relishes future challenges

Work is underway to re-commission a reactor in one of Oldbury site’s plants following the go ahead for a sizeable investment.

Oldbury investment to support growth plans


Culture

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Code of Conduct Enables Everyone to Make the Right Decisions

The goal of Solvay’s Code of Conduct is to raise awareness of the legal and compliance issues that can occur in the Group’s day-to-day activities. It is based on the strong tradition of ethics ingrained in the Group’s culture. The new version of the Code reinforces the importance of the Solvay Way and the Group’s focus on corporate social responsibility.

A new brochure has been prepared which identifies potential risk areas and gives staff the resources to deal with legal and compliance issues. A simple three-step decision tree guides behaviour whenever there is any doubt about what is the right thing to do. As well as indicating what is expected from employees, the Code also outlines Solvay’s responsibilities to employees.

Speak Up for EthicsEveryone is encouraged to discuss or report difficult situations or potential breaches of the Code and to seek advice whenever they are in doubt. The first point of contact should be your manager or supervisor. If a serious breach of the Code is noted, colleagues can speak directly with the Head of Ethics & Compliance, Group General Counsel or their regional Compliance Officer. Confidentiality is maintained at all times.

Colleagues can also report issues and ask questions via the Ethics Helpline. The Helpline should be used when an employee does not feel comfortable speaking with someone from the company. The third-party operating the Ethics Helpline will pass the question or report on to the Compliance organisation who are responsible for follow-up. Twice a year Solvay will publish a report detailing the types of questions that have been asked and the actions taken. This is expected to increase transparency and spread ethical best practices across the Group.

Roll-out of the New Code of ConductSolvay’s Code of Conduct is currently being rolled-out to all employees. Local language versions of the Code are being prepared and training is being provided to all employees by line managers.

We all want to work for a company that is ethical, and we expect everyone to act ethically. But what does this mean in practical terms? The new version of the Solvay Code of Conduct makes doing the right thing easier.

More information is available from your regional Compliance Officer. Ethics Helpline: www.integrity-helpline.com/solvay.jsp or visit welink.solvay.com to find your local hotline phone number.

Solvay Way


Our G

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Creating a Sustainable

Supply Chain

Solvay Way

Assessing the sustainability credentials of more than 35,000 suppliers is a major task, but one that is vital to ensure the long-term sustainability of Solvay and the chemical industry as a whole.

With a budget of €9 billion, Solvay’s Purchasing and Supply Chain Excellence Function provides purchasing and logistic services for the Group’s 16 business units and over 100 production sites worldwide. The Function works with suppliers of all sizes, from multinationals to companies with just two or three staff.

Model of SustainabilityTo support the Group’s ambition to be a model of sustainability, Purchasing and Supply Chain Excellence have implemented the Solvay

Purchasing Process (SPP) and the supply chain model (SCORE). Together they establish best-in-class processes, practices, and tools which help the Group to build sustainable partnerships with suppliers – one of the six stakeholders identified in the Solvay Way.

"We want to create a virtuous circle of sustainability," notes Jean-Luc Pottier, Global Logistics Director. "It helps us to stay ahead of society’s

expectations and ensures Solvay’s sustainability actions are noticed by organisations such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Carbon Disclosure Project."

An important aspect of SPP is the assessment of suppliers which encourages them to continuously improve their sustainability. With thousands of suppliers to check, Solvay

has joined with five other major chemical companies to establish the Together for Sustainability Initiative (TfS).

Innovative PartnershipsLaunched in 2011, T fS under takes sustainability assessments of suppliers on behalf of all six companies and shares results between members. Each supplier is assessed in terms of their management, environmental performance; health and safety, labour and human rights, and governance. Action plans are developed to improve sustainability procedures where needed.

Purchasing and Supply Chain Excellence also help suppliers to launch innovative projects. Solvay worked with transport company Vervaeke and truck maker Volvo to reduce CO2 emissions by 10% during the transportation of caustic soda lye. By implementing a programme of truck maintenance and driver training, emissions were reduced by 13.9%.


Our

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Markets

Food for Thought

Fluorine atoms in crop protection active ingredients offer many positive effects, to include enhancing performance and ensuring environmental safety. To that end, GBU Special Chemicals has invented a production process that enables its fluorine-containing synthetic building block ethoxy-4,4,4-trifluoro 2buten-3-on (ETFBO) to be manufactured at commercial scale.

Moreover, Special Chemicals and Aroma Performance offer a range of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), Trifluoroacetyl Chloride (TFAC) and triflic acid derivatives that give pesticides and fungicides higher performance at lower dosages. A new generation of difluoroaliphatic intermediates has also been developed by Aroma Performance for a pioneering class of

How can we produce more food to feed more people, without dramatically altering the earth’s landscape and demanding more resources? That’s the puzzle that Solvay’s GBUs have set out to solve.

active ingredients with high growth potential.

GBU Novecare too is meeting the challenge with its safe new Polarclean® solvent, which has already been adopted in Europe to replace the toxic materials within herbicides that have been banned by the European REACH* regulation. The GBU is preparing to roll it out worldwide.

Fertilizers also help to improve yield. UREA is the largest nitrogen-based, granular fertiliser in the world. Unfortunately bacteria in the soil can convert it into ammonia, which is then released into the air and contributes to greenhouse gases. The release also diverts much-needed nitrogen from the plants. In response, Novecare has developed an

innovative, non-toxic NBPT formulation that slows down the degradation of UREA. And it has developed a formulation that ensures that nitrogen remains in the plant's root zone and does not run off into nearby water systems.

Finally the GBU is improving the performance of seeds themselves. "Seeds treated with our Seed Booster polymer have a better germination and growth by means of better water usage, which in return enables the seed to increase yield," says Thierry Sclapari, Vice President Novecare Agro. This year, the business is conducting large-scale field trials to demonstrate the yield increase that could be delivered to farmers. "Even a 5% increase would be good for the world."

Agriculture

*REACH - the European Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.10 SOLVAY Connects[ Spring 2014 ] [ nº 28 ]

Our G

roup

Solvay’s businesses also have applications in food preparation and preservation, demonstrating the Group’s commitment to healthier living, improved quality and the enhancement of taste. Aroma Performance’s vanillin and ethyl-vanillin products have long been responding to the industry’s requirements and trends. Vanilla is the world's most popular sweet flavour. Food safety and security of supply are key. With two sites in Europe and USA, and a third in China in 2015, the GBU holds a leadership position worldwide.

"Plus, with Govanil™, the latest generation of vanilla flavours, we are providing pioneering solutions for fat and sugar reduction, a demand for natural ingredients and new taste experiences," adds Jean-Pierre Cuif, the GBU’s Global Marketing Manager.

Silica, meanwhile, offers a safe silica for applications in salts, spices, instant coffee and other products in powder format. These silicas absorb moisture, ensuring that these dry products remain in granular format.

And GBU Soda Ash and Derivatives produces sodium bicarbonate whose main food application is as a raising agent for cakes and biscuits, particularly in North America where it is used daily in cooking. The GBU is also betting on growing demand for high quality bicarbonate in Asia’s food and healthcare markets. It has plans to build Southeast Asia’s largest sodium bicarbonate plant in Thailand, with a total capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year.

Its calcium chloride has many uses in the food and beverage industry, such as in cheese processing to increase firmness and replace calcium lost by heating; and to increase the firmness and shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Calcium chloride can also be used as a salt substitute in the food industry to address health trends.

"All along the food value chain Solvay is a strong actor in developing solutions to improve sustainability, safety and quality. We not only offer agro, feed and food solutions, but also food packaging, disinfectants, containers, liners…" says Delphine Barthes, Strategic Marketing Director Consumer Goods, who is currently preparing an overview of the Group’s food solutions. "We combine our expertise as chemists with our market knowledge, customer insight, the evolution of legislation and environmental challenges to create solutions that support society’s developing needs."

“A primary focus in the animal care sector is quality of feed,” explains Delphine Huguenot, Global Business Manager, Silica. Her GBU has developed various grades in its Tixosil® range that are used as additives for animal feed ingredients. These additives help to optimise the flow of nutrients such as vitamin E, which are essential for animal health.

Soda Ash and Derivatives’ sodium bicarbonate, BICAR® Z, is added to the feed of dairy cows to increase the yield of milk production. "It also helps improve the growth rate of animals, and improves meat and egg shell quality," explains Cristiano Fummi, Global Strategic Marketing Manager Derivatives. The GBU’s Calcium Chloride used in animal feed, CASO® FEED, is also a source of calcium in animal nutrition.

Aroma Performance proposes a vanillin for feed. Vanillin is an appetent (to make the feed desirable to animals) in nutrition for poultry, pigs, cattle, rabbits and fish. It is used in small- and large-scale industrial farms to encourage feed intake. The market is relatively mature in Europe and America, but is fast-growing in Asia.

Animal Feed Food Preparation


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"For the past three years, we’ve been experiencing an exciting growth and repositioning strategy by supplying resilient and growing markets l ike food and agrochemicals. We will be successful by reinforcing our Customer and Quality orientation and by being excellent in all our key processes. We are fit for this and committed to success."

Dominique RageGBU President

GBU Aroma Performance

Solvay Aroma Performance supplies and designs, from its core technologies, vanilla flavour ingredients for food industries as well as intermediates for fragrances, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and electronics markets. The GBU holds a worldwide leadership position based on its fully integrated diphenol and fluoroaliphatic productions chains.

Vanillin & Ethyl-vanillin, Cyclopentanone for food and fragrances. Hydroquinone (HQ) , Te r t i a r y b u t y l c a t e c h o l ( T B C ) , Methylhydroquinone (MeHQ) , three diphenol molecules as monomer stabilisers and anti-oxidants for petrochemical industries like acrylics in paints and coatings and Styrene, Butadiene and Resin in tyres. Catechol (PC), Guaicol, Triflic acids (TA/TAA), customised molecules and building-blocks produced from its diphenol and fluoro aliphatic chains for agro and pharma applications. LiTFSI lithium salts as intermediates for electronics and batteries: i.e., electrical vehicle batteries, transparent films for laptops, smartphones and TV screens.

GBU Strategy FoodThe GBU’s vanillin and ethyl-vanillin products and image have been repositioned to reinforce its leadership position as a food safe products supplier. This has been helped by its unique, fully integrated and quality controlled production chain, available on all continents. With food market and consumer trends evolving towards “natural” labelled products, the GBU is reinforcing its position on natural vanillin from its bio-fermentation technology.

MonomersA world leader in this market, the GBU will continue to strengthen its position through long-term contracts with key monomer accounts and by developing new inhibitor systems.

Agro-pharmaSupported by its diphenol and fluoroaliphatic product chains, the GBU’s growth will be enhanced by a new business and industrial development model (the ID3 concept) to benefit top agrochemical companies that require reliable partners to develop new services and molecules.

Electronics & batteriesThe GBU will grow in electronics niche segments mainly with its LiTFSI technology and triflic acid derivatives. It is also following the development of battery application using LiTFSI such as lithium-metal-polymer batteries (LMP) and other Li-ion battery technologies. The GBU intends to grow its REBITDA by around 60% between 2012 and 2016.

Key Figures for 2013RevenueEUR 366 million

Employees 770

% of R&I spend from total revenues3%

GBU ID Cards Series 2014/ 1 of 16*

*This series will introduce 4 new GBUs each issue of this magazine throughout 2014.

End Products

Global Business Units


"Our teams have a long tradition of entrepreneurship to look for new opportunities, work with customers and implement new solutions with them. Our products are good products, with a bright future in a world demanding cleaner and more efficient solutions to take care of our environment, our food, to improve the properties of our customers’ products, or to make new products."

Georges CrauserGBU President

GBU Peroxides

GBU Peroxides is the leading global producer of hydrogen peroxide. Solvay Peroxides supplies products used in applications such as the bleaching of paper pulp, aseptic food packaging, water treatment and the detergent industry. As a strong oxidizer, hydrogen peroxide is also widely used in chemical processes.

Hydrogen peroxide is mainly used in bleaching paper pulp, in the chemicals and mining industries and in the food and feed industry (aseptic food packaging, lice treatment in salmon farming), textiles and water treatment products markets. Peracetic acid is used in several industries such as the food industry for processing cleaning and in detergency. Inorganic peroxides are used in the oil and gas industry. Sodium percarbonate and pthalimido-peroxy-hexanoic acid are used in the detergent industry.

GBU Strategy Peroxides’ strategy is to develop its geographical footprint, using a wide array of solutions to serve its customers in all locations with the guarantee of supply and product quality required. Additionally it aims to partner with chemical producers to provide new solutions based on H2O2 to manufacture chemical products in a more efficient and economical way.

Peroxides aims at increasing its results 50% by 2016, with the following growth drivers:• Megaplantstoserveintegratedpropylene

oxide producers

• Miniplantstoserveremotelylocatedpulpand paper mills

• Thedevelopmentofhighervaluenewapplications in close relationship with its customers

• Theencouragementofpartnershipwithchemical companies to promote H2O2 as a unique raw material

Key Figures for 2013RevenueEUR 405 million

Employees about 1000

% of R&I spend from total revenues1.5%


End Products

Our G

roup


"If the life blood that fuels Novecare’s growth engine is innovation, then the heart of that operation is the people delivering the value-added solutions for which our customers are willing to pay. Strategy is key for the success of any business plan, as is marketing knowledge to uncover new opportunities and solutions and the execution of those plans to create a transformation mindset. Especially, if one of your goals is to grow from €1 billion in 2010 to €2.2 in 2014. But people - motivated, empowered and aligned – make the difference. That’s why I’m proud to lead the team of dedicated

professionals that make up the Novecare family."

Emmanuel ButstraenGBU President

GBU Novecare

Solvay Novecare is a major player in specialty surfactants, guar, polymers, amines and phosphorus derivatives. The GBU engineers and develops formulations that provide consumer products and state-of-the-art industrial applications with specific functional qualities designed to modify fluid behaviour and deliver cleansing, softening, moisturising, gelling, texturising, penetrating or dispersal properties. These formulations are used in shampoos, detergents, fracking fluids, oil separation, paints and lubricants as well as in crop protection and mining.

Novecare’s ambitious Roadmap seeks to accelerate its transformation as a specialty solutions leader and double the GBU’s size to €2.5 billion by 2016. To support that growth, Novecare implemented its Designed for Growth® organisation in 2012 and a plan to generate new business through innovations, organic growth in fast-growing market segments and regions, optimisation through excellence and successful integration of its

targeted acquisitions. Novecare, which will boast a global network of 38 manufacturing sites by 2015, has four core R&I centres supported by nine labs close to its customers in the field. Novecare’s team of diverse and empowered professionals drive the strategic execution of its business initiatives and personify the Group’s People & Management Model in practice.

Key Figures for 2013RevenueEUR 1.6 Billion

Employees 3,800

% of R&I spend from total revenues3%

End Products

Agrochemicals

•AgRHO®

•AgRHO®N-Protect•Starguar®

Coatings

•Rhodoline®

•Sipomer®

Industrial

•Proban®

•Rhodiasolv®

•Rhodoline®

Home & Personal Care

•Jaguar®

•Miracare®

•Rehomer®

GBU Strategy


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Oil & Gas

•Plexslick®

•Clearbreak®

•Tiguar®

•Tolcide®


Our G

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"We are fully committed to ensuring a long-term sustainable and profitable future for our business by reinforcing our global leadership. Within the next two years, we will run an in-depth transformation programme to be the most competitive synthetic soda ash producer in Europe. In parallel, we are increasing the production capacity of natural soda ash in the U.S. and we are developing globally our bicarbonate business through high added value applications."

Christophe ClementeGBU President

GBU Soda Ash & Derivatives

A global leader in its sector, Solvay GBU Soda Ash & Derivatives is a leading producer, supplying the global markets of glass, detergents and chemicals with soda ash, as well as major consumer markets such as food, animal feed, flue gas cleaning and healthcare with sodium bicarbonate and trona.

Key Figures for 2013RevenueEUR 1.4 Billion

Employees 4,260

% of R&I spend from total revenues0,64%


Over 7 Mt in Soda Solvay® sodium carbonate are produced every year, using two different processes: the synthetic process based on sodium chloride, limestone and ammonia, and the natural process based on Trona.

Bicarbonate & DerivativesBICAR®: used in a range of applications including food, cosmetics, healthcare and industrial.BICAR Z®: a source of sodium in a range of animal feeds, cattle, poultry and swine – to improve their performance.SOLVAIR® Solutions: competitive and sustainable environmental solutions used in flue gas cleaning and associated waste.CASO®: Calcium Chloride used for human and animal food and feed industries and civil engineering demands.

With 150 years of experience and technological improvements, Solvay is the pioneer of modern soda ash production. Since June 2013, Solvay has been running an ambitious three-year action plan to reinforce its global leadership: • IntheUnitedStates,theGroupisgradually

expanding its production capacity of natural sodium carbonate at a very competitive price to serve the export markets.

• InEurope,sixplantsareworkingtosaveEUR 100 million, thanks to a Manufacturing Excellence plan, in order to become the world’s most cost effective and competitive producer of synthetic soda ash by 2016.

Thanks to its unparalleled expertise and close relationship with sodium bicarbonate customers, Solvay is recognised as an industry leader in food and animal feed, healthcare applications and flue gas cleaning. Moreover, the GBU’s commitment to innovation, with at least seven new patents per year allows it to address unmet needs and to ident i f y new appl icat ions. Simultaneously Solvay is building a new plant in Thailand to support growing demand for high quality sodium bicarbonate in Asia’s dynamic healthcare and food markets.

End Products GBU Strategy


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Steve – who is also a local councillor in Dudley in the West Midlands – is approaching his 60th year, yet in the last two years alone has managed to walk 100 miles to celebrate the Golden Jubilee and climbed 20 Lake District peaks in less than 24 hours.

He’s raised thousands of pounds for charities along the way, including Action Heart, Leukaemia Care, West Midland’s Lupus Group and Dudley Cancer Support: much of which has come through Solvay colleagues’ donations.

Now, he’s planning his next event – one which will not only mark the centenary of the Great War, but celebrate a local hero, peace campaigner Bert Bissell.

A mountain climber as well as a peace campaigner, Bert Bissell was born in Dudley and worked as a probation officer – he also ran a bible class for young men. He became one of Dudley’s best known citizens after

Community

leading a pilgrimage to climb Ben Nevis on VJ Day in 1945, and constructing a peace cairn at the top of the mountain.

The expedition from Dudley to Fort William afterwards became an annual tradition, which continued for around 50 years. Bert Bissell died in 1998 aged 96 – and although the funeral took place in Dudley, he was buried in the churchyard at Glen Nevis. His efforts to promote peace won him the Freedom of not only Dudley, but Fort William, forging a historical link between the two towns.

Now, Steve – along with fellow councillors and even his local MP – plan to recreate the ascent of Ben Nevis on August 14th this year. The event will mark the month in which Britain declared war on Germany, and effectively saw the beginning of what became known as the Great War – but also recreate Bert’s pilgrimage.

“I want to do something that will mark the centenary of the First World War in some way,

yet also promote peace,” explained Steve. “Because, like me, Bert Bissell was a Dudley man it seems a good opportunity to try and recreate his enthusiasm and rebuild the civic links we used to have with Fort William.”

“It’s a very special connection which effectively came to an end when Bert died – so what better year to try and rebuild those links? Representatives of Lochaber Council have already agreed to meet us in Fort William on the day of the climb, so historical connections are already being rediscovered through this event.”

Exact details of the climb and all the charities which will benefit are yet to be unveiled, but it’s likely that some of the sponsorship money will go to Help for Heroes, given the significance of the centenary year.

Anyone interested in supporting or even joining him in his challenge can contact Steve at [email protected].

OIdbury engineer to mark WW1 centenary with latest charity challenge

Oldbury-based Process Shift Team Leader, Steve Waltho, is renowned for his annual charity challenges. Every year, he vows “never again” – and yet every year he’s persuaded to embark on yet another ambitious trial in order to raise money for local charities.


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Outbreak! has been designed to promote team building skills in a chemistry context, with pupils working together to discover what the outbreak actually is and how they can prevent it spreading.

Meryl Jameson, Marketing Officer at Catalyst said “In 2012 Catalyst worked with two special interest groups from the Royal Society of Chemistry on a project that won £10,000 from the RSC International Year of Chemistry Challenge Fund. Outbreak! was subsequently developed with that prize money in collaboration with the RSC’s Chemical Information and Computer Applications Group and the Historical Group. Twenty eight pupils from Victoria Road Primary School in Runcorn visited Catalyst last December to help trial the project and we were eager to invite the same pupils back to demonstrate what they’d learnt to guests at the official launch.”

Catalyst launches Outbreak!

F o l l o w i n g d e m o n s t r a t i o n s o f t h e experiments by the pupils, Professor Phillips said “Today, you’ve seen for yourselves what young children can do. We need to release their energy and enthusiasm and channel it to encourage them to become professional scientists and young adults that understand scientific principles. Pupils should be enthused with STEM Subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) at Primary level and these pupils are a perfect example. We need to enhance the status of the teaching profession in the UK and we need

In February, the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre in Widnes welcomed Professor David Phillips CBE FRSC, Immediate Past President of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and invited guests to the launch of a brand new education project called Outbreak!

L-R Paul Meara, Diana Leitch, Martin Griffiths & Howard Hopwood discuss the project

Pupils explain their investigations to Councillor Eddie Jones

Phill Day helps Professor David Phillips light his trademark whoosh bottle

resources to do this. Catalyst is an excellent resource and Education Manager Phill Day is a real inspiration. I want to congratulate everyone involved in the Outbreak! project, and look forward to seeing this as an example that can be used right across the country”.

It is planned to distribute the Outbreak! package to schools and science centres across the UK.

You can find out more about Catalyst by visiting the website at www.catalyst.org.uk.

Education


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John is the founder of ‘HOBY UK’, the youth leadership organisation that has been training year 10 students from secondary schools across the North West of England since 2007, supported by Solvay. Last year, Hanaa Ghazawi from HOBY Iraq attended HOBY UK’s seminar at Lancaster University and she was inspired to organise a similar event in Iraq to develop the leadership potential of the young people there. The plan came to fruition and John was delighted to be invited to be part of the event.

“I know how difficult it is to get something like this off the ground and I am very

impressed by what the HOBY Iraq team has achieved. It was a fantastic seminar. All the young people have thoroughly enjoyed themselves and have gone away inspired to make a positive difference in their community. One boy said to me, ‘This has been the best two days of my life!’ and I think that really summed up the impact of the event.”

John also met up with a number of organisations working to build social capital in the region and he commented on our mistaken perception of the country. “Everyone was concerned when I said I was visiting Iraq. Of course there are unsafe places, but Erbil in Kurdistan certainly isn’t one of them. It’s a

thriving, vibrant city with ancient traditions and a rich culture. Different religions and cultures live peacefully side by side and everyone I met went out of their way to show me this and make me feel welcome.”

He found the youth particularly inspiring. “The young people of Iraq have been through a lot, but they really love their country and have a vision for a better future there. They are passionate about playing a part in making this a reality.”

The links between HOBY UK and HOBY Iraq are now firmly established and the two organisations are planning further partnership working in the future.

The next HOBY UK youth leadership seminar takes place at Lancaster University in April, involving 60 students from 9 different schools. The event is fully booked, but there will be another opportunity next year to be part of this inspiring project.

Warrington Headteacher visits Iraq

Community

The Headteacher of a Warrington high school has just returned from a visit to Erbil, in Kurdistan, Iraq. John Sharples from Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School in Warrington, was keynote speaker at the first youth leadership conference organised by ‘HOBY Iraq’.

www.hoby.org.uk

John and Hanaa


Warrington

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Solvay People

New Starters

Warrington site is welcoming ten trainee operators following a joint venture between Sadara and Solvay. The trainees will be hosted by Peter Evans who has been training them at the site of the new mega plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, and they will be shown the operation of the hydrogen peroxide plant by experienced shift technicians. We extend a warm welcome to them all and hope that their training visit is enjoyable and successful.

Oldbury site bade farewell recently to four long-serving retirees from the site. Steve Hewitt started at Oldbury in 1986, and retires from the ADPA plant, whilst Steve Price (1978), Larry Griffin (1979), and Phil Dalton(1984) all retired from the THPX plant.

Lostock site hosted the Finance Audit Team in February. Pictured with Alan Pritchard (centre), are (L-R) Sandy Delcommune, Issakha Camara, Ged Cassidy and Caroline Wei.

Pictured L-R, Craig Barraclough, Production Manager, Steve P, Steve H, Larry and PhilHugo Robin

3-month Chemical Engineering Trainee.

Retirement

Solvay Science Award for Applied Science

Martin Griffiths presents Priestley

College student Liam Welsby (right)

with the Solvay Science Award.


Solvay is pleased to support the work of The Royal British Legion.

For help, advice and support all year round call us on 0808 802 8080 or visit www.britishlegion.org.uk

Shoulder to shoulder with all who ServeRegistered charity number 219279

connects - solvay · pdf fileten trainee operators from saudi arabia (see page 19) ... laporte...

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